Last days in Germany... hamfest

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071205

I've come through several countries since I last blogged, Switzerland, Italy and now France. I've currently holed up here in Avignon for now. I've had charging concerns for my PDA, and have worked through a number of possible issues none of which have resolved the issue to my satisfaction and confidence, but I think I know what's going on, so I'm risking the time to compose a blog hoping that I'll be able to recharge this thing afterwards. If I don't succeed, this will be the last blog till I meet up with Sheela in England.

I never finished writing about Germany. That was so long ago now that I'm not sure what I'll remember, but I left off reporting on the solar expo. I completed my survey on Friday (2 days instead of 3), so that left me all day Saturday to get to Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance (aka, Bodensee). I don't remember much about the trip now, so it must have been painless enough.

I went to Freidrichshafen to attend Europes largest Amateur Radio fair. There are a couple of German radio kits that I was interested in and I use several excellent software programs developed by various hams over here in europe. I took the shuttle from the bahnhof to the Messe. WOW! This Messe is band new and HUGE!!! I guess they still think in huge terms here in Freidrichshafen since it is where the launched all those transcontinental blimps... back in the day. No lead zepplin today though (tommorrow... maybe). After I get directions, I hoof it around the huge complex to the camping area. It's HUGE. Flags from... from... hell I don't even know where some of these flags hail from... prit near everywhere.

I pick a spot and pitch the tent (never could find the "office"). In my search to pay for my pitch, I find a makeshift bar and grill where I meet Dieter. Dieter speaks good english and takes a liking to me, so we have a beer and he tells me about many things he and his friends have been working on. Antennas, mostly. This is, of course, the holy grail for hams. Deiter rides me back to his RV to show me his latest multi-band concoction. It is a clever implementation that spans the perimeter of the roof of his RV. It looks like a guard rail, but is insulated from the body of the vehicle and gives excellent performance on most HF frequencies... very clever indeed!

While hanging at Dieters, I meet a couple of his long-time friends, Martin and Horace. They're hangin out for the craic and party more than the hamfest. These guys have built most of the equipment they've used over the years... largely tubed based, so the current trend towards higher frequencies (aka, light) isn't where they spend their time. Like me, they're still fascinated by bouncing longer wavelengths off the ionosphere half-way (or farther) round the globe. I admire these guys. They pioneered radio.

Well, Dieter goes off and gets into a shouting-match with an electrical engineer neighbor of his and they exchange harsh words over who is to blame for blowing the electrical line feeding their part of the caravan-hood. Dieter, frustrated by the pomposity of the self-declared engineered decides that he'll look for electricity elsewhere for dinner cause the engineer "ain't got no game". After a bit, Dieter is plugged in elsewhere and his "george-forman" like electrical grill shows signs of life (heat and smoke). As they prepare for dinner, I finish off a beer provided by a friend of theirs that they bailed out of the deluge the night before. Evidently, it poured buckets the night before, and every thing this poor guy had (except his lead batteries) darn near floated away. Anyway, after finishing off his beer of gratitude, I said my farewells and decided that maybe I needed to put the rainfly on on my tent. The night's entertainment would begin soon, and I dcided that would be a good place to check out the scene.

Turns out the entertainment was provided by a surf-rock band. The main guitarist seemed to be known personally by many of the attendees, so perhaps he is a ham also?

I meet David from Ireland. We drink... lots. He's engaged, and this is part of his last fling before he's hitched, ... so he's having a good time. We exchange stories about Ireland. The band has surfed through most of the known-world's repertior of surfable tunes, and they kick out a few unknowns. About this time, the gods intervene, and Thor starts hurling mighty lighting bolts, the four winds get seriously pissed, and Nemo drops the oceans to the land! Glad I put the fly on my tent. Hope it holds back the deluge.

After the storm breaks, David and I decide to head to our respective hovels. He's holed up in some plush hotel room somewhere the taxi can find. I'm stuck hoofing around the perimeter of this massive site to see if I still have a hovel. Despite the possibilities, my spirits are high.

Spared by the gods, I find a dry tent floor and hovel. Pleased, I crash my blimp for the hard days work ahead. The next morning I pack things up and haul everything into the expo and pay one euro to store my pack and tent for the day. I'm impressed that all the hired folks working the fest are dressed to the nines, in some kind of uniform (very German I suppose).

The fest is big and similar to US fests. Booths by major vendors, clubs and individuals. They hail from all over Europe, but despite my efforts to stay focused, I can't find the folks I wanted to visit. After inquiring with a few folks, turns out, none of the folks I wanted to see are here! Bummer. Nevertheless, the experience is a good one, and, upon leaving, I decide that I'll stay in Friedrichshafen another night. I have to work out a pretty major jaunt across Lake Constance into Switzerland, and then onto the train thru Switzerland to Levanto Italy on the Italian Riviera near Cinque Terra. To pull this off, I have to make an early morning ferry over to Romanshorn Switzerland.

I get all my schedule worked out, find a campground (different than the one I originally planned on... cause the bus took me a different way. I ate at the campground and then walked toward Freidrichshafen, saw a sign for a Marina and a park, and went down to take a look. It was a park with waterfront on lake Constance, with a biergarten of course. I had a biere and sat at a table by myself. The sunset on the water was beautiful. After awhile, as the tables inside the garten filled up, a threesome joined my table and we, like everyone else there, chatted (in English). The two guys worked out of a nearby city, and the gal was a local. I asked if they had ridden bikes around the lake (as many people do), All had, but said that it had been some years since they had. The guys had to leave to catch a train foe their work, and I decided to pack it in since I had an early bell to repond to in the morning. Tomorrow I would be on the Italian Riviera (and another nude beach?)... but that's a story for another day....

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