Another Dayton Hamvention has come and gone for me. I traveled to Xenia Friday morning and was there when the gates opened. I made a quick pass of the main buildings first thing. Here are my short notes, firehose style:

Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia

I wasn’t looking for anything specific, but had emailed Bruna Begali the week before and asked her to bring me the semi-automatic Intrepid paddle and was eager to pick it up. Minutes later I saw a fellow who I recognized. GI4DOH is a regular on the British Amateur Television Club QO-100 net that I watch (streaming) online weekly. I introduced myself to Richard and enjoyed a nice long chat with him. I ran into a couple of other friends that morning, N8XS and AG4DR, two old work colleagues and we reminisced over coffee in the food court. The Kenwood booth had been downsized significantly. DX Engineering practically filled an entire building and has become the obvious big dawg of Hamvention. Lunch was a corn dog and a small coke, thirteen bucks. I didn’t set a foot in the flea market. The rain held off all morning, but sprinkles showed up in the early afternoon. I left at 3:30pm.

MIA: No Vibroplex, R&L Electronics, and if Wireman was there I didn’t see him.

DX Dinner at the Dayton Marriott

Back at the hotel with time to kill, I headed downstairs to the DX Dinner at the Dayton Marriott. The open bar started at 5:30pm, and I enjoyed a nice long chat with fellow ham blogger, Steve, K9ZW. My son (N9AVG) was there too as was Ron, N9RC. We were seated at table #3 this year. A friendly couple from Texas (N5DD & KC5DJI) sat on one side of us and we enjoyed great conversation with them. Also at our table was Evert, PA2KW accompanied by his son. Evert was on the Swains (W8S) team and more recently he was with the Austral Islands TX5EU operation. We had a marvelous time chatting with them as well – and I walked away with an invite to join his son for a Korn concert later this year at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam!

We didn’t win a thing, maintaining our long winless streak at this event. The keynote speaker was ARRL CEO Dave Minister and his talk was interesting, informative, and thought provoking. So much so I will be writing much more about a few of the points he made in a later blog post.

And that was it for me. I was asleep in my room at 10:30pm and on the road headed home ten hours later. I won’t be back at Dayton/Xenia next year. I don’t buy used gear anymore and when it comes to new hardware, I prefer to order online and have it delivered to the house. Many vendors have already aligned with that way of business. I don’t think Elecraft brought any hardware to Hamvention to sell, only to show, to be ordered for later delivery at home. The only part of the traditional hamfest model that still works for me is the part where we meet and enjoy the company of other radio enthusiasts.

To that end, I’m making plans now to attend HAM RADIO in Friedrichshafen in 2027.