2014 Huntsville Hamfest, Huntsville Alabama

[WB4CS]

Announcing the 2014 Huntsville Hamfest
Huntsville, Alabama
August 16 & 17 2014
Website​

We’re just one month away from what is sometimes called “The World’s Friendliest Hamfest!" Or as I like to call it, the "Dayton of the South."

Located in beautiful downtown Huntsville, Alabama. Huntsville is known for the US Space and Rocket Center, NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center, Redstone Military Arsenal, state parks, camping, and good Southern Foods.

Even though I’m in no way associated with promoting the hamfest, I thought it would be nice to start on thread on RR. This would be a good place to share information about the fest, and provide a way to stay in touch for those of us RR Forum Members that plan on attending.

I’m not sure of the actual numbers, but I’ve heard many say that the Huntsville Hamfest is one of the largest hamfests in the Southeast. I’ve attended almost every year since 1994, and the turnout is usually very high.

There's a large indoor and outdoor flea market section, plus several vendors will be there. Gigaparts, HRO, MFJ, Kenwood, Yaesu, and many more. List of vendors located here: Dealers List

There will be several forums on various topics. Usually the forums list isn't updated until the last minute, but the list can be found here once it's published: Forums

Talk-in frequency is on the Huntsville Amateur Radio Club repeater N4HSV 146.940 (-) PL 100.0 Talk-in operates under the call sign of K4BFT.

I plan on being there at least Saturday the 16th and would welcome an opportunity to meet face-to-face with the fine folks at Radio Reference that might be attending the hamfest.

73's!

 

[BamaScan]

Hi, I will be there Friday Night, Saturday and Sunday. The Holiday Inn is being torn down and I had to upgrade to a more expensive hotel. The two close Hotels are getting full one is already maxed out. One year GRE Scanners had a sales rep there. The sad thing is I knew more about the scanner that he had on his table. This will be my third time attending. One Friday Afternoon I went to the Gigaparts store and found the place almost cleaned out. They had moved everything to the Ham Fest.

 

[wbswetnam]

I sure wish I could be there... I have a sister who lives in Huntsville, so I could get free food and lodging! ;-) But, I have to be at work in eastern Arkansas. Maybe next year...

 

[WB4CS]

Hi, I will be there Friday Night, Saturday and Sunday. The Holiday Inn is being torn down and I had to upgrade to a more expensive hotel. The two close Hotels are getting full one is already maxed out.

Yeah downtown hotels will sell out quickly, and are over priced. Some other areas to look into are: Hampton Cove/Owens Cross Roads which is just a few miles from downtown. Madison (City), just a quick drive down I-565 to downtown Huntsville. I'd recommend staying away from any of the budget hotels that are on University Drive, unless you don't mind prostitutes asking you for money and having your radios stolen out of your vehicle

One Friday Afternoon I went to the Gigaparts store and found the place almost cleaned out. They had moved everything to the Ham Fest.

Yeah Gigaparts moves their entire ham radio store over to the Hamfest, leaving only their computer business in the store. Last year they didn't have much of a "hamfest special" on their prices. Almost everything at the hamfest was the same price as it is any other time of the year.

I believe long gone are the days when you could run over to the Ham Radio Outlet booth and get their "lowest" price, then go to Gigaparts for them to beat that price, then go back to HRO and say "Gigaparts will sell it for this much" and so on until you had haggled down a good price.

 

[WB4CS]

Well, it's hamfest weekend!

I'm a little late replying to this thread, I haven't been on RR that much lately. If you're interested in coming down to Huntsville Alabama for the hamfest, be sure to check out the hamfest website (listed in OP of this thread.)

Looking forward to another great hamfest this year in Huntsville. If any of my fellow RR members that are amateur radio operators want to say hello, I'll by monitoring my local watering-hole repeater 147.220+ (136.5 PL).

 

[BamaScan]

It was very hard to get to the Ham Fest site on Friday Night because the city closed down a couple of blocks for a craft beer party in the street with food trucks. My GPS kept telling me the wrong way. I turned it off and tried to aim for the big E on the Embasy Suites Hotel. Made it afer about 15 min going in circles. I have one friend who gave up after driving arround for 40 min. He left and was upset with everything and drove back home a 6 hour drive and said he would not be back. Hope they correct this problem before next year. I also hope the Ham Fest can open up another Hall. From what I have been told they are close to expanding.

 

[WB4CS]

BamaScan,

Yeah that's one thing about Huntsville, we "love" our downtown area and close it off for just about every event. As a resident of the city, believe me it is aggravating when you're trying to get to work but have to circle the city just to go a few blocks.

Parking was a pain because there were several other events going on at the civic center that weekend. Unfortunately there are not many places in Huntsville that are large enough to accommodate something the size of the hamfest, except for the civic center and perhaps the NASA Space and Rocket Center. While it's good for the city and tax revenue to have several events lined up at the same location, it does make it hard to get around and park when you're trying to go to an event.

All-in-all I enjoyed my time at this year's hamfest. There was a good selection of flea market items and all of the main vendors and radio brands were there to show off their stuff. The flea market section seemed a little smaller than in years before, but I came in a little late in the day so maybe some of the sellers had already sold out.