I am just back from the Dayton (Xenia) Hamvention 2018. What a great event! The new location is superb. It is 1000% better than the old location at the Hara Arena. The Green County Fairgrounds are paved and there are covered walkways between the buildings. We had scattered thunderstorms each day and mud was only a very minor issue.
You can click on any photo to enlarge it for better viewing.
The flea market area was improved with crushed asphalt placed on the walkways of each row. Here are some photos of the vendor area followed by the flea market.
As is typical at Dayton in May, we had thunderstorms roll through for brief periods each day. Rain was not a problem however. DX Engineering, ICOM, Flex Radio and Elecraft had large displays and there seemed to be huge interest in their products.
Kenwood had a large display of very few radios. One new product was the Kenwood TS-890.
New Products at Dayton:
Yaesu has a new FT DX-101D. Not much information was available about features or cost. Kenwood has a new TS-890S. Palstar has a new/updated HF-Auto high power tuner. Dishtronix/Alpha is taking orders for their 4040 Tuner. The massive 80-6 meter Loop antenna by I3VHF was quite impressive!
SDR recievers and transceivers are all the rage. The new SDR Play RSP Duo and the SunSDR2 Pro are quite impressive! The SDR Play RSP Duo sells for $279 at HRO.
Around Hamvention:
W5KUB.com was doing his show live from Hamvention. ICOM, Flex Radio and Elecraft had very large displays. ICOM gave away a significant number of prizes this year!
DXpeditioners (L-R) David-WD5COV, Adrian-KO8SCA and Lee-VK3GK discussing some exciting projects. Adrian has recently burst onto the DXpedition scene and he is a good, enthusiastic operator and we are delighted to welcome Adrian into the DXpeditioners fraternity.
There were great food options at this year’s Hamvention. I enjoyed an Italian Sausage with onions and peppers. It was great! The BBQ vendors were doing a brisk business. The flea market paths were well prepared with crushed asphalt.
This Toyota Prius would take the prize for the most antennas and radios!
Many kids were having fun kit building and learning to solder in the Youth Area. It is great that the Hamvention organizers include Youth in their planning. This is the future!
Also in the Youth Area was a battle of the Robots area. Young people were operating these robots and showing what they could do. Very impressive!
Flex really put a lot of effort into their massive display and everyone was available to answer questions. It was also great to see the continued presence of the “Wire Man” at Hamvention. Dave-WD5COV and Jerry-WB9Z congratulate Val-NV9L on being selected as Hamvention’s Amateur of the Year! More old gear in the flea market.
Flea Market Weird Stuff:
It’s always fun to spot “weird stuff” in the flea market. Here we have an aircraft flight control simulator, the bathroom sink, a chocolate fountain. Grenade launchers, a blasting detonator and a military hand crank power generator.
Adrian-KO8SCA gave a great talk on his Somaliland operation with LA7GIA. DX Forum MC, Jay-K4ZLE makes the presentation of the Intrepid Spirit Award to Juris-YL2GM.
L-R, Myself-N6PSE, Dave-WD5COV and Zorro-JH1AJT, former E30FB teammates enjoy a moment together.
I was happy to meet Bryant-KG5HVO and Marty-KC1CWF at the Contest Dinner.
Bryant had just taken a CW test and copied 48 words per minute! Just amazing!
SWODXA DX DINNER:
Juris-YL2GM receives SWODXA’s DXpedition of the Year Award for his 3C0L/3C1L activations. Gary-K4MQG gives a rousing talk on past Humanitarian efforts.
Krazzy-K1LZ and Kimo-KH7U are inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame.
Dayton Contest Dinner:
At the Saturday night Contest Dinner, Andy-N2NT and Tom-N1MM are inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame. Chris-DL1MGB gave us a talk on WRTC 2018.
All in all, it was a great Hamvention weekend even with the scattered thunderstorms. The great folks at the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) really do a great job organizing this event. The SWODXA DX Dinner and the Contest Dinners were also very enjoyable. What a great weekend in Dayton/Xenia.
What do you think?
N6PSE's Blog 
It’s been far too long since I’ve been able to attend Hamvention. Glad you had fun! 73 de N9GSU
Thanks Paul for sharing photos, descriptions, and commentary on this year’s Hamvention, I hope someday to make it there. It looks pretty cool.
73,
Keith
Nz5f
I agree the new Hamvention Greene County, Ohio venue is 1000% better than Hara.. The Forum Rooms alone represent a huge improvement… Every year since 2002, I made attending all three days a top priority at home, everything else needs too wait until after Hamvention…. I volunteer two full days helping before Friday outlining the Flea Market’s 1396 vendor spaces !! Hamvention has something for everyone….
I find it intriguing that the same S.W.O.D.X.A. officer, wins the top door-prize ( Icom 7610) at the Friday DX Dinner and then he wins the door-prize (Yaesu 991) at the DX Forum the next day… I see red-flags and hear sirens of dishonesty on their part !! ( I remember several years ago, when some prominent SWODXA club member allowed an old ConMan dubbed as “Santa Claus”, pick his own ticket from the drum to win the top prize at the S.W.O.D.X.A. DX Dinner…)
The Dayton Hamvention seems to me a timeless and wonderful event that will continuously improve as the years go by… We will see you all in Xenia Ohio, May 17, 18, and 19, 2019 !
Hi Robert. Thank you for volunteering to help make Hamvention a better event! I dunno about the prize winning. I have been terribly unlucky with raffles and then last year I won two radios myself! I donated one of them to the Dave Kalter Youth DX Adventure and I kept the Flex 6500!
Hi Paul,
Nice to see you at Dayton.
The venue continues to get better! We had absolutely no traffic issues getting to the remote parking area and the buses took us over to the main gate in just a few minutes.
Recycled asphalt in the flea market made it a lot better than last year. They hit a home run with the food vendors, good selection and reasonably priced.
See you at Visalia next year..
Cheers,
GS K5GS
Hi Paul! Great to talk to you and Dave. I always enjoy discussing DXpeditioning with you fine gentlemen. 73 Jerry WB9Z & Valerie NV9L
Hi Jerry, really great to see you and Val! I hope we can all do a fun DXped together in the future. 73, Paul N6PSE
[…] details and great pictures on the HamVention, check out Paul’s, N6PSE, blog page at: https://n6pse.wordpress.com/2018/05/22/my-visit-to-hamvention-2018 Also, checkout this week’s ARRL Newsletter for their write-up on the HamVention at: […]