The largest amateur radio and electronics swap meet on the planet is less than one week away. Will you be there?
The Dayton Hamvention has been an annual swap meet since 1952. There were 24,873 attendees during last year’s hamvention alone, that is a huge number of radio enthusiasts in one place!
For those of you interested in using vintage and used test equipment you can find anything at Hamvention. I built my entire laboratory form equipment purchased here. It has often been said, ‘if you can’t find it at Hamvention you don’t need it.’
This year Scott Pastor (KC8KBK) and I will be covering Hamvention for Hackaday. We plan to provide one update after each day of Hamvention summarizing the day’s events. We hope to see you in Dayton next week!
I’m going!
On the Thursday before Hamvention is Contest University. Great way to gain knowledge on a wide variety of topics from tower safety to contesting to antenna mechanics to…
See more at: contestuniversity.com
This is a good suggestion, thanks Steve!
http://www.k9ona.com/hfflyer2015.pdf
If you cannot make this one, an you are in the Chicagoland area Jun. 21st. is also a good swap meet, maybe some of the same vendors set up shop also…
later
Someday I’d love to get to Dayton. Someday…
In the mean time there’s always NEARfest which takes place twice a year about an hour away from me.
I managed to make it for the first time in 2012, after having been a ham for 20 years, and living less than 300 miles away. I didn’t make it in 2013, but did go again last year, and may go this year as well.
Was it worth it?
It’s more like 700 miles for me, so it’s not exactly a trivial matter to get there.
It was for me, as I got to meet some people that had only been names on emails up to that point. If you’ve ever talked to someone on the radio and they live a long way away from you, going to Dayton is a good time to meet them. Both times I’ve gone, I’ve gotten a ride with local people that were heading down there or I probably wouldn’t have made it.
I fly in to make hamvention, but again i’m a huge radio enthusiast. You have the hamfest outdoors for boat anchors, test gear, electronics. New gear inside available to try or buy. There is also a technical program which is very interesting (starting on page 29): http://hamvention.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Hamvention-Program-2015.pdf
Hopefully, there’ll also be demonstrations of new ham technology along with the sale of vintage equipment. It’d be great to have an amateur radio system that can store and forward email completely and utterly independent of the Internet.
The two existing systems that I’m aware of can forward via radio if set up to do so in the case of Packet Radio, and if the user specifically selects Radio only when creating the message in the case of Winlink.
Winlink is what you want. It was developed for yachters who spend prolonged time at see.
There’s PACTOR that’s been around a couple of decades or more. You have to pay the sole-supplier tax for a modem for it though. There are other ways too, like APRS. If it’s ham traffic though, it will need to be in the clear and non-commercial.
Fortunealty there is an alternative, WinMor.
And ARDOP, which is currently in Alpha testing, will be used for this as well; as a mater of full disclosure, I’m one of the developers of this new protocol.
Interesting, I’ll have to read up on it.
Hamvention…. Been going on and off for 30 years. Wright Patterson National USAF Museum… Medelsons Surplus in downtown Dayton … A visit to the local gun range…. I’m going this year with my 2 barely teenage boys. Might as well start them early to this annual Mecca. Having a 2-way radio in the pocket or belt is an obligatory fashion accessory.
The USAF museum is a great place to go, it is a must-see, absolutely amazing.
[sigh] a disability and the disability income that come along with it most likely will insure I’ll never attend Dayton. Oh well crying in my beer over it waters down the beer and makes it salty. An enjoyable time and safe travels for those who can attend. Also gland an amateur radio operator is covering for Hackaday. Hopefully Hackaday and the amateurlogogictv crew will cross paths increasing exposure for both. http://www.amateurlogic.com/blog/
Will be goin’ there from Cleveland.
I have been buying and selling stuff at the Hamvention for over 30 years. It’s a shadow of it’s former glory, Ebay and the ageing out of ham radio operators has taken it’s toll. Combining the Hamvention with a Maker Event would be awesome.
What if the Maker Faire in NY had 6 acres of open air flea market space?
BTW.. If you drop by booth 3822, 3821 and mention Hack-a-day on Saturday or Sunday, I’m offering a cold soda (While supplies last), a place to drop you stuff, loan of 2 wheel cart, and free sunscreen.
My booth will be filled with random crap.
The stuff I have left over Sunday will be donated to the Dayton Maker Space, unless another maker organization steps forward and offers to haul it from Hara.
Coming from Livingston Texas…WM6V & AA5DT. RAIN IN FORCAST!!!
For two weeks this wet stuff has been coming out of Texas into Indiana.
My 42nd straight year!
Going Saturday with my wife.haven’t been to dayton hamvention since early 90s so it’s going to be fun.this will be my wife’s first visit so i think she will be surprided.
I have some “gigs” to do that weekend. Would love to go and meet up with some fellow HAMs, Hackers, and like-minded folks. Heck, with a callsign like mine (Kilo Cycle Eight Kilo Volt Amps)…I lucked out. ;)
I’m bringing a group of six! This will be my 11th… Bringing one for his second time (N5KH) and one who hasn’t been since the late 1980s (KA9MDP), and three Dayton virgins (N5BKL, N2VIP, and N5BSA).. I think it’s going to be a great year!
73 DE AD8BC
A question to those who have been. Is it worth the $20 admission? I’m not at all interested in radio, but I am very interested in the flea market. The cost of entry seems awful steep.
It’s a three day show, and I go for all three days so yes, for me it’s worth it! It’s also gigantic.It takes at least a day and a half to see everything. I think you’d be satisfied!
Yes, the flea market alone has a lot of stuff that you would be hard pressed to find anyplace else.
I go to the Orlando show, but Dayton is like the Superbowl of hamfests. Heres some examples of crap I’ve collected over the past few Orlando events:
Tek 465 $50
Kester 63/37 $3 (almost full roll)
NASA Ideal wire strippers $5 x 2
Various HP Lab Power supplies labeled as not working but had the jumpers set wrong. I paid maybe $5 each
150lbs of NASA/Aviation stainless fasteners $100
Canvas grocery bag 1/2 full of crimp connectors $20
Mantis inspection scope $250 (with 4x and 8x lens)
Variacs $5 to $50 (I think i have 5 now)
Superior Electric Flexiformer $10 (very cool, non OSHA compliant transformer/ballast)
Dozens of cool high quality switches, buttons and knobs from surplus military, aviation, and industrial gear.
ie: 757 landing light switch $2
Rane TTM56 dj mixer $75 (new)
WARN Cordless PullzAll $25
I could go on, and on, and on… I have just as much fun diving through the dollar bins as I do finding deals on the more expensive items. The whole place is eye candy for hardware junkies so $20 for 3 days isn’t too bad.
I’d like to make it some day. It is pretty far from me though.
I will be going to SeaPac on June 6 in Oregon.
Hey all, SatNOGS (Hackaday Prize 2014 Winner) will be there! Drop by FW3757 and FW3758 to see our latest developments and meet the local community!
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