How much more relevant could a first post to this blog be than to talk about Dayton 2008. For those that don't know, the Dayton Hamvention is the worlds largest convention for Amateur Radio Operators and Radio Communications enthusiasts. Each year, I've always "wanted" to attend, but never had the time or patience to sit down and plan a trip. Well, this year was different as I had some time, enough frequent flier miles, and patience to make the trip. At the last second, I decided to make plans to attend.I arrived on Thursday into Dayton at around Noon, and promptly drove out to Columbus to visit Universal Radio's facility in Reynoldsburg OH. Since I was 12 years old, I used to gawk at their catalog and dream about owning a room full of HF radio equipment - so it was only natural for me to head out there and check out their showroom. Later that evening, I had dinner with Rich Barnett, President of ScannerMaster.com who RadioReference has a well established relationship with, and Gommert Buysen, the author of the popular Butel line of scanner programming software. After a fantastic steak, a Martini, and two bottles of wine, it was time us hit the sack and rest for the next day festivities.
I arrived at about 9:00 AM at the Hara arena and was struck by two things - the sheer amount of people that were participating, and how much of a dump the Hara arena is. It was evident that this event was easily 10 times larger than I had anticipated, and the Hara arena probably bulges at the seams when no one is there, so the place looked like it could come down in a cloud of dust at any minute. I immediately bought a ticket and decided to peruse the outdoor flea market first so I could keep and eye on the building's structural integrity before entering. I didn't buy anything, but it was fun seeing all equipment for sale.
At the flea market, I was shocked at how many people were selling stuff, and how much junk was out in the lot. After two long grueling hours I headed in-doors to the ScannerMaster booth to spend some time there to meet some of our regular members and administrators. I wasn't disappointed. Almost immediately we were non-stop bombarded with RadioReference subscribers and admins. Since I have never had the opportunity to meet any of the subscribers (and our admins) - it was a refreshing and very rewarding experience. Mark Meece, Tom Swisher, Chris Dees, Mike O, and numerous others all spent some time at the booth. I also got to speak with many folks that had never heard of RadioReference.com, and those who were purchasing a scanner for the first time. Cool!
After working the booth for a few hours, I headed out to see everything indoors. My first stop was by the GRE booth, where I met the legendary Don Starr of Win96/Win500 Software fame. Don had to be the best dressed buy at Dayton, and was demoing his fantastic software suite for the GRE Scanners. I've spent a lot of time working with Don online, so this was a special treat. Next, I went and twiddled the knobs on an Icom R-9500, saw the line-up at the AOR booth (the new SR-2000A is really cool), and stopped by the RF Space booth to review their SDR (Software Defined Radio) line-up.
All in All, Saturday was the same as Friday, with lots of shaking hands, fighting crowds, and looking at radios. I stopped by the Batlabs table to meet Alex, PJ, and the other Motorola equipment crew. In the end, I dropped some cash for an RF Space SDR-14 panoramic receiver and prepared for my Saturday afternoon flight home.
In summary, the show was far more than I expected, and I most definitely plan on attending next year!
17 comments:
You *should* have gotten the SDR-IQ. :)
Lindsay,
Sounds like a good trip.
Maybe next year I will get there.
Thanks for the write-up... Tom/G
Don had to be the best dressed buy at Dayton...
What an unfortunate typo. Kinda makes me sound like I was selling myself.
I pretty much had the same reaction at my first Hamvention in '96, except I didn't quite describe Hara as a dump but as something from another era....I envisioned Paul Newman-like people from a two-bit minor league hockey team skating around the arena.
I also hung out with Mark Meece and Tom Swisher....they know ehere the best Ice Cream and shakes are located in town!
they know ehere the best Ice Cream and shakes are located in town!
So do some others. It sucks, though, when you make people drive an hour from the dinner location to the dessert location (based on a report from a 2007 attendee... the offender knows who he is).
Nice blog Lindsay, thanks for the report.
Thanks for your hard work - and it's great to read your thoughts via blog.
Readers, don't forget to add his blog to your Atom/RSS feed!
http://radioreference.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
Thank you Lindsay; for both the blog and the great resource (RadioReference.com). In order for many of us to be able to attend an event like this in the future, we need to know about it WEEKS in advance. Perhaps we need some sort of "calendar" section on RR to fill that need.
You *should* have gotten the SDR-IQ. :)
Why? The SDR-14 has much more bandwidth than the IQ... did I miss something?
Sorry I didn't make it this year. IIRC, it isn't really the place to go to pick up chicks (well, the chicks would be disappointed, too), but a great fix for a technojunkie.
Nice blog Lindsay. I am glad you had a good trip. Unfortunately, I think the Hamvention is in it's twilight years. 2007 attendance was 19,138 and this year I will be surprised if it makes it past 18,000. Just think, in the '80's and 90's attendance was over the 25,000 mark even into the low 30,000's. I still enjoy going every year.
Sounds like a great time..Is it helded in the same city every year?
One thing that I forgot to mention was that I also had the great opportunity to meet with Dan Rollman, author and owner of the ScannerStuff line of publications. I spent some time with him at the ScannerMaster booth. Dan is well known for publishing some of the more detailed and successful scanner reference guides in print. I even saw someone purchase 3 of his Southern California guides at one time!
The flea market is the best reason for going to the Hamvention. It usually opens very early. I will walk for 8 hours and not see everything. It's awesome if you are a techno junkie!
Dayton is always GREAT !!
The year before last I bought a WinRadio 313E as my major purchase.
Last year I bought an Icom 746pro and a 7000.
This year I bought a Kenwood "710" and an Avmap.
Really the swap and the Air Museum is the only worthwhile use of Ohio.
If it wasn't for Ohio there would be a big hole in the ground.
Rich KC8HMJ
Angry residents protested Wednesday night outside Wellston city hall. The marchers said police aren't doing enough to stop a rash of more than 30 burglaries over a 2 week period. More than half the marchers were recent victims of burglaries.
In many burglary cases, Wellston homeowners say police took hours to respond, never filed reports and never took fingerprints.
"They came and took everything in our house except our beds and dressers and the police were called and no one responded," said Ebonie Nichols.
Wellston leaders heard more than an hour of complaints from residents at Wednesday's city council meeting.
It was perhaps the words of one robbery victim that channeled the raw emotion of a community. "They violated me and I am afraid to go out my house which I never was and I don't even go anywhere because I am just that afraid."
Wellston's new police chief, Brian Gilmore, told residents he understood the concerns and complaints, and promised to make a change.
"I have only been here a week and I am very concerned and what I am saying is give me a chance," said Gilmore.
The Chief said he plans to hire several new officers soon. Right now there are 6 commissioned officers and 4 reserve officers.
Chief Gilmore and his assistant chief were involved in a fight where guns were drawn last week.
A report is being turned over to the St. Louis County Prosecutors Office on Thursday.
I`LL BE THERE THIS YEAR FOR SURE. I WANT TO SAY HELLO TO THAT FUCKING GEEK BLANTON
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