HR2.0 - Contest University and Hamvention QSO Party with K3LR and W8CI

Today I welcome Tim Duffy, K3LR, and Michael Kalter, W8CI, to the Lunchtime Livestream to talk about the upcoming plans for the 2021 Contest University and Dayton Hamvention QSO Party. Join us for this exciting chat!

Contest University: https://www.contestuniversity.com
Hamvention QSO Party: https://hamvention.org/qso-party-2021

 

Sorry, not interested.

 

Sorry. Not interested.

 

Thanks for the info

Great to see W8CI back up and kickin after being under the weather

73
Chip W1YW

 

That's childish and offensive. If you don't want the info, then just read something else. No reason to resort alluding to .....

 

I'm confused. Is Contest University part of Hamvention? I have attended Hamvention, but I did not go to any forums, that is just not my thing. I'm not sure I even know what Contest University is, but again that is not my thing. I do, however, really enjoy 'Hamfests' . I was lucky to make it to Hamcation in Orlando in February 2020, before Covid stuck and had plans to go to Hamvention in Xenia in both 2020, and 2021, but alas that was not to be. It seems Hamvention likes & wants the publicity and that is understandable; they want to keep the name out there for obvious reasons. I guess my point is - upon attending Hamvention and buying a ticket, I was eligible for a prize drawing, I did not have to attend forums for that. I am sure there are other Hams out there that do not wish to Zoom into a program or forum to be eligible for the drawings. Maybe I missed something but it seemed that is currently the only way to enter for any kind of drawing. It also seems that if Hamvention wants to really stay on the minds of Hams everywhere, they should have some kind of simple drawing that you can enter only once, which could be controlled via using your call sign. Or they could even have extra 'virtual tickets' for sale for a reasonable price. This could be done by a entry blank on their web page. This would not have to be for the 'Grand Prize' or hourly prizes, but just a little fun thing so that everyone could participate in "Hamvention". It just seems like they missed the boat on a lot of free or low costs publicity and goodwill. Perhaps I missed something somewhere and there is such a drawing in place. If so, the information on it should be on their site or advertised somewhere in plain language and not something for which you have to hunt. If there is something like that out there, that I did miss completely, I apologize in advance for wasting your time reading this.

 

Great, your negativity won't be missed by myself or by the 3,000 other attendees (last year's number).

I guess you don't want to learn about propagation, antenna building, shack design, etc.

Here were some of the topics from 2020:
“Effective Low Band Receiving Antennas”
“2020 Solar Cycle Update and the HF Response to Ionospheric Storms and Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances”
“Everything You Need to Know About USB and Serial Interfaces”
“Digital Contesting Hints & Kinks”
“Grounding & Bonding for Contest Stations”

Your choice. But practically any amateur - regardless of interest or license class - could easily have found sessions of interest.

 

Contest University, in a live forum, is a 'Dayton' activity, although not officially part of 'Hamvention'. I don't see the 'publicity' angle at all--the fact is thousands of hams have now been deprived of their coveted live experience for two years: this is a way to keep people engaged and happy.

 

This post is about Contest University, and the Hamvention QSO PARTY.

Its not about Hamvention, except in some aside fashion.

Its information. Not clickbait.

 

Not sure how you can say that. This is someone's video interview. Rather different.

 

Perhaps you misunderstood my meaning there, I certainly did not mean that statement in a negative way at all. I was equating 'publicity' with 'advertising, which every major brand or event uses to get word out to everyone about their 'product'. You stated that that "this was a way to keep people engaged and happy". That was my point, to possibly get the message out to even more Hams, 'to keep them engaged and happy' as you put it, and even more so to continue to have the "Hamvention" name on their minds. I was not advocating cancelling any of the online events, but suggesting adding a simple entry for a drawing, open to all hams. If you read my entire post, you also saw that I was one of those "thousands of hams", deprived of that experience for the last two years and I hated it. I certainly want Hamvention back as soon as possible. (and Hamcation, and Huntsville, etc...)

My question about Contest University being part of Hamvention was sincere with not a bit of sarcasm, and you did answer it, thank you.

 

You should check it out Fun!

 

Sorry, not interested.

 

AK5CT, Contest university has traditionally been held in Dayton on the day before Hamvention opens, at the Crowne Plaza hotel downtown Dayton. It's not officially part of Hamvention. I have attended a couple of times and found it very well done and informative. Although aimed at contesters, nearly all of the material applies to any ham interested in propagation, antennas, station building, or improving the performance of their station and their operating technique.
The in-person Contest University has a fee and attendance is limited by space (and generally sells out). Having the virtual CTU free and open to all is a great learning opportunity, and worth checking out. Big thanks to K3LR and the gang for making it happen!

 

I really like the big gun stations. I live on a small city lot and am an avid 75 meter DXer. My station
is a giant compromise in a noisy location. Nothing makes me happier than to see guys using epic grade
stations and living the dream!!! I have worked many of the big guns in Europe and really am glad
they have great setups that can hear me. I enjoy participating in contests as well because of the
ridiculous band crowding and those conditions really show what you can do with your receiver...
it is great practice.

I wish I could try operating some of the giant stations in DXer mode...it would be epic!!!