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KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Ham radio was hot at HamCation 2022

Posted: 16 Feb 2022 06:29 AM PST https://www.kb6nu.com/ham-radio-was-hot-at-hamcation-2022/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email


Last weekend, I got to attend the Orlando HamCation. I actually had been planning to go with my wife, Silvia, for several years, but Covid put my
plans on hold. This year, my employer, ARDC, actually paid me to go!

The first thing that Ill note is that the weather was just perfect. Friday,
the high was in the upper 70s, and on Saturday, the high was in the low
80s. If  nothing else, it was great to thaw out for a couple of days.

The show itself was really great, too. It was really well-attended by both vendors and hams. There werent quite as many vendors as at the last Dayton Hamvention, nor were there quite as many sellers in the flea market, nor
were there as many attendees overall, but the turnout for the event was
really strong.


There were lots of vendors at this years HamCation. Note that many of the attendees and vendors were wearing masks.
The flea market was really spread out, so you had to cover quite a bit of ground to see it all. There was indoor swap space as well.


From L to R: Adam KC7GDY, Dan KB6NU, John K7VE.

At the ARDC booth, I was joined by John Hays, K7VE, and Adam Lewis, KC7GDY.
We spoke to many, many people over the course of two and a half days. It
was work, but satisfying work, and Im sure that well get several good grant applications. I also got to meet with folks representing several of our grantees, including Steve Miller, KC1AWV, from the M17 Project; Scotty
Cowling, WA2DFI, from TAPRs Tangerine SDR Project; and Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, from ARISS. I also got to meet and speak with a bunch of other people, including David Minster, NA2AA, ARRL CEO; ARRL directors Ria jairam, N2RJ
and Dick Norton, N6AA.

On Friday afternoon, I delivered my talk Having Fun with Morse Code
(slides). I didnt take an actual head count, but the tent was nearly full,
so Im going to guess that there were more than 50 people there. I hope that
I was able to inspire some in the crowd to learn the code, or if they
already know the code, to get more active on CW. We need to muster as many
CW ops as we can!

I left Sunday afternoon, ironically from Gate 73. As you can see, I was
kind of beat. The flight was packed, and when we landed, the Detroit
airport was in the middle of a blizzard. What a welcome home! I thought I
was in for a long, slow slog home (Im normally just 30 minutes from the airport), but once I got about 5 miles west of the airport, the snow had
quit coming down and the roads werent in bad shape at all. I made it home
in about 40 minutes instead of the usual 30.

Im glad that I got the chance to go to HamCation this year. It was a lot of fun, and we did some good work as well. Im looking forward to returning
next year.

The post Ham radio was hot at HamCation 2022 appeared first on KB6NUs Ham
Radio Blog.

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