Pass the Coffee

By the time you read this, I will be on the road up to Dayton, OH. 

Okay, my destination is really a small town east of Dayton, Xenia*, but you get the point.

What's up in Xenia? The 2026 Dayton Hamvention.

The official logo of the 2026 Hamvention.
From hamvention.org.

Why is it named the Dayton Hamvention if it's held in Xenia? Because the Hamvention began in Dayton in 1952, and it remained in the immediate Dayton area until it moved to Xenia following the closure of it's previous home, Hara Arena, in 2016. More importantly, the name "Dayton Hamvention" has been a trademark of the convention since 1953 or so, and the Hamvention itself is run by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association.

I volunteered to help set up and man the flea market booth that my club reserved, but I fully intend to take advantage of my time up there this weekend to explore everything that's going on.

Before you ask, no, you don't have to have an amateur radio license to attend, but it certainly does help. I mean, there's a ton of electronics and whatnot that aren't explicitly for hams, which is how I initially was attracted to the convention back in the 90s, but there's also a metric ton of other equipment and vendors that are expressly there to cater to hams. 

I'll probably take some photos of the place and provide a trip report, because that's what I do. I'll still sleep back at home, because it's a lot cheaper to drive back and forth than get a hotel (even given the current gas prices), but in the meantime I'd better pay attention to where we're headed.

See you in a few days!

*Xenia is most famous for the F5 tornado that destroyed the town in the Supercell of 1974, known colloquially as The Day of the Tornadoes. Here's a longer special report on the 50th anniversary of tornado. That was the same Supercell in which I witnessed a tornado that crossed the Ohio River and hit Sayler Park, the westernmost neighborhood of Cincinnati. As I've said before, if you've ever seen a tornado live, you never forget it.