{"id":4569,"date":"2010-01-25T22:31:05","date_gmt":"2010-01-26T04:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/?p=4569"},"modified":"2010-01-26T00:11:14","modified_gmt":"2010-01-26T06:11:14","slug":"san-antonio-radio-fiesta-sold-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanantoniohams.org\/blog\/?p=4569","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio Radio Fiesta – Sold Out!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Wade<\/a>

Wade KE5ZUO on Talk-in, JC Smith N5RXS, wanting to resell empty tables<\/p><\/div>\n

San Antonio Radio Club’s event chairman, JC Smith N5RXS, reported on the air, Saturday morning at 6:15am, prior to opening the doors, that all vendor tables had been sold out already!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wow!\u00a0 In fact, JC placed several calls were placed on the air searching for hams who had rented tables, but hadn’t yet shown up to claim them<\/strong>, so that he could resell those empty tables to folks who forgot to advance register!\u00a0 Amazingly enough, it seems that\u00a0some hams will pay to rent a vendor table, just to get in the door before the general admission, so they can scout out the better deals and buy before the crowd starts rolling in.\u00a0 This practice is discouraged, but it happens, and then it leaves empty tables that could have been used by another ham.<\/p>\n

One of the challenges we faced this year,<\/strong> was the SARO 146.94 repeater being used for talk-in, failed around 6:20am, just after we had started making announcements.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We were actually then hitting the Austin’s .94 repeater, so we changed to simplex and kept on going.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Bob K5AUW set up his mobile for crossband on simplex in the beginning, then we changed over to using my radios (as discussed later).\u00a0 The .94 San Antonio repeater stayed down the rest of the day.<\/p>\n


\nPat AD5BR, in charge of the VE Test Sessions<\/strong>, reported to me that she had 17 pre-registered folks for testing, but that 25 showed up.\u00a0 She had a full room, due to only having seating for 16 at a time, allowing room for the VE’s to stand along the walls monitoring and handling the paperwork.<\/p>\n

Gary K5GST had a table with membership info about 3 clubs, SARO, REACT and GVARC, collecting memberships and donations for the 147.14 repeater fund.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Craig & Mel from KComm were there<\/strong> selling stuff from their multi-table display, and I saw lots of stuff heading out the door that appeared to have come from their tables, so I assume they got paid for first.<\/p>\n

The other “new” vendor this year was CLEAR Wireless Internet<\/strong>, and that was represented by Lee, N5NTG (me).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I was outside the front doors, the only vendor outside, doing double duty as both a vendor and as the\u00a0 official talk-in station.\u00a0 Hill Country REACT members used my radio running off my emergency go-kit batteries (until we got AC power working outside) from the table where I was also displaying and advertising CLEAR WiMAX wireless Internet services for sale.\u00a0 Had lots of folks stop by to get information and ask questions, and even signed up some new customers.\u00a0 Also had at least one local guy stop by to ask questions and get some help\u00a0(about CLEAR) \u00a0from me.<\/p>\n

Below are some photos I took during the event.<\/strong>\u00a0 Since I was pretty much tied to my booth, I didn’t get as many taken as normal, but I did get some relief to allow that activity to happen.<\/p>\n

Enjoy the photos…<\/p>\n

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