Some Ham-Vention History

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a Zoom meeting for the ARDC Grant Evaluation Team. The talk naturally turned to the Dayton Hamvention, which the ARDC folks and I recently attended. At the mention of Hamvention, Lad, WA3EEC, mentioned that he had a brochure for the 1952 Southwestern Ohio Ham-Vention, which was sponsored by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association and held at the Dayton Biltmore Hotel on March 22, 1952. This was the first year that what we now know as the Dayton Hamvention was held.

Lad scanned it for me, and I’m sharing it with you here.

The first thing I’ll note is the strong technical program. The second is the prize list. The third is the manufacturer exhibits. All of these continue to be an important part of Hamvention to this day.

In his email to me, Lad noted, “For the record, Dayton ARA VP,  Ed Pompea, W8FHJ (now SK) was my uncle. He was married to my father’s sister. He passed away more than 30 years ago in Colorado Springs, CO where his call was K0ZPG. He was career Air Force.”

I think that this is a very cool piece of history, and I’d bet that the founders would be amazed at what the Dayton Hamvention has become, namely the pre-eminent amateur radio event in the world.