Hamventioning

I attended the Dayton Hamvention last weekend.

During the 12 hour trip west, I managed to maneuver through Akron successfully, although the last exit was a close call. The sky turned black and proceeded to deluge us between Akron and Lodi; I thought I glimpsed the birth or demise of a funnel cloud, but it was gone by time I got around some trees to glimpse it again. As I got close to Oz -- I mean Dayton -- the Sun broke out and promised better things ahead.

Friday's weather was fine, but I was busy indoors moderating the APRS Forum with a full house of attendees (more than 400 by my estimate) and manning the TAPR booth.

TAPR showed the High Performance Software Defined Radio (HPSDR) project and it attracted a lot of attention throughout the weekend. The other booths featuring SDR, like Elecraft and FlexRadio Systems, were busy, too.

Saturday's weather was wet, but I dashed out into the flea market in between bouts of precipitation and found some bargains to take home and a bratwurst to take in. While roaming the convention floor on Saturday, I saw a familiar face, so I stopped him and asked for a photo: Owen Garriott, W5LFL, the first ham radio astronaut gladly complied and the result appears here.

As usual, I had a great time at Hamvention, and as usual, I returned home exhausted from the long commute and swore I would not do it again, but as usual -- but I probably will.

Googling is Not Rocket Science

I received an e-mail this morning that asked, "Do you know when the next hamfest is in Huntsville?"

No, I did not know the answer, so I pointed my Web browser to Google, typed "Huntsville Hamfest" in Google's search box, and clicked on the Google Search button. Google came back with 5750 results. I clicked on the first result and found the answer (August 15 and 16, 2009) right at the top of the Huntsville Hamfest home page.

Believe it or not, Ripley, it's that simple to use Google successfully.

Typically, I receive inquiry e-mails like this a few times each week. Usually, I do not know the answer and have to use Google.

I often wonder why the people sending inquiries to me do not cut out the middle man and use Google themselves. As you can see, using Google is not rocket science.

Until next time, keep on surfin'!

Editor's note: To communicate with Grumpy, aka Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU, don't ask him stuff you can Google yourself, but send him e-mail or add comments to his blog. By the way, every installment of Surfin' is indexed here, so go look it up.

Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor