Visitors wanting up-to-date information while traveling to or attending Hamvention are encouraged to take advantage of text alerts available this year. The alerts will share important weather, traffic, parking and other information throughout Hamvention. To subscribe to the system the user must text Hamvention18 to 888777. A special thanks to Greene County Sheriff Gene Fischer, KX8GCS, who made adding the alerts possible. The alert system is just the latest addition to Hamvention efforts to get visitors the information they need to make their visit as pleasant as possible. For many years Hamvention has had a talk in station on the Dayton Amateur Radio Association repeater, 146.94(-) 123.0 tone to give directions and other assistance. In 2018, a traffic bulletin station was added on 145.525 to periodically repeat needed information. Amateurs with 2 meter capability are urged to enter those frequencies into their radios before starting their Hamvention journey. The alerts and talk in and traffic bulletin stations will all share information about road conditions, accidents or other incidents, detours, status of parking lots and any other news that visitors should find useful. General Chairman Ron Cramer said that all three efforts should help make arrival and parking more efficient. The talk-in station can also give directions to anyone who might have missed a turn or otherwise need assistance. During Hamvention the numbers from the hourly prize drawing will be posted on Twitter as soon as possible as well as displayed on monitors throughout the fairground's buildings. Following Sunday's Grand Prize drawings, winners will also be posted on Twitter and on http://hamvention.org/event-details/prizes/. Hamvention 2018, the world's largest amateur radio gathering, will be held May 18-20 at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center in Xenia, OH. ###
The only information I want is if they put gravel in the flea market area so it doesn't turn into a mud hole like last time.
Last I heard from a friend in Xenia, who went by the place last week, was that nothing had been done to the flea mkt area. We'd heard talk for quite a while that this problem was going to be addressed, and yet still, nothing. They didn't get the new building going, so the only thing different was the furniture store moving out. Bring your mud boots... I'll still be there though, in spite of it. I never thought I would say I miss the old HARA arena.
Why would they do ANYTHING about the mud, weeks ahead??? The flea market area is used for grazing horses; you want them to eat kitty litter before Hamvention?
They have already explained that it is not possible to improve the field this year. Give it a break. On the other side, last year had two days of atypical heavy rains. There is no reason to expect the same unusual weather pattern two years in a row!
They are presently down a layer of asphalt millings on the fleamarket aisles. A photo was posted today on the Hamvention Facebook page of a completed path that will meet ADA compliance.
They should have bales of straw or hay to put down( a bale goes a long way) on the muddy traffic areas ...it works to keep mud off of shoes and boots.
WAh, Wah, Wah! What a bunch of cry babies. They had 1 Hamfest there that they only had a few months to prepare for. Give them some time to figure it out. If you don't like the place, don't go, and spare the rest of us the crying!
This the message I got after inquiring about the flea market for this year. Last year, on Friday, we were approached by county, city and fairgrounds officials, with a proposal for this year. Their offer was to apply a layer of asphalt grindings to the aisles, to provide a semi-permanent surface. As this has been done to create some parking areas around many warehouses, it seems to be a reasonable approach to resolving the problem. I currently have someone tasked with working with the officials on this project and have reports that they're ready to move forward, as soon as the weather permits. This project should also provide a more user friendly surface for scoot-around type vehicles. Given that, along with the massive response from vendors renewing their reservations for last years spaces, 2018 is shaping up to be a great event. I hope this helps. 73, Dave N8YFQ Flea Market Chairman
I recall mention of making more fleamarket spaces for this year but havent seen anything eles on it . Does anyone have info on this ?
