Dayton Hamvention 2015

If you have any interesting stories or fun moments about Dayton in 2015, any reviews of any forum, please send them to K8CX and I will add them to this page.

This years attendance was 25,621. Last years (2014) attendance was 24,873.

The 63rd Hamvention was on May 15, 16, 17, 2015 and the weather was:
Friday May 15th: A high of 82 degrees with periods of rain, 0.03"
Saturday May 16th: A high of 78 degrees with periods of rain, 0.03"
Sunday May 17th: A high of 84 degrees with a bit of rain, 0.01".

This years theme was "Homebrew", continuing with the 2014 "Makers" theme.

To celebrate 100 years of QST, ARRL introduced a commemorative edition of the first QST, the December 1915 issue. The reprint was free for those joining, renewing, or extending their ARRL membership at Hamvention. NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke, KE5AIT, stopped by to tour ARRL EXPO and to chat with ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, meet visitors, and sign autographs.

Hara Arena posted artist's depictions of renovations to the Hara complex that are expected to be completed by next year's (2016) show. This is good news! Hara needs renovations badly. Many were worried about the Hamvention moving to another location.

Dayton Hamvention® has named its 2015 award winners. Three radio amateurs and a club will be honored during the annual ham radio gathering, which takes place May 15-17.

Named as Amateur of the Year was Tim Duffy, K3LR. Hamvention’s Special Achievement Award will go to Tom Medlin, W5KUB, and the Rev George Dobbs, G3RJV, will receive the Technical Excellence Award. Hamvention will pay tribute to the Orlando Amateur Radio Club (OARC) as Club of the Year.

“On behalf of the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) and Hamvention® 2015, I would like to congratulate this year’s award winners,” Hamvention® Chairman Jim Tiderman, N8IDS, said. “Their outstanding contributions and many years of devotion to the Amateur Radio Service are recognized and appreciated.”

Amateur of the Year: Tim Duffy, K3LR

A ham since age 12, Duffy, of West Middlesex, Pennsylvania is ARRL Western Pennsylvania Section Manager. A top-tier Amateur Radio contester, he is the founder and chairman of the successful Contest University (CTU), which has trained many radio amateurs in the art and science of radiosport since the first CTU in Dayton in 2007. More 3700 contesting enthusiasts have attended CTUs in eight countries. http://www.k3lr.com

Since 1984, Duffy has moderated the Hamvention Antenna Forum, and he’s involved in scheduling many contesting-related activities during Hamvention, including the Contest Super Suite, the Contest Dinner, and the Top Band Dinner. He has served on the ARRL Contest Advisory Committee and on the CW World Wide Contest Committee.

Duffy was the 2010 recipient of the Radio Club of America (RCA) Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio Award.

Special Achievement Award: Tom Medlin, W5KUB

The Special Achievement Award recognizes the 14 years of service that Medlin has provided through his W5KUB.com live webcasts of ham radio events. From his start as “Helmet Cam Man,” he has grown his webcast offerings to cover all aspects of Amateur Radio, from Hamvention to ARRL Field Day, vendor tours, technical discussions, and special events such as the K6H operation from the Last Man Standing TV show sound stage in Hollywood. Medlin recently inaugurated a weekly live video talk show, Amateur Radio Roundtable. The W5KUB.com viewer base is estimated at some 50,000 people around the world.

“The webcast benefits viewers who cannot personally attend Amateur Radio events, due to age, health, distance, time, or money,” the Hamvention announcement said. Through vendor and manufacturer donations, W5KUB.com has awarded prizes to his viewers valued at more than $10,000 annually. Licensed in 1964, Medlin is a retired electrical engineer and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

Technical Excellence Award: The Rev George Dobbs, G3RJV

An icon within the QRP community, the Rev Dobbs has helped many Amateur Radio operators to build their own equipment, and he writes a monthly practical column, “Continuing the Practical Way” for Practical Wireless magazine as well as the QRP column for the Radio Society of Great Britain, (RSGB) journal, Radio Communication. He is the author of QRP Basics and jointly compiled the International QRP Collection for the RSGB.

Dobbs was licensed in 1962, and from the start he used almost all home-built equipment. In 1972 he founded the G-QRP Club, now the largest QRP club in the world, and he still edits the club’s journal SPRAT. Now retired as a Church of England cleric, Dobbs and his wife Jo-Anna, G0OWH, live in Wales.

Club of the Year: Orlando Amateur Radio Club (OARC)

The Orlando Amateur Radio Club (W4PLB) is the largest and oldest Amateur Radio club in Central Florida with a membership base of more than 300. An ARRL Special Service Club, it sponsors the annual Orlando HamCation®, the second largest ham radio gathering in the US.

“The members of the Orlando Amateur Radio Club take great pride in planning for the future of Amateur Radio and preserving the history of technology,” the Hamvention announcement said. “They do this by recruiting, training, and helping committed hams to carry on the tradition of Amateur Radio.”

The club actively supports Orange County ARES® and SKYWARN, as well as several community service agencies. It conducts ham radio license training and testing for all ages, and it publishes a monthly e-newsletter.

CQ magazine announced its 2015 Hall of Fame inductees, adding two members each to the CQ DX and Contest Halls of Fame, as well as nine new members of the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame. The CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame honors those individuals, whether licensed hams or not, who have made significant contributions to amateur radio; and those amateurs who have made significant contributions either to amateur radio, to their professional careers or to some other aspect of life on our planet. The 2015 inductees (listed alphabetically) are:

Tim Allen, KK6OTD - Actor and star of the ABC comedy, "Last Man Standing," on which his character is also a ham, Mike Baxter, KA0XTT.

Charles Apgar, ex-2MN (SK) - uncovered German spy transmissions from Telefunken shore station WSL in New York during WWI.

Dan Benishek, KB8TOW - Member of Congress from Michigan. Medical doctor and advocate for veterans. Olof Lundberg, G0CKV - Leader of the communications satellite industry for a quarter-century. Founding Director General of Inmarsat; founder, CEO and Chairman of ICO Global Communications and CEO of Globalstar, Inc.

Bre Pettis, W2BRE - 3D printing pioneer and founder of MakerBot.

Alvino Rey, W6UK (SK) - A leading musician of the swing era, Rey is considered the father of the electric guitar and inventor of the talk box, pickups and other electronic musical devices. He combined his love for music with his love of radio to transform the music world.

Bob Twiggs, KE6QMD - Co-inventor of the cubesat design standard.

Greg Walden, W7EQI - Member of Congress from Oregon. Chairman of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee.

Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, YD2JKW - President of Indonesia.

CQ DX and Contest and DX Halls of Fame:

The CQ DX and Contest Halls of Fame honor those amateurs who not only excel in personal performance in these major areas of amateur radio but who also "give back" to the hobby in outstanding ways.

The 2015 inductees to the CQ DX Hall of Fame are:

Yasuo "Zorro" Miyazawa, JH1AJT - is a DXer, DXpeditioner, educator and philanthropist. Zorro is the founder and CEO of the Seisa Group, which runs schools in several countries; and founder/CEO of the Foundation for Global Children, which provides medical and educational support for children in Japan, Bhutan, Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh. Zorro has also helped promote or re-introduce amateur radio to many of these places, and has donated money and/or equipment to help amateurs in rare locations get or stay on the air.

Michael Wells, G7VJR - is founder of Club Log, an online DXpedition log- hosting tool that has changed the face of DXpedition operating by, among other things, allowing operators to upload their logs while still on the air and permit hams around the world to know if they are "in the log" on a given band or mode. Michael is a DXpeditioner himself, having been part of a half-dozen major operations and having operated from 25 different DX entities over the past 10 years.

The 2015 inductees to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame are:

Doug Grant, K1DG - is not only a world-class contester, but has not hesitated to share his knowledge and skills with others. He has built or helped to build several championship contest stations, is a founding member of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club, a founding director of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation, is a regular instructor at Contest University and has run the Contest Forum at the Dayton Hamvention® for the past 20 years. In addition, Doug has competed in five World Radiosport Team Championships (WRTCs), and has medaled three times.

Ward Silver, N0AX - has been a contester for over four decades and has operated from some of the world's top contest stations, spanning four continents. A founder of the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC) competitions in 1990, Ward is currently Secretary of the WRTC Sanctioning Committee. He is also president of the YASME Foundation, which supports DXpeditions and contest operations around the world, QST contesting editor and author of Ham Radio for Dummies and Circuitbuilding Do-It-Yourself for Dummies.

Contest University by K3LR was held on Thursday May 14, 2015, from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dayton, Ohio. This is the day before the Dayton Hamvention officially opens. Participants gained much contest knowledge.

This years DX Forum by K4ZLE & N0FW included talks:

Patrick Godderie ON4HIL and Marc Cosemans ON6CC on EP6T - Kish Island, Iran.

Gene Spinelli K5GS on VK9MT Mellish Reef, now on Youtube.com.

Glenn Johnson W0GJ and Bob Allphin K4UEE on K1N, "The Long Road to Navassa", 13 years in the making. Now on Youtube.com.

W1AW/xx - "Dead Band DX", 100 years in the making.

Don Miller W9WNV gave a talk about his adventures. Now on Youtube.com.

Navassa Island K1N was awarded the SWODXA DXpedition Of The Year at the DX Dinner.

The Intrepid-DX Group is pleased to announce the recipient of the 3rd annual “Intrepid Spirit Award”. We are pleased to have received so many worthy nominations to consider. This year’s award goes to a notable Dxer and DXpeditioner that we have come to respect and admire greatly, Mr. Dmitri Zhikharev, RA9USU. This award is to recognize Dmitri’s outstanding efforts to activate Yemen from 2012 through 2014 as 7O6T and 7O2A. Dmitri is largely responsible for fulfilling the need for 7O contacts since 2012.

Yemen is a place of much uncertainty and danger. We recognize Dmitri’s unselfish acts to activate this challenging and much needed entity. We acknowledge Dmitri’s pursuit of operating excellence and his quest to activate the rare and often dangerous entities. It is for these reasons that we honor him with our Intrepid Spirit Award, to be presented at the International DX Convention, Visalia, California on April 18th, 2015.

This “Intrepid-Spirit Award” is made in memory of our fallen friend and member, James McLaughlin, T6AF who was killed in Kabul, Afghanistan in April, 2011. The award is intended to recognize and honor those individuals or teams that boldly activate rare entities where their own personal safety is secondary to their pursuit of providing contacts to the DX Community. While we do not encourage Dxers to go into harm’s way, we recognize that circumstances sometimes require that and we recognize those Intrepid Dxers with the Intrepid Spirit Award.

Thank you, Paul S. Ewing, N6PSE - President, The Intrepid-DX Group

The Contest Super Suite on the 1st floor of Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Dayton was open 4 nights with free pizza all 4 nights. There were also hospitality suites on other floors of the Crowne Plaza. There was Northern Ohio DX Assn. on the 10th floor and Kansas City DX Club on the 5th floor. Crowne Plaza downtown Dayton is definately the place to be in the evening when visiting Hamvention. Please make it a point to join us there next year.

The Spurious Emissions Band played Friday night in the Crowne Plaza Banquet Room. They definately out grown the Super Suite room.

Crowne Plaza gives a form (fourth year) to fill out before leaving. This reserves you a room (3 nights only) for the following year. This is a much better arrangement than setting a date for you to call in.

The Dayton 2015 Photo Gallery is now up and contains 361 photos by Tom Roscoe K8CX plus a few extras submitted. Others are encouraged to submit their 2015 photos to be included on the Gallery. There must be at least one ham in the photo that isn't already listed on this page. There is a search engine on this page to make checking easy. All hams in the photos must be identified by callsign. Past year photos can also be submitted.

There is a list of Silent Keys that were paid tribute at the Contest Dinner. A moment of silence with much respect was given to them. They were: KB4HQA, VK3ZL, K1NA, IT9ZGY, N3ME, KS7DX / VE3CDX, W6AE, KB1T, HG2G / HC1AK, CX5BW, KE9I, AI6V / P49V, DL8WPX, W4PRO, 9Y4VU, PZ1DV, K5LBU, K4DXA, KB1H, PA0LOU, W1OO, K4CM, W1GUD, VK6DXI / SP5IXI, VE3TA.

Aloha!
Just thought it is interesting that the Dayton Hamvention peaked in attendance when my radio show went nationally syndicated, doing special Open Forums with Bill Pasternak (sk) in Dayton. When I stopped my show in 1997 and stopped promoting Dayton HamVention, attendance began to diminish. I used to have the current chairman on each year and promoted the Hamvention very much, from 2 months before the event and recap shows after. I know it’s just a coincidence, but interesting, nonetheless.
Len Winkler, KH7LW
www.hamradioandmore.com

Additional information for this page on Dayton 2015 can be submitted to K8CX.

Thanks to everyone that contributed to this page.