The Stone Mountain Hamfest & Computer Expo took place November 1 & 2 at the Lawrenceville-Gwinnett County Fairgrounds.
In addition to vendor exhibits, flea market, tailgate market, VE testing, and boneyard, the Hamfest featured a youth lounge (all day both days) and a Youth Forum Saturday at noon in the main forum room.
Wes, W3WL and Mack, W4AX
Almost a dozen of us (see participants in the photo at the top of the page) started the day with the very informative boneyard tour led by Jim, W4QO & Mack, W4AX. I've spent a lot of time with them, but was still amazed at their knowledge of the broad range of products and technologies we saw in the boneyard. Gary Dowling, KJ4DYL said it best: "We were all very appreciative of the time (almost 2 hours) Jim & Mack spent walking us through every table and tailgate in the bone yard. The education on 'what's, what' and the insight into the value of the 'deals', was outstanding."
Jim Paine, N4SEC's email is a good reflection on the tour's marketing benefit: "A few times I lagged behind the group still looking at things and many vendors commented how nice it was to to see the experts taking the time to show the new hams around. They were very complimentary. I guess the word spread; quite a few new hams came by the NFARL booth looking for advice. Several had just passed their test that morning!"
Click on the picture to the right to see photos of the Hamfest.
We can color the 2008 Stone Mountain Hamfest a "success". The tour was beneficial to our newbies and the booth proved to be a great meeting place for members, friends, those needing advice, and the curious. In the process, we signed up several new members and sold a few CDs.
Thanks to HamFest Coordinator Lee, AF4IA; Jim, W4QO & Mack, W4AX for their lead roles, and to everybody who helped make the day a success.