November 1st and 2nd, the AHCS will be at the Stone Mountain Hamfest at the Gwinnett fair grounds.
Admission is $8
Sat 8am to 4pm
Sun 8am to 2pm
For more information, check out their site www.stonemountainhamfest.com
Sam and Kyle will be selling vacuum tubes and old electronic equipment (again) and have donated half a table for the AHCS to display its QR code and some cool retro computers (someone may bring the club stickers and t-shirts to sell). We do this to hear stories from folks about their old equipment they used to have and delight them that someone is crazy enough to fix, maintain and use this stuff. Last year, we were well received. Flash bought an HP Apollo when he wasn’t slinging Tandy portable computers, to help prepare folks for the zombie apocalypse (That Flash, always thinking of others). Kyle spent Sam’s money on a plastic teak wood stain bucket that had a variac in it (he said it was a good deal, it’s getting an ammeter and volt meter installed in it at Acorn Amps as we speak). Brad looked at all of us like we were crazy with that classic old school angst ridden IT tech look and all the visitors at our tables nodded knowingly. We were not what the flea market or the crowd was expecting and they welcomed us back with an invoice and an address to mail the check.
This year will be no different, other than Sam knowing a little more about vacuum tubes and Kyle being over 21 (he really surprised the crowd with his radio knowledge).
So come one, come all! To the finest collection of weird junk that Stone Mountain has to offer.
We look forward to seeing you there.
We were off to a rough start Saturday morning, being adjacent to the wall of porta potties is not something someone wants to see after 6.5 hours sleep. But, it was cold enough out that we could not smell them. Then the wind decided to turn our tents into kits before we had them weighted down. Yet, we could repair the damage and make them work. We got everything set up, and then we did what the AHCS does: We nerded out with other nerds. (Alan even called me a super geek today) There were a lot of them. 10,000 per day, a lot of them. They weren’t all computer nerds. There were HAMs, robot builders, scientists, physicists, junk repurposers, car racers, artists, even a few normal families. The crowd was really fun. We must have left a favorable impression as the AHCS has taken home 3 Maker of Excellence Awards. Big thanks go out to all who made it happen, and let the Maker Community know who we are and what we are capable of.