2020 Orlando HamCation

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Lets hear from those who were at the 2020 Orlando HamCation. Did you buy... or just browse? Get any good deals. Maybe you traded in some of your older pre-enjoyed equipment. How'd that go for you? Anything else you might want to say about your experience?

I was there on Saturday. Pulling into the parking lot, I noticed a number of out of state vehicles. One of them was from Alaska, while two others from California. Had to be Hams and not just the general public considering the various antennas sprouting from their vehicles.

This year it seemed like there were twice as many people there as compared to 2019.

73...

BaoFeng_Blogger
 

RFI-EMI-GUY

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I did not spend much. It was mostly an information gathering event for me. It was a good turn out and a pretty diverse bunch of folks showed up. Spent a lot of time researching mobile antenna options as I am in the market for a new vehicle.
 

wwhitby

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My son and I were there on Friday and Saturday. I went to a good forum on the early years of ham radio.

My son bought a new Vero VR-N7500 mobile radio. I bought a couple of sections of military mast, some coax, powerpoles, and an Icom IC-T2H HT and accessories that "spoke" to me. I didn't need another HT, but for $25, I couldn't pass it up.

There was a vendor selling military surplus cases and boxes, and my son and I each bought a 2U SKB rack case. One will be our VHF go kit, and the other our HF go kit.

Overall, it was a really great hamfest and we got some deals.
 

KB8KOJ

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Picked up an Anytone 878 DMR HT from the Bridgecom guys. Spent some time playing with the Flex radios... It was my 3rd year in a row for Hamcation. Had a blast this year, 4 other Dayton area guys plus 1 wife went. We all stayed in the same resort. Nice to get a break from winter, see my family who all now live in Orlando area, and a warm up for Hamvention. Hamcation organizers do a great show!

#Edit Agree it seemed like there were more people than the last 2 years. I only went on Friday and Saturday, but it seems like each day was different somehow.
 

wwhitby

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#Edit Agree it seemed like there were more people than the last 2 years. I only went on Friday and Saturday, but it seems like each day was different somehow.

The last time my son and I went was 2018, and there were definately more people there this year.

Agree with you that it seemed like there was a difference between Friday and Saturday. Maybe it because we had done it all and seen everything on Friday? Saturday, we just went though each building once and then and just bought the items that we thought about buying on Friday (military mast and rack cases) and then left.

Also, I forgot to mention that I ran into a couple of fellas in the bone yard area that remembered me from when I had my website from 1996-2003. We spent some time talking about scanning back then and the changes that have happened in scanning.
 

escortz28

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From my QRZ review
2nd year attendance, had a table in the Swaps Bldg. Definitely less Swaps vendors (i.e. more empty tables) than last year. Many of these empty tables did have names on them. On Friday there were less Tailgaters than last year. The East TG area was almost void of tailgaters, and there were less in the West TG area. The weather may have had an impact - a major cold front preceded by thunderstorms rolled through early Friday morning. Temperature was ~60 degrees at 0700, and there were soggy and muddy areas from the rain. For the most part - the tailgaters were the same from last year (in 'their same location', and for some the same gear from last year). On Saturday, the weather was cooler in the morning - 48 degrees at 0700 though quickly ramping up to low 70's by late morning. There was an influx of tailgaters on Saturday as well as 'general public' in attendance. The newcomers were being set-up on the asphalt road just past the main gates; last year this area was not populated. Once shoppers saw these newcomers, their tables were quickly descended upon by the horde (myself included). I purchased a loaded tube caddy for $100, a variety of decent tubes.

There were bargains to be held albeit had to search and dig. I purchased a rolling inductor for $1; an early 1980's Motorola MC6800 Development Kit for $5; new sealed project cases for $1 and $2. I missed out on a nice J38 key that sold for $10. Conversely there were quite a few items/prices/sellers that made you think your hearing went bad - you want $200 for a Commodore C64 whose entire case was cracked and broken? Or asking within dollars of what the exact same piece of gear could be purchased brand new with a warranty. Lastly, to the set of sellers who state "on eBay this is listed/sells for $X" - first, search on the sold listings to see the actual sold price, and remember with eBay/PayPal there is a course of action if the item is bad and with the tailgaters there is no recourse. There were many items who had seen better years - a long time ago.

On new gear inside the commercial vendors building, show discounts were offered on a variety of gear. At HRO, I purchased an Alinco DMR handheld for $11 less than HRO's on-line price.

Overall, a nice laid-back hamfest; good time to catch-up with friends; and great exercise from walking in the FL sun (especially for us visiting Northerners).
 

ArloG

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Hey. Fairly new member here. Followed RR for quite some time now. I really wanted to get down for the event. Unfortunately things didn't work out that way. I lived in Orlando for some 17 or so years. Now 1300 miles north of it. Believe me if it was a cool 48 to you it was Freezing to locals.
Anyway. I went to quite a few ham events in Orlando and outlying areas over the years. There are quite a mess of fellows in the hobby there.
AES was right down the road. Stinks that they're closed now. I remember the used equipment shelves being loaded before 9-11. They quickly cleared afterwards. If I remember correctly they kept their repeater running when the hurricanes zapped the juice during Charlie and Florence.

It's strange so many vendors do base their pricing based on eBay prices. Even the pawn shops base much on eBay. Trying to dicker and make them realize the overhead percentage was sometimes fun. All in all the whole area is a great place to find good ham equipment if you keep your eyes peeled. There's enough repeaters and radio chatter to keep you occupied any evening although HF RFI is sometimes a bear to deal with.

I guess I haven't posted enough here to be allowed to start a conversation. I'd like to ask a few questions if you don't mind escortz28.
For those that went I hope you had a great time and at least visited Skycraft Surplus. It's a geeks Home Depot!
 

N4KVE

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I was there, but I’ve been going for the last 3+ decades. Stayed in my friend’s camper which sat at the main intersection in the tailgate area. Thursday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. Bought a mint Motorola XPR4550 for $140, which seems to be $100 less than the going rate. Got it from Ryan Owens who always brings surplus equipment to the shows. Had the radio programmed up in 10 minutes, & it works like new. While Dayton is the best show, I prefer Orlando. It’s a 2 hour ride, vs Dayton which is a 2 day ride. Also since no campers are on the Dayton ham fest property, people can only go back to their cars to drop off their newly purchased goodies. At Orlando I drop my stuff off at the camper, which is in the center of the show. Burgers are on the grill all day, with water, & Cokes in an ice chest. This hospitality does not exist at Dayton, since all campers are parked a mile away. So it’s a 3-4 day event at Orlando, and I’m already looking forward to next year’s show. With all the walking at Dayton, I’m worn out by 2 PM, & head back to the hotel, while at Orlando, I can last the whole day, because of the rest breaks at John’s [KD4ELF] camper. We even had an on site DMR repeater in the camper linked up to seven other Florida repeaters on the AC4XQ system.
 

n3obl

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I drove John golf cart a few years ago. Been few years since i could make it down there.
 

petnrdx

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This year was our first time there. Have been to MANY hamswaps around the country, and I really liked Hamcation. Will attend again if we are in FLA at the right time. The prices I saw on Fri in the swaps seemed pretty good to me. But, I have not been to Dayton in a few years. The WX I thought was pretty nice. But I am from northern Nevada and any FLA wx seems nice. I can sure see the advantage of having the RV space. We just drove up in a car from Tampa where we were visiting family and friends. Really seemed like a state fair atmosphere. Nice and friendly.
 
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