On The Road Again – Hamcation 2025

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  I think it is about time to wrap this up!  So I will concatenate Day 1 and 2 into a single blog instead of breaking down day 1 and day 2 of Hamcation.  I had not been to an amateur radio convention for about 25 years, so I was excited to be going to one again.  Which is interesting since I really did not get a lot of photos ( only 44 )!  I guess I just do not do very well wondering around trade shows.. 

  I repeated the theme of not being able to get out of the cot at my self appointed time, but still managed to get to the fair grounds and pick up my ticket at Will Call before the gates opened.  I was able to meet Gary Wise W4EEY who is primarily responsible for me being able to pass my Amateur Extra upgrade test!  Which was very exciting.  If you are studying for your first amateur radio license or an upgrade please stop by his web page https://w4eey.com/index.html and YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@W4EEY you will not be sorry you did!  His online classes hosted by himself and Dave Ivey KE4EA are informative, easy to follow, and entertaining and will walk you through everything you need to get or upgrade your amateur radio license!

  Once inside the convention grounds I headed off to my first forum (These forums were hit and miss, mostly because 1) Bad time management as you will read about in a second, 2) I assumed the forums I selected would be something they were not.  As evidenced by the first two forums I attended 1) AUXCOMM in Florida, and 2) Things have changed, choosing a new radio. 

  I thought the AUXCOM would give me guidance about how to join and participate in the various emergency communication grounds in Florida.  What I discovered was that the landscape of volunteer emergency or EMCOM operators has changed since I dropped out of the hobby in 2010.  Instead of just the Radio Amateur Emergency Services R.A.C.E.S (Which was run by the County in San Diego and the US Civil Defense.). and the Amateur Radio Emergency Services, which worked with both City, County, and Federal agencies and was sponsored by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).  Which was largely Amateurs working with their professional counterparts.  AUXCOM seemed to be more professionals working in law enforcement, EMT, Fire Fighter roles, who also happened to be amateur radio operators.  I was just as at a loss on how to get involved in one of the local groups leaving the forum as when I entered.

  The second forum of the day “Receiver and Transmitter performance, what has changed in 10 years?” almost led to quite a bit of embarrassment  as I had to do everything, I could think of not to fall asleep.  I thought the forum would describe continuing advances in Software Defined Radio or SDR and what innovations our VHF and HF radios might have in the future.. Instead, it was mostly a 45 minute talk on comparing the features on current lineup of HF radios, and how to use their features.  As I just bought 2 new radios in the last year, I was NOT in the market for a new rig, so I tuned most of it out.

  Needing to take a break from the forums, I headed over to the East Coast Reflectors booth,  I had promised Dick the Godfather or W2JPQ that I would stop in, check out their portable repeater and go to dinner with them later in the evening. 

  Here is the W2JPQ East Coast Reflector portable 70cm repeater. 

I had to joke with Dick if he has ever tried carrying that on to an airplane.  I then confirmed directions on where we were all supposed to meat for dinner that evening and headed off to take a break until the next forum at 1300 “ ARISS Future of Amateur Radio In Space.  “, 

  Which talked about an upcoming capsule mission that will involve Slow Scan Television “SSTV”, amateur radio, and school kids around the world called Fram2Ham.  I am always interested in spaceflight, amateur radio, and introducing students to ham radio.

 

I walked around the vendor booth, checking out the new offerings from the main 3 ham radio vendors, Yaesu, ICOM, and Kenwood.  Checking out their latest products.

Here is Baxter at the ICOM booth.

We stopped by the Boy Scouts Of America display, which had an interactive Morse code display, which Baxter had to check out!  Baxter being a No Code General has often heard of my tales of struggling to pass the 13WPM code test to get my General License in the late 1990’s.

 Baxter was also really hopeful that we would win one of the many Hamcation prizes, but alas.  We came away empty winged.

 I then stopped by the ARRL Special Event Station W1AW / 4 to sign up for an operators slot the following day!

  I finished thing up around 5pm and headed over to Miller’s Ale House to meet the East Coast Reflector Gang.  I got there early and waited at the bar to rehydrate with a couple of Cokes and lots of water.  The dinner was great!  I had the Prime Burger and fries.  I really enjoyed the burger, which was flavorful and cooked a perfect medium rare!  The camaraderie and conversation of the fellow users of the ECR was the reason I went to the convention.  After dinner it was back to the camp site for a shower and good night’s sleep.

   Once again!  I was slow getting out of the sleeping bag and to the event.  Which made me think I missed the forum I really wanted to go to, “ARMY and Air Force MARS: Joint Mission to Support the Troops.”  Had I taken time to read the forum schedule I would have realized it did not start until 1030, and I had plenty of time to attend!  I did make it to a really good forum on emergency communications called, “Calm Voice in the Storm, Amateur Radio Relevance in Disasters” with N4RFI David Craig, KK3S Ribert Carrol, KQ4PZC Christopher D’ Hedouville, Kj4SFM Howard Bennet, and K2DMG Dan Gitro.  Which covered the importance of amateur radio during Hurricane Helene and Milton and how amateur radio was responsible for the rescue of 17 people in North Carolina from a single radio call on a hand held VHF/UHF transceiver.

   I did make it to the discussion about the Statewide 70cm repeater network called SARNET, and then it was time to head to ARRL Special Event Station to make our 2:30pm slot!

  I had fun operating W1AW/4 and would really love to go to the actual W1AW station in Newington, CT! I made several DX, and a few stateside contacts and it was time to let the next operator have their turn.  There was one awkward moment where another ham, monitoring a Parks On The Air operation from their station in North Carolina said I was calling CQ right on top of them.   Which I had no idea was on the same freq. because I could NOT see them on my scope, and more surprisingly I did not hear not see any stations replying to them before I started using the Frequency.. 

  I also found it awkward using someone else’s callsign.  You become so accustomed to various precures using your our callsign, you find it is just second nature and  say something like, “QRZ KILO FOXTROT SIX HOTEL DELTA.. Ohh Ohh Sorry..  Whiskey One Alpha Whiskey Portable Four!”

  Wrapping up our time at the convention and stopping by to say goodbye to the folks at the ECR booth, it was time to head back to the campsite for an early dinner and campfire. 

  Sunday morning it was time to tear down the campsite and get on the road!  Had a great time at Disney, camping, and the ham radio convention. I have mixed feelings about not having an RV and being able to stay at the event site, as I feel I missed out on being able to camp, play, and talk radio but the experience and peace at Moss Park was so positive I think I want to stay there when attending next year! 

  Thanks for stopping by Brent’s World to follow this series of blogs!  It has been a few years since I have published an event or travel series!   Please come back next week for more great content.  If you wish to be notified when new content is posted consider registering by clicking HERE!