Hamvention 2010 Dayton

Dayton 2010

FDIM is Main Event to come to Dayton as far as I am concerned. FDIM is an opportunity for the QRP community to come together and share fellowship and ideas in the form of seminar presentations, socializing, showing homebrew items, and a trade show for the vendors. Here are some brief notes on the Thursday presentations.

• QRP contesting by Anthony Luscre, K8ZT http://www.k8zt.com/ Lots of good information for any operator. Plan your operation, use the best practices and methods you can and don't tell them you are QRP!
• QRSS by Hans Summers G0UPL http://www.hanssummers.com/ Great intro to QRSS and an offer of an inexpensive kit to get started was offered to the group. To create a low power rig that will run off a 'bleach cell' battery, leave out the resistors. QRSS is “the perfect antidote to today's hectic life”
• Homemade Receivers I have loved George Dobbs G3RJV says doing one useless thing per day will increase happiness. He introduced me to the Polyakav mixer/doubler and the Supergainer receiver circuit. Offered to the group were Sudden Receiver kits. Circuit description at http://www.zerobeat.net/g3ycc/sudden.htm or to order see http://www.gqrp.com/sudden.htm
• To hear a talk called "QRP Why and How" by G3RJV is available now on the BATC website. Go to http://www.batc.tv/ and click on the 'Film Archive' icon and select "G3RJV QRP Lecture" from the drop-down list on the left hand side. The BATC site has a wide choice of videos available to view on-line as well as streamed outputs of amateur TV stations and repeaters.“Happiness is NOT a destination it is a manner of travelling. The point is to make the journey.”
• 100 lb Dxpedition by B. Scott Andersen NE1RD . Use what you have and keep it simple and correct. Google Earth is a good tool to check possible sites. Bring enough coax. Practice, weigh and pack. QSL for the 'other guy'. You don't have to be rare but be 'well done'. Have Fun!
• “Gud Enuff” Performance testing by Jay Slough K4ZLE and Jim Everly K8IKE . Testing is a 'confidence course' Lots of good information on measuring MDS, IMD, Blocking Dynamic Range, Output Power, CW Keying Waveform Xmit IMD, Sideband suppression using relatively simple test gear and yielding accurate results. This was a good overview of tests the QRPer can do with a home test bench.
• QRP on the Low Bands: Antennas & Operating by Gary Breed K9AY Lighting Noise and Man Made noise are both worse at lower frequences because the sources are low frequency in nature and the harmonices get weaker with increasing frequency. Fix what you can in your house and immediate area. Antennas are BIG. Use a directive receiving antenna (at remote sites if possible). For DX TX antennas verticals work better and require counterpoise/radials. For RX a long Beverage in the desired direction or set of small loops can be effective. Low Band multipliers will usually separate the winners in contests. Some good reading at http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx/antenna/loop/k9ay/index.html

Friday  I enjoyed the Hamvention itself today after a great day of Seminars at the FDIM QRP Convention in Fairborn.  Got a ride to Hara Arena this morning and  took the bus back to Fairborn by riding the Shuttle towards the parking area transfering to another bus to downtown then again to get out near the hotel in Fairborn.  Some of the downtown area of Dayton looked nearly as bad as Detroit.  There were some blocks that had more empty homes than people living in them.  GM, NCR and some other major employers have left the area.  Windows broken and/or boarded and grass knee high in May look very bad.

FDIM is great!

Saturday was another trip to the Hamvention,  In the AM attended the 'Youth' Forum where I got to hear many speakers in the AM.  Here is a link to the Forum Sked for this year at Dayton http://www.hamvention.org/forums.php.  Later I hiked the trade show and flea market areas for  a few hours and took the bus back to the hotel to meet Trish and leave for the 'Contest Dinner' http://www.contestdinner.com/.  The room at the Crowne Plaza was packed with over 400 'contesters' from around the world.

Sunday we slept in till 9 and visited some more as folks were checking out.  Then we headed over to the USAF Air Museum http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/ and  spent 90 visiting the Waco CG4-A combat glider that both of our dads flew in during WWII.  The Museum is over 3 times larger than the last time I visited over 10 years ago!  We will go back as 90 min was no more than a 'walk through'.  We stopped at a 'Sonic' drive in on the way out of Dayton and drove back to Lovettsville for an overnight stop before the final 2 hours of driving.

Some Additional Photos of Dayton 2010
Put some of the pix up on http://travel.webshots.com/album/577715609tWyRQM