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Hamvention 2018 |
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The following provides a report by WA4THR and N4HCI of the 2018 Hamvention
experience and a comparison of the 2018 Hamvention to the 2017 Hamvention, which
was the first Hamvention occurrence in the new venue.
The "Dayton Hamvention" moved to Xenia's Greene County Fairgrounds in 2017, due
to the closure of its long time HARA host facility. WA4THR, Vic, and
N4HCI, Bob, attended the 2017 Hamvention first occurrence in the new location
and we formed certain opinions of the new facility in comparison to Hamventions
in the older HARA Center, which we had also attended in 2013. We decided
to return this year, not only for the Hamvention experience, but also to compare
this year with last and see what last year's lessons learned might have caused
to be changed this year.
After learning that some other ECARS members/users were attending, we set up a
simplex frequency and established a text group to coordinate setting up
eyeball
QSOs and WA4THR, N4HCI, K9ARM, NJ2US, K1VLB, and W3ZR
were able to meet. We
were able to meet up with K9ARM and NJ2US right away at the entrance,
coordinating on 146.55, and shortly thereafter caught K1VLB on his inaugural
Hamvention visit on the same frequency. Later we ran into W3ZR, another ECARS
member, while wandering through the facility.
The group text communications proved very useful and was completely
private to the members of the group.
As expected, use of any simplex 2 mtr frequency must be shared with other
Hamvention attendees but we were surprised to hear the amount of non-voice
'noise' on 146.55 simplex frequency from those using digital modes to keep their
comms private and to only break squelch if the incoming call met encoding
criteria. This is a VERY RUDE way
to use the band because every other user of the frequency has to listen to the
frequent static bursts from their digital comms on the FM frequency.
Those using digital modes really should move to the different area of the
band set aside for that. 145.55 would have been perfectly OK for DMR, but 146.55
is specifically for FM simplex. The periodic blasts of digital noise were very
irritating. Otherwise using an agreed upon frequency certainly helped coordinate
eyeball QSOs.
IMPRESSIONS
What has not changed - the weather. The timing of Hamvention is that it
occurs when there is a high probability of rain. This was not so obvious
when using the HARA Center as all
exhibits and the food court were in a single extended building and protected by
the building's roof. Last year, heavy rains the night before Hamvention
opened, resulted in creating soggy fields for parking and they quickly became
very muddy messes that were difficult to drive through. We even got stuck
for a short while in 2017. This year, the rains did not precondition the
parking fields from rain the night before, but they occurred several times
during the day of the Hamvention, and were beginning to have the same effect on
the parking fields by the time we left on day 1.
Also, what has not changed much is the nature of the exhibit venue, which is a
series of buildings and large tents situated around a small courtyard.
Exhibitors were set up within these buildings and tents. This year there
seemed to be fewer tents but there were still a couple of large tents set up and
this year they seemed mostly to house the non-ham related exhibitors (USPS, a
gutter and roofing exhibit, outdoor suspended chairs, medical evaluation for
knee problems, construction tools, etc.) In 2017 the heavy drenching rains
of the night before resulted in water flowing through the tents and causing
exhibitors some problems and a fair degree of bad will. This year, we did
not see such impacts but it may have been more due to the lack of heavy
rains the night before than to any preventative measures. The daytime
rains of 2018 did tend to control when one ventured from one exhibit hall to the
next, and did result in little use of the bleacher seats set up for resting of
attendees inside the main exhibit area, but had little other impact. By
noon, it seemed to have passed for a few hours and the outdoor food trailers, of
which there were many, did a brisk business feeding the attendees.
Almost all Ham vendors are now in buildings, with only a couple of large tents
holding some “overflow” vendors. The buildings are not as open and well lit as
parts of the old HARA venue, but they are improving each year (see typical bldg
to right). There are covered walkways between several of the buildings, which
helps with the rain, as
well. It is neat to see new equipment and vendor plans that we might not
otherwise learn about for months. Several had new rigs and we had a nice
conversation with Mike Dishop about the new Ten Tec factory he is building in
Sevierville. He planned to be producing ham gear again before the end of the
year, starting with the Eagle. We
enjoyed learning about a solid-state, WiFi controlled HF amplifier kit available
from Germany and had a long discussion about the control philosophy in the
SteppIR antennas. The current popularity of loop antennas was interesting, many
set up in easy to tote travel bags for portable operations. It was a treat to
see the youth building where a room full of kids were busy soldering up circuits
very professionally under the watchful eyes of adult tutors at each station, and
to talk with the teens
building robot vehicles, although the rain kept them
inside this year. And if you needed “something”, you would surely find it as
just about anything ham-related was available from the many vendors inside.
Outside was another clear improvement by DARA and the Greene County Fairgrounds
officials. The racetrack tailgate area had been redesigned with rows and paths
all covered with a crushed macadam to a fairly good depth, making a walking path
similar to some bike or hiking trails…no mud and comfortable to walk on. A few
tailgaters were even parked along the paved areas leading up to the racetrack.
One could cruise through the area and swing into the mostly-tented vendor spots
to look at interesting stuff.
While walking to the tailgate field, we passed a Toyota Prius with way too many
antennas on it, so we stopped and
talked to the owner. Apparently he is
not even a licensed Ham but he has undertaken to record all the local repeaters
with the stated intention of creating an archive of local Ham radio activity.
The picture shows the quintessential Ham car, which he says is mostly driven by
his wife.
And we can’t fail to mention the vast assortment of food vendors set up between
the buildings! The smells were wonderful and sure made our stomachs start
growling.
Shuttle carts were used in 2017 and 2018 to help attendees get from the main
gate to/from the parking fields but they seem far fewer in number this year and
even less available to use than the reduced numbers would indicate. In
2017, in addition to more electric carts that in 2018, they also used several
tractors pulling open wagons having bench seating. While these tractors and
trailers were seen to be present this year, none of them were seen in use.
We decided to arrive at Hamvention an hour after the gates opened in hopes of
benefitting from less traffic congestion on the drive in and no standing around
waiting for the gates to open. In fact, we did enjoy those benefits.
Whereas in 2017, it took us 45 minutes to drive the last 1-2 miles to the
facility, this year there was no such congestion. However, we also noticed
that there were sheriff's department and state trooper vehicles at every
intersection we passed through on the way in and out. It is hard to draw
positive conclusions but we noted that the talk in operator was advising people
coming from our direction to turn on a different road than our GPS was
suggesting and we opined that this year the authorities may have been
dynamically adjusting the recommended approaches in response to traffic
conditions has they developed. Work was clearly done to smooth traffic flow and
keep cars out of the downtown area, so well done DARA! Besides 2 talk-in
frequencies there was a running information channel on 2m as well as on 1620 of
the AM broadcast band, with good information about the traffic and routing. we
almost felt we were supposed to call ATC with “information bravo” as we arrived.
Parking on site was still on grass, and that does turn to mud with rain and
repeated vehicle passages, but we had less trouble departing than last year.
The showing of international exhibitors was improved over 2017. British,
German, Japanese and Canadian amateur radio organizations were present and
several British, German, and Italian vendors were set up and displaying and
selling their wares in addition to the big US and Japanese radio companies.
Magnetic loop antennas are growing in popularity if their increased presence in
2018 is any indication and their quieter receiving characteristics seem well
suited to QRP use as most of the magnetic loop antenna designs that we observed
were limited in their transmitting power output capability, although DX
Engineering and Inco had full legal limit magnetic loop antennas that seemed
constructed to survive a nuclear holocaust.
The coolest thing Vic (WA4THR) saw? Hard to decide among the all of the
innovative ham gear, but it just might be the miniature arcade video game kit.
Pretty
pricey
(around $50), but the result was a working video game in an authentic looking
miniature cabinet, perhaps 2 ½” tall, complete with a working joystick and
buttons to play a classic game seen on the miniature screen. Amazing!
NON-HAMVENTION HAM ACTIVITIES
We learned this year that there a mini-convention of QRP vendors and
aficionados, known as Four Days In May (FDIM), that occurred with “open
sessions” on Thursday and Friday. WA4THR and N4HCI attended the vendor
exhibits at the Fairfield Holiday Inn and it was well worth the effort.
The vendors present were not the giants of the Ham world, but they were all
focused on the growing arm of Amateur Radio that believes that less is better
and FDIM gave them an opportunity to strut their stuff out from under the shadow
of the larger vendors and crowds that they generate. Many of these exhibits also
show up in Hamvention but it is much easier to talk with the vendors in the less
crowded FDIM venue.
The USAF Aviation Museum is phenomenal and comparable, if not better, than the
national Air and Space museums.
WA4THR has been four times and N4HCI three times and it is always worth going
back to. K1VLB reported going this year
and his "after action" report was very upbeat.
This year, Hamvention coincided
with the 75th anniversary of the return of the Memphis Belle (WW2 B-17 Heavy
Bomber) to the states after having 25 combat missions.
The not only was an excellent presentation of the Memphis Belle and the
WW2 European bombing campaign, but also included a large encampment of dedicated
WW2 re-enactors who were presenting a WW2 air field in Britain during WW2.
The re-enactors were unpaid, and brought their own gear with them, but
were clearly dedicated to the idea of realistically portraying the life of those
who lived these wartime experiences.
Listening to them talk was fascinating.
Overall, real improvements for the biggest Ham Radio convention in the world,
and local news reports said over 30,000 visitors were expected. If you haven’t
been, put this on your bucket list!