[Ipg-smz] Yeah, it's different: Hamvention

[Tom Henderson]

Fellow Guilders,

A few Fellow Gulders are amateur radio licensees, known as hams. An 
interest in radio & communications evolves into taking the government 
tests which grants you radio operating privileges. The electronics are 
the same no matter what country you take the test, and the international 
agreements give large reciprocity. Understanding radios, owning them, 
and communicating are the goals, but manifests in myriad ways.

This past weekend marked the Dayton Hamvention, now held in Xenia OH (SE 
of Dayton). More than 20,000 people from across the planet, 99.9% hams, 
descend on the area to pursue their amateur radio interests, which are 
starkly varied. A few of you know that I'm the president of the local 
Bloomington Amateur Radio Club (BARC), and an ham licensed as W9YW. I 
also have non-commercial radio pursuits, a different thread.

I was also a volunteer in the Media section at the Hamvention. It's been 
going longer than NCC, COMDEX, or even CES. It's changed little, and 
it's changed dramatically. These are radio geeks that come to see new 
stuff, concepts, and very importantly, to sell and swap gear to try new 
things or add to their collections of Stuff.

Hamvention is much like a State Fair for radio geeks, but radio is a 
wide and sometimes wickedly deep ocean of activities. It's still around, 
and as tech journalists, our roots are here.

Long ago, there was 73 Magazine, which spun off into Byte, which evolved 
rapidly into the tech journalism we oldsters used to cover as pre-social 
media information dissemination, knowledge transfer, and early tech 
journalism. 73 is a number that also means "regards" in telegraphy. 
Morse code is no longer required to pass an amateur license test, 
although it's still surprisingly popular. It's arguable that Wayne 
Greene, 73's editor, is part of the root of the DNA where we come from.

* * *

Gazing upon the hordes (and hoarders) of equipment, its a sea of 
baseball caps with amateur callsigns and vendor logos. Hams from more 
than 40 nations come to the Hamvention. They saturate the Dayton area. I 
arrived in my ancient Airstream Argosy to stay on the fairgrounds for 
the three days of the fair. There are forums on emergency 
communications, AMSAT/amateur satellite, digital modes (in ways, still 
in the 1200 baud modem stage), but also how to talk across the planet on 
the cheap-- without a smartphone-- to people where international 
boundaries don't exist.

All political spectra are represented as well. There were MAGA hats 
along with (un)concealed carry. Sheriffs/Public Safety/DHS/Salvation 
Army/EMT/FD and more attend, as hams carry the messages when other forms 
of communications fail. And there are the cadres of engineers, 
inventors, the maker communities, the open sorcerers, and the huge DIY 
communities. Cooperation breaks all political and social barriers with 
the common denominator of service, creativity, and the boundaries of how 
radio works.

A local (to Bloomington) guy that works for Google is involved in 
SATNOG, which makes a handy antenna which, aided by computer imputs, 
tracks an antenna array as satellites pass overhead unseen, so that one 
can send/receive messages (voice, Morse/CW, and digital). There are the 
Raspberry Pi/Arduino and hacker board makers that also ally talking to 
sats. Or you can find programs where school kids talk to astronauts on 
the ISS via hardware that costs less than $100. Yes, the conversations 
are short as the ISS disappears beyond the horizon quickly.

We do this for three days. I am still sunburned, as much is outside in 
the open grounds of the Greene County Fairgrounds. There are acres of 
flea market with all imaginable radio gear, including pre-WW2 gear that 
still works-- although there is much gear that does not. There are 
electronic parts, metal parts, old modems, Windows 3.1 5.25" disk sets, 
teletypes, IBM Selectrics modified to be teletypes, and many things that 
were built with tubes/valves. I was looking for an obscure antenna. It 
retails for $600. A used one was available for $65. It will take some 
cleaning before it works. Refurbishing gear is a sport for many, 
including me-- save that I don't touch old computer gear as there are no 
speed limits imposed on computing. Radio spectrum is shared, and has 
boundaries.

As a kid, I learned electronics and fixed tube-based TVs and radios, 
hi-fi gear, and grew up with tubes and transistors. I had also read a 
book on computer theory at age 9, and so they've never been totally 
mysterious, either. All of this stuff makes sense to me, and there is so 
very much I don't know. There is plentiful trash in the flea markets, 
which are some people's treasures. Happy smiles upon finding these 
treasures abounded, big gleeful ones. Many walk around the grounds with 
walkie talkies called "HT's" alerting others to interesting finds, or 
where to get Chinese food. You never hear angry words, ever, never. 
Snickers and snark is plentiful, because my stuff is red hot, and your 
stuff is doodly-squat-isms, must abound.

There is a crusty, barnacled contingent of old-timers, some wise, some 
wise-asses. They can be thoroughly pompous, condescending, yet 
thoroughly polite with a practiced delivery that reminds me of the 
British Class system, and other times reminds me of Get Off My Lawn. 
There really is wisdom there, should you take the time to chisel away 
the barnacles, and see the wisdom through the clouds of ancient eyes, 
ears, and minds. This is an older group, but a younger group of 
makers/hackers and visionaries are entering this hobby in different 
ways, giving it new blood, sometimes with easily-wounded thin skins.

But they're all geeks, nerds, and radioheads. Me, too. And, $deity 
willing, I'll be there next year, again.

73

Tom


-- 
Tom Henderson
ExtremeLabs, Inc.
+1 317 250 4646
Twitter: @extremelabs
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