Dayton Hamvention 2017 Recap

DAYTON HAMVENTION 2017 REVIEW

If you have any interesting stories or fun moments about Dayton Hamvention in 2017, any reviews of any forum, please send them to K8CX and I will add them to this page.

67th Hamvention theme; "Same Friends, New Home".

Hamvention General Chairman was Ron Cramer KD8ENJ, Assistant General Chairman was Jack Gerbs WB8SCT.

This years attendance was 29,296. Last years (2016) attendance was 25,364.

This year the Hamvention was moved from Hara Arena in Brentwood, Ohio (after 52 years) to the Greene County Fair Grounds in Xenia. The Hamvention is now unofficially nicknamed as Day-Xenia Hamvention. The Hamvention committee did a great job on their 1st year at a new venue. As normal, there are some bugs to work out. My trip in on Friday from downtown Dayton was listed on my GPS as 26 minutes. It took me 2 hours and 5 minutes to get there. The last 2 miles was a total traffic jam. However, the local Xenia police fixed the problem by Saturday and the drive in was quick and easy. Some say the buildings were a bit crowded. I don't think they were any worse than Hara. However, there is plans to build another large building by next year thanks to DARA and local officials. There were more food options than last year with more to be added in 2018. The weather was quite rainy and the flee market was on the grass. This quickly turned in to a mud hole. There are plans to fix this by next year. They are still trying to figure out how to do it. I'm sure they will come up with a solution. The parking was also in the grass field. This didn't seem too bad, even with the rain. DARA has SEVERAL 4 wheelers and tractor drawn wagons to take people to and from the parking areas, even right up to their car if requested. This worked very well. DARA also had several satellite parking areas set up in all directions from the fair grounds that you could park and get bussed to and from the fair grounds. I tried this once and it worked flawless. If there were more people than the bus could hold, another bus was immediately there. FB! DARA is working every day of the year to make this event happen as well as it can be. Tim Duffy K3LR, of DX Engineering, now a lifetime member of DARA, does several youtube.com interviews with the Hamvention co-ordinators to keep us all up to date and informed. Here is one with Michael Kalter W8CI a few days after hamvention. These are the opinion of K8CX. Others may have seen things differently!

Hamvention had several services available. Here are a few: emergency medical care with on site doctor, lost and found, message center, license exams, shipping service, special event station, talk-in frequencies, truck and trailer parking, camper parking, electric scooters, and more!

The Weather (May 18, 19, 20, 21, 2017):
Thursday was 85 degrees F and sunny.
Friday was partly cloudy and humid around 77 degrees F. By 4:00 PM it started to rain. At 4:45 PM there was a torrential downpour with winds blowing the rain sideways. I was going from Crowne Plaza downtown Dayton to the DX Dinner at Marriot Hotel and could hardly see the road.
Saturday morning was cool and breezy about 59 degrees F. There were scattered showers during the day with high around 70 degrees F.
Sunday was overcast and around 75 degrees F.

The SouthWest Ohio DX Association (SWODXA) has announced that ‘Experiencing the Hobby of a Lifetime’ will be the keynote topic for their 32nd annual DX dinner®. The dinner, held in conjunction with the 2017 Dayton Hamvention®, will be on Friday, May 19th, at the Marriott Hotel in Dayton. Ruth Willet, KM4LAO, a member of the Dave Kalter Memorial Youth DX Adventure, will be the keynote speaker.

SWODXA 2017 DXpedition of The Year went to the Heard Island DXpedition VK0EK.

I am very proud to announce that Nodir, EY8MM will be the keynote speaker for the 28th Annual Topband dinner in Dayton on Friday May 19, 2017 at the Crowne Plaza. Nodir will speak about Topband preparations associated with the January 2018 DXpedition to Bouvet Island where he will lead the TopBand operation for 3Y0Z. Nodir is a very accomplished Topband operator having recently confirmed 300 DXCC countries on 160 meters. EY8MM also has confirmed all 50 US states and all 40 CQ zones on Topband. He has extensive DXpedition Topband experience as well.

2017 Inductees to the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame:

Friday, May 19, 2017 (Xenia, Ohio - May 19, 2017) - The CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame has 18 new members for 2017, CQ magazine announced today. This brings to 310 the total number of members inducted since the hall's establishment in 2001. 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 2017 inductees (listed alphabetically) are:

• King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, HS1A (SK).

• John Brosnahan, W0UN (SK) - President of Alpha Power, NOAA physicist and instrumental in design and construction of the HAARP facility in Alaska.

• Garrett Brown, W3AFF - Inventor of the Steadicam, which earned him both Oscar and Emmy awards for filmmaking technology.

• Britton Chance, W2IBK (SK) - Pioneer in magnetic imaging; MIT professor, team leader in MIT Radiation Lab developing WWII radar; US Olympic gold medalist (sailing, 1952).

• John Crockett, W3KH - Repeater coordination pioneer; developed Southeastern Repeater Assn (SERA) Universal Coordination System; managed SCHEART system of linked repeaters in hospitals; VP Engineering for SC Educational TV network.

• Julius T. Freeman, KB2OFY (SK) - Tuskegee Airman and Congressional Gold Medal recipient; frequent speaker at schools and civic organizations.

• Limor Fried, AC2SN - Founder of Adafruit Industries, major supplier of open-source electronics to the Maker community; honored by President Obama in 2016 as a "Champion of Change" and by the Internet of Things Institute as one of the 25 most influential women in the IoT industry.

• Robin Haighton, VE3FRH (SK) - Founding member of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), former president of AMSAT-NA.

• David Honess, M6DNT - Developed AstroPi project, which sent two Raspberry Pi computers to the International Space Station as platforms for students on Earth to write and run their own computer code in space; honored for this work with the Sir Arthur Clarke Award, presented by the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society.

• Pete Kemp, KZ1Z (SK) - Author and educator, directly responsible for licensing over 700 new hams.

• Kristen McIntyre, K6WX - Apple software engineer and inventor (her name is on 22 granted or pending patents), promoter of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects for girls through various talks and YouTube presentations.

• Pat McPherson, WW9E (SK) - Founder and longtime coordinator of SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network).

• Andy Nguyen, VK3YT - Pico-ballooner, pioneered round-the-world microballoon flights carrying amateur radio.

• Tim Peake, KG5BVI - UK astronaut very active in ARISS program during time on International Space Station; coordinated ISS end of the AstroPi project (see David Honess, above).

• Mike Santana, WB6TEB (SK) - Two-way radio engineer, designed Clegg FM-76 220-MHz transceiver and President line of CB rigs, favorites for conversion to 10 meters.

• Allan Steinfeld, W2TN, ex-KL7HIR (SK) - Longtime Race Director of the New York City Marathon, considered one of the fathers of the modern running movement.

• Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR - Pioneer of software defined radio (SDR) and founder of FlexRadio.

CQ DX Hall of Fame:

(Xenia, OH - May 19, 2017) - CQ magazine today announced the induction of two new members to the CQ DX Hall of Fame, which honors those DXers who not only excel in personal performance but who also "give back" to the hobby in outstanding ways.

CQ DX Editor Bob Schenck, N2OO, presented Hall of Fame plaques at an induction ceremony held at the annual Dayton DX dinner on May 19. The 2017 inductees to the CQ DX Hall of Fame are: Bill Moore, NC1L (SK) - the ARRL's DXCC Manager for over 20 years. A public face of the program at hamfests around the world, Bill was also a major contributor behind the scenes, leading the transition from DXCC paper records to a computer database, then years later, guiding a major upgrade to the system that is in use today. Bill was severely injured in an auto accident in 2014 and became a Silent Key last year.

Jerry Rosalius, WB9Z - an accomplished DXer and DXpeditioner, he has "worked them all" with the exception of North Korea, and participated in multiple major DXpeditions, including seven that were named as "DXpedition of the Year" by the Southwest Ohio DX Association. He is a frequent speaker at club meetings and hamfests and regularly makes his home station available for training new contesters.

The CQ DX Hall of Fame was established in 1967 to recognize those amateurs who have made major contributions to DXing and DXpeditioning. This year's inductions bring the total number of members of the CQ DX Hall of Fame to 71.

CQ Contest Hall of Fame:

Dave Robbins, K1TTT: Robbins is the builder and owner of a contest superstation in Western Massachusetts. Soon after assembling his first contest station, he wrote in the introduction to his book, Building a Superstation, "I realized I was not a 48-hour iron pants operator and decided to start doing multi-ops from here." For more than 30 years, Robbins has hosted legions of operators at his multi-multi station, some veterans, some newcomers, and willingly shared his knowledge and experiences, both in his building book and his annual Contest Cookbooks, distributed to members of the Yankee Clipper Contest Club (YCCC), of which he is a past president.

Bob Wilson, N6TV: An accomplished contester and contest DXpeditioner, Wilson's achievements behind the scenes are as significant as those he's made on the air. A regular speaker at Contest University and at the International DX Convention's Contest Academy, Wilson has developed new techniques and technologies to enhance logging and scorekeeping software and to advance SO2R (single operator, two radio) operating, along with the efficiency of software-defined radios, CW Skimmer, the Reverse Beacon Network, and more.

CQ Contesting Editor David Siddall, K3ZJ, presented Hall of Fame plaques at an induction ceremony held at the annual Dayton contest dinner on May 20.

INTREPID SPIRIT AWARD:

From the International DX Convention, Visalia California: The Intrepid-DX Group is pleased to announce the recipient of the 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. Sebastien "Seb" Poulenard-F5UFX. This award is to recognize Sebastien's outstanding efforts to activate Juan de Nova Island as FT4JA and Tromelin Island as FT4TA. Sebastien and his teams are largely responsible for fulfilling the need for these rare and difficult entities. We recognize Sebastien's unselfish acts to activate these challenging and much needed entities on behalf of a grateful Global DX Community. We acknowledge Sebastien's pursuit of operating excellence in assembling the best operators available for these important activations. It is for these reasons that we honored him with our Intrepid Spirit Award, presented at the International DX Convention, Visalia, California on April 21st, 2016. 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-- Vice President & Founder The Intrepid-DX Group

2017 Hamvention® Awards Winners:

Dayton Hamvention 2017 Amateur of the Year:

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is Hamvention's 2017 Amateur of the Year. Bauer has been a driving force behind the program since its inception. He also serves as AMSAT-NA Vice President for Human Spaceflight.

Club of the year: Clark County Amateur Radio Club – W7AIA:

The Clark County Amateur Radio Club (CCARC) was established in 1930 and serves Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon. They have been an ARRL Affiliated Club since 1932 and are an ARRL Special Service Club.

The club is active in community service. Using the club call sign W7AIA members participated in 8 Public Service activities in 2016 and tallied over 1500 hours of volunteer service.

CCARC is actively growing a youth program. Activities include supporting the Boy Scouts of America and sponsoring a Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) station in 2016. The club is also working to establish a Communications Explorer Post in Vancouver as well as licensing teens within a local trade school.

In 2016, the CCARC licensed 95 new hams. ‘Ham Basics’ classes are held periodically for new licensees and the club offers a dynamic Elmer program. The club hosts monthly interest meetings such as the ‘Digital Group’ which is an open forum to discover and explore the many types of digital modes. This meeting typically draws hams from other areas.

The CCARC created the pioneering EYEWARN^® program (www.eyewarn.net) to provide visual situation reports to Emergency Managers. This program encourages all hams in the county to “report what they see, where they are” in a disaster.

Special Achievement: S. Ram Mohan, VU2MYH:

Ram Mohan is the Executive Vice Chairman & Director National Institute of Amateur Radio, Hyderabad, India. He was Licensed as Radio Amateur Grade-I since 1988, conducted number of experiments on H.F. and V.H.F. communication equipment and carried out propagation tests, organized training programs, DX-pedition’s, workshops, General Amateur Radio activities including public service Communication.

As Chief Investigator for Dept. of Information Technology, Govt. of India funded Pilot Projects, he has successfully implemented the programs on Digital connectivity to Urban/Rural/Remote areas through amateur radio, Study on Propagation Conditions in Coastal Areas and Advanced Digital Amateur Radio Communication Network.

He led team members for many emergency communications operations. Examples are: Nepal Earthquake 2015, Cyclone Hud 2014, Uttarakhand Floods 2013, West Bengal ‘Ayla’ Cyclone 2009, Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004, Gujarat earthquake 2001, and the Orissa Super Cyclone 1999.

Technical Achievement: Rob Brownstein, K6RB:

Rob has been licensed and active for 59 years. He started as a novice, at age 11, in 1958. Like many young novices, Rob could hardly wait to upgrade to his general ticket and get on phone. But, he soon discovered that he enjoyed operating CW much more. So, he put the microphone in a drawer and never looked back. In January 2010, Rob was one of about a dozen hams, on several continents, who founded the CW Operators Club (CWops). In 2012, Rob was elected president of CWops and served two consecutive terms. During that period, he encouraged and participated in all aspects of the club – rag chewing, contesting, and mentoring. The mentoring part – CW Academy – started in earnest in 2012. Since then, it has mentored more than 800 amateurs in its beginner, intermediate and advanced CW courses.

Contest University by K3LR, 11th CTU was held on Thursday May 18, 2017, 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.

Contest Dinner celebrated their 25th anniversary and was sold out on Saturday May 19th. It was held at Crowne Plaza downtown Dayton. Keynote speakers were John Dorr K1AR and Tim Duffy K3LR.

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 including NODXA Northern Ohio DX Assn. on the 10th floor, KCDXC 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 (N0AX, KX9X, K4RO, W4PA, W1BXY) played Friday night in the Crowne Plaza Banquet Room with standing room only. This is truely a high light event not to be missed!

Crowne Plaza gives a form (fifth 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 2017 Photo Gallery is now up and contains 383 photos by Tom Roscoe K8CX plus a few extras that will be submitted. Others are encouraged to submit their 2017 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 this years Contest Dinner. A moment of silence with much respect was given to them. They were: N5IA, K8ZOA, OH5DX, DJ6QT, K1HI, N6TW, EA8AVK, NC1L, HS1A, K3CB / K6LEW, K8PO, VE3EBN / J37LR, F3AT, K0TO, K1RQ, GW4BLE, WX9U, K4VX, W1ARR, K9JWV, K3IPK, W5WMU, NE8I, W7TSQ, W6AQ, 7Q7BP.

Additional information for this page on Dayton 2017 can be submitted to K8CX.

Thanks to everyone that contributed to this page.
Thanks to ARRL, DARA for permission on select item