The Spark Gap

1 Thessalonians 5:23 / May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. NIV

Well it's October and finally the treat that many of you have been waiting for is finally here. I am referring to the Meridian Swapfest that has been discussed several times in the past few months. The date is set for October 25th, 2014 and will be held in the convention room behind the Checker Board Restaurant next to the Hamilton Inn on South Frontage Road (this was the Best Western Motel for many years). We are working on a flyer to send out and it will also be announced on the HF and VHF nets this month. We have a limited number of tables so it will be on a first come first serve basis. Please see contact information below. Don't wait until the last moment... Get your tables reserved.

The next business meeting will be held at the Checker Board Restaurant on Saturday October 4th, 2014 beginning at 10 A.M. Come join us for breakfast, coffee and fellowship.

Please help spread the word. Attached to this email is a flyer for the 1st Annual Meridian Swapfest. The Meridian Swapfest will be held on Saturday OCTOBER 25, 2014 from 8 AM to 1 PM at the Convention Room on the backside of The Checker Board Restaurant in Meridian, Mississippi. The Checker Board Restaurant is located on South Frontage Road between exit 152 and 153 just off of Interstate 20/59 (see map below). For table reservations and any additional information, please contact: Shelly (KI6DES) Phone: (210) 383-2668 email: ki6des@gmail.com.

Admission: Entry $3 each or $5 for Family
Tables: $5 each / includes 1 FREE entry
Children under 12 free.
Talk in: 146.700 / R PL 100 MHz
CB Channel 20
DOOR PRIZES
Breakfast and Lunch buffet available inside The Checker Board Restaurant
Click here for Meridian Swapfest flyer

It all starts innocently enough. You get a computer to do your logging, and before you know it, you're working digital modes. Then, you snake an Ethernet cable down to the shack or connect to your wireless router. Pretty soon, you can't do without having a browser window open to one of the DX clusters or ReverseBeacon. Net or QRZ. Com or all three simultaneously.

Well, now's there another Internet service that I can't do without down in the shack: Twitter! I get on Twitter all the time now when I'm in the shack, and I love it. It's truly enhanced my amateur radio experience.

One of the ways it's done this is by bringing me all kinds of interesting technical information. I not only follow @hackaday and @DIYEngineering, and @EDN.Com, but a bunch of hams who are doing fun things. I hate to list some, for fear of leaving some out, but I will give a shout out to @NT7S, @AA7EE, @mightyohm, @caulktel, @LA3ZA. There's even @HiramPMaxim (the P stands for "parody"). If you go to my blog at KB6NU. Com and search for "From my Twitter feed," you'll find links to some of the most interesting Tweets that have found their way to me.

I'm also following a couple of amateur radio retailers. Today, for example, @DXEngineering is offering $55 off the RigExpert AA-54 Antenna Analyzer.

I also use it to get information about weather conditions and band conditions. For example, I follow @edvielmetti, who is KD8OQG. He's always tweeting about local severe weather. A Tweet from him gets me to turn on my 2m radio to monitor the local SkyWarn net.

As far as band conditions go, I throw out a Tweet, asking about band conditions, and in seconds, I'll get reports from my followers here in the U. S. and around the world. I try to do my part as well. When I fire up the rig, I'll Tweet out a report of how the bands seem to me.

While all of this is great, it's really all about the people. I currently have more 2,200 followers and I follow more than 900. I would never have met some of these hams if it wasn't for Twitter, and I have since worked several of them on the air after first meeting them on Twitter. Last May, we had a "Tweetup" at the Dayton Hamvention. There were at least 20 of us there. How cool is that?

Twitter isn't for everyone, but I'd encourage you to give it a try. I'm having a lot of fun on Twitter, and I think you will, too. If you do set up a Twitter account, please follow me, @kb6nu. If you mention that you read this column, I'll be sure to follow you back.

When not Tweeting about his latest amateur radio exploits, you'll find KB6NU working 30m CW or teaching ham radio classes. If Twitter isn't your thing, you can still follow him by reading his blog at www. kb6nu. com.