From Berlin to Kassel, my first visit to this ham radio fair was exceptional. The flea market offered a variety of treasures to choose from, well, treasures for an Argentinian Ham Radio operator, at least.

Something I found fantastic: two complete shacks with all the necessary measurement equipment for you to test what you were going to buy before purchasing. I won’t deny that I came back home with a couple of extra toys packed with me. It’s essential to come with cash and negotiation skills.

As local vendors, there was an interesting assortment: Funk24, Bonito, Hilberling, Icom, Funktechnik Dathe. There were also interesting talks and presentations about contests, planned DXPeditions, antenna construction, and SDRs. Stands were set up by local associations like the German DX Foundation, Bavarian Contest Club, POTA, WWFF.

The social aspect, even for an “Ausländer” like myself, makes you forget you’re 11,000 km away from home: we shared a coffee with my friend Hans DC7OU from Berlin, had lunch with Thomas DK4TC and his wife, or chatted with the Intruder Monitoring team about some “pirate” ships causing interference on the CW portion of 15M.

Oh, And at the end of the event, a “VHF Mobile contest” for some fun on the airwaves, with the shack full and pockets empty.