Live streaming coverage of Dayton Hamvention...
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I have never been myself. You should have come up to NEARFEST great time was had by all and plenty of sat stuff too. 
The Dayton Contest web cam live from the Crowne Plaza can be viewed at:
DAYTON CONTEST CAM
This is the first time for a live stream from this event.
DAYTON CONTEST CAM
This is the first time for a live stream from this event.
I went 12 years straight but hurt my knee bad missed one year and my friends didnt want to go anymore
I decided to go thios year myself but constant rain discouraged me, just today saturday is rain free, and I am way behind on outside stuff
The local hamfests are fun I generally go to at least a few a year
I decided to go thios year myself but constant rain discouraged me, just today saturday is rain free, and I am way behind on outside stuff
The local hamfests are fun I generally go to at least a few a year
We went today (Saturday), walked about five miles around the outdoor flea market. Bought some used coax and a HF antenna. I wanted to buy that battery booster made by MFJ (which takes 11 or 12 volts and brings it up to a constant 13.8 volts). No one had it including MFJ! Then someone said it has to be special ordered by MFJ...go figure. I saw a good number of hams and future hams waiting in a long line going for upgraded licenses or new licenses. More people into the hobby is always a good thing.
Surprised to see MFJ is now selling those new "trail friendly radios". It is a CW rig, a mono bander identical to the HB1A and the Ten Tec model. Except it does not have internal batteries. They were selling for $249 each and additional band modules were $29 each. I checked the show prices. The Yaesu FT 817 was selling for $579 show price and the GRE 600 digital scanner was $349 at AES or HRO. I met Budd the inventor of the Buddipole and he was selling them at a show price.
The best bargain (if you can call it that) was the price of gas $ 3.65 a gallon at the Shell station on Turner...and speaking of gas.... The biggest excitement at the hamfest was when the sewer pipe broke sending piles of $**t and a methane smell into the center of the flea market. And because of the break...the bathrooms in the arena had to be shut down.
Talked with some of the hams, including one from a remote part of Alaska. It was his first time at Dayton. He mentioned about the band conditions in Alaska and that Japan and Europe are more common than the center part of the U.S. on the HF bands...which makes sense. Talked to a ham from Milwaukee who said this was his 20th time at Dayton. Saw some hams from different countries , Japanese, German and the U.K hams among others.
There were things that I thought were way over priced...$700 for a used SGC 2020 or $625 for a used Icom 703. Then there were some good deals. I thought the Ranger 10 meter radio RCI 2950 at $150 was reasonably priced used. There was one guy buying a table full of 200 GB used Hard drives for $10 a piece. There had to be like 50 or 75 of them. I could see buying maybe five ...but a table full of them? I don't know.
Overall , had a great the time and had fun walking around the flea market area. The weather was great, a bit on the hot side...but a much welcome brief break from the nearly three weeks of rain that we had.
Surprised to see MFJ is now selling those new "trail friendly radios". It is a CW rig, a mono bander identical to the HB1A and the Ten Tec model. Except it does not have internal batteries. They were selling for $249 each and additional band modules were $29 each. I checked the show prices. The Yaesu FT 817 was selling for $579 show price and the GRE 600 digital scanner was $349 at AES or HRO. I met Budd the inventor of the Buddipole and he was selling them at a show price.
The best bargain (if you can call it that) was the price of gas $ 3.65 a gallon at the Shell station on Turner...and speaking of gas.... The biggest excitement at the hamfest was when the sewer pipe broke sending piles of $**t and a methane smell into the center of the flea market. And because of the break...the bathrooms in the arena had to be shut down.
Talked with some of the hams, including one from a remote part of Alaska. It was his first time at Dayton. He mentioned about the band conditions in Alaska and that Japan and Europe are more common than the center part of the U.S. on the HF bands...which makes sense. Talked to a ham from Milwaukee who said this was his 20th time at Dayton. Saw some hams from different countries , Japanese, German and the U.K hams among others.
There were things that I thought were way over priced...$700 for a used SGC 2020 or $625 for a used Icom 703. Then there were some good deals. I thought the Ranger 10 meter radio RCI 2950 at $150 was reasonably priced used. There was one guy buying a table full of 200 GB used Hard drives for $10 a piece. There had to be like 50 or 75 of them. I could see buying maybe five ...but a table full of them? I don't know.
Overall , had a great the time and had fun walking around the flea market area. The weather was great, a bit on the hot side...but a much welcome brief break from the nearly three weeks of rain that we had.
I bought a power supply at dayton once, got it back to the hotel and it shuld of had a room for rent sign on it.
Everything but the transformer had been stripped out. Thats really why my friends dont go, one spent 3 grand for a bunch of junk
local hamfests are far better, I used to make big bucks buying stuff from dayton and reselling to my customers....... Of course I knew EXACTLY what I was buying
Everything but the transformer had been stripped out. Thats really why my friends dont go, one spent 3 grand for a bunch of junk
local hamfests are far better, I used to make big bucks buying stuff from dayton and reselling to my customers....... Of course I knew EXACTLY what I was buying
I had a great time at Dayton, stayed the weekend with the North Jersey DX Association at the Dayton Marriott. I purchased a new Flex 1500 QRP transceiver for myself and I purchased a Yaesu 950 for my local radio club.
Met a lot of Hams but the highlight of the Hamvention was meeting and talking to astronaut Col. Doug Wheelock and getting a personal signed copy of a picture of him in his space suit. I watched Col Wheelock sign the mast of a Diamond handheld 144 & 440 MHz antenna for a young ham that had made a contact with Col Wheelock on the International Space Station with that antenna. His father was there to take a picture of the event. That was one happy ham.
After the bathrooms backed up, and literally sent waste flowing in the flea market parking lot area, I was grateful for the many outdoor potties.
I must say there were very few flea market bargains; I did score though and bought a new DX engineering fan dipole for ¼ of the price.
73 & Good DX
Mike Lib
Met a lot of Hams but the highlight of the Hamvention was meeting and talking to astronaut Col. Doug Wheelock and getting a personal signed copy of a picture of him in his space suit. I watched Col Wheelock sign the mast of a Diamond handheld 144 & 440 MHz antenna for a young ham that had made a contact with Col Wheelock on the International Space Station with that antenna. His father was there to take a picture of the event. That was one happy ham.
After the bathrooms backed up, and literally sent waste flowing in the flea market parking lot area, I was grateful for the many outdoor potties.
I must say there were very few flea market bargains; I did score though and bought a new DX engineering fan dipole for ¼ of the price.
73 & Good DX
Mike Lib
