Thank you to the volunteers and staff who made it possible! My dad and I have made it an annual trip for the two of us, the last two years. We have both had a great time and look forward to next year!
Not the world's largest ham radio show ---- TOKYO is the largest -- Japan has the most HAMS of any country in the world!!!
I attended the 2019 event, our first time ever. I don’t have Hara to compare it to, but I found the Fairgrounds to be very nice. Doesn’t surprise me that a record attendance was achieved. I also think the free entrance on Sunday was a great idea. Let folks see what it is all about and they will be a paying customer next year. We are going back next year. Tim K5TGS
This was my first year attending Hamvention after many years wanting to, and I just loved it! The facilities/fairgrounds worked well for the event. It was obvious effort both visibly & behind the scenes went into making it a success. And to the many volunteers, my thanks! Finally had a chance to meet folks I'd known by remote 20+ years, made new friends, found great bargains to haul home, and had an all-around great time. We were fortunate to be spared any real rain. Planning on going whenever possible. Hopeful next year will be in he cards! Glad to hear attendance is as healthy as it looked, given the rough start the new venue seemingly had the first couple years. I had occasion to visit Hara while there, pay it respect, ironically less than a week before the tornado tore through. I also felt a friendly welcome from the locals. That's also highly appreciated! Thumbs up, guys.
"...Japan has the most HAMS of any country in the world!!!..." Yeah, but the USA has the biggest Hams, so going on VLC's weight scale the USA wins Congrats to the Xenia organisers & volunteers. After a rocky start (thanks to the WX) it looks like they've nailed it.
Indeed. There will always be the hand-wringers....but the organizers did a magnificent job of making the transition. No FUD here!
I seem to recall the county Sherrif was impressed enough to get a Ham ticket. Getting him/her on board was definitely a 'win'. LOL. That brought back memories of playing that game.
If my memory serves me correctly and it usually doesn't, I read that Japan had lost hundreds of thousands of hams in the past 20 years.
I agree. I attended this year and had a good time. I prefer Hara as a venue but the fair grounds is good enough as long as there is no rain. The attendance in 2018 dropped from 2017. DARA was fearful 2019 would result in a decrease once again. So the idea of free admission on Sunday was put into motion to prop up totals. For admission on Sunday the guest was given a ticket and a number so as to be counted as with paying attendees. We don’t have the true comparison to 2018.