Dayton Hamvention 2024 Recap

Dayton Hamvention May 17, 18, 19 , 2024 takes place at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, Ohio

You can visit their website for more info!

ARRL and Hamvention® have announced that Hamvention will host the 2024 ARRL National Convention, May 17, 18, and 19 at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio. Hamvention is the world's largest annual gathering of radio amateurs and has been sponsored by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) since 1952. "We are pleased to unveil our 2024 logo and theme," announced 2024 Hamvention General Chair Jim Storms, AB8YK, and the Hamvention team. "The theme is 'Expanding our Community'. This is in support of the growth of amateur radio worldwide."

Hamvention 72nd Reunion 1952 - 2024

Hamvention General Chairman, Jim Storms AB8YK is proud to announce the 2024 event had a record setting official attendance of 35,877. We thank everyone that attended and hope you had a wonderful time. Friday morning’s rain appeared to not put a damper on attendance. Saturday and Sunday weather was outstanding. There was a lot of activity all across the event. People attended from all around the world and others from close by. You are the ones why we work to provide this event. Hopefully, you found the hardware/software and forums you desired. Again, I want to thank my hard-working Committee Chairs and their Assistant Chairs along with the approximately 700 volunteers. There are several functions that occur before and after the show. However, a large number work during the show for a minimum of six hours, and some individuals work much more than that. In some cases, they work so much that they do not have a chance to see much of the event. I am especially appreciative of those efforts. We thank the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) for holding their National Convention in conjunction with Hamvention.

For the 3rd time, starting in 2022, the contesters will be staying at Hope Hotel and Conference Center at Wright-Patterson Airforce Base, Ohio which is closer to Xenia, where the Hamvention is being held. There are 265 guest rooms that went on sale at 9:00 AM on June 8th and sold out within a few hours. Contest University will be held here all day Thursday, May 16, 2024 and hosted by Tim Duffy K3LR. The digital banquet will be held at the Hope Hotel Thursday evening hosted by Ed Muns W0YK. This is where the Top Band Banquet will be held on Friday May 17, 2024 and Contest Banquet will be held on Saturday May 18, 2024. Visit contestuniversity.com or contact Tim for more info.

Buses starting at 7:00 AM leave from the Hope Hotel every 30 minutes to the Hamvention in Zenia. The buses also leave the Hamvention every 30 minutes back to the Hope Hotel.

The weather in Xenia, Ohio on the Hamvention weekend was:
Thursday May 16: Sunny 79 deg. F
Friday May 17: Rain until 11;00 AM, then partly overcast with a high of 72 deg. F
Saturday May 18: Sunny, 80 deg. F
Sunday May 19: Sunny 83 deg. F

2024 Hamvention Award Winners

Michael Kalter W8CI Awards Chairman of the Hamvention Awards Committee is delighted to present this year’s amateur radio award selections.

Our winners are:

Special Achievement Award Anthony Luscre, K8ZT

Anthony Luscre, K8ZT, is from near Akron, OH and was first licensed in 1981. He has been a QRP operator, contester, and teacher throughout his career in amateur radio. He updated to Amateur Extra in 2000. Anthony is active on HF and VHF/UHF, using CW, phone, and digital. His QRP contacts now top 115,000. He has consistently finished in the top ten of various major contests and finished first in the World and US in both CQ Worldwide Phone and CW QRP categories multiple times. As a bonus, his QRP DXCC total recently topped the 328 mark, and he has completed 11-band WAS. Between licensing classes, club programs, webinars, hamfests, conferences, youth & school radio demonstrations and other in-person and online talks, Anthony has presented over 500 sessions since the beginning of COVID-19. He has presented multiple times for Contest University, QSO Today Expo, and at Dayton Hamvention. He does a weekly class, “The Joy of Operating,” for the Long Island CW Club. Anthony serves as ARRL Ohio Section Youth Coordinator and is an officer in his local radio club. He enjoys writing as well as speaking and has prepared articles for a variety of publications, including CQ Magazine (column “Ham Radio Explorer”), DX Engineering blog “On All Bands” and developing an online course “Introduction to Contesting” for the ARRL Learning Network.

Technical Achievement Ward Silver N0AX

For the past 15 years Ward has been the Lead Editor of the ARRL Handbook and the ARRL Antenna Book, and a primary author of all three ARRL License Manuals and study guides from 2004 until his retirement in 2023. He wrote the well-received "Grounding and Bonding for the Radio Amateur" (now in its 2nd edition) and "Ham Radio for Dummies" (now in its 4th edition). His monthly QST column, "Hands-On Radio" ran for 180 issues and has now been published in book format. The recent ARRL book, "Here to There: Radio Wave Propagation" includes his contributions including being its editor. He gives many online and in-person presentations and is a two-time recipient of the Bill Orr Technical Writing Award, as well. An electrical engineer, he designed microprocessor-based products and medical devices for twenty years before beginning a second career as a teacher and writer. Licensed since 1972, he is a co-founder of the World Radiosport Team Championships, and was inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 2015, with numerous top scores and records. He is President of the Yasme Foundation (yasme.org) and is also a board member of the HamSCI collaborative research group (hamsci.org). Ward's primary interests in amateur radio include radiosport, antenna design, and supporting his local emergency response team.

Amateur of The Year Edward Engleman KG8CX

Edward Engleman, KG8CX, is from Menominee, Michigan. He is the co-founder of the Young Amateurs Communications Ham Team (YACHT). Ed was first licensed in 1991 and reached Amateur Extra class in 2000. He has been a member of the ARRL since 1991. He serves his home club, the Marinette & Menominee Amateur Radio Club, as a VE. Ed’s background as an elementary educator and principal for 33 years was instrumental in developing the talents he now uses in his work with young amateurs. His major objective is to help create and develop enjoyment and skill in communications/technology via ham radio activity through its many modes, and to encourage friendships with other youth hams. Membership in YACHT, callsign K8KDZ, has grown steadily. There were 47 new members in 2023 alone. Many of the YACHT youth have given presentations at past Hamvention and Hamcation youth forums conducted by Carole Perry. A number of the youth members have been awarded national recognition for their ham radio activity and accomplishments. Besides the development of youth presenters, YACHT has echo link sessions 6 evenings a week and club activity encourage participation in all modes of amateur radio. Ed is proud to be part of the future of amateur radio by paying forward his interest in amateur radio by developing the next generation of hams.

Club of the Year The Young Ladies’ Radio League, (YLRL)

The Young Ladies’ Radio League, Inc (YLRL) is proud to be celebrating its 85th Anniversary this year. With members from all over the world, the organization has been involved in everything from contests to emergency events to helping new hams get licensed and, on the air, as well as everything in between. Established in 1939, YLRL has been found at Hamfests and Conventions all over the world and has been proud to have had a booth at Hamvention® since the 1950’s and a YL Forum since the 1960’s. Women helping women in Amateur Radio is a mission statement for this organization, but there are also contest and award opportunities for the OMs who support their YLs. YLRL has the motto QRV-I AM READY and they are ready to assist in the radio community.

The Southwest Ohio DX Association presents the DXpedition of the Year Award.

Our goal is to recognize excellence in DXpedition planning and execution from Most Wanted entities. DXpeditions that were completed from March 2023 through February 2024 are eligible for this year’s award. The Southwest Ohio DX Association is proud to announce that the 2024 DXpedition of the Year award goes to W8S, Swains Island. We congratulate the team ( DL6JGN, PA3EWP, PG5M, KO8SCA, DL2AMD, PA4WM, PA5X, PA2KW, DL9RR, NG7M) on a well-organized and executed DXpedition in a very challenging environment.

Announcing: 2024 Inductees to the CQ Amateur Radio, Contesting and DX Halls 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. This year, we are inducting six new members, bringing to 339 the total number of members inducted since the hall's establishment in 2001.

The 2024 CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame inductees are:

DL8HCZ/CT1HZE, Joachim Kraft, of Hamburg, Germany; K3LR, Tim Duffy of West Middlesex, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.; and the late K2MGA, Richard A. Ross, have been inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame.

Dl8HCZ/CT1HZE, Joachim Kraft, has been an enthusiastic amateur radio operator since 1980 and has been committed to the technical development of amateur radio and research into propagation phenomena in the VHF/UHF and microwave bands since 1989 by publishing the English-language amateur radio magazine DUBUS with a team of specialist authors from all over the world working on a voluntary basis. In particular, this magazine researches and analyzes DX successes on the 6M, 2M, and higher bands. The evaluation of, and statistics on, sporadic-E DX QSOs in the 2M band, which Joachim painstakingly compiles and updates annually, spans 50-plus years and is probably unique worldwide. DUBUS was founded in 1972 by a group of radio amateurs from Berlin, and was already being used to exchange technical and DX information across all national borders at the time of the Iron Curtain. For over 35 years, Joachim has been involved in this magazine together with other radio amateurs, and for almost a quarter of a century he has been its publisher. Today, it is read in over 50 countries.

K3LR, Tim Duffy, already a member of the CQ Contest Hall of Fame since 2006, is being inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame because of his lifetime achievements that far transcend his contesting accomplishments. As a contester, Tim has hosted over 160 different amateur radio operators from around the world to his superstation – 11 operating positions and 14 towers – since 1992. He has been the moderator of the Hamvention Antenna forum for 36 years, and has served as chairman of Contest University (15 years), the Dayton Contest Dinner (29 years), and the Top Band Dinner. He also co-coordinates the Contest Super Suite (37 years) in Dayton during the yearly Dayton Hamvention. He also founded the popular RFI reflector (RFI@contesting.com), and has moderated it since 1999. Tim serves on the board of directors of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) as Chairman and is President Emeritus of the Radio Club of America (RCA). Tim is multi-year President of the Mercer County Amateur Radio Club (W3LIF/W3JTV). He received the RCA Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio service award in 2010, Hamvention Amateur of the Year in 2015, and the YASME Excellence award in 2016. Professionally, Tim is the Chief Executive Officer of DX Engineering.

K2MGA, Richard A. Ross (SK), who passed away on April 27 at age 84, was president of CQ Publishing. He was editor, then publisher of CQ Magazine, and at one time, published 11 magazine titles as well as books, calendars, and an extensive video library. Dick was also a huge supporter of contesting, DXing, and many other aspects of the amateur radio service. He believed strongly in celebrating his fellow amateurs for their exemplary achievements in these endeavors. Dick Ross has now been inducted into all three of the CQ Halls of Fame – Amateur Radio, Contest, and DX – in recognition of his lifelong dedication to the amateur radio service and to his fellow amateurs.

The 2024 Inductees to the CQ Contesting Hall of Fame are:

PP5JR, Sergio Lima de Almeida of Florianopolis, Brazil; N2IC, Steven M. London of Silver City, New Mexico, U.S.A.; and the late K2MGA, Richard A. Ross, were inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame tonight during the Dayton Contest Dinner at the Hope Hotel and Richard C. Holbrooke Conference Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. This event was sponsored by the North Coast Contesters. ICOM and DX Engineering were platinum sponsors.

PP5JR, Sergio Lima de Almeida, is a cardiovascular surgeon in Florianopolis, Brazil. First licensed in 1979, he has held PP5JR since 1985. He has also operated as PRØR. PQØMM, PT5A, ZZ5JR, PX5E, ZX5J, and PT5J. Sergio is a member of the Araucária DX Group. In 1996, he began construction of a station in Serra da Boa Vista which is incorporated to the Araucária DX Group. Over the years, he has mentored many people to become contest operators. A perennial WRTC participant, Sergio has also been involved in several DXpeditions, including one to Bhutan as A52JR in 2014. He often enters the ARRL International DX Contest, CQ World Wide DX Contest, CQ Worked All Prefixes Contest, Worked All Europe Contest, and CQMM DX Contest on single bands, most often 10, 15, or 20 meters, and has won first place for South America or the world numerous times. In recent years, he has operated multi-single, and placed first in South America or the world. Most notably, his spouse and three children are all licensed amateur radio operators, and often operate together in contests.

N2IC, Steven M. London, has been at or near the top of the leaderboard in virtually every contest he has entered for decades. He most often enters contests in the single-operator category, and challenges himself sometimes with single-band, low power, and QRP entries. His scores are consistently off the charts. To give just one example, he entered the 2021 ARRL CW Sweepstakes in the QRP category and scored 166,992 points. That is a score that many high-power entrants could not even approach, and the second place finisher in the QRP category was 54,000 points behind. He also has won the North America QSO Party (NAQP) five times as a 2BSIQ, four times with 100 watts and once QRP. Steve travels extensively to operate at multi-operator-multi-transmitter stations, notably K3LR, and has been involved in the World Radiosport Team Championship six times with two Top Five finishes. He has been a valued source of information for new and old contesters alike on station and antenna design and operating strategy. A member of the N1MM contesting software development team since 2008, Steve created a customized version of N1MM to support rig-in-a-box (RIB) operations. A retired engineer, Steve lives on a mountaintop in southwestern New Mexico. He is a devoted communications technician with a volunteer fire department, providing essential communication in forested areas.

K2MGA, Richard A. Ross (SK), who passed away on April 27 at age 84, was president of CQ Publishing. He was editor, then publisher of CQ Magazine, and at one time, published 11 magazine titles as well as books, calendars, and an extensive video library. Dick In particular, Dick was keenly aware of the legacy of CQ’s contest program, beginning with the very first CQ World Wide contest in 1948. The contest program was his pride and joy as he witnessed its growth into a collection of the world’s largest competitions that we enjoy to this day. The quintessential behind-the-scenes visionary, Dick ensured that CQ Magazine gave extensive coverage to the contesting world, providing for a time a dedicated publication called CQ Contest, a regular contesting column in CQ Magazine, video content, and full narrative reports and line scores in the magazine long after other entities moved this information online.

The 2024 CQ DX Hall of Fame inductees are:

VE3LYC, Cezar Trifu of Bath, Ontario, Canada; W3UR, Bernie McClenny of Glenwood, Maryland, U.S.A.; and the late K2MGA, Richard A. Ross, have been inducted in the CQ DX Hall of Fame. Their enshrinement was announced tonight during the Southwest Ohio DX Association dinner at the Dayton Marriott at the University of Dayton during the 2024 Dayton Hamvention.

VE3LYC, Cezar Trifu, was born and raised in Romania, and holds a Ph.D. degree in physics. A second-generation amateur radio operator, he has held VE3LYC since 1995. He serves as the Islands on the Air (IOTA) Operations Manager and Deputy General Manager, and is a member of the Board of Directors of IOTA Ltd. One nominator wrote that “Cezar showed extensive knowledge and enthusiasm in DX and the IOTA program. He has directed the IOTA program into what it is today. He is very dedicated and a non-fearing adventurer with 30-plus IOTA activations. His book recalling these adventures, Dream Big and Dare to Fail, is one every amateur should read.” Another nominator wrote, “Cezar prepares his DXpeditions with great attention to detail, carefully identifying the hazards involved and mitigating the risks by incorporating contingencies. He always documents what worked and how, from the logistics to the propagation forecast and handling of pileups, which is all meant to provide those who go places with informative material that they can adapt to their own needs,” and concluded, “Cezar is a reliable and highly skilled operator with the guts of the early pioneers!”

W3UR, Bernie McClenny, has impressive on-the-air bona fides. He has operated from two all-time new DXCC entities: E44DX in Gaza, Palestine and 4W/W3UR in Baucau, East Timor. Other DXpeditions with which he has participated include A61AJ, AH3D, OHØ/W3UR, VU4AN, YU8/OH2R, 8P9UR, J77A, and V47UR. He has also been a guest operator multiple times at the United Nations Amateur Radio Club, 4U1UN. Bernie enjoys the DXCC Challenge, Islands on the Air, and other special awards programs. However, wrote his nominator, “Bernie’s off-the-air accomplishments prompted this nomination. He has served as editor of the ‘How’s DX?’ column in QST, the monthly membership journal of the American Radio Relay League, since 1998. He is second in longevity in this role only to Rod Newkirk, W9BRD/VA3ZBB, who edited the column from 1947 to 1978. Bernie has published The Daily DX since 1997, and The Weekly DX since 2001. This is a combined total of 76 years as a DX writer, editor, and publisher. There are few other people in the amateur radio community with Bernie’s institutional knowledge and encyclopedic understanding of the DX world. He combines this with his solid grasp of journalistic principles, making him a trusted, go-to source for DX news.

K2MGA, Richard A. Ross (SK), who passed away on April 27 at age 84, was president of CQ Publishing. He was editor, then publisher of CQ Magazine, and at one time, published 11 magazine titles as well as books, calendars, and an extensive video library. Dick was also a huge supporter of DXing and contesting, and believed in recognizing his fellow amateurs for their exemplary achievements in these endeavors. The quintessential behind-the-scenes visionary, Dick ensured that CQ Magazine gave extensive coverage to the DX world, and that it had the proper leadership and infrastructure for its many contests – CQ World Wide, Worked All Prefixes, 160 meters, RTTY, VHF, and more.

Contest University, created by Tim Duffy K3LR, took place on Thursday May 16 at the Hope Hotel.

A YouTube video is now available for the entire Contest University! The sound will come on after a few minutes.

2024 Silent Key List read by K1AR at the Contest Dinner:

K4WMS, K2MGA, K6AW, W8UVZ, K7JA, K2EK, LZ1FI, K2UT, K5GA, K0KR, N9LR, W9CC, NR1DX, K9FD, K9QVB, WA2TML, K2PJC, HG4I/HA5LN, K8JP, K7RF, KY1V, VO1MP, K2BM, 3B8CF, K5TQ, K6MR, CE1EW, N7TT, PA0VDV/PJ2VD, LZ1HW, N5DO, W9VA, KC5DX, KY4P, K4UEE, W2UDT, K6KO, K9EID, VE3BW, K1GZL, WA8Y.

CQ Hall of Fame, DX Hall of Fame, Contest Hall of Fame info courtesy of CQ Communications, Inc

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