Last updated, Saturday, June 20, 2009

Buford Scott, N4EEO is SK

The Killer is SK

73 de N4SVD A.C. N4SVD@Winlink.org 

I hadn't been to the Dayton Hamvention in at least ten years. Like ham radio in general, I'd just lost interest. The few times I did give it a thought, the date had come and gone. This year, however, it entered my mind before the event and I gave KJ8I a call and arranged to ride up with him on Saturday. 

We hadn't been there ten minutes before I purchased a Kenwood TS-830 with a matching speaker. The idea was to set it up with a coat hanger antenna and just listen around a little to see if I wanted to buy back into the hobby. 

The longer I sat there the more convinced I was that I wasn't ready so I set it on Bill's table and sold the station to a fellow from Puerto Rico. Used the proceeds to buy a new 17" LCD monitor for my desktop. 

Ran into a number of old friends including Marv Buntain, Greg Lowrey, Jack and Mark Housman, Bobby Doll and Lee Toppins. I spent the most time with Lee and his grandson Mike. He and I had been to a ton of hamfests and Daytons together and had lots of stories to retell. It was great fun.

Stopped in and talked to Dan from the Ham Station and learned that Paul Marsha wasn't able to make it to Dayton this year because a conflict with some medical tests. Sorry to have missed "the Father."

Dayton has certainly changed since I was there last. Number of flea market spaces greatly reduced and even more shocking, the number that sat empty. I'd guess that a third of all the spaces were unoccupied. 

On the inside the same was the case. Fewer venders set up in smaller spaces and more space sitting vacant. 

The crowds were also smaller and that made getting around the inside much easier and more enjoyable. 

Don't know what the answer is, but Dayton may be headed the direction of the Dodo bird if those who run it can't turn it around. Of course, the same is true about ham radio!

On October 6-7, 2000 the Ten-Tec Company sponsored a small hamfest at their plant in Sevierville, Tn. It was an attempt to bring together the people who so much enjoyed the original Sevierville hamfest that once occurred at the school across the street. They opened their plant for tours on both days and on Saturday a good number of tailgaters peddled their wares in the parking lot. Ten-Tec took advantage of the situation by allowing hams to have hands on experiences with their new additions to the line. They displayed their new HF rig, the Jupiter, based on the highly successful Pegasus. Also of interest was their new Titan II amplifier and RX-340 commercial receiver.

Here's a few photos of some of ham radio's best known and accomplished bottom feeders: L-R are K8GWM Charlie "The Porker" Lawhorn, WQ4E Bobby Doll , KE4SI Bob "Excess to My Needs" Johnson and WA4LM Leonard Massey.

The "King of the Trader Nets" KJ8I Bill Applegate, adding up the profits W8WZW Jack  and Jenny Housman and proof that the fifties are still alive, Danny Ball. Bill Bland, Fred Ramsey and several other 3898ers were seen but not available at picture time.

One of the last and largest Dayton gatherings held by the crew of 3898 in 1992. We preceded the Hamvention with a tour of the now defunct Voice of America facility between Dayton and Cincinnati. Following the tour we met at the nearby home of Jack (WB8BFS). Here's a few photos...

Back when the earth was green winter Fridays began with the Gator Races on 3895. Jack, WB8BFS, acted as master of ceremonies from his shack in Knoxville, Tennessee. On a count Jack would invite participants to turn "all knobs to the right" and dumb their call signs in ala DX pileup style. Heats were ran and the three strongest signals in each were decided. There would have been no way to measure the total amount of RF energy wasted during these heats but the noise volume was enormous. However, as loud as it may have been you could still hear the signal of WB8BFS rise above all others and announce that the heat was over and who had won. The answer to "why could Jack be heard above all others?" lies in the three photos above. These are photos (courtesy of Theo, K4MO) of one of the most famous of all homebrews, The Atom Smasher. Built by WB8BFS it ran 7.5Kv on the plate and had a tube with handles. One of the things that made it so memorable to me was that it was the only signal that could totally blank out the Hickory Hemorrhoid. It could have been called The Hemorrhoid Smasher!

Amplifiers are a constant topic on 3898 and one of the most discussed amps of several years ago was Advanced Radio Design's ARD-230. It was designed in part by a couple of Ohio hams and manufactured in Virginia. If I believe it ran a pair of Eimac 3CX800A7 tubes, was digital and could be remotely controlled. Jeff, W8CQ, sent me several photos of one he purchased and rebuilt. I recall the price tag being quite high and therefore it was never popular. This is the only one I've ever seen that actually made it into some hams station. I don't know who owned it first but former 3898er Bob Crews, KJ4CQ, once owned this one.

Speaking of N4SVD, I received my annual Christmas email from him this December (2003) and he included this photo of himself. He's wintering over in Arizona and sends greetings to all, especially KJ8I.

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