Hamvention Starts A Week From Today

Fri, 09 May 2008 12:52:33 PDT

More than 20,000 radio hams are expected at the Dayton Hamvention next week, the largest Amateur Radio conference in the Western Hemisphere and the biggest convetnion Dayton. I'll be there.
Perhaps the economic downturn means that Hara Arena isn't about to sell out to developers, and the conference will remain in Dayton for now. We've watched the former vast fields (which doubled as parking lots for Hamvention) around the arena become auto dealerships and subdivisions over the past decade. But there are lots of empty houses and boarded up commercial buildings in Ohio right now. If Hara closed down, the closest venue possible for the conference would probably be Cincinatti.

wowbagger

Fri, 09 May 2008 13:49:00 PDT

A couple of years ago (which was the last time I've been to Hamvention) they were having everybody park out behind a largely empty shopping mall and take buses in — thus the need for parking near Hara had been worked around rather neatly.
However, I don't know if that will be the case this year (and I won't be going - too damn much work to do, and I'm not really in the market for any new toys of the radio persuasion.)
Of course, that good-ole stimulus check is going to make it all better, right?

Fri, 09 May 2008 14:05:52 PDT

If you have your tax refund set up for electronic funds transfer, as with TurboTax, your check's already in your bank account. It won't make anything better.

There are still some private homes with large yards selling parking out by the side of the flea market rather than the main street. Get there early and you can buy all three days at a discount.

Warning, there's road construction to avoid this year. See the Hamvention site.

Fri, 09 May 2008 15:47:13 PDT

Purely by my own fault (well, partially by my own fault) it turns out that stimulous check will help keep us in the house as I work through my grievance process.

I say partially because I just got a letter from the employment department that they agree with the UNION and ME, not with ODOT- that I was fired for unjust causes and deserve 6 months of unemployment insurance.

Without that, yes, the "electronic deposit" we got from the feds today wouldn't make much of a difference- it would have made the house payment for next month and that's it. With the unemployment, I've got an additional 4 months to find a job.