2009 Dayton Hamvention Coverage

[Moleculo]

Happy_Hamer (Bill) & I arrived this morning early at the 2009 Dayton Hamvention. We'll continue to update this thread with pics and interesting things as we have time.

Here are a couple of pictures of new Radios being shown. Details to follow...

Here's the announcement from Kenwood about their new HT (no radio shown)

Here's the announcement of the new Kenwood HF Transceiver:

New Alinco 1.2 Ghz HT

This is the only 1.2Ghz HT on the market right now. It's also full duplex, which means it will work great for working Satellites

Bill with the Kenwood girl:

More to follow...

 

[Moleculo]

FlexRadio 3000

Here's a few more quick shots of interesting things:

The brand new Flex 3000 outside case

Inside Flex 3000:

FlexRadio software:

A couple of quick points that about the Flex 3000: They said that the case is made of steel and is so strong that even Bill could stand on it. If you saw his pic above, you'll understand why we didn't take them up on the challenge.

This radio and software is truly amazing. The software is showing a real time band spectrum graph & waterfall....not a band sweep like other radios and software. You can click on the peak that you want to listen in on and go to that frequency real time. To change the filter width, you just click and drag the screen on the graph. This makes will make contesting and dealing with DX pileups really easy. The radio sells for $1599 and the specs are on par with competitors from Icom or Yaesu that sell for a whole lot more. These guys said they would take on a Icom 7600 any day.

edit: Here's a pic I just found of the PA section of the Flexradio 3000:

And another shot of the application that "drives" the Flexradios:

 

[Moleculo]

JetStream 200Mhz mobile

Here's the new Jetsream 220Mhz mobile. This is the only one of these that hasn't been sold to someone in the U.S. They're expecting more any day.

Jetstream has a lot of products that are available now. The secret that Diamond doesn't want anyone to know is that they are exactly the same products as Diamond products but 1/2 the price. Everything from the SWR/Power Meter, HT antennas, Antenna switches, base antennas, are exactly the same...but 1/2 the price. For example, the Diamond 2m/220/440 antenna that everyone likes for their Kenwood THF-6a or Yaesu VX-8r is also branded as a Jetstream product and is $24.95

 

[Wire Weasel]

Alright Bill & Big M, I know you guys are going to have a blast. Never made it to Dayton, always too fer away for this po' ol' country boy to travel to from way down south.

Keep the pics and stories coming. Are there Icom Girls this year? Me wants to know this. Me want pictures

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Jetstream has a lot of products that are available now. The secret that Diamond doesn't want anyone to know is that they are exactly the same products as Diamond products but 1/2 the price. Everything from the SWR/Power Meter, HT antennas, Antenna switches, base antennas, are exactly the same...but 1/2 the price. For example, the Diamond 2m/220/440 antenna that everyone likes for their Kenwood THF-6a or Yaesu VX-8r is also branded as a Jetstream product and is $24.95

I knew it!! I could tell from the looks of their SWR/power meters that they were the same. Thanks for confirming it. Keep the info and pix coming Tim and Bill. One day I hope to make a pilgrimmage to Dayton before I die.

 

[Moleculo]

Icom

Since Wire Weasel asked about Icom

Here's Bill with an Icom girl:

Here's the Icom 7800 that has been out for a while. Bil liked to go around and change all the radios to CB 19 and put them on AM mode :laugh:

Here's the new Icom 7600

You'll notice that it has a USB port on the front. It also has one on the back. If you buy a 7600, they throw in a USB keyboard also. Here's the dumb part: You can't use this to connect to your PC for rig control. You still have to use the old serial interface that Icom has included in their HF rigs for some time. WTF?? :blink::blink: The Icom guy said that since it has updateable firmware (via the USB) they may do a firmware update to support that at some point. I reminded him that unless the old serial and USB are on the same bus internally, that will never work. And if they were on the same bus, they could have just as easily made it work via USB already, so that means it probably isn't on the same bus and won't ever work. He said, "oh yeah."

EDIT: We went to another Icom booth and asked another Icom rep the same question about the USB ports. We told him what the other Icom guy said. This guy said that what the other guy told us wasn't correct. He said you CAN use the rear USB port to connect to your PC. We all looked through some of the Icom documents they had and verfied that this really is the case. It looks like the first rep was a little confused about how the USB ports are used.

Here is the new Icom DStar rigs that are companion products:

Here's a closeup of the ID-880h:

It's a dual band DStar 2m/440 mobile with 1052 memories, wide receiver, DTMF mic, and a few other things. It's pretty small and the face plate seperates like most mobiles. Price range is about $500.

Here's the newest DStar Icom HT:

It is replacing the IC-91AD, also a 2m/440. It has 1000+ memories, continuous 0.5mhz-1Gz receive and includes GPS. DStar is standard, not optional. Price is about $450.

 

[Moleculo]

This is Fred.

Fred is holding the new Alinco 1.2Ghz HT...the only 1.2 Ghz available.

Bill asked Fred if he wanted his picture on the internet with this neat HT.

Fred said, "YeaAAAHhh"

I took the picture and Fred wanted us to MAKE SURE we could see his callsign in the picture.

Yes Fred, we can see both your callsign and your name.

And since we promised your picture on the internet, here you go...

 

[Moleculo]

New Kenwood HF, HT

Back on the subject of the new Kenwood HT: They said that this will be replacing the TH-D7AG...that's right the one that Jay_in_the_Mojave disliked so much that he cut in half (see picture below)

Once again, here is the announcement:

And here is the new Kenwood HF/6m rig info: This will be the new HF rig to compete with the high end Icom and Yaesu:

And that's all the info we have on these new rigs. All they had was a couple of teaser posters and the info I just gave. :sad:

Anyway, here's what Jay thought of the TH-D7AG

 

[Sonwatcher]

Hi Fred !

Looks good guys !

 

[Moleculo]

SuperAntenna PR-1 12vdc rotor

This item here is so new that it has never been on the internet before now. It's not even on Superanntennas.com. The prototypes pictured here just came back from manufacturing on Tuesday, 3 days ago. This is a new 12vdc antenna rotor. He was running this on a 9 volt battery for demo purposes. You can tell how small this is because Bill is holding it in his hand. Vern, W6MMA (the maker) had this mounted on one of his YP-3 break down Yagis above.

This rotor has a 1000:1 gear reduction in it. Here is the controller:

This thing has variable speed and an LED position display. It really is a neat little rotor...perfect to use with rotatable or portable dipoles and other break down or light-weight antennas.

Estimated price is $249

Here is a quick video clip of the rotor controller. The speed on the rotor has been turned way down in this clip:

YouTube - SuperAntenna PR-1 Antenna Rotor Controlloer

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

This item here is so new that it has never been on the internet before now. It's not even on Superanntennas.com. The prototypes pictured here just came back from manufacturing on Tuesday, 3 days ago. This is a new 12vdc antenna rotor. He was running this on a 9 volt battery for demo purposes. You can tell how small this is because Bill is holding it in his hand. Vern, W6MMA (the maker) had this mounted on one of his YP-3 break down Yagis above.
This thing has variable speed and an LED position display. It really is a neat little rotor...perfect to use with rotatable or portable dipoles and other break down or light-weight antennas.

Estimated price is $249

Here is a quick video clip of the rotor controller. The speed on the rotor has been turned way down in this clip:

Yeah but will it support the two element five band 10-20m quad I plan to build next year? :laugh:

 

[Moleculo]

Yeah but will it support the two element five band 10-20m quad I plan to build next year? :laugh:

LOL, Wrong tool for the job, but I'm sure some knucklehead will try it and complain...

 

[Moleculo]

Begali Keyers

These are Italian made Keyers. These things are VERY heavy and they are beautiful. I'm not a CW guy, but these almost make me want to brush up on the code just to put one of these in my station. The pictures just down't do them justice. I should have gotten a picture of the straight key...it was just a beautiful piece of craftsmanship.

 

[Moleculo]

This is N1CTO. We asked him if we could take his picture and he was happy to oblige us. He also reminded us that he was quite "normal for Dayton".

This is why my wife stayed home.

No, really...this is why she avoids radio stuff. I've tried to sway her opinion, but....

 

[TonyV225]

More Icom Girls!!! My sisters a model I hate listening to what people say how shes beautiful they throw Harley magazines and calenders at me and go dude heres your sister I DONT WANNA SEE THAT ITS MY SISTER LMAO!!

But now these Icom girls no relation and the one shown was the best and most uselful specimen of Icom equipment!!

(Just my opinion) LMA!!