Calling all hams! Hamvention 2022 is underway and runs through the weekend at the Greene County Fair and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio. It’s been three long years since Hamvention took place in person, and this year marks the 70th reunion of what has got to be the largest hamfest in the Midwest. If you’re in the area, you don’t want to miss it. You will need a ticket, though, and here are a few places you pick one up.
Indoors, you’ll find six buildings full of commercial vendors. But outside is where the real fun takes place — the flea market. What treasures will you uncover? There’s only one way to find out.
If you want to get into ham radio, there’s no place like a ham fest to kick off your journey. And if you’ve been poring over the ARRL handbook, you’re in luck, because they’re proctoring ham exams for free at the church across the street on Friday and Saturday.
Can’t make it out for whatever reason, but live close to the fairgrounds? Want to get in the mood on your way there? Tune to 1620AM within a five-ish mile radius to hear weather, traffic, and parking info, plus interviews and other assorted radio fun. If you live nowhere near Ohio, don’t despair — they are livestreaming it on YouTube.
[Note: the Hara Arena, pictured in our awesome Joe Kim artwork, is the old home of Hamvention, and was demolished in 2016. Better head off to the Greene County Fairgrounds instead.]
I’m not attending this year, but I’m SO GLAD they moved to the Greene County fairgrounds. The parking was a mud-pit the year I went, but everything else about it is so much better. The bathrooms work, the pavement is in good shape, the roofs don’t leak…
Where’s the sense of achievement then? If it felt like you battled the wilds, far from civilisation to find your special precious, and now it’s just like you picked it off the shelf in a store??? Pfft. :-D
Parking area is still mud :P We parked in grass in 2018 and this year as well. Rained on thrusday.
Here’s a parking secret which will get me in trouble, but for Hackaday fans on a budget…it’s worth it. 303 Kinsey Road in Xenia. It’s the High School Parking Lot. Parking is free. You can tip the bus drivers who shuttle you to and from the event. Get there early, get your spot, and then enjoy the day without mudding up your ride.
Hara was a trip… One of those places where yeah, it’s definitely non-optimal, but it has character for days. And doesn’t that describe amateur radio overall?
I’m glad Hamvention is back. Here’s hoping it can grow back to “world’s largest ham radio convention” again!
73s
Just under 20k steps in at the hamfest. I was well worth the 9 hour drive from South Carolina.
This was my wife’s second visit to Hamvention. I don’t have enough digits to count how many times I’ve been there (j/k). From the flea markets out on the track, to the vendors inside the buildings…there was information, education and fellowship. I even got to meet a lot of people I made contacts with from overseas there. My wife (KD8RXM) got her membership with AMSAT, and I renewed my membership with the RSGB. A lot of the stores AND surplus stores were there too. I couldn’t believe the flea market prices on some items. A Tektroniks 568B for only $20…tested on site with calibration certificate AND demonstrated on site…just because the guy was reducing his workshop and electronics was not a strong point for him. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle come into play here. To those that went, It was Hamvention (with that storm scare as usual)…for those that missed out…plan on next year. ;) 73 de KC8KVA (The drive of the “Voltswagen”…not the “Ohmsmobile”)