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This is the Dallas
skyline, made famous in the TV series of the same name, and
now the backdrop for a fantastic few days in the company of
some of the world's best known microwavers.
Seven "Brits",
plus one expatriate now domiciled in the State of Texas, made
the pilgrimage to Microwave Update this year. We were not disappointed
as it turned out to be one of the best ever meetings of its
kind.
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| G3PYB,
G6GXK, G4DDK, G4PBP, G8GTZ, G8UBN, G4FRE(who is also WW2R)and
myself, G3PHO, stayed here in the Harvey Hotel, right next
to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport. After a very long journey from
the UK, all of us except G4FRE, who lived a relatively short drive
away, were quite exhausted when we arrived on the Wednesday night.
We "hit the sack" before midnight as Thursday morning
marked the beginning of the Update programme ... the Grand
Surplus Tour! |
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THURSDAY MORNING
Rise and shine
for an early start! After an excellent buffet style breakfast
we assembled in the foyer of the hotel and were sorted into
suitably sized groups to take advantage of the cars that many
people offered for the day. G8UBN, G3PYB, G6GXK and myself were
the lucky ones as we were to ride with Kent Britain, WA5VJB
... possibly the most "clued up" microwaver we could
find. He lives in nearby Grand Prairie and knows every inch
of every surplus warehouse in the region!
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| Our
130 mile tour of the Dallas surplus stores first took us to Harbor
Freight Tools, a store full of every conceivable type of tool
you could wish for. I managed to find a very useful tilt angle
indicator which you could attach by its magnet to a,say, an offset
dish, and adjust the dish for the correct tilt. G3PYB came out
with a laser level indicator ... he just wanted the laser diode
module for a future light wave transceiver project! |
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Then it
was back into Kent's car for a check-in with the other vehicles
in our convoy to make sure they weren't getting lost as we drove
along the freeways across the city. |
| Next stop
was Nortex, an unassuming place from outside but what an "Aladdin's
cave" on the inside! Here's Grant, G8UBN (he is GH Engineering
in the UK), looking very excited as he crosses the threshold ... |
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Inside we
met Louis, the owner. He's getting on in years now and is making
plans to retire. I'll believe that when I see it! I'm sure he
still be there if and when I return to Dallas one day. His place
is stacked to the ceiling with every conceivable type of electronic
surplus you could think of. You could spend all day and more
browsing and rummaging through the stuff in the two buildings
he has.
Our problem
was that we just couldn't buy all we'd like to as we wouldn't
have been able to get it home on the plane. So we had to be
very selective and buy small items unobtainable in the UK.
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| Peter
(G3PYB) and David (G6GXK) ponder over the test gear manuals that
fill the shelves in one corner of Nortex's main room. |
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