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

[Christine Hall]

+1

Christine Hall
Publisher & Editor
FOSS Force: Keeping tech free
http://fossforce.com

On 5/20/19 11:32 AM, Tom Henderson wrote:
> 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
> 
>