52nd Hoosier Hills Hamfest

                                

I went to my first Hamfest this weekend! I woke up at 5:30 am so that I could make the two hour drive down just south of Bedford, Indiana. I wanted to arrive right on time.

Well I don't know what I had imagined I would experience when I got there but let me say it was a huge disappointment. I was able to walk through the inside area as well as the tailgating area and see everything in less than 15 minutes.

It was really just a whole lot of junk. Not to mention there was just a lot of non Ham related stuff, old computers and electronics, do I really need a used telephone answering machine from the 70s? A lot of it looked like it had been scavenged from dumpsters. There were a few things that might of been worth buying but nothing I couldn't just order online and save 5 hours of my life. 

Some of the people that I spoke with said they had been coming here for years and years and it has really deteriorated in the past few years. There is NO WAY they should have been charging people even as little as $5 for this event. It was really just a very bad flea market.

I won't let this experience keep me from the next one though, a friend recommended one in Ft.Wayne, so I will go give it a look next time, but I wont be going back to Bedford that is for sure. I just hope there aren't any other new hams out there that went to this as their first time at a "Hamfest" because I imagine it might be very discouraging.

They did have a VE license testing session so that was very nice if anyone wanted to take the test. Speaking of tests I'd better sign off and get studying for that General ticket!!!