Greetings
I’ve combined my five Day Hamvention Blog entries into one document for simplicity and ease of reading.
Wednesday, May 14
Packed stuff for Dayton, loaded the van, picked up Ryan from school, topped off the gas tank and hit the road at 2:10pm.
Cloudy. Light traffic. No typical traffic jam around Frederick, MD (I-270/I-70). First Rest Area past Frederick is closed until Fall 2009.
Started raining just after Frostburg, MD. Steady rain from West Virginia-Maryland state line. Rain tapers off as we approach Wheeling, WV.
At 6:45pm we stopped for dinner in St Clairsville, OH (Exit 218) across the river from Wheeling). The gas station near the Cracker Barrel is no longer there.
Departed the Cracker Barrel at 7:30pm. Filled up with gas about 10 miles down the road (I-70). Cost was $3.89 per gallon for 87 octane. The truck traffic is a lot heavier but overall the traffic volume is 2-3 times heavier on the east-bound lanes.
It started raining lightly as we passed by Zanesville, OH and continued through our arrival in Fairborn, OH at 10:22pm.
Tomorrow, the plan is to visit the Air Force Museum and generally good off. We’ll also pick up our tickets to the Hamvention tomorrow.
Thursday’s weather forecast for Dayton:
Thursday Morning/Afternoon - Cloudy in the morning, then off and on rain showers during the afternoon hours. High 63F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Thursday evening - Cloudy with showers. Low 52F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Friday’s forecast: A few morning showers (30%). Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the mid 50s.
Thursday - 15 May
Slept in until 8:30 after having difficulty falling asleep last night – too much caffeine probably.
Walked through the property to breakfast – cold outside – low 50’s.
Partly cloudy all day – temperature in the mid- to upper 60’s and breezy with winds 14-22 mph. Temp is 65F as I type.
Spent the day at the Air Force Museum. Very impressive! And Free! We got there about 10:30am and left at 4:00pm. The place is HUGE! We just toured the inside displays. They start with the era of early flight and progressed through WW I, WW II, Korean War, Vietnam, the first Gulf War to the present. There are lots of aircraft from each era.
Tom/K3TH and his boys (Jimmy/KB3PGY, and Billy) were also visiting the museum. They took the tour of the Presidential aircraft which was in a separate area by bus from the main part of the museum.
We ran into Steve/K3BAY in the rocket/missile display room. Ton’s of hams visiting the museum and there were signs everywhere asking people to not key their radios inside the museum. It’s unfortunate that the museum has to post such signs.
We were planning to stop by Hara Arena and pick up our tickets, badges and hats (Perks for being VEs at the Hamvention) but chose to go to the museum instead. However, based on Tom’s experience we’re glad we didn’t. Seems no one at the arena knew anything about the tickets, etc. Hope things are better organized so we can pick up ours tomorrow.
Our hotel is offering “build your own” deli sandwiches for dinner so we’re off to check it out.
Weather forecast for the next couple days:
Friday - Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. High 68F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph. Lows in mid 50s. Chance of rain: 20%
Saturday - Afternoon thunderstorms. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the mid 50s. Chance of rain: 40%
Friday, 16 May
Greetings from Dayton,
Overnight rain. Cool morning - low 50's
We left the hotel around 9:20. We arrived at the remnants of the Salem Mall to find the original parking lot shrunk by 50%. There is a new Home Depot on part of the property that comprised the former mall. Only the Sears store remains from the original mall.
I got in line to get shuttle bus tickets – needed three tickets for two days. The price of the ticket is: $8 per person for all three days or $3 per person for one day. I asked for three tickets for two days (3 x $3 = $9 per day x 2 days = $18). Apparently this was a higher level of math for the people in charge because they argued that I could get a better deal of I bought three tickets at $8 for a total of $24. I explained that I only needed tickets for two days and their response was and exasperated, “Do what you think is best”.
So I said, “Give me three tickets for two days” and gave them $20 and they gave me $11 change.
When I tried to explain that they gave me too much change they told me to get out of line. So I did and got in line to board the bus.
Arrived at Hara Arena around 10:00am. Found the place where we picked up out badges and tickets.
I walked around the outside searching for "hitch pins" with a wire clip. No luck. Tom let me know he found 3-4. Walked around about half of the outside vendors but didn't find any.
Speaking of the outside vendors, there was about a 30% DECLINE in the number of tailgaters and vendors. Lots of open spaces. Most of the static displays of emergency communications vans and equipment are not here.
Inside had a few changes - Cushcraft antenna apparently did not attend as they were not in their usual loacation for the past 10+ years.
I talked with one of the volunteers from the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (sponsor of the Hamvention) and he said the number of ticket reservations was in fact up from last year but it looked to me like actual participation was down.
Walked around looking for whatever might strike my fancy. Had my short “wish list” but only checked off two items – a new hat and a new book. BTW the ARRL has not published the Amateur Extra class book yet. Expect to see it in early June which gives you plenty of time to study before the exam in July. ;-))
Brenda went to the YLRL meeting and learned about an upcoming all YL DXpedition to the Falklands and learned about a recent all YL DXpedition to some islands off of India.
Ran into Laura/KB3OGB and daughter Zoe while I was enjoying an adult beverage. Zoe was enjoying a bottle of something more suited for people her age. Laura was the only person from AARC I ran into all day.
I did see several of the luminaries from our hobby: Gordon West, Tim Duffy (Pennslyvania contest station fame), a couple people whose names escape me as I type and the usual suspects from the ARRL.
I had lunch with the founders of the Boulder Amateur Radio Club Jr. (BARC Jr.).
Joined Steve/K3BAY for dinner at the Cracker Barrel (Fish fry night)
Weather for Saturday
Gusty winds with scattered afternoon thunderstorms. High around 70F. Winds WSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40% with rain expected around 3:00pm and lasting until about 9:00pm
Weather for Sunday: Partly cloudy, chance of a thunderstorm especially in late afternoon or early evening. Highs in the low 60s.
Saturday – 17 May
Greetings from Dayton
Beautiful morning – low 60’s. We’re on our way to the Hamvention by 8:15am.
Today we’re helping out at the morning license exam session. We arrive at the parking lot at the site of the former Salem Mall and find that we can park in the “front row” – apparently we’ve arrived ahead of the crowd.
We arrive at Hara Arena a few minutes after they opened and head for the testing room. Tom/K3TH and Steve/K3BAY are already there. For the next three hours we participate in the exam session. Tom and Ryan/AE3RR are administering exams and Steve is grading. Brenda/KB3ATI and I are administering exams to two YLs who are scooter bound. Both pass their Technician exams.
One of the ladies is not going to let her husband know that she took the test and passed until she introduces herself at the next club meeting. Instead of doing the usual, “Hi, I’m Joe’s wife” she plans to say, “Hi, my name is Marion and my call sign is KB0xxx” and that will be the first time her husband will learn she is also a ham. Cool!
By noon we’re all released. Interesting exam session. Following last year’s session I provided some feedback and they incorporated some of the recommendations but the exam session was still “organized chaos” in many respects. I heard they tested around 250 people.
The thing that was very exciting for about 80 of the applicants was that on Friday evening they uploaded the test results from Friday’s exam session and posted the new calls and upgrades outside the test room on Saturday morning. That was very impressive to most of the people who did their previous testing with the ARRL or the W5YI Group VECs who do not provide that type of service.
The other thing that created a buzz was the fact that the exams were free unlike the ARRL and W5YI VECs.
Both of these “tid-bits” created quite a bit of chatter among the visitors. The Laurel VEC and its VE teams are getting a lot of good press.
At the end of the day I had a conversation with an ARRL VE about the session and he wanted to know if there was a Laurel VE Team in Massachusetts and if not, how could he organize one.
After the exam session Steve, Brenda and I grabbed a bite to eat and wandered around. I saw Manaen wandering around but couldn’t catch up with him to say “Hi”.
Tom and his boys (Jimmy/KB3PGY and Billy), Brenda, Ryan and I attended the “Youth Forum” and ran into our friends from the Boulder Amateur radio Club Jr. (BARC Jr.). There were two BARC Jr. kids speaking at the forum. A common practice at the Youth Forum is the awarding of door prizes. The prizes come from the generosity of ICOM, MFJ and the Lanse Creuse Amateur Radio Club in Michigan.
Jimmy won a 24-hour clock from MFJ and Billy won the dual band HT from ICOM (IC-91AD). Other prizes won by the kids in attendance included atomic wrist watches, wall clocks, and single band transceivers from MFJ.
As usual, the Youth Forum was fun and interesting.
I ran into the gang from AARC who travelled by van as they were leaving for the day. Based on their comments, they were tired, had fun, spent a lot of money, had stuff shipped home because it wouldn't all fit in the van apparently, and were excited and overwhelmed by their Dayton experience.
Tom, Steve and the “Gang” are visiting the Hamvention on Sunday. Steve is flying out Sunday evening, I think Tom is heading back on Monday and the “Gang” is headed home after the Hamvention closes tomorrow. The Rose family however, is departing not later than 9:00am on Sunday.
Today’s weather was fantastic! High temperature was in the mid-70’s and mostly sunny or partly cloudy.
Tomorrow’s weather forecast:
Dayton - Windy...isolated thunderstorms in the morning, then partly cloudy late. High 61F. Winds WNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Trip home along I-70 – Looks like rain all the way back to Hagerstown.
We’re looking forward to getting back home.
Sunday, May 18
Greetings,
We departed from out hotel at 9:30 - beautiful morning but very windy. Stopped to top off the gas tank - Fuel was $4.03 per gallon. Fortunately the pumps were not operating so we went elsewhere down the Interstate and filled up for a mere $3.89 per gallon.
Slightly overcast with the temperature varying from low 50's to low 70's along the way. A few brief sprinkles but nothing significant.
All in all, a rather uneventful trip home. We got home at 5:25pm just like the GPS predicted.
Another Dayton trip has been successfully completed. But before I put a final wrap on it, I want to share one last observation.
There were many more foreigners attending this year which probably speaks to the weak dollar overseas. Setting aside the politics, I thought it was pretty cool to see so many different countries represented at the Hamvention. The price of gas also had an impact as indicated by the number of vacant slots for the outside vendors and tailgaters. Aside from a brisk wind and cool temperatures in the morning, the weather for the weekend was fabulous. I enjoyed it much better than warm and sticky weather.
I hope you enjoyed my "diary" of observations and experiences. If you have any questions or comments, please send them along.
73
Bob/AA3RR
aa3rr@verizon.net
