Clermont, Florida – Disney Lunch & A Hamfest

After a great month of January, we packed up and left the JOY RV Park in Cocoa on Feb 1st for the short drive to the southwest of Orlando. Our new home location is the very fast growing town Clermont Florida, with a population of 37,000 people. This location is just a few minutes from the Disney theme parks and still has a small town feel even though it is just next door to Orlando. We recently had a trip to Disney for lunch and a few days later, I managed to hit the large amateur radio convention (hamfest) called the Hamcation.

The Drive

The drive was not too bad after our good friend Calvin gave me the route around I-4. It is best to avoid I-4 around Orlando due to the heavy Disney traffic. The only downside to the 1.5 hour drive was a light rain all the way from Cocoa that decreased visibility. It’s good to see while driving the beast!

Citrus Valley Elite Resort

Our good friends, Calvin and Sue, have asked us to come and stay at their winter RV resort in Clermont. It sounded great from their descriptions and we were not disappointed! The RV site at the Citrus Valley is probably the best that we have ever enjoyed.

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It is paved with paver bricks and is about 75 feet long and about 40 feet wide. There is even a gazebo that we can use for some shade.

The resort has a heated pool, clubhouse, and a few other amenities. Most of the lots are privately owned, as is ours. Just walking around it appears the 300 sites to be completely full in February. There are park models on maybe 10-15% of the sites and the rest are RVs.

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The only real downside is the absentee owner did not provide much information about the park since there is no check in process at the front office. We had to rely on friends Calvin and Sue on where to pick up a cable box and other such things.

The monthly price was not bad either for Florida at $1,050 for a lot that sells for over $100k. We would return one of these years!

Disney For Lunch

Since Calvin is a retired Disney employee, he has access passes to get into any of the Disney parks along with guest passes. And since we are closeby, we went to the park, rode the tram all around, and then had lunch at the Grand Floridian Resort. Very nice.

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We made plans to come back another day to explore Epcot and the Animal Kingdom. Wading through large throngs of germ laden people is not really my thing, but I would love to see these Disney parks while we are here. It has been 30 years since we have been to Epcot.

Hamcation

There are just a couple of major conventions for the ham radio hobby. The grand daddy is the Dayton Hamvention. I’ve been to it about 15 times in prior years. Back when I was very active in the hobby.

The Orlando Hamcation is a bit smaller and is located in the warmth of central Florida. I attended it on the second Saturday in February.

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For those who do not know much about amateur radio, here is a quick rundown. It is not CB radio. Hams are licensed by the FCC and must pass a written test for each level to attain more privileges. The exams can be difficult as they have questions on the rules and electronic technical information. At least they were back when I was licensed in 1981. I advanced through all five exam levels in short order to attain the top license, Amateur Extra Class, back when it had a morse code requirement.

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Once licensed and having set up a station with radio gear and antennas, the world really opens up. You may communicate with other ham radio operators all over the world by many different modes. The modes include voice, CW (morse code), and many computerized digital modes.

There are even sub-hobbies such as trying to work all countries (DXing) and contesting (working as many other stations as you can within the rules and a time period). And many more.

I’ve kind of put the hobby on the back burner for awhile. The whole RV travel thing is taking up most of my time. Although, I did bring a portable station that I plan to set up at some point.

By attending this hamfest I thought it may get some interest going on the hobby. Maybe it did. We’ll see. I only bought a hot dog and a drink. No real need (or room) for more toys at this time!

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Wrap Up

We found a great church to attend while in the area. Just a few miles north of us in the small town of Minneola is the New Life Presbyterian Church led by Pastor John Bopp. He and his wife Sherry have been very welcoming of snowbirds like us. Some great sermons and a very friendly congregation.

That’s all for now in this installment. Many thanks for following along. Make sure to sign up for the email notifications and leave a comment if you wish.

Take care and God Bless.