The Road To Huntsville

Happy Sunday, everyone. The Huntsville hamfest is just a few days away and, many of you, like myself, will be making that trek to Monte Sano State Park. I will be on the road bright and early Monday morning and I am planning on being at my campsite by mid-afternoon.

Travel Warning

If you are heading to Monte Sano SP for the first time and pulling a travel trailer, be aware that there are two routes that you can take to get the the main entrance of the park. The shortest route involves some steep grades and switchbacks with tight turns and will, most likely, be the route your mapping software will provide you with. This is NOT the route you want to take with your trailer. The best route while pulling a trailer will be to head to the mountain on US-431 and then take SE Monte Sano BLVD. to the top.

Watch Your Speed In The Park

All I can say is that you have been warned. They are sticklers for the speed limit in the park and for good reason. There are a lot of windy roads where trail crossings can blindly drop people in the roadway. Please watch your speed and always anticipate someone is going to be in the roadway on blind corners.

Allstar

Several of us have mobile Allstar nodes in our vehicles and will be active on Allstar as we drive to Huntsville. Jason KC5HWB has a cloud node available to all that is very active. Make sure to monitor node 43136 to jump in the conversation.

If you do not have an Allstar node, no problem. I recently released a video about 3 smart phone apps that you can use to directly connect to Jason's cloud node.

The Coffee Is On In Campsite 47

If you drink coffee, I will have coffee on every morning. It's not Starbucks, heck, it may not even be that good, but I promise that it will be hot. If you have a coffee cup, bring it down with you. I will have cream and sugar and some disposable cups on hand.

Meshtastic On The Mountain

Unlike Hamvention and Hamcation, there will not be a special firmware for the Huntsville Hamfest. Robert W5ITR, aka Digital Rancher has taken on the task of setting up a couple of special channels just for the hamfest. The settings below will get you connected with the group.

The YouTuber's Cookout

This is the part where I need you to actually do something, guys. The cookout is happening Friday afternoon, the day before the hamfest, and it's one of the best events of the whole trip — good food, good company, the whole HamTube crew in one spot. Kyle is closing the registration Tuesday night, so don't wait to get signed up.

Help us feed everybody — and give back to the youth

Cookouts cost money, plain and simple. Every bit helps cover the food — and here's the part that makes it worth your while: anything left over goes straight to youth programs in the ham radio community. That's how we get the next generation on the air.

Check was cut today for $6425 for the @arrl teachers institute from the @hsvhamfest YouTubers Friday lunch cook out at Monte Sano. Thanks to all those who donated and helped make this a reality to smash our $3k donation goal! Next year lets hit 7K!!!! pic.twitter.com/uIKmDiVvj0
— Kyle - AA0Z (@kyleaa0z) September 2, 2025

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Sunday Mornings From The Park

If you missed today's live stream from the park, I spoke about a lot of the events going on this week. Check out the stream on Team Replay.

Ham Radio Kids Table

If you missed last week's Kids Table, you missed out on a great conversation with Forrest KI7QCF where we found out about his journey in amateur radio, learning CW, and the origin story of the infamous bad boys and some girls of ham radio, the Brass Knuckle Gang.

Steals and Deals Page – Check It Regularly!

Make sure you regularly check the Steals and Deals page. This is where I will post deals and discount codes for things that I find on the Internet. Some of the links are affiliate links; they do not cost you extra, but I do get paid a small commission, which goes to supporting the operation of the channel.