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

[wrash at mindspring.com]

I'd originally planned to go, but then the VA had other ideas, so instead I
got to spend the day at the VA hospital. The last time I was there was in
1983 or 84, and it was really worthwhile then. Reading your note makes me
regret not going even more. Maybe next year.

WR 
N4HCR

-----Original Message-----
From: Ipg-smz <ipg-smz-bounces at netpress.org> On Behalf Of Tom Henderson
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2019 11:33 AM
To: ipg-smz at netpress.org
Subject: [Ipg-smz] Yeah, it's different: Hamvention

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
Skype: extremelabsinc


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