Anyone going to the Dayton Hamfest?

Life has been rather hectic lately, but it looks like the chances are good that I will be returning to the Dayton Hamvention again this year. This will be my third trip to Dayton, and every year I have met at least two diyAudio forum members there just by chance. People tend to recognize me. I imagine that there were other members that I didn't see. If anyone is going, and there is interest in a bull session or a guided tour of the swap meet junk (oops I mean goodies) we could arange to meet, or at least swap cell phone #'s.

The Dayton hamfest is the largest in the world. Last year attendance for the 3 day event was 22,000 people. The swap meet area holds over 2500 swap spaces. The theme is ham radio, but there are very few restrictions on what can't be sold there, so it is an excellent place to find tubes, transformers, components, complete tube amps, not so complete amps, test equipment, and who knows what else. Sometimes people purchase space just to show off their latest creation, like last years Prius that was covered in solar cells, 11 miles a day without any gas at all.

The swap area is entirely outdoors and is subject to Dayton's finicky weather. It can be cold (35F), warm (75F), sunny or raining, or as with last year all 4 over the 3 days. NOTE! Rain makes the prices drop, a LOT! Last year the weather was cool but nice on Friday. A seller wanted $50 each for some MRI RF amplifiers. Saturday the rain started, and then the rain came down hard. I bought all 6 amplifiers for $100! I got a 0 to 2KV 100 mA Kepco power supply for $20 and an RF spectrum analyzer for free (known to be broken). Both times that I went to Dayton I left with a small SUV full! This year, I have a bigger vehicle.

There are 3 buildings (a hockey arena and support buildings) that house convention style booths that are mostly ham radio related equipment. It's cool to look at all of the ways that you could spend some serious money in ham radio if you are into it. I do have an extra class ham license and a working radio, but not much interest. Being a radio designer, at work for 35+ years, is enough.

I plan to be there when it opens Friday morning, staying until closing, and returning Saturday, staying until I have to set out on the 1100 mile drive home. It really does take more than one day just to cover the swap meet area. The first time I went, I spent two days in the swap area and never did see the ham radio stuff. Last year I was a bit more orgainzed and I covered the swap area in one long day. Saturday I hit the swaps in the morning, and went inside after I got soaked in the rain for the third time (mid afternoon).

Dayton Hamvention 2010 - Amateur Radio Clubs Worldwide: The Lifeline
 
Owie - I could get into some serious trouble there. I also subscribe to a couple of amateur physics lists, and the older members (well, older than me - I'm no spring chicken) sing the praises of hamfests. The closest thing here is probably the monthly electronics flea market in Livermore.
 
I remember meeting you and Brian Beck there. But after more then 25 years of driving out there each spring I have decided not to go this year. The place has changed a lot over the years from what it is today. It's bigger, much more expensive, but there's actually less there of interest to me. This is perhaps because I already have so much stuff. And eBay has hurt it a lot, as it has all the hamfest flea markets. They used to hold it in mid April but changed to May years ago in hopes of having better weather.

I would drive out on Wednesday (all day) and go in as a dealer on Thursday which was setup day. But first I'd stop in at Mendelson's Surplus in downtown Dayton. Two floors of surplus electronics that must have been near 80K square feet each. The building takes up an entire block, but it's been scaled down since those days. There were lots of things to buy on a Thursday at the flea market, but that has also changed nowdays. And probably the thing I'll miss most is the great Chinese restaurant we'd go to on Shiloh Springs Rd. about ½ mile west of the Hara Arena. Try it you'll like it.
 
George,

I'm going - this will be the 36th year for me. I'll be at the QRP ARCI meeting all day Thursday and then off the the Hamvention Friday - Sunday morning. Then a flight back to Florida. Over the years I've bought a lot of stuff there.

Regards,

I really would like to go ! but Portugal is a bit far away! And expensive for the flight! I wonder if there is something like that in Europe! Maybe someone can tell me if there is and when!
Regards
 
Then a flight back to Florida. Over the years I've bought a lot of stuff there.

PM me with your cell #. Bandersnatch and I have exchanged #'s and we will meet sometime just to discuss audio and general stuff. you are welcome to join in.

I will spend most of my time outside in the flea market area.

If you need any reasonably sized stuff hauled back to FL, I will be leaving Dayton Saturday afternoon for the long trip down I-75. I might make one stop in Georgia to pick up some tubes.
 
I really would like to go ! but Portugal is a bit far away! And expensive for the flight! I wonder if there is something like that in Europe! Maybe someone can tell me if there is and when!
Regards

This is a rather big one, all sorts of electronics stuff (including some tubes etc.):

HAM RADIO | Visitors - News

There are plenty of smaller HAM/electronics fairs around Europe, I'm sure you can find something much closer to you than Germany :)
 
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Went to NEAR-Fest last week-end just outside of Manchester NH, and usually make it to a couple at MIT as well.

This year's NEAR-Fest was actually very good, lots of vendors present - probably one of the best attended in recent years. Seems like eBay may have finally priced themselves into a range where it makes economic sense to sell some items at Hamfests instead.

I scored a very nice Fluke 8050A-01 bench top DMM with good batteries and a minor problem due to the input having been over-voltaged. Turns out the replacement varistors are available from Digikey and are very inexpensive.

Also picked up a 40yr old Power Designs 6005 10V/20V reference power supply which works and needs a little TLC.

Picked up some UTC transformers, and chokes, various LEDs for cathode bias, and some nice Vishay film caps.

Plenty of tubes in evidence and a fair amount of audio gear, I have plenty of tubes and did not buy any this time around.

Worth the trip IMO. Felt I got some good deals. For a while I thought this was a dying phenomenon, but thanks to recent ePay fee hikes it seems to be coming back strong.
 
I have my schedule cleared for Dayton, but am leaning toward not going this year.

I've been the last two or three years in a row, really don't need anything right now, but the homebrew corner has kinda aroused my interest - I think I would enjoy looking at some of the projects and seeing how others do things. I changed the oil in my car last night just in case I have a last minute change of mind.

I like to go out a day early so as to go up to Fair Radio Sales, and see the Neal Armstrong museum at Wapokenata (sp?).

Am definitely going to HamCom.

73,

Win W5JAG

edit: some of this Spring's little Hamfests around here have been the best I've seen in quite a few years. I think Hamfesting may be making a bit of a comeback.
 
I've been the last two or three years in a row, really don't need anything right now, but the homebrew corner has kinda aroused my interest - I think I would enjoy looking at some of the projects and seeing how others do things.
.

I have been to Dayton 2 out of the past 3 years. I brought back far too much stuff last year, and I certainly don't need any more stuff, in fact I have been eliminating stuff by the ton in the last 2 years.

Why am I going? of course I will find some stuff that I just got to have, but I am really trying to limit the cubic volume this time. I go to see people, and of course check out what others are doing. I hold an Extra class license, but I have no desire to buy an Icom and yack up the airwaves. I just happen to be a two - way radio designer in my day job, so I plan to design and build my own ham SDR. Of course, I don't have time for this right now, but talk is cheap.....you can only learn so much on the web.

I changed the oil in my car last night just in case I have a last minute change of mind

I changed the whole car! I changed the oil (and a few other things) about 3 weeks ago. Then my trusty 11 year old Volvo wagon decided to reboot itself in the middle of traffic during a heavy rain storm. So I sold my truck and the wagon and got a 2 year old Honda Element. It's nowhere as nice as the wagon, doesn't haul as much stuff as the truck, but has a warantee and should last a while. It will also lower my average cost per mile driven too. I just arrived at my mother in laws house in West Virginia after driving it 1200 miles. 27 MPG, about the same as the wagon and better than twice that of the truck!

So now I'm 200 miles from Dayton and I WILL be there. I'm going sometime Thursday.
 
I was wondering what you got......though I'd probably go for something smaller like a Scion XB or Nissan Cube.

I had a 1999 Volvo V70 that I inherited when my father passed. I also had a 2003 F150 with a camper on the bed that I inherited from Sherris step dad. I did not choose either car. Both original owners were ill for some time so both cars were not well maintained. I would have never picked a Volvo wagon but after driving it for 35K miles and only changing the oil and a battery, I really liked its luxury, junk hauling ability, and low operating cost. It however needed a bunch of things (water pump, timing belt, fuel pump, CV joints, etc) that added up to 1.5K in parts cost (assuming I did the repairs). The F150 however had only 30K miles, but it got 10 MPG in town and 14 on the road, and drove like a tank. It would have lasted for years, but I didn't like it and only put 2500 miles on it in 3 years.

I decided to sell both and get something that I would like that would save money long term. I needed the utility and economy of a wagon, but they are all but extinct today. I don't want another thirsty tank, so that rules out most SUV's. Sherri has a Jeep Patriot which is a very efficient small SUV, but it doesn't haul much. I would put it in the same league with the Xb / Cube / Soul, but in her eyes looks much better. I wanted more cargo space, so we set out looking. The very first vehicle we looked at was a used Element with 13K miles (found on Cars.com). Sherri thought it was fugly! The dealer had it for 5 months (Carfax tells you this) and the battery was dead indicating that it hadn't been started in a long time (no test drives). We jokingly made an offer that was $4K less than the asking price and left. After looking at dozens of cars (only Carmax had any customers) for a week, the dealer with the Element accepted our lowball offer, and Sherri agreed if I wouldn't call it the toaster. So we drove our "kitchen appliance" 1200 miles, and I think it was a good choice for the price. It is noiser than the Volvo, and not quite as comfortable. It holds more "stuff" than the Volvo but not as much as the truck. Far more cargo space than the Jeep or a Cube or Xb. At the end of this trip I will have driven it 3000 miles.

My only compliant deals with the 5 speed automatic trans. It is perfect in city and normal driving, but lacks a way to manually engage 4th gear. There is a button on the shifter to engage 3rd. Driving in the mountains of West Virginia would be easier if there was a means to engage 4th. The average speed on the interstate was 70 to 80 and it is hard to hold this speed on upgrades. The cruise control causes constant gear shifting and dropping the trans into 3rd at 75 really spins the motor. Applying enough trottle to cause a downshift causes a nearly instand 10 MPH speed increase. The Jeep uses a CVT and the Volvo wagon only had 4 gears.
 
I'm currently driving a 2002 PT cruiser, which has enough extra room so I can haul things when I need to. I like to limit myself to things that I can pick up myself, so that helps a lot. I may just decide to keep the PT (it's paid for, the best kind of car) until something sensible comes along that has a small-block diesel under the hood. A mini-pickup with a 4-cylinder diesel would be perfect, but I don't expect any of the butt-heads in the auto industry to market something as sensible as that any time soon.
 
Maybe something like this will keep the volume of purchases low, 660cc with 12lb boost, 38mpg on the highway. Should do better. This is my only car. OK you can stop laughing now ;)
 

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Electronic fairs in Europe

This is a rather big one, all sorts of electronics stuff (including some tubes etc.):

HAM RADIO | Visitors - News

There are plenty of smaller HAM/electronics fairs around Europe, I'm sure you can find something much closer to you than Germany :)

Thanks Arnulf!
I checked in the web and cant find any closer to me! Portugal/Spain/France/ or Holland !
I Go twice a year to holland (Amsterdam) ,but i dont know if there is such event there! Nothing in the web!
Any Dutch member that knows about this in Holland?
Thanks
 
I'm currently driving a 2002 PT cruiser, which has enough extra room so I can haul things when I need to. I like to limit myself to things that I can pick up myself, so that helps a lot. I may just decide to keep the PT (it's paid for, the best kind of car) until something sensible comes along that has a small-block diesel under the hood. A mini-pickup with a 4-cylinder diesel would be perfect, but I don't expect any of the butt-heads in the auto industry to market something as sensible as that any time soon.

Please let me have a Diesel, manual gearbox, Transit Connect. If y'all want the @Ford.com emails to let them know you'd buy one just let me know. For me, that drivetrain in a Fusion would be ideal...:)
cheers,
Douglas