Well, I give it an "A" for effort. I think, my opinion, holding this HamXposition every year instead of every-other has really diminished the event. Back in the 20-aughts and early teens you'd have every big company there; ICOM, Kenwood, Yaesu, HRO, etc., but 2026 was pretty meager in the two small exhibition rooms. One room was a parts dealer, and the other room the mains were Elecraft and Flex. The League had a table where a lady from membership and a young man from educational services re-upped members and tried to recruit - no free swag. I did not attend any of the conferences, speeches, presentations, etc. or any of the night time dinners even though they did book a magician! Nothing really interested or drew me in. I went on Saturday solely for the swap which was decent, but let's be honest, it's the same dealers and junk from NEAR-Fest and a bevy of the little local fleas (Marlborough, Whitman, etc.). Good for people watching, that's for sure. I had a nice conversation with Burt K1OIK, and he is doing well after a few minor set backs. He's in good spirits, better health, and he is still doing the charitable works. I also ran into Mike W1RC and we had a nice catch-up chat... I've known him since '05 and I even gave him one of my police badges a few years ago as he collects them. I'll more than likely pass on this one next year.
I passed on this one this year for the first time, for a couple of reasons. I usually book the hotel and spend the weekend there, but since I go for the sessions and not the flea market, I have to see the list of sessions before I'll book a hotel room. This year the list wasn't available until ~10 days before the event and only 1 or 2 sessions were of interest. Finding that schedule from the website was basically impossible. Only the Email from the organizers gave the proper URL to find the schedule. As for major vendors, most no longer do regional shows. That's what HRO explained to me when I asked a few years ago. They do Dayton and maybe one or two other major shows only. NearFest stopped all the sessions, so that it is nothing other than a flea market, so I stopped going to those as well.
I was there Friday & Saturday. The flea market SUCKED! - BOTH buying & selling! I got there about an hour later than I wanted to & was worried about getting a decent setup spot; when I pulled in to set up. I was shocked by how FEW dealers were already set up! The only time I've seen it worse was a coupe of years ago when there were heavy downpours on Friday - and as a result the Saturday flea market was thriving that year. I've gotten that I do Friday & Saturday only because the Sunday flea has always been meager; and what I saw whenI drove in on Friday is what I'd normally expect on Sunday. Last year, I bought a nice clean IC-7610 there for a reasonable price; this year? A component tester kit for $16 & maybe $100 total of small parts. I did go to a couple a couple of the talks; the QRP EME one by KC1HTT was standing room only! - I'm already active on amateur satellites, so EME is the next logical step, I've already got a lot of the necessary equipment (although I'm considering doing it on 1296 MHz. rather than 2 meters, due to high local noise levels on 2 in my relatively dense neighborhood). Also, the formerly excellent hotel restaurant seems to have gone downhill; the breakfast & clam chowder were excellent, but the fish & chips dinner had a lot of batter & some of the driest fish I've ever tasted (they did try to make up for it with free dessert to their credit). I normally get a Philly cheesesteak sub there, & I overhead someone in the flea market say they got one & it wasn't great. Also got a shock when checking in & was quoted $100 more on my charge card for security deposit! (They DID refund it). I'm hoping that this year is a sign of the current economy & a lot of people (myself included!) having less disposable income. I'm hoping NEAR-fest is better! Tom WA1LBK
Thanks for the reports! I was too worn out to go anywhere this weekend after going to the beach and walking three 18 hole rounds of golf. The round on Friday was pretty brutal with all the standing water on the course but I had an enjoyable round. I realized afterword that I should have tried the blue tees as the ground was higher and likely to dry out faster!
