Gary KN4AQ, David W0DHG and Marty KC1CWF (the podcast wannabees) review the recently concluded Dayton Hamvention and Mudfest. At the end of the show we tangle with Bob Heil's recent comments on podcast funding and the 'wannabees'. This episode included a little more video, mostly of the mud, and an interview with Hamvention spokesperson Michael Kalter W8CI. Spoiler alert: we declare it a (slightly qualified) success. And we'll be back next year. AUDIO ONLY? Radio Rating: A- (this mostly talkfest gets the minus because the mud video is pretty good). You can subscribe and get audio downloads to your phone. We're available on iTunes and pretty much any podcast app. DOWNLOAD/LISTEN
I was there in person. I wore waterproof work boots, I had no problems except I regret not dragging along a folding cart I had in the vehicle. The weather is typical Spring time Dayton weather showers and thunderstorms part of the time, with a day of being very warm, and a day of not as warm. If you don't like the weather in Ohio in May, you will not like it near FN32 for 5-6 months of the year. 73 K2HAT
They screwed up years ago when they first messed with the dates. Originally, it was the 3rd weekend of April. It was sometimes cold and even spit snow; other times it was T-shirt weather, advisable to bring clothing for any type of weather. But it RARELY rained. I recall one of the Dayton brochures, circa 1974, that said not to worry too much about the weather. The hamfest had been rained on only twice in 22 years. Their big mistake was to move it to one week later, the last weekend of April. From then on, the hamfest was rained on practically every year. I recall one year when a stationary front stalled right over Dayton and it poured down all day both Friday and Saturday, and the flea market never really deployed. Every year that I went after they had moved the date and it rained, I would ask some of the locals what the weather had been like the week before. EVERY SINGLE TIME, I was told the weather had been nice then, and that would have been a good weekend for the hamfest. After about 8 years of rain nearly every year, they moved it once again, this time to mid-May. It doesn't get rained out quite so much as it did on the last weekend of April, but still a lot more than it did when it was on the original date, the third weekend of April. It's amazing how just one week made such a consistent difference, and I have heard several different stories why it was moved from the original date, but never any definitive explanation from the hamfest committee. Attendance peaked at about 35,000 people, but as I recall, it started dwindling after they dicked around with the date and it was getting rained on nearly every year. They originally had lucked upon a good thing and didn't know it. They should either go back to the original date, or else move it to late September or early October and get away from spring altogether. Of course, with the worldwide shifts we are now experiencing in climate, that original date might not be as rain-free as it used to be. Another factor is that it was originally a one-day affair, held on Saturday. Expanding it to 3 days opens it up to a greater chance of bad weather.
