Pictures of Dayton 2017?

John - K3MA

Undocked SmartSDR panadapters.

K6HN

Now this is something I look forward to. Thanks for the pic!

Larry - WA7LZO

What do you mean "undocked"?

Peter K1PGV

Look at how the controls and the panadapter are in separate Windows, and can be moved without being constrained by the main application window. Neat, huh? Peter K1PGV

Bob K8RC

Look at the picture, Larry. Two slices and the settings panel have been separated into Three "undocked" windows.

Michael Coslo

A friend sent me a photo from the flea market area.

Ria

They're for manual tuning.

KY6LA_Howard

Not surprising since that field is part of the Water Catchment Basin to prevent flooding of the race track

Sewage Volcano or Mud Bath....

Gotta Love the 3rd World that Dayton tries to live down to...

Still an embarrassment for the USA no matter how much it serves the "Ordinary Ham"

Peter K1PGV

I'm not much of a "convention goer"... I don't even much enjoy attending technical conferences at which I'm presenting. But, having said that, I have to agree with Howard. From the pics I've seen Xenia looks hot, wet, and dreadful. Humankind has developed air conditioning and actual buildings (with, you know, actual walls) for good reasons. If the Hamvention was at a big, modern, comfortable conference center I might at least consider attending. Fairgrounds... not so much. But that's just me. K1PGV (Oddly enough, I actually LIKE going to the fair. See the animals, watch the judging, eat fried dough. It's a good time.)

Ria

if that was what people wanted then Dayton would be dead and everyone would be going to Visalia, Ham Com or other hamfests held in convention centers.

Ria

Nearly everyone I met had a good time. Yes, there are some growing pains but it is a positive this year vs last. Vendors sold out of a lot of stuff! I couldn't find a TYT DMR radio for love or money. Everyone was sold out. Those of us who actually went there know the real story. You can't judge by hearsay. The mud was problematic but for a brand new venue it went remarkably smooth.

Michael Coslo

The important question of course, is not what people will say after this Hamvention, 

What is critical is next year and the year after. It will be declared a great success - of that there is no doubt. But will the people return? I have not seen anything that entices me.

Larry - WA7LZO

I just don't understand why Hams aren't grateful for this temporary (1 more dreadful year in Ohio until Seattle 2019---WhooHoo!) change of venue. I mean, I heard there was not poop floating on the floors this year! Comon, ppl!

KY6LA_Howard

I must admit to being a Hamfest ****.  I have been going to Dayton most years since 1961.  In my youth (1960's 1970's) I attended a Hamfest somewhere in the world nearly every weekend if a project took me close except when I had a project that made travel impossible..../

For the last couple of Decades I have also attended Friedrichshafen, Visalia, Tokyo to name a few. 

I go to eyeball friends around the world, see the latest innovations, buys NEW stuff at discounted convention prices and share a lot of Adult Beverages. 

OTOH I rarely if ever buy anything in the Flea Market because the stuff I have throw in the garbage is usually newer and better quality that the stuff for sale.

However.. in the last few years, most of the Hamfest's have now moved into Modern Convention Centers with real walls, Air Conditioning, Real Food and Adult Beverages... sort of the norm for the 21st Century...Most are convenient to Airports.  Yes the Flea Markets have become a pale shadow of yesteryear everywhere.. but you only had to look at the Mudbath to see that is now true at XENIA as well..

Bottom Line: For the Hamfest that bills itself as the Premier USA Ham Event, the choice of 19th Century Cow Sheds (albeit better than the Sewage Volcano)  rather than a Modern 21st Century Convention Center is a real disappointment.  I have Ham Friends around the world who after attending Dayton comment how 3rd World Dayton is and how much the USA has deteriorated over the years. 

So far, with the exception of Ria.. who sees the bright side of everything....I have been getting consistent negative reports from most of my friends who attended,

Quoted from Pat WA6MHZ- an avid Flea Marketer

" I get an "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!" on the Flea Market!! You cannot have a tailgate on Grass. wait till Sunday when they need to have a ZILLION Tow Trucks to pull the vendors out of the mud!!!  The Infield is going to be completely trashed with all the vehicle activity.  They need to have the Flea Market on PAVEMENT!!!"

G4IUA

...or have the fleamarket all indoors as in Friedrichshafen!

Craig Williams

would you believe Flex booth?

KY6LA_Howard

Remoting From Xenia

My station located in La Jolla California is one of many stations connected through SmartLink and being demonstrated at the flex booth. It looks like the booth was pretty busy as I see more than a couple of dozen logins or connections to my station from Xenia The only annoying thing is that I had sound muted here and remoted to Xenia. But occasionally someone would ounmute the sound and routed to my station in La Jolla which wakes up the dogs and causes them to Bark

Ria

I have pics on my Facebook. I'm going to post product photos from multiple vendors tonight.

Michael Coslo

Some quotes from attendees
:
"And the transport between rain drenched parking lots and the site. Good luck trying to get a 2WD car moving through the mud!"
"Reports I have heard have been complaints about lack of air conditioning from 3 contacts with people working mobile from there."

"People had problems getting to the venue this morning; most took an hour for the final mile. There aren't many access roads."

"Very few permanent WC facilities - many portable WC's were installed for the venue."

"Take a change of shoes and socks if the day calls for rain, or if rain comes the night before."

"Also, the traffic in small town Xenia was very challenging as well. It took me 45 minutes once I reached the outskirts of town to get into the parking area and find a spot."

Then I stopped looking. To be sure, there were people who thought it was a great idea. There were  some positive comments. And no doubt if DARA went the more upscale convention center route, there would be others complaining that they abandoned the flea to some extent.

But perhaps they should look in the rear view mirror. If I were running a Hamfest, and having a competitive nature, I would choose this point to make a run for number one, to capture the discretionary money of the hams.  It's all in choices, good or bad. Pretty obvious that I don't think its a good choice.

Cliff - G4PZK

It was always my dream to go to Dayton (or wherever it's moved to now) but looking at this picture it looks a million years behind Friedrichshafen's very modern, well organised, mud free!, conference halls. Looks like I made the right choice again this year, Germany it is.

Michael Aust

Lot's of folks got muddy shoes and wet socks !

KY6LA_Howard

W6VNR, report from Dayton Agree with most of what Howard wrote. New venue is better then Dayton’s bathrooms. Other then that- Traffic is very bad, I left hotel in Dayton Crown Plaza at 9:15am arrived 11:30 am. Hot, no shade, no AC. The new place has shrunk some of the walkways were booths are located about ½ or more of the aisles that were in Hara. Making for very congested walking. It was like walking in Times Sq. on New Years Eve. The maps of vendors were misleading to me. Joe, W6VNR

Ria

If the convention center idea is the future then let another group start their own and run with it. If hamvention is unappealing then people will abandon it in favor of the new event. As far as the restrooms go I found that there were quite a few there. For sure it wasn't Hara and I feel sorry for the guys who were lining up (the women's restroom had no lines though). I had no problems with finding a restroom. Traffic on day 2 was better than on day 1. They did some rerouting and fixed a few things. I liked the food vendors. There were more than Hara. There were more food choices including pizza, wings, burgers, steaks etc. The mud was the biggest sore point.

KY6LA_Howard

Hi, all you who are interested, join you fellow hams who are reporting issues in the new venue for Dayton Hamvention.  

THERE IS A HUGE, very huge CONVENTION center across the street from the Crowne Hotel in Downtown Dayton.. Plenty of parking.  

I suspect it is $$$  I know a lot of hams are cheap, but isn't it a good thing to bring in more visitors from other countries?  

Cheap,,,,,,,, but to have a nice place is got to be worth a few extra $$.  

PLEASE WRITE THE CONVENTION ADMINISTRATORS

if u need a list, I will send to anyone interested.

73

Joe, w6vnr  --- Joe Cayman t32ah@earthlink.net
 

James Watts

Howard, lets revisit your statement next year. I think it's a bit premature to exclaim the M6400 is an IC-7610 killer. If market conditions of the IC-7300 are any indication (fastest selling transceiver to reach 10,000 units in history), I believe Icom and the IC-7610 will sell many rigs. Now, depending on what or how you measure "Killer" status, published specs might be better on the FLEX 6400M, but I believe the IC-7610 will sell many many more units than the 6400M at the same price point.

KY6LA_Howard

One of the lame excuses for XENIA was to preserve the Flea Market.. But looking at the pictures of the MUDBATH and the lack of antendees it is pretty obvious that the Flea Market was an abject Failure...

k3Tim

Interesting one could use these to tune the Short Wave broadcast bands.

Thanks for the reply.
Tim

KY6LA_Howard

Ria.. Of course, the Ladies Restrooms were not an issue as the distaff side of Ham Radio is a significantly smaller percentage of attendees...

OTOH.. the men were stuck with porta-potties.. albeit better than Hara Sewage Volcanos...

It is unrealistic to expect that an alternative site will gain traction.. The Ham market is small and vendors only have a limited amount of funds to expend on Conventions..

OTOH.. if enough people complain loudly enough change will happen

KY6LA_Howard

Agreed - it is far too early to tell.. but based on Specs and Features the M6400 with 2 VFO knobs, likely better performance, Definitely Better Remote Software, and a lower price should be ultra competitive with the IC-7610

OTOH.. as Wal-Mart (and likely Icom) continue to prove, no one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of their consumers. 

Steve K9ZW

I drove into the main lot Friday and Saturday. Friday was slow parking, but Saturday went much better taking less than ten minutes to park So many things are different, some better some worse, that I will do a write up later. 73 Steve K9ZW