I was going to write a series of posts about Dayton 2015, but as the week wore on, my enthusiasm has waned. Even so, I do need to write a little bit more about my experiences at Dayton this year, so here are some notes and some thoughts.
Homebrew Radio
Despite the fact that the theme of this year’s Hamvention was “Homebrew Radio,” there really weren’t many forums devoted to this topic. As I mentioned before, I didn’t attend any forums this year, but quickly looking over the forum schedule, the only ones that I see that might possibly be considered “homebrew radio” are the TAPR forum, the QRP forum, and the kit building forum.
DARA did give the Technical Excellence Award to George Dobbs, G3RJV, one of the founders of the GQRP Club and a prolific author and speaker on building simple QRP gear, specifically regenerative receivers.
FDIM
Speaking of G3RJV, he’s been a perennial speaker at the QRP-ARCI’s Four Days in May (FDIM) seminar, held on Thursday before Dayton. This year, alas, will be his final talk at FDIM. In his farewell speech, Dobbs spoke about all the fun he’s had in amateur radio and all the great people he’s met over the years.
There are two thing that I take away from listening to Dobb’s and reading what he’s written. First, amateur radio should be fun–it’s a hobby after all. Second, you can have a lot of fun without a lot of expensive equipment.
There were several other good talks at FDIM this year. Two of the afternoon speakers talked about their adventures with the Arduino.
Paul Darlington, M0XPD, talked about his work using an Arduino to control a QRP radio. I’ll refer you to his blog for more details, but he has code for using an Arduino to control AD9850 DDS modules and an Si5351 DDS modules.
The final speaker was Glen Popiel, KW5GP, who has just published Arduino for Ham Radio, which is a collection of Arduino projects for the amateur radio operator. He also described an Arduino-powered QRP radio built around the Arduino, an AD9850 DDS module, and a NorCal 49er QRP kit, and a Nokia LCD display.
On Thursday evening, QRP-ARCI hosts a Vendor Night. They graciously gave me a table from which to sell my books, and I had a blast doing so. I not only sold a bunch of my CW books, I met a bunch of readers, including folks who used my study guides to get their licenses. By the time it was over, I was bone tired (I had gotten up at 4:00 am, so that I could get to Dayton in time for the seminars), but it really was a lot of fun.
New Products at Dayton
It didn’t seem as though there were all that many new products at Dayton this year. The two that seemed to make the biggest splashes were the Elecraft K3S and the FlexRadio Maestro.
The K3S is the next generation of K3. The K3S Frequently-Asked Questions lists all of the ways that this model is better than the K3. As I’ve decided that I’m not purchasing a K3, I really didn’t pay too much attention to this announcement. Apparently, though, a lot of the current K3 owners, especially those who only recently purchased their radios were upset because you can’t entirely turn a K3 into a K3S.
The other big announcement, the FlexRadio Maestro, seems more like a capitulation than an innovation. Basically, the Maestro is a front panel for the FlexRadio. I guess ham radio operators like knobs and dials. :) Note that the Maestro is not yet available. Their website notes, “Maestro is not shipping at this time, however a pre-order can be placed using the Buy Now tab below. We anticipate a late 2015 for purchase and delivery.”
There may have been other new product introductions, but as I was trying to sell my books to dealers, and not really scouting around for new products myself, I really don’t know what else was introduced at Dayton. I think that I’m going to suggest to the DARA folks that they set up some kind of press room—even if it’s just some kind of virtual press room—where vendors can leave press releases for new products that they’ve introduced recently or are announcing at Dayton. That’s the way it’s done at the electronics engineering trade shows.
My purchases
I made three cool purchases this year. The first was a Bencher BY-1 for $50. As I’ve done in the past, I expect to pass it along to a CW newbie looking for a good starter paddle. Although this is the least that I’ve ever paid for one of these paddles, I feel a little despondent. On the bus back to the hotel on Friday, I sat next to a guy who said that he got one for $40! Oh well…
My next purchase was a Hallicrafters HA-1 T.O. Keyer. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but this may be the first commercially-available electronic keyer. It was made by Hallicrafters in 1960, and uses four 12AU7s (yes, tubes!) to digitally form the dits and dahs. I’ve wanted one ever since I saw one at the Findlay Hamfest three or four years ago. This one is in pretty decent shape, and it works, too! The only problem is that the speaker’s not working, for some reason. I paid $75 for this beauty.
Finally, I bought a Siglent SDS1152CML 150-MHz digital oscilloscope. I had been thinking about a 100 MHz scope, but my friend, Tom, WB8COX, convinced me otherwise. He recommended a higher-bandwidth scope because he found that a 100 MHz scope just wasn’t enough when working on VHF equipment. I’m not a big VHF guy, but you never know, so I took his advice. I got this for $442. The cheapest price I could find on the Net is over $100 more, so I think I got a good deal on this unit.
Meeting readers, dealers
One of my goals this year was to meet as many dealers as I could and try to get them to carry my books. Since I now offer the Tech and General study guides, as well as 21 Things and the CW Geek’s Guide in paperback, I really feel that these are solid products that they could make some money on. I passed out copies of the book, as well as my sales flyer to at least a half dozen dealers there, and now have to follow up with them. If you have a favorite dealer, maybe you could send them an e-mail and encourage them to carry my books.
I also met many readers and handed them either a button or a sticker. It was really a blast meeting you all, and I hope to either hear you on the air or run into you at a future Dayton or ham radio event. If you ever hear me on the air, please give me a call.
About the only thing that I don’t love about Dayton is the venue. As I’ve said before, Hara Arena is a real pit, but there might even be hope for Hara in the future. Jeff, KE9V, took this picture of a poster that seems to promise renovations next year. We can only hope.
Jeff says
I bought one of those Hallicrafters TO Keyers way back when I was a Novice. My shack was pretty small in those days and in order to get it to fit on the shelf I laid it on its side. The first time I turned it on in that configuration, it sent a continuous, non-stop string of dits.
That was the day I learned about mercury switches!
Was a great keyer — so long as it sat upright. :-)
Have fun. 73, Jeff KE9V