EDDIE'S REFLECTIONS ON HIS FIRST
SWL FEST
© 2007 by Ed
Muro K2EPM
As we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Winter SWL Fest I am going
to take a few moments to give my reflections on my first time at the fest
in 1996.
It was the winter of 1996 and quite frankly, I was not "in a good
way" personally. I was in the process of the breakup of a 6 year
relationship with a girl, and I was also scheduled to have my hip replaced
in the spring of 1996....something I was NOT looking forward to. At 31
years old, I was felling beat up emotionally and physically.
I had been a radio hobbyist for a little over 20 years and had been writing
for a number of periodicals and club publications, focusing primarily
on the Scanner Hobby.
At the time, I was writing for the All Ohio Scanner Club's Newsletter
and had been communicating by e-mail regularly with Dave Marshall but
had never met him in person. Dave had taken my under his wing and kept
asking me to come to the Winter SWL Fest...I kept thinking...no, I can't
do that....Kulpsville.....where is this Kulpsville? Then, one day I looked
at a map....heck, this godforsaken place is only 2 hours away on a good
day....why not.... I'm single (at the time) have no one to answer to,
I am on disability (at the time) so I don't need time off work...and I
could use a little fun.
So, at the last minute I went ahead and made plans to go. The only problem
was, the Holiday Inn was completely SOLD OUT....so I had to get a room
at the dive across the street that was attached to the Kulpsville Kitchen.
I packed my clothes, loaded the car, my Dad threw me a few extra bucks
to subsidize the trip and off I went with my Pro-43 scanner in hand. When
I got to the Holiday Inn the place was a buzz of excitement, I was met
by Dave who had been traveling with Harry Smith on that particular trip....and
off we went to dinner at the Ground Round near the mall. There Dave introduced
me to a bunch of guys that were being called "The Scanner SCUM."
They were names from the hobby that I had been reading about for years,
but never met them.... I thought "Scanner SCUM" that's kind
of weird....little did I know that I was about to embark on a journey
of male bonding and form lasting friendships with these gentlemen.
So, now we get back from dinner and Dave says to come on upstairs and
hang out with a few of the fellows in Dave's room while they play radio
and throw back a few beers. I thought...Ok, that sounds good.... there
I was with my Pro-43 scanner, I had been pretty well respected in the
New York scanning scene.....and I'm pretty confident that I know my stuff....so
there I am with my little scanner in my hand and I knock on Dave's door....
he opens the door and invites me in.......and holy cow.... the place looks
like an NSA monitoring post.... I never saw so many scanners in one room...
some of them hooked up to computers..... and there I was, with my hand-held
scanner and an index card for a cheat sheet telling me what was programmed
in my scanner. Then, some of the guys start breaking out these big tackle
boxes filled with all sorts of accessories and connectors....and there
I am with my scanner in my hand. Radios all over the place, antennas hanging
in windows, coax running all over the room....and there I am with my scanner
in my hand....get the picture?
Well.... I won a Grundig Yacht Boy at the banquet that year, and I went
home pretty happy. Since then, I have gotten up to speed with my radios
and gear and I have lot's more anecdotes to talk about...at another time.
But, that was my FIRST SWL FEST. Oh yeah, it was also my first experience
with something called SCRAPPLE!
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