The
Dayton Hamvention is an
amateur radio convention (or
hamfest), generally considered to be the world's largest hamfest. It is held each May in the
Dayton, Ohio area. Starting in 2017, it will be held at the Greene County Fairgrounds in
Xenia,Ohio near Dayton. Prior to this it was held each May at the
Hara Arena in
Trotwood, Ohio. Hara Arena has been the home of Dayton Hamvention since 1964, but the convention has been held since the year 1952. Hara Arena announced its closure in 2016 with the Hamvention being forced to move as a result. The Hamvention offers forums, exhibit space and a flea market and usually claims to have over 20,000 visitors (25,621 in 2015). Many Amateur Radio enthusiasts go out of their way to attend the Hamvention, travelling from all over the
United States,
Canada,
Mexico and various parts of the world and even as far as Australia, Japan and Russia.
According to the
American Radio Relay League, the 2016 Hamvention had been the 65th held in Dayton, but was the last held at
Hara Arena which planned to close in August 2016. The closure was not unexpected and the Dayton Amateur Radio Association was planning for a new location in the Dayton area for the 2017 Hamvention. The new location has been decided as the Greene County Fairgrounds.
Well they look to have the space...
However only 1 building is Heated and Air Conditioned..
The other large buildings though are cattle and livestock barns though they do have concrete floors...but also have livestock containment pens
I looked at the Satellite view and parking will look to be an issue!!!!
It sets right in the Heart of a big residential area with no direct Interstate access...
We will see...
All the Best
Gary
My only comment would be that it is not the worlds largest hamfest, just the largest hamfest in The United States.
The Hamfest was a success from the standpoint that a lot of good amateur radio equipment manufacturers were located within a 150 mile range of the hamfest during it's initial inception. Companies such as Astatic and Dentron were local companies.
Amateur Radio in the USA for the most part was a local endeavor, with amateur radio stations that later became the first AM radio stations in the country - such as 14KQV and KDKA - were not all that far away.
Even WLW - is only a stones throw away.
Other clubs could have tried to put on an event of this caliber, but it was the DARA that was the first to succeed.
Many of the local - OHIO hams went on to become legends. K3LR, K8CX, etc.
The Hamfest was not in the best location, but was the only location available at that time that was willing to allow it to be on their property.
The Hamfest itself was successful due to the number of club members willing to work to make it happen.
For anyone involved with a club today, we are lucky to have 20 members and maybe 5 stations on the air for Field Days. The exception being large clubs like The Frankford Amateur Radio club, which in itself isn't really a club per se, but is an organization. Several smaller clubs, all related to each other by name, and a group of people that operates as a group, but not all at the same place at the same time.
What they call a contest club.
Had someone been successful in taking away the thunder of The Dayton Hamfest, they could have moved the hamfest somewhere else, like Los Vegas, Atlantic City, New York City, Dallas Texas, or even California.
The problem is that there is not a strong enough group of hams in any of these area's able to pull it off, and it is hard to get a large group of people to all agree to go somewhere else. Amateur Radio is dying, no one is willing to accept it except those that are not licensed amateurs. Although the number of licensed amateurs in the USA has gone up, the quality of ham has gone down. No longer are we able to sell new HF equipment on a grand scale to new hams, because HF has been replaced with personal communications - cell phones, and FM repeaters.
Its hard to sell more than a $1200 HF radio in this market, and everyone has excuses from soup to nuts why they cannot afford a new radio.
In reality, those very same people are willing to pony up $500 every 2 or 3 years for a new cell phone, but are unwilling to spend the same amount once to buy a decent HF radio. Add to that the fact that it is a mans hobby, and most men competes with their wives and girlfriends for the family budget and the woman usually wins out.
How many famous hams today will tell you that their wives - not a HOA - does not allow them to put up an antenna, or use a room in the family home as a radio shack.
Just a lack of BALLS in my opinion.
When the women runs the home, the women gets what they want, and the women makes the rules. Probably the reason why I am still single!
The Hamfest needs to be in a location where there is enough accommodations to support 100,000 people, then it could become economically feasible for people that are poor to attend. With every hotel and motel within 50 miles booked solid the weekend of the Hamfest in Dayton, it has become out of reach for most licensed hams to attend more than one day.
There is probably football stadiums somewhere - like Dallas that could accommodate everyone under one roof, but would not allow automobiles to travel over the surface of the playing field, and most hams or vendors has too much equipment for sale or display to be able to carry it all in and out, and the foot traffic would destroy the playing field surface.
Anyone that has attended a county fair will attest to the problems associated with rain, foot traffic, and vehicular traffic all in one place for more than a couple of days.
Some porta-johns are much nicer then the restrooms at HARA. And at least you could have them in a place where a honey dipper could come and empty them at regular intervals. I don't look for hamfests to continue at this grand of a scale, when clubs do not have the resources to continue, nor the manpower to run them.
