How About Reports from Dayton???

[W1RC]

To you guys lucky enough to go how about some reports, reviews, etc, etc?  May the gat gods of the flea market smile upon thee!

TIA.

73,

Michael, W1RC

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Walk On By: http://w5kub.com/

[W1JS]

Hi Mr. Mike,

I be here with my buddy Pat.  We are celebrating 50 years as licensed hams by attending Dayton for the first time.   

[n2bc]

Mayham at Dayton!!

http://www.noiseblankers.com/hijinks/2013/5/17/confused-protestors-picket-dayton-hamfest-then-leave.html

[Steve - K4HX]

HA! Some funny stuff on that site.

[W2PFY]

Does anyone remember the guy last year that ran his cam to and from the fester, he also gave away prizes and was live as well at the fester?  I thought he was using cell towers but it turns out that he has a sat fone.

I looked on the site and there is no mention of him??

answered my own question. Here is the link.

http://w5kub.com/

[Sam KS2AM]

The bluegrass dudes were there again this year:


Part I

Part II

[Steve - K4HX]

That open back banjo gets lost in the mix.

[WA3VJB]

The bluegrass dudes were there again this year:

Thanks for posting -- nice to see & hear them again.

Steve, the guy in the gray shirt works near you in NN although he's an 8.  I looked him up a few years ago and told him about the earlier version.

He passed the link around and they all got a big kick out of it.

If I saved the email, Sam you can have the honors this time. Will PM ya.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

It's been reported that Flex announced that the Flex 5000A has been discontinued. Manufacturer of case assembly is discontinuing that type of work. Redesign, retooling, and retesting for a new case design, at this stage of the Flex 5000 life cycle, probably didn't make much sense to do.

[Steve - K4HX]

The Flex haters will be happy.

[Steve - K4HX]

For you diehards.

The 24th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards
Thursday
September 26, 2013

Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts, Memorial Auditorium

Raleigh, North Carolina

followed by

Wide Open Bluegrass Festival
September 27 & 28, 2013

Raleigh, North Carolina

Red Hat Amphitheatre, Raleigh Convention Center, City Plaza

The bluegrass dudes were there again this year:

Thanks for posting -- nice to see & hear them again.

Steve, the guy in the gray shirt works near you in NN although he's an 8.  I looked him up a few years ago and told him about the earlier version.

He passed the link around and they all got a big kick out of it.

If I saved the email, Sam you can have the honors this time. Will PM ya.

[W2PFY]

The Flex haters will be happy.

It will probably drive the used market up. From what most people say who own them, it seems like a fine radio.

[Burt]

It's been reported that Flex announced that the Flex 5000A has been discontinued. Manufacturer of case assembly is discontinuing that type of work. Redesign, retooling, and retesting for a new case design, at this stage of the Flex 5000 life cycle, probably didn't make much sense to do.

And I thought my students had good excuses for not doing homework.
This is from the company that promised the 6000 in 4th quarter 2012 and made you pay a hefty deposit for the priviledge of waiting AND STILL WAITING

[ka4koe]

Mine is outstanding on AM.

[W3RSW]

The Flex copy(in duplicate) of the QS1R, Persus, et al with slightly higher sampling rate hardware I think is ready. It's all the skyware /software that's the hang up.
Slices, chunks and promises are somewhat harder to deliver in seven simultaneous second comings. 

[W3RSW]

Anyway, who all went?
What goodies did you acquire?

I've heard several similar on the air, but they were mainly SSB aficionados.

[WA3VJB]

The bluegrass dudes were there again this year:


Part I

Part II

PM'd you the email addy of the feller with the banjo.

He and his fellows will probably get a kick out of seeing this footage.

[k4kyv]

American Morse Illegal on the Ham Bands? or Johnny Johnston put in his Place

At Dayton this past weekend, I visited the Morse Telegraph Club stall, and an interesting subject came up, a rumour that the FCC had outlawed the use of the American landline Morse Code on the amateur bands. Jim Wades, WB8SIW, told me this was started by a retired FCC official who writes a monthly column in a ham publication. The first name to come to mind was Riley Hollingsworth, whose column appears in CQ magazine. Jim said no, it was not Riley, but he couldn't think of the person's name. It immediately dawned on me that it was probably Johnny Johnston, who wrote a monthly column in the now defunct World Radio magazine. That jogged Jim's memory, and he said yes indeed, that's who it was.

This smelled just like Johnston, who is apparently still trying to pull punches and screw over certain classes of amateur operators he doesn't like, even years after retiring from the FCC. John B. Johnston, now W3BE, was chief of the amateur rulemaking division of the FCC for over 25 years, starting in 1973, until he retired in 1998. During his quarter-century watch, we saw a lot of damage inflicted on the amateur service via radical changes in the FCC rules, even though some of the more outrageous docket proposals were dismissed due to widespread public opposition as expressed in the comments submitted.

My first introduction to Johnston was at the Dayton FCC forum circa 1974, when he introduced the amateur community to Docket 20777, the infamous "bandwidth" proposal that would have redefined sub-bands and permissible emission modes in terms of signal bandwidth rather than emission type. The official title of this proposal touted the word "Deregulation", but the proposal was worded in such a way as to preclude double sideband AM on all phone bands below 28 MHz, as well as fast-scan TV in the 440 MHz band. After the forum, a group of AM and FSTV enthusiasts tried to further discuss the proposal with Johnston, but he quickly turned away and said he didn't have time to talk about it because he had to leave to go to another forum at a CB get-together.

It was Johnston who ushered in the 1983 revision to the amateur power limit, defining legal power in terms of p.e.p. output. One of the side effects of this change appears to theoretically reduce the legal power limit for AM phone to about one-half the previous limit, while doubling the limit for certain other modes, including RTTY, which Johnston had previously said was one of his preferred operating modes . Several individuals as well as the ARRL submitted Petitions for Reconsideration, that would each have in some way, grandfathered in the old AM power limit.

At a subsequent Dayton FCC forum emceed by Johnston, he revealed that the Commission had pulled out an old Petition for Rulemaking submitted by a ham in Texas that had lain unacted-upon for several years, and assigned it an RM-number, asking the FCC to outlaw AM phone on the amateur bands. The subject of Johnston's presentation that year was that the amateur community, with their newly-acquired computer word processors, was wasting the Commission's time by flooding them with frivolous rulemaking petitions.

He used as an example, the AM power issue. His line went something like this: "Here, we have two petitions. One, submitted by an individual in Texas, wants to eliminate AM altogether, while another, submitted by the ARRL, seeks to CHANGE THE RULES to allow AMers to run TWICE AS MUCH POWER AS EVERYBODY ELSE." Johnston's deceptive strategy was to imply that the FCC was going to be even-handed in the matter when they dismissed both petitions.

Fortunately for American Morse enthusiasts, someone contacted the people presently in charge at the FCC, and they essentially told him that Johnston didn't know what he was talking about, no longer has any official standing  at the Commission, and that American Morse is still legal on the amateur bands, as long as the stations identify using the regular International Morse Code.

For more on this story, go to:

http://www.kb6nu.com/american-morse-ill ... ham-bands/


http://www.kb6nu.com/more-on-american-m ... dio-bands/

Note: the individual in question is John B. Johnston, not Gary Johnston.

[K4NYW]

I've posted about 400 photos of Dayton boatanchors at
http://www.virhistory.com/ham/dayton-13.htm
cheers,
Nick K4NYW

[kf4qkr]

The flea market area was awsome.I picked up a handfull of unobtainium[pt243 crystals in the ham bands that are at least grindable for usable AM frequences]for a buck each and a 35 watt HT amp for 10 bucks that works.We met Gordon West.For a famous dude he is very freindly.Phil kc4vwu filled the back of the jeep with wonderful boat anchors.It was my first time and it was a blast.       Mike

[K1JJ]

I've posted about 400 photos of Dayton boatanchors at
http://www.virhistory.com/ham/dayton-13.htm
cheers,
Nick K4NYW

Nice job, Nick.  Quite a lot of gear to look at.

The last eight pics...  Robert / W0VMC has one of the prettiest combinations of commercial cabinetry, homebrew additions and modifications I've seen.

T

[WA3VJB]

American Morse Illegal on the Ham Bands? or Johnny Johnston put in his Place

Thanks for recounting some history important to our part of the hobby, Don.

For years, Dayton was "the" venue for announcements from the FCC affecting the Amateur Service. Although Johnson is clearly a has-been, did you get a sense there was anything newsworthy from current staff this year?

A runner-up to the regulatory Hall of Shame has to be ex-ARRL staffer Paul Rinaldo, for much the same approach that the former K3BNS took when he was at the FCC.  Fortunately, most of Rinaldo's push failed.

Where DO these people come from?

[Detroit47]

The flea market was great. I wound up with three Viking II's. I just couldn't say no the price. Also a unidentified National receiver.See attached pic.

73 John N8QPC

[Pete, WA2CWA]

The flea market was great. I wound up with three Viking II's. I just couldn't say no the price. Also a unidentified National receiver.See attached pic.

73 John N8QPC

Looks like an AC/DC R-115 used by the US Coast Guard. Similar to NC-200 less bandspread and crystal filter. Identifying plate on the left side is missing.