Observations from Dayton

Here's a few thoughts and observations from the Dayton Hamvention®:

• Dayton remains the ultimate ham radio geekfest on planet earth. I am checking with other galaxies....so far, no competition.
  

• Attendance, inside booths and flea market activity all seemed to be down a bit this year. I am guessing that $3.85 per gallon gasoline might be a factor.
  

• The weather forecast threatened rain for most of the weekend but the actual weather was just fine....not real hot, not real wet.

• The ARRL exhibit was large and well done. See the ARRL report on their web site.
  

• For some reason, this year I really noticed how decrepit Hara Arena has become. I don't think it has seen more than $5 worth of maintenance in recent years. This is not a new thought, see this string of comments on eham.net
  

• The forums that I attended drew large crowds, typically overflowing the available seating. This seems like a problem and an opportunity. (How to expand the size and number of the forums?)

• Check out the photos from Jeff KE9V. Also, Scot K9JY assembled some links to other Hamvention photos.
  

• Lots of interesting characters walking the flea market (my wife is entertained by the target-rich, people-watching environment.)

• Yaesu was showing an early unit of the VX-8R. See Universal Radio web site for preliminary data. This handheld has 50 MHz, 146 MHz, 222 MHz and 440 MHz with optional APRS feature.

• Lots of buzz around D-STAR. Last year, I thought "hmmm, maybe this technology is going to take off." This year, I think "this technology has taken off."

• I bought an ICOM IC-91AD dualband handheld with D-STAR capability.

• I picked up the usual collection of coaxial connectors/adaptors and cables.

• I picked up my free Yaesu hat. Thanks, Yaesu! I will put it with my collection of hamfest hats, mostly from Yaesu :-)

See you next year....

73, Bob K0NR