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Hamvention 148

Posted by michael from the hamvention? dept.
amateur radio buff writes "The Hamvention is coming up on May 16 - 18, for all you amateur radio people out there. This is the worlds biggest Ham fest held in Dayton, Ohio. With over 2500+ space outdoor vendor, and 500 inside exhibit spaces, find any amateur radio and electronic items there. Also the The 11th Annual Dayton Contest Dinner is held this year too! Dont miss it!"
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Hamvention

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  • I wonder....
    Do ham radio hobbiests ever run into bandwidth crowding problems at these sorts of events?

    • Re:available bandwidth? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      At this particular event, every available piece of spectrum in the 2m and 70cm bands will be in use. CTCSS, DCS, and DSQ are all very helpful for filtering out what you want to hear from what you don't want to hear. And if at first you get stepped on (while transmitting), try, try again.

      IMHO, physical crowding of bodies is a bigger problem than frequency congestion.
      • IMHO, physical crowding of bodies is a bigger problem than frequency congestion.

        I once saw a guy at a local hamfest that was so fat he was wearing a mumu. Floral print and everything. No kidding.

        Could just be Wisconsin (where I did most of my hamming), but it sure seemed like a lot of fellas in the hobby were on the "super-size" side of the scale.
    • A pity that Hams are no longer required to be skilled with CW Operations [ic.ac.uk]. Not a lot of bandwidth for that!

      Other posters have commented on the overlap between Computer nerdism and Ham nerdism. One important difference: Ham networks can remain operative long after all other communication technology is offline. Rather handy during major civil disasters. Which is why the feds allow so much radio spectrum to a "hobby".

      • Re:available bandwidth? (Score:5, Informative)

        by KC7GR ( 473279 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @01:45AM (#5867574) Homepage Journal
        No longer required to be skilled in CW? Perhaps not in the UK. In the States, however, one still needs to be proficient to 5 WPM CW to go any higher than a Technician-class license.

        The dividing point is HF privileges (1-30MHz). If you want to work HF (with the possible exception of the 10-meter band), and you live in the U.S., you still have to pass a minimal CW test.

        • Sorry, I shouldn't have implied that I was a Ham myself. I do find the hobby interesting, but there's a court order keeping me away from soldering irons....

          Now that you explain it properly, letting lower-class Hams get licensed without making them learn CW makes sense. Give them a chance to catch the bug before you throw legacy protocols at them!

          • Re:available bandwidth? (Score:2, Interesting)

            by Fastolfe ( 1470 )
            I don't know that I would even consider it legacy. If you're trying to reach a station that's really far away, complex modulations are easily lost in the noise. Some times CW is the only way you can get a signal out at an appreciable distance.

            In addition, it's the "lowest common denominator" for station identifications, making it useful if you're listening to a signal that identifies itself with morse.
            • Yeah, "Legacy" was a poor choice of words. In addition to the advantages you mention, CW transceivers are easy to build from extremely primitive parts. Maybe not an issue in this era of cheap integrated circuitry. But you never know...
        • ITU convention/treaty has it that any amateur operating below 50 mHz must pass a minimal code test.

    • Re:available bandwidth? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by N3Bruce ( 154308 ) <n3bruce@gmailDALI.com minus painter> on Saturday May 03, 2003 @01:12AM (#5867478) Journal
      The VHF and UHF amateur bands can get a little crowded with all of those HTs walking around, plus the communications by the event organizers. There is more room on UHF (420-450 Mhz) than on VHF (144-148 Mhz). Also add in all the traffic for cell phones and demonstrations of different modes and it is sometimes hard to find a quiet frequency, based on my observations at the Timmonium, Maryland hamfest. Patience is sometimes needed, but there is usually enough bandwidth that a frequency opens up. Usually groups of hams will work on a pre-agreed frequency, and there are only so many simplex channels and repeaters within HT range to go around, so patience and courtesy goes a long way. Perhaps a few experiments with trunking on the amateur bands could extend the limited bandwidth, but since large hamfests are local and infrequent events, there seems fairly little incentive to push the technology, and get the rules changed to allow it.
    • At [Dayton] Hamvention, you bet there is a bandwidth crowding problem...especially on the more popular 2M and 440 bands. Almost every available frequency is in use. Most of my crew has now got 6M or 1.2GHz capability in their HTs, so we're hoping to move off to somewhere a little less crowded at Dayton this year.

      --Chuck, KF9FR
    • I can pretty much assure you there will be crowding problems, because of these guys....

      http://jamvention.4t.com/

      Still, how can you hate people who intend to use repeaters to broadcast Deep Throat over the air?

      Morty
  • Wish I could be there......;) http://www.txwes.edu/~jvortega/

  • Ham Nerds (Score:5, Funny)

    by iamdrscience ( 541136 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @12:47AM (#5867391) Homepage
    I think a friend of mine said it best; "You can be into ham radios and you can be into computers, but being into both is taking it just a little too far".

    His dad "took it too far" by the way.

    • Re:Ham Nerds (Score:5, Funny)

      by Blaine Hilton ( 626259 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @12:50AM (#5867406) Homepage
      Very true, although the two can be highly interwoven with like technologies. Now just add in model rocketry and you can really have some interesting experiences.
    • Oops...

      K6BP

    • Re:Ham Nerds (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      These days, you have to be into computers to operate using the newer digital modes available.

      Before the Internet took off in the consumer sector, hams were using their computers to participate in TCP/IP networks via packet radio in the VHF bands.

      It doesn't take a lot of money or effort to get started these days. There are plenty of used radios available cheap and anyone with half a brain can study and pass the license exam.

      It's still cool to throw up a simple piece of wire in a tree and communicate with

    • Re:Ham Nerds (Score:3, Informative)

      by ChuckleBug ( 5201 ) *
      I think a friend of mine said it best; "You can be into ham radios and you can be into computers, but being into both is taking it just a little too far".

      Problem is, it's getting harder and harder to be into ham radio without being into computers. Digital modes are used more and more, and computers are used for a lot of related things, like satellite tracking, timekeeping, logging, transceiver control, beam headings, etc. True, a lot of these things can be done without computers, but they are ideally suit
      • Some idiot wrote:

        It's kind of a shame ham radio has for being such a nerdy pursuit.

        Jeez. Make that "...has a reputation for being..."


    • Yep, guilty on that count myself; been a licensed HAM since undergraduate.

      For people who have never gone to the Dayton Hamvention, you are really missing quite an event. I live close to dayton, and try to go every year. They sell all kinds of radios and such, but they also sell tons of computer equipment, and virtually anything electronic... Need an actual working Cellular base station? There's a guy in the parking lot who will sell you one; put it in your truck and haul it home. You'll find that bo
    • Why? People use computers to design rockets, model molecules, design buildings, simulate weather conditions, etc. Whats wrong with using a computer to transmit/receive over a radio? -Regards, KC9DDI
    • I am in to ham radio.
      I am in to computers.
      I do both for a living.
      I make quite a lot of money.

      If this is "taking it too far", then let's floor this puppy!
    • Yep, sometimes we get a bit carried away, but just like computers, it's a fun hobby. I'm sure most communities like ours have a dedicated group of volunteers that when the weather gets bad, will sacrifice thier cars (do to hail damage) and help the weather service spot tonadic weather. When the weather gets bad, sometimes you lose your AC, and even on a backup supply, time at the computer is limited. KB0GNK
    • I think a friend of mine said it best; "You can be into ham radios and you can be into computers, but being into both is taking it just a little too far".

      His dad "took it too far" by the way.

      My first exposure to computers was through my father's interest in Amature "Ham" Radio. Effectively early computers were considered in the broad range of things "Electronic", i.e. you built your own power supplies, you bought your 2102 memory in plastic sticks (remember those?), you overclocked (yes, even in those

    • I protest! I'm into Ham radio (Basic, Morse, Advanced) and computers and it's not too much! Heck I'm even into guitar, piano, model kits, reading, music, and I still find time for it all! I even find time to study sometimes.... ;-)
  • Slashdotted [txwes.edu] Does any one know how I would be able to encapsulate IP into RF.????
    • You never heard of packet radio? http://www.tapr.org/tapr/html/pktf.html

    • Re:Encapsulating IP into RF (Score:4, Informative)

      by zcat_NZ ( 267672 ) <zcat@wired.net.nz> on Saturday May 03, 2003 @02:06AM (#5867633) Homepage
      Stuff to google for;
      • AlohaNet - TCP/IP over RF back in 1970
      • Phil Karn/KA9Q - was keen on TCP/IP and wrote his own OS for doing TCP/IP over packet radio back in 1985.. Most hams were happy with AX25 and TCP/IP got to be known as "That Crap Phil Is Pushing"

      • Why IP over Packet wasn't popular... (Score:1, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward
        With 'raw' AX.25, you plugged in your callsign and went. You got little *automatic* routing assistance, but didn't need much; standard operating procedure for AX.25 over radio was like tcpdumping a 300 or 1200BPS link, and you could discover 'digipeater' nodes (which anyone's radio+node controller could be) and form your own route through them, sometimes crossing a good chunk of country in the process. (There was a USEngland gateway for a while, supposedly routed over one of CBS's leased circuits on an un

  • Scouts and Ham Radios - JOTR (Score:3, Informative)

    by implex ( 468133 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @12:49AM (#5867399)
    When I was in scouts in Oz I remembered looking forward to the Jamboree On The Air in October each year.
    http://www.scout.org/wse/jota.shtml [scout.org]

    Off topic? No - about 48 or more hours (due to time zones) of talking to other scouts across the world. Pre-internet ;-)

  • Annual? (Score:3, Funny)

    by groundpig ( 583981 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @12:49AM (#5867403)
    Also the The 11th Annual Dayton Contest Dinner is held this year too!

    Isn't it held every year?

    • Re:Annual? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Isn't it held every year?

      I think it's safe to say that The 11th Annual Dayton Contest Dinner will only be held this year.

    • this was posted by Michael...what do you expect? Grammar? hah!

  • the other white meat (Score:4, Funny)

    by swankypimp ( 542486 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @12:51AM (#5867409) Homepage
    D'Oh! I clicked "Read More..." before I realized that the article was not about sweet, sweet pork. A Hamvention like that I could really get into. Stupid radios.
  • And here I thought it was a convention for lumbering ham creatures...

    ...ack, that's just the Miguel [fatchicksinpartyhats.com] talking.

  • Since no one has mentioned it yet... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Pettifogger ( 651170 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @01:07AM (#5867463)
    Before the inevitable joke comes, yes, you can run Linux with Amateur Radio! Go take a look at:

    http://radio.linux.org.au/

    And there are many other sites, too. I disagree with what someone stated earlier about being both into computers and amateur radio taking it too far. Believe it or not, there's a lot of overlap between the two. Hams often spend a lot of time tweaking their stations, building stuff, and completely customizing their equipment. Sound familiar to anyone on Slashdot?

    73, KG6JBF

    • I spend a great deal of time watching the DX clusters over telnet, playing with digital modes on HF and VHF, and logging. All with my computers, using whatever OS I happen to be playing on at at the time.

      N9POA

    • amateur radio and computers (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      N2NHU here-

      In 1993 I had a VHF amateur radio station. I connected it to a radio-modem (Terminal Node Controller) - like a modem, but works on radio instead of phonelines.

      I could send/rcv e-mail, telnet to unix boxes and chat with folks - free - from my car - TEN years ago - all by ham radio!

      It was a bit slow - 1200 baud...

      Of course, much faster speeds are supported today - beyond 56 K.

      The beauty of ham radio is that you can run real antennas, real power and nearly any mode (AM, FM, television, digital

  • Oh, simpler times... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MrPerfekt ( 414248 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @01:10AM (#5867475) Homepage Journal
    My dad took me to the good ol' hamvention every year for about 8 years. I went since I was 7 or so. Good times. I remember when it was held in the middle of April and you froze your butt off at your table space trying to sell your old nintendo games. Not that gradually nudging it into May helped that much with the weather.

    In any case, this is hardly new so if you're just learning about this for the first time, where have you been?

    But seriously, my experience is that this event as with most ham radio things has been dwindling over the years. Anyone else feel that way?

    It's a shame too because the community spirit of the ham radio operators rivals that of the early days of the Internet. But the Internet has lost its spark (or at least it's friendliness) far faster than amatuer radio.

    But at least we have the memories.
    • But seriously, my experience is that this event as with most ham radio things has been dwindling over the years. Anyone else feel that way?

      It's a shame too because the community spirit of the ham radio operators rivals that of the early days of the Internet. But the Internet has lost its spark (or at least it's friendliness) far faster than amatuer radio.

      Its true that in many countries amateur radio licenses have started to fall in number... some blame "the internet" and others say that it's "young peop

      • Re:Oh, simpler times... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Chuck Milam ( 1998 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @02:07AM (#5867638) Homepage
        ...some blame "the internet" and others say that it's "young people" who have no interest anymore in technical hobbies.

        I blame the Internet and cable TV. No kidding. I was headed to a Linux Business Expo in the Twin Cities a couple years ago with some of my close (and very interested in technical hobbies) friends. We drove my car, and I was tuning around the HF bands as we made our way across town in the morning hours. The guys were interested for all of about 2 minutes. They were extremely disappointed that I couldn't just dial up whatever country they wanted. No kidding. It was like they expected me to dial in the [Japan|Germany|Mexico|France] channel, and have a open direct line to the country immediately.

        Once I explained that HF SSB mobile was more "art" in the sense that you had to bascially take what was on depending on the time of day, band conditions, whether someone was actually on, etc., they lost all interest.

        All too used to punching in a channel or a web address and having content delivered immediately, I guess.

        --Chuck, KF9FR
        • All too used to punching in a channel or a web address and having content delivered immediately, I guess.

          But where's the fun in that?

          If you could just dial up a country on radio and know that someone there will respond, would you really want to...?

          Gavin
          VK6HGR
          • "If you could just dial up a country on radio and know that someone there will respond, would you really want to...?"

            It's called a wireless telephone set in your house.
        • A leader in my Boy Scout troop sets up his radios on a campout for Jamboree on the Air every year. Lots of scouts are interested, because they'll finally get to play with electronics on campouts. I can't tell you how many people come in to the tent, and start a conversation like this:
          Scout: Can I talk to Japan?
          Leader: Err, its the middle of the night in Japan right now. Maybe if you hang around later we'll get some contacts over there. But right now, we're talking to a sailor in Costa Rica.
          Scout: Oh
      • Being the president of my schools amateur radio club, it's been a bit depressing seeing the membership and interest decline over the years. With the advent of cheaper and more feature filled cell phones, who wants to take a test to use a ham radio? Don't forget now the FRS stuff that has been popping up. Being a bit of a techy myself, I found my interest in amateur radio a great asset towards my education, which happens to be electrical engineering. I'm doing everything in my power to revive my the club

    • Re:Oh, simpler times... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by KC7GR ( 473279 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @02:08AM (#5867640) Homepage Journal
      I think the biggest change I've seen is that the "tinkerers" (those who modify commercial gear for ham purposes, or design their own stuff) are no longer so great a force in the hobby. The hams who take the hobby seriously enough to have a labful of RF test gear, and who know how to use it, seem to be getting increasingly rare. I know, because I'm one of them! ;-)

      It used to be that I could turn on any of the local 2m (VHF) or 70cm (UHF) repeater channels, and hear a discussion going on that at least included something technical. It used to be that I could pop onto those same channels with a technical question, and chances were good that someone would know how to answer it.

      Not any more. It seems that I can have a conversation with a dozen different hams, and out of them there will be 1-2 that know anything more about their radio than how to turn it on and use it. "Appliance Operators," once a rarity in the ham field, have become largely the norm.

      I have mixed feelings about it. On the one wing, it's sad, I think, to see so many people take their exams just for the sake of taking them, and then forget everything they learned and have no further interest in expanding their electronics knowledge.

      On the other wing, a big piece of my side business [bluefeathertech.com] is dependent on those who choose not to do the technical side for themselves. I try to give my customers a bit of free education as they walk out the door with their newly-programmed radio, but I never know where they're going to go with it.

      Also, don't forget that tinkerers need stuff to tinker with. The quality and quantity of stuff showing up at many ham swap meets all over the country seems to be going down. I think it's due largely to the depredations of Ebay. Why comb the swaps when you can search for goodies from your easy chair?

      I have an answer for that. Social skills! Ham swaps are more than swaps; they're social gatherings, just like the rest of any ham convention. As I've said on my Ebay 'About Me' page, where can you get a clearer impression of who you're buying stuff from? By looking at someone's feedback record, or looking them in the eye and watching how they interact in real time?

      Anyway, I've drifted off-topic enough. I plan to make the 'pilgrimage' to Dayton, possibly in 2004. Until then, those of you that are going, good luck and good journey.

      73 de KC7GR

      • I'm a fairly new ham (licensed in '97 I think) and definitely agree that the emphasis on repairing or building radios has all but left the hobby with anybody younger than 40.

        I also find that there are few elmers (a term hams use sort of like guru, it's the guy who helps you learn) around who are willing to teach me. Even if they could, I doubt I could work on most of the radios I own due to their small form factor (really, how do you fix anything on a VX-1R?).

        I'm still trying to get my brain arou
        • There's nothing in a VX-1R that can't be replaced with the proper equipment and skills. You can purchase a PACE soldering system and work with SMT technology fairly easily. All it takes is a little more education and practice to work with the new technology.

          Quite honestly, I blame the ARRL for not including information on SMT technology in the training manuals. It really isn't that much more complicated than older thru-hole components and isn't that difficult to work with.

          73, KD5BFE

      • time is not static (Score:2, Insightful)

        by zogger ( 617870 )
        --the equipment has gotten much worse to work on, and cheaper to just replace and upgrade. There's not as much incentive. What used to require changing crystals and extensive modding is now just 100 dollars away at the store, already done for you. I'd also say that video games taking over as a hobby was more of a factor in declining interest than just "the internet" and computers. Extremely similar time frame if you think on it some. Another factor was cost of telephony changing, and cell phones becoming a
    • I'll get into ham radio as soon as I can play Counter-Strike on it.
  • Check out the 2002 Award Winners [hamvention.org] "...Amateur of the Year - Larry "Tree" Tyree, N6TR, of Boring, Oregon..."

  • Ham radio swap meets are so over (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @01:30AM (#5867536) Homepage
    That's what Ebay is for.

    Even surplus stores are dead. In Silicon Valley, there are few left. Halted Specialties has the same crap it's had for the last decade. Action Computer has obsolete used PCs that cost more than new ones of equivalent power. The surplus store on 101 near San Tomas has rejected power tools from third-world countries. Alan Steel and Supply has tons of rusted-out equipment stored outdoors. (Good place to buy stainless steel; lousy for surplus). Wierd Stuff Warehouse has ancient Sun systems and ISDN networking gear.

    Electronic surplus is a victim of Moore's law. The new stuff is better and cheaper than the old stuff. Besides, components are so specialized today that used parts are mostly useless.

    • I could not disagree more!

      Every year, I make it a point to attend a minimum of four ham swap meets; the big Mike & Key [mikeandkey.com] event in Puyallup, the two in the Bay Area (Livermore and Foothill), and the Radio Club of Tacoma event. I try to do more if I can.

      The quality and quantity of gear at each one fluctuates wildly, year-to-year, as do the prices. That's part of the fun! While Ebay has the greater variety, in many cases, it can never substitute for the fun and satisfaction of making a face-to-face deal. B
    • but those things are still around here in Ohio. :)

      We have Hamvention, of course, every year. We also have a large surplus store called Mendelsons in Dayton (cool place to get any and everything electronic -- well almost). There are some other places to get stuff, too. (In Fairborn, we have a little store called Midwest Electronics Surplus.)

      However, you are correct... I love eBay for grabbing cheap stuff. I aquired my beige G3 desktop from eBay ;)

      Anyhow, I love Hamvention. :) I just don't get to go e
    • You are so right. With one exception. That's the Hamvention. Not to sound grandiose, but, what if you get almost the entire audience you are selling to on e-bay into the same place at one time all together to look at (and hopefully buy) your stuff?

      The Hamvention is the grand-daddy of all Hamfests, which means people come from all around the US (World?) to attend. You then have the wide audience advantage you get with e-bay.

      Also, there's nothing like being able to get your hands around what you are try
    • Nope, sorry - tv didn't kill movies, vcr's didn't kill tv, and ebay isnt going to kill swap meets as long as humans are social animals. Besides, a lot of good bargains come from older folks with neat stuff their children aren't interested in, and who wouldn't know what to do with a computer if it was one big red button labled 'push to operate'.

      One big fest near here happens every labor day - people show up from all over in campers and rec-vehicles and buy and sell stuff. Some folks head to Disneyland, othe
    • The Livermore swap is certainly not dead. In fact, I'd say it's doing a booming business. 1st Sunday of the month (tomorrow!) at Las Positas College, Airway exit off I580.

      I've been buying Beige G3's for $60 to $150, depending on model. Cheap OS X ready toys. A couple months back, I picked up a SPARCstation 5 with a 2gb disk, 128mb ram, and a 170Mhz CPU for $10. I could sell the parts on eBay for more than that.

      Temkin
    • depends on what you neeed, why, and how much you want to pay.

      Hamfests are great for for buying stuff that costs a fortune to ship. Say I wanted a stack of Pentium 133 boxen, maybe $5 each, but $15 each to ship. Go to a hamfest, buy 20 of them, you've more than paid for admission in the shipping savings.

      If you're an elmer, and crave the days of those large tube radios, you're probably better off at a hamfest not only because of shipping costs but you can play with the gear and make sure it works before y

  • as an amateur: (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 03, 2003 @01:44AM (#5867571)
    I realise that most if not all of the people who read and post to this site are computer geeks in one way or another. (I am)

    If you are into computers for the pure technical geek aspects, try out amateur radio. I guarantee that you won't be disappointed. There are so many different things you can do in ham that you won't be bored. I've done shortwave, packet radio, satelite, earth-moon-earth bouce, and microwave radio etc. etc. Amateur radio gives you an oppourtunity to delve into physics...

    Oftentimes amateur radio is seen as an "old man's" game, as many of the newer geeks jump into computers immediately, and choose programming and networking as their fix of choice. I'd like to see more young people on the air! (I'm 25)

    Anyway, give it a try, it doesn't cost much to get started.

    • Obligatory plug: Check out the OpenTRAC project at opentrac.org. We always need more contributors.

      I'm 25 as well (for another week at least), and I've been licensed for more than half of that. I would definitely recommend the hobby to geeks of all varieties.

      N1VG

  • I'm Jewish (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Can I still attend?

  • ham? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Unominous Coward ( 651680 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @01:47AM (#5867581)
    (Homer): Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?
    (Lisa): No.
    (Homer): Ham?
    (Lisa): No!
    (Homer): Pork chops?
    (Lisa): Dad! Those all come from the same animal!
    (Homer): Heh heh heh ... ooh ... yeah right, Lisa. A wonderful ... magical animal.

  • Been there, done that. (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MsWillow ( 17812 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @01:51AM (#5867592) Homepage Journal
    Back when I used to live in Chicago (instead of Seattle), I used to go to these things. This was a great place to talk with other tech nerds - why, my first Linux CDRom came from a hamfest (Slackware, long time ago). Then one year I went to a talk, and had my 2M handie stolen. That kind of put an end to me wanting to go back, ever again. :(

    Yes, these things can be fun, but they're also well-known, and well-loved, by all the thieves around. If you must go, lock the car, don't carry anything, use a fanny pack instead of a wallet or purse, and in general treat it like you were vacationing in a hostile country. Not my idea of a fun vacation, but a chaqu'un son gout.
    • I'm glad I haven't had an unpleasant experience like that. I've been to quite a few Hamventions here in Dayton, and (knocking on wood) not had anything stolen as of yet. Here's to hoping this year will be cool, too! ;)
      • I usually go to great pains to make my car look "non-hammish" (hide the radios, stow the whips) when I park in an unfamiliar or urban area. At Dayton, all my mobile antennas don't stick out so much--they kind of get lost in the crowd, so I don't worry quite so much.

        --Chuck, KF9FR
    • Never went to Dayton, though I grew up in Ohio. Best I can manage now is Hosstrader's, though maybe some time I can schedule a family visit home around Dayton.

      As for thieves, at the last Hosstrader's they were looking for someone who stole some power pole transformers (pole pigs) from the fairgrounds at the previous hamfest. Quite a pickpocked job. Odd thing about it... If I saw someone coming up with a truck and loaded those transformers onto it, I'd probably assume that they were supposed to be doing tha
  • "Give up the ham. Powerful words. [cgsoftware.com]" (? [tvtome.com])
  • I thought this was gonna be about hamsters. You see, the "male" hamster that my wife bought at Petsmart 3 weeks ago just had a litter. We have our own little Hamvention going on in our bedroom (grumble-grumble).
  • as I live near Dayton :) WOOHOO!!

  • I love going to this! (Score:3, Funny)

    by gregm ( 61553 ) on Saturday May 03, 2003 @02:21AM (#5867678)
    Seriously talk about a bunch of extreme geeks... Guys? runnning around with 12' wips attached to their tinfoil covered army helmets talking to their buddies one aisle overwith a handheld while simultaneously talking to their mom on a cell while pecking away at their Palm. It's a real hoot to just walk around and watch some of these people. The have computer stuff there too.

    Back in the day I used to go to buy exotic, hard to find stuff like RJ-45 crimpers and cheap, used drives, cpu fans etc. Now you can pickup a pair of crimpers at Lowes and computer parts are so cheap and easy to order off the net the desire to go has dimished for me some.
  • The last time I went to Hamvention was four years ago. Some guy had a PDP-11 on sale for $100, complete with sysv Unix on 8" floppy disks.

    The variety of aged geek toys at Hamvention is second to none.

    • At the Raleigh fest a few weeks ago an SGI Indy, cpu box and monitor, with Irix installed, doom demo, etc - going for $60. I actually left and came back to get it but it was gone.

  • If you have an interest in anything remotely electronic, you'll find it at the Hamvention. It's pretty much like local computer show on steroids. I used to go with my dad when I was a kid and had a blast just from the auxilary stuff.
  • Hell yes im going to dayton.. making a special trip with another ham from virginia.. I wouldnt miss it for the world :)

    73 DE KC8TAD

    ~Robert
  • You'll never find a place with more people per square mile walking around with anetennae mounted to their heads than the Dayton Hamvention! ;P
  • I'll be in a vendor booth. There is a lot of cool stuff there. I bought an FM Stereo transmitter there. Now I can listen to my streaming MP3s within a 3 mile radius on my car stereo. BTW, with FM higher is better.
  • The Dayton Hamvention is _THE_ electrions show of the year. In the world. It's huge-you can't get through it in one day-I've tried for the past 3 years. This is going to be my fourth year going. If it's even remotely related to being electronic (including computers) someone is selling it there. The prices are great-no shipping (great for those heavy items as opposed to eBay) and you can often get great deals-I've picked up things for as little as 1/4 of what they fetch on eBay-at hamfests, deals are th
  • So you WEREN'T talking about the hamster cartoon Hamtaro!
  • I miss the W6TRW swap living in the east. Best geek stuff around. Hamvention is definitely far better. Wish it was every month *sniff* but it would not be possible. Will be there visiting old friends from high school (kewl place to have reunion). Amateur Radio: We communicate, when no one else can!!

  • Some Great Linux-compatible transceivers, scanners (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    interested in getting started? there are some great Linux-compatible scanners, wideband receivers and transceivers (many supported by tk/tcl apps from bob parnass at http://parnass.com):

    - Radio Shack Pro-92 scanner, supported by tk92; big, clunky, but works great

    - Yaesu vr-120d, vr-500 wideband receivers, supported by tk120 and tk500; truly amazing long-life on 2 AAs!

    - ICOM ic-r2 wideband receiver, supported tk2; a tiny wideband receiver!

    - ICOM ic-q7a, a tiny dual-band transceiver the same size at the i

  • and (Score:1)

    by Bruha ( 412869 )
    1. Go to convention
    2. Stand in middle of antenna complex
    3. Scream at top of lungs "Scotty beam me up!"
  • Oh man...I shouldn't read slashdot first thing in the morning...the first thing I thought when I saw the headline was, "I bet there's tasty sandwhiches at this thing, but how'd that get on the frontpage?"

    Need coffee....
  • "Hamvention" sounds to me like an event where a vegetarian's friends confront them about their dietary practices and try to force-feed them a sandwich.

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