The first weekend in April brings RARSfest, an annual ham radio festival hosted by Raleigh Amateur Radio Society (RARS) in North Carolina. April can be a tricky time of year to schedule events with outdoor activities due to sporadic rain activity. RARSfest mitigates that by hosting their event within a 100,000 sq-ft climate controlled indoor facility at the NC State Fairgrounds. The huge, open space often hosts livestock events and is capable of accommodating tractor-trailer traffic. So, accessing the building with my unusually-tall hatchback is not a problem at all. It’s a great place to exhibit my VHF contest rover!
It rained over the weekends of the previous years that I had attended. So, my “show morning” plans always include a visit to a local car wash to rinse off road spray from the 200-mile trek to Raleigh. This year, though, the rain forecast disappeared and was replaced with POLLEN. 😀 I executed a dry-weather plan by mounting the Superstrut base with rotator about a week before the event so that the car was ready to receive the mast with Yagis later. That works when rain is coming, too, but stay with me! I waited until the morning of departure before washing the car and mounting the remaining components. Once the car is clean, I’ve streamlined installing the desk, Yagis, and cabling to less than an hour. The drive to Raleigh is ~4 hours; arriving early for good parking is a very easy accomplishment.
I didn’t need to visit a car wash in Raleigh, which made it easier to arrive as the doors opened for vendors at 6:30am. It was nice to be set up and ready for visitors before the doors opened to the public. I had a decent flow of visitors, two interviews, and even some repeat visitors from years past. I didn’t remember them all, but was easily caught up once context from our last conversations came to light. Unfortunately, I don’t recall hardly any of the names of my visitors (e-mail me if you’re reading this). I focus on the discussions and enjoy the interactions. Names have always come slowly for me, but acting as net control station for my local club’s daily Coffee and Radio net has helped me immensely to remember names and call signs since I have to write them down.
Of particular note was a few Volkswagen enthusiasts who stayed for a while in separate visits. One is certain that I should take this setup to “Wookies in the Woods” (WITW), an annual VW event that takes place along Tail of the Dragon (TOTD) in Tennessee and North Carolina each April. I’ve driven TOTD many times, often when I want a new photo of the car on the road. These days, my goal is usually to capture road-going images of the car with new ham equipment mounted. With that said, I don’t think I’d drive TOTD with my Yagi setup, especially during a weekend full of car enthusiasts who want to sport-drive. The lateral stress that’s applied to the roof rack by the tall load when cornering is greater than I want to test! This photo shows my last visit to TOTD and probably the tallest load I’d ever take, though I could stand to squeeze some horizontal loops up there and probably will for my next visit! 😉
The recent interactions with fellow VW enthusiasts gave me a renewed desire to take a compact communications setup to a VW show. It’s been a while since I last did that. Oddly enough, I won the “Best Workmanship” award, in part for this trunk display, at a VW show that was held in the same complex as RARSfest. So, I know the car is welcome and well-received, although it certainly is an oddball entry! Click here to see a photo from that day. I think the stark difference between my “styling” and that of the average show entrant adds to an interesting contrast of show cars!
Back to RARSfest, I didn’t walk the floor much since I had plenty of visitors to keep me busy. I was able to exit the complex and start my drive home after 3pm. I was tired from a long day and a poor night’s sleep. I stopped frequently for safety and got home around 8:30pm. The next morning, I drove near Jamestown, VA while I participated in the Coffee and Radio net. I was receiving an unexpected barrage of text messages and decided to find a parking area to read them. It seemed coincidental when a couple of young men driving sport-oriented VWs parked alongside me.
They were parked earlier and had heard the sweet sound of my custom exhaust as I drove by… my wife loves it, too! (not really) They were intrigued by the tower setup and decided to follow me. I didn’t notice them following and they had no idea that I would make a chance stop four miles later. 😀 We had a great conversation and I showed them the car, including the engine bay since they were shocked to learn that the car is modified. They, too, thought that my car needs to appear at some VW events, starting with a local “Cars & Coffee” gathering in two weeks. I plan to visit Cars & Coffee, though without the tall radio tower.
Overall, it was a great weekend of both ham radio AND Volkswagen camaraderie! Both Eurofest Maggie Valley and VAG Fair are in August and great candidates for my return to VW shows. Traveling is expensive these days, but I’m past due for a VW show. Then again, I’ve really come to appreciate the hamfests! My visitors understand what I’m doing and have a different appreciation for what they see, even if it’s something they’d never do themselves. At hamfests, the car is the oddball instead of the radios! 😀 I’ll have to give it some thought!
Shine It Up!
Scott
