posted 8/24/07
Well, the weather was warm during the trip to Spring Hill, Tennessee and then on to Huntsville, Alabama for the 2007 Huntsville Hamfest! OK! Alright! It was down right hot! Temperatures during the day got into the low 100's nearly every day! Yes, a lot like Texas summers usually are!
Zed W. Jay went down to John (N5AAA) and Jan's (KA9VQS) a couple of days early to help with John's tower planning. He has purchased a 60' tall Glen Martin aluminum tower with hazer attachment. We spend time inventorying the parts he had and making a list of the items he would be needing for the job. We also "surveyed" (sorta) the options for where the tower might end up.
John also showed Zed his machine where he is experimenting with the operating system called Umbutu. Jay also had the pleasure of attending the local ham radio club dinner meeting. A fun and informative evening was spent with the local guys and gals.
The next evening dinner was spent with John's son Brian and family at a great "family style" restaurant! It was hot again as you can see the temperature on John's review mirror indicating 110 degrees. Don't Grandma and Grandpa look great?
Thursday morning we headed to Lynchburg to take the tour at the Jack Daniel's Distillery. Below right you see the fire where they are making their own charcoal to filter the distilled whiskey through. Yes, that stream in the cave is where all the water that goes into the millions of bottles of Jack Daniel's comes from.
The photo above right is the bottom of the distilling process. There is a steady stream of six inches in diameter pouring out after the mash's steam has been cooled! Man, what an operation! This is one of five that do this process. Three of them were running that day.
They take a mixture of corn, barley, rye and water and then cook it in the fermenting area - the mash is the yellow stuff in the tub. Once the whiskey has been distilled it passes through a ten foot thick layer of their prepared charcoal - sometimes once - sometimes twice depending upon which whiskey is being made. Then the whiskey it put into charred barrels and aged. The aging process adds the color and flavor.
In the middle above you see folks hand labeling and boxing special orders of Jack Daniel's where the customer has purchased an entire barrel of the whiskey. Yes, the customer gets the barrel too!
Below are some shots from downtown Lynchburg. Tim's Flies & Lies is a great fisherman's shop! It is also a fun place to look!
We headed to Huntsville on Friday, a day before the hamfest was scheduled to begin. Below you can see the camper ready to roll. Of course, Flat KBob was safe and sound for the trip and rested easily on the bed in the master bedroom for the trip.
The campground was located at the Ditto Landing Marina and Campgrounds. The marina is located on an off shoot of the Tennessee River. Below are a few shots of the marina.
Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the campground was located near the small town of Farley! After lunch we headed to the space museum.
Huntsville is also home of the well-known Space Camp! It is located on the same grounds as the U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
Rightfully so, Huntsville, also known as Rocket City, is very proud of it's role in the space industry. A brief explanation follows below.
One of the things that is pointed out early in the tour is how space flight and space research has influenced our lives. Amongst some of the benefits listed are firefighting equipment, radiation blocking technology, scratch resistant lenses, lubricants, corrosion-resistant coatings, pacemaker technology, cordless products, flat cable technology, implantable and external pumps, body imaging, ocular screening, infrared thermometers and infrared technology.
In the middle above is an explanation about the wedge shaped antenna that is used on the shuttle. Interesting antenna design! Just above is a portion of the Northrop Grumman exhibit where we found an early piece of test equipment for the retroincabulator.
Below you see a closed circuit television trained on Zed while he looks at another part of the exhibit unaware that what he is reading about is being controlled by N5AAA in another portion of the exhibit.
Above Keith and Jan prepare to take their lives in their own hands as they embark on a simulated ride across Mars terrain!
Below are some of the outside displays of the actual rockets and boosters used for space exploration.
Below is the shuttle assembly followed by a couple of snap shots from the gift shop.
Saturday morning arrives and we go to the hamfest and get the table set up. Of course, the first IOOK'er we see is Tom, WA5KUB! He is accompanied by his son Chris.
Above you see Tom and Chris making dueling videos! It was great that we were able to check into the 40 meter IOOK net Sunday morning via streaming video from Tom's set up!
Below is a snap shot of Monte, WB5RZX. He saw the IOOK shirts and said "I know you guys!" It turns out his used to live in Oklahoma City and knows IOOK'er Mike, N5MS! Mike, he says to say howdy! Monte was primary presenter for a two hour seminar on Lightning Protection at the hamfest.
Below is a panorama shot of the ARRL booth area! This was also the national ARRL convention so lots of ARRL dignitaries were in attendance.
Below is a shot of WB0W, a long time friend of the IOOK! He sure doesn't look like he had a heart attack three weeks ago does he? Isn't it amazing what medical technology can do today? Of course he is smiling because John and Keith had just spent a bunch of money purchasing items from him!
Below are some general shots of the assorted dealers that were set up at the hamfest.
Below is a series of shots taken from our booth in a clockwise manner to show the size and attendance of the hamfest!
Late Sunday as the the hamfest geared down, Tom and Chris went up into the catwalks to retrieve their wifi antennas they had been using to improve their coverage throughout the hamfest for their streaming video. Then Tom came over the to catwalk above our booth and took a snap shot of us!
As you can see, John and Keith held up the new improved banner so it could be seen from above!
Many thanks to John and Jan for their delightful hospitality! We had a great time and hope to do it again next year!
73.....Keith, WA8ZWJ
