Dayton Hamstervention Report

[prcguy]

I and a few friends traveled and attended the Dayton Hamvention today and met up with a few RR members and other old friends. I also stopped and had a nice chat with Dr. Jack with COMPACtenna. Weather the night before was a serious rain storm which left the swap meet area deep in mud but there were plenty of of great deals to be had.

I've been looking for UHF duplexers and we scored several Motorola T1500 type duplexers for $50 and a few others really cheap including a couple of 2m duplexers. Tomorrow Saturday will be more swap meet searching and also several radio nets to exercise our military radios on 3.850 AM and 51.0MHz FM plus a 17m SSB check in.

Here is some of today's swap meet stuff stacked up in our hotel room.

 

[KB0VWG]

Looks like a very successful day, Been a few years since I have been to Dayton are planning for next year.
73's
kb0vwg

 

[K4EET]

Hey @prcguy, you got some nice duplexers there my friend. However, when housekeeping comes to clean your room, they just might think those cans are something that goes boom in a big kind of way. Either that or it is all a big pile of trash that needs to go to the dumpster. In any event, enjoy the hamfest! I know you all will.

If I could ask, what did Dr. Jack have to say? He is a friend of mine and I believe he was revealing yet another new antenna at this year's hamfest. Did he have his new antenna there on display? If he has it there, please post a picture of it if you go by his booth again. I have two of his antennas here at the house and one of them I use for receiving the International Space Station (ISS) on relatively high passes. Due to the way the antenna works, I can leave it stationary on a ground plane for the downlink and just use a single band yagi for the uplink. I believe that the downlink signal is equal if not better in some cases as compared to when I was using a yagi. Since the downlink signal's phase actually bounces around somewhat as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere, Dr. Jack's COMPACtenna captures that signal quite nicely. I would love to come out there to the hamfest one year with my powerchair et. al. as I have never been since becoming a ham in 1974.

And speaking of powerchairs, I have not installed the converter on this chair for my radio setup. I am scheduled to get a new $35,000+ rehab powerchair late this year or next and I didn't want to have to do the install twice. Finding the volunteer help once to do the install will be hard enough. I may also be getting a new mobile VHF/UHF rig to replace the aging Icom IC-208H. So it is all coming together... slowly.

Happy bargain hunting and new equipment reveals. Sounds like you are off to a great start!

73 my friend, Dave K4EET

 

[prcguy]

I was discussing some details of the newer LMR-1 antenna from COMPACtenna with Dr. Jack. I need to get my hands on one to do a comparison test in the future. He had quite a few antennas on display.

Anyway lots of rain forecast for today so we will be hitting the outside swap meet area early then the indoor buildings when it rains. I'm glad a friend drove his large truck across the country so we can get all this stuff home!

Hey @prcguy, you got some nice duplexers there my friend. However, when housekeeping comes to clean your room, they just might think those cans are something that goes boom in a big kind of way. Either that or it is all a big pile of trash that needs to go to the dumpster. In any event, enjoy the hamfest! I know you all will.

If I could ask, what did Dr. Jack have to say? He is a friend of mine and I believe he was revealing yet another new antenna at this year's hamfest. Did he have his new antenna there on display? If he has it there, please post a picture of it if you go by his booth again. I have two of his antennas here at the house and one of them I use for receiving the International Space Station (ISS) on relatively high passes. Due to the way the antenna works, I can leave it stationary on a ground plane for the downlink and just use a single band yagi for the uplink. I believe that the downlink signal is equal if not better in some cases as compared to when I was using a yagi. Since the downlink signal's phase actually bounces around somewhat as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere, Dr. Jack's COMPACtenna captures that signal quite nicely. I would love to come out there to the hamfest one year with my powerchair et. al. as I have never been since becoming a ham in 1974.

And speaking of powerchairs, I have not installed the converter on this chair for my radio setup. I am scheduled to get a new $35,000+ rehab powerchair late this year or next and I didn't want to have to do the install twice. Finding the volunteer help once to do the install will be hard enough. I may also be getting a new mobile VHF/UHF rig to replace the aging Icom IC-208H. So it is all coming together... slowly.

Happy bargain hunting and new equipment reveals. Sounds like you are off to a great start!

73 my friend, Dave K4EET

 

[vagrant]

Like Christmas morning and waking up to see all of the presents under the tree.

 

[hill]

Looks nice and hope you have a large vehicle to get all this stuff back home. Must have been fun bringing it all in.

Might be alright with housekeeping l, since the hotels been staying at for work don't do it daily with covid. If yiu need it you need to request it.

 

[prcguy]

Back to the Hamstervention today early and the line to get in 30min before opening was about 1/4 mile long. We finally got in and picked up more goodies and got out before the heavy rain hit around 2pm. Also warm and very humid today both inside the buildings and outside in the swap meet area.

It looked like the event was very well attended today and could break a record for the new venue. I heard there were some new things revealed at this years event but I didn't visit any of the major radio mfrs except Elecraft to say hello to some friends. We spent the majority of the time outdoors in the swap meet area. Indoors I did see a new portable 20m through 6m Hex Beam from Buddipole that looks really well made. Its around $599 which is about what a home model costs but fits in a tote bag about 4 1/2ft long and goes together in 30min.

Anyway, back at the hotel trying to pack suitcases for the flight home and also packing a friends truck who will haul all the big stuff home. Including several more duplexers and related repeater items.

 

[mmckenna]

Also warm and very humid today both inside the buildings and outside in the swap meet area.

I bet that just smelled just wonderful. Can't wait to see some of the photos from there.

 

[prcguy]

We had tickets to fly out of Dayton this morning at 6am and our flight was canceled along with everyone else. So far we have tickets to fly out Monday night at 5pm back to So Cal with two layovers, what a joke. Might be driving to another state to fly home.

 

[prcguy]

Gotta get a ride now to Indianapolis for a flight out later tonight.

 

[K4EET]

Gotta get a ride now to Indianapolis for a flight out later tonight.

Oh bummer... The airlines couldn't come up with a better solution?

 

[N9JCQ]

dayton doesn't have nearly as many commercial flights as Indy or Cleveland would.

 

[AK9R]

dayton doesn't have nearly as many commercial flights as Indy or Cleveland would.

Or, Cincinnati (CVG) which is a hub for Delta and maybe others. 73 miles from Greene County Fairgrounds to CVG according to Google Maps.

 

[Engine104]

Dayton is basically our Comi-Con..

It's on my bucket list for sure..Maybe next year.

 

[wa8pyr]

I bet that just smelled just wonderful. Can't wait to see some of the photos from there.

Actually wasn't bad. Greene County maintains the fairgrounds very well, and all the buildings are quite well ventilated.

Hara, on the other hand, got pretty grotty during a rainstorm when thousands of hams all jammed into the building at the same time.

 

[wa8pyr]

Or, Cincinnati (CVG) which is a hub for Delta and maybe others. 73 miles from Greene County Fairgrounds to CVG according to Google Maps.

Or Columbus, which keeps getting bigger and busier... 68.5 miles away, US35 east to I71 north to I670 east takes you right to the airport.

 

[AK9R]

Greene County maintains the fairgrounds very well, and all the buildings are quite well ventilated.

Well ventilated because the big doors are open all the time. I'd be concerned about humidity control. I think that if I bought a new radio at Hamvention, I'd let it sit in an air conditioned space for a day before I opened the box in the hopes that the humidity stabilized.

As for smells, there was a spot on the road between the Icom parking lot (northeast corner) and the shuttle bus area that smelled pretty bad. I don't know if it was the mulch that had been used to fill in the muddy spots from Friday or, perish the thought, a leaking sewer pipe downhill from the swimming pool building.

 

[prcguy]

I finally got home at 1:20am this morning. A friend driving back to Nevada drove us to Indianapolis where we spent all day at the airport for a 10pm flight out. Long day but at least it was a direct flight. I seem to remember worse luck getting to or from Dayton over the past 27 or 28yrs we've been doing this.

Big thank you to AK9R for his generous offer of transportation to Indy.

 

[wa8pyr]

Well ventilated because the big doors are open all the time. I'd be concerned about humidity control. I think that if I bought a new radio at Hamvention, I'd let it sit in an air conditioned space for a day before I opened the box in the hopes that the humidity stabilized.

Good point, although Hara got pretty muggy the last few years before they fixed the A/C.

I have bought a couple of radios at Hamvention since the Xenia relocation, and haven't had a lick of trouble, fortunately.

As for smells, there was a spot on the road between the Icom parking lot (northeast corner) and the shuttle bus area that smelled pretty bad. I don't know if it was the mulch that had been used to fill in the muddy spots from Friday or, perish the thought, a leaking sewer pipe downhill from the swimming pool building.

Criminy, please not a repeat of the Great 2011 Hara Poo Fountain....

 

[n4yek]

Just a curiosity question, was Ten Tec represented there by Dishtronics?
They always say they aren't shutdown but when you don't produce radios, you are.