Homebrew Heroes at Rickreal Hamfest: W7ZOI and WA7MLH

Audience interest has been underwhelming. Perhaps a dozen participants
have shown interest in my displays. In fact, I almost left the displays
home last Saturday.

In the course of the morning, two guys approached. The older guy had a look of
familiarity. He looked like a guy in the SolderSmoke blog. Bill,
N2CQR, was pictured sitting with him in California over coffee.

I blurted out, “are you ZOI?” He replied “yes” and I told Wes Hayward,
W7ZOI, it was nice to meet him. (That was a bit of understatement).
With Wes was Jeff Damm, WA7MLH, who built many of the circuits included
in the book “Solid State Design.” I suggested to Jeff he no longer
looked like a hippie, which is the style conveyed by his webpage. Jeff
said he had recently cut his hair.

We spent more than an hour sharing ideas and discussing various topics.
My focus was on encouraging experimentation. Kit building may be a nice
first step. I want to see builders pursuing more advanced
investigations. Wes noted the software and simulation tools available
for free it’s never been a better time to try out ideas. Wes commented
on the contribution of amateurs and how we often have fewer restrictions
to pursuing our interests. He emphasized measurement tools. I should
look more at noise figure in my receiver experiments. He was very
supportive, which contrasts with my recent experiences on various
internet groups.

Wes and Jeff were looking for Rick Campbell, KK7B, and Bob Larkin,
W7PUA. Imagine, the three authors of Experimental Methods in RF Design
(EMRFD) frequenting a little hamfest in rural Oregon. Yet, few people
knew they were there.

The experience reinforced my interest in continued experimentation.
I’ll take my updated displays back next time. Perhaps our efforts reach
a larger audience than we first realize.