Dayton Hamvention 2024
Last week, I got to attend the Dayton Hamvention hamfest in Xenia, Ohio! Hamvention is one of the largest hamfests in the world in terms of attendance numbers, and is filled to the brim with opportunities for learning more about the amateur radio hobby as well as seeing what new innovations are coming out from independent hobbiests as well as major vendors.
The Trip
Previously, I attended the convention in 2022 as a vendor to help promote the RemoteHamRadio Youth Program, but this year I was able to go as a regular attendee. Unfortunately, that meant I needed to figure out my own transportation and accomodations - so I decided this year to make a road trip out of it!
Driving from Tulsa, Oklahoma, myself and a fellow club officer made the drive first to St. Louis, MO, spending a single night there, and then completing the drive to Xenia, OH the next day. In terms of sights seen there wasn't much along the way, although we did stop at a Buc-ee's in Springfield, MO just to see what it was like - and it certainly wasn't as exciting as the internet might make it seem!
After a stop to see family and then a drive back to Oklahoma, all paired up with the driving to and from the hamfest every day, our final driving distance was 2085 miles. I had a ton of fun simply doing the trip, and I hope to make it again next year, although it has left me with some thoughts on road tripping, driving, and car dependance that leaves me a bit frustrated. But I'll leave that for a later post.
The Main Event
Hamvention is basically laid out like a 3-day weekend - there are two full days of activity on Friday and Saturday, with Sunday ending early to allow vendors to pack up and start heading home without it getting too late.
Friday
On Friday, or Day 1, I spent most of my time just checking out the sights of the fairgrounds. Since I hadn't been in a while, I wanted to get a lay of the land and just know what vendors were around, what the new announcements and sales were looking like, and what the crowds were looking like. After doing a few laps through the 5 vendor buildings, I stopped and hung out at a friend's flea market table before heading to our hotel for the night. That evening, we made a pit stop at Contest Super Suite - a nightly event for contestors to hang out and socialize. I always find Super Suite to be somewhat of a good time, since I always meet some people that I haven't seen in a while or that I've only met on the air. However this year I just didn't seem to be feeling up for it every night, so this was the only night during the weekend we managed to attend. Hopefully next year I can find some more fun in the late night activities!
Saturday
Saturday was the main day of activity for me. I first went around and looked at the vendors again, and ended up making one major purchase of a digirig with the cables for my Yaesu FT-3DR handheld. I'm hoping to use this to become active on some new digital modes - primarily Winlink for my local ARES group's preparedness exercises.
We also attended a few forums. The VHF/UHF/Microwave forum was an interesting look at an EME DXpedition to Hawaii as well as a deep dive into how amateur frequencies are allocated and what we can do as hams to help protect our portion of the radio spectrum. Listening to these guys talk about their interest in VHF/UHF operations made me excited to dive deeper into these as well, and I hope to do some higher frequency work in the near future - primarily satellite operations.
We also attended KW5GP's talk on building projects with Arduino. While I didn't really need the introductory information on Arduino and its capabilities, I learned a lot about new sensors and components I had never seen before and the possibilities they hold for hobby projects. I have a few ideas on how to improve my operations with microcontroller projects, and this helped to expand those ideas and hopefully I can bring these projects to fruition in the future.
Saturday evening I also attended the ARRL's Collegiate Amateur Radio Program (CARP) Dinner. I was unfortunately not able to stay for the entire evening, but the hour I spent there was a great time. I always love connecting with other young hams and especially those working on collegiate clubs as I am. Attending this dinner helped to reinvigorate my energy for the summer that I am hoping to dedicate to work on my own college club, and I hope to continue attending CARP meetings and events to meet more like-minded collegiate hams.
Sunday
As I mentioned earlier, Sunday is mostly a relaxed day with all the vendors beginning to pack up and leave, so there isn't too much to do. On Sunday, we did one final lap through the vendor buildings, went through the flea market tables again, and then began the final leg of our road trip journey home.
I did make one purchase at the flea market, of two Motorola HT1000 handhelds - one for general VHF usage and one for GMRS frequencies. I haven't gotten around to programming these yet, but I'm excited to play around with more Motorola gear.
Final Thoughts
Dayton Hamvention is certainly a sight to see for any ham, and I forgot how much I enjoyed it after missing it last year. I'm hoping now that I'm a bit more confident in my ability to make the drive that I can road trip out there again next year and explore some more - assuming my schedule allows.
I'm excited to put what I learned and purchased to good use, and hopefully next year I can come back with even more knowledge and excitement for the hobby!