Dayton2010

Hamvention 2010 in Dayton is Fri, May 14th - Sun, May 16th.

Several HackPittsburgh members are going.

Travel/Lodging

• Currently we are all booked into the Hotel Pure Dayton
• Club lore and mapping software says 4-4.5 hours from Pittsburgh to Dayton area.
• Matt S, Mandy J, Andy, Sayan are going out after work Thursday evening and returning Sunday afternoon/evening.
• Doug is going our early afternoon on Thursday, coming back Friday night.
• Get on-site early! (We kinda knew that.)
• Harry says: On the way to and from the Hamvention, monitor 146.52. You'll hear lots of hams on I-70 the whole way.

Food/Drinks

Good places to get dinner/late-night food/libations (or places known to avoid): ...

• Matt and Mandy will be going to Carrabba's one night for dinner it is a ways away from everything but is fantastic Location
• Tweetup Milano's Atlantic Subs Saturday night @kritikal is putting this together

Avoid eating on site. Harry Bloomberg indicated the on-site food is pretty bad. Have a big breakfast and plan on a big dinner. Take water/snacks to hold you throughout the day.

On site communications

• Twitter to SMS is not reliable (in my experience --Doug)
• Cell phone point to point SMS (we should exchange numbers)
• Pick a frequency or two to monitor.
• Harry says: Pick an amateur intercom frequency on the 440 band...2M is pretty useless at Dayton. Also, learn how to use tone squelch (PL) so that your 440 channel will be quiet.

Take with you

• HackPittsburgh Biz Cards! To promote the shop or just as a defacto QSL card.
• Backpack to stash your new found loot.
• Note pad for forums(talks): paper/pencil, iPhone/droid app.
• Multimeter for basic sanity check of used electronics.
• Radio to keep in touch with each other (for general Ham cred?)
• Shopping list - what model radio do you have, what accessories do you already have. (Doug: I hate accidently getting dups of stuff I already have)
• Show some pride wear your HackPGH shirts!!!
• Harry: Get a callsign hat and/or badge so that people will know who you are. There's many hams I know only by callsign.

Shopping

Take CASH. Some inside vendors might take CC, but cash rules. Only one ATM on site, will probably run out.

For the shop

• PowerPole Crimping Tool
• PowerPole Connectors - bags of them. Lazor Connectors!
• 'A couple of' Power Supplies: (Doug to keep an eye open for, description by Matt Mets)
  • Anything beefy by HP that is $20 or less, and has say a 0-30V range with at least 1.5A. Vintage equipment :-)

LEAD Balloon Project Supplies?

• Balloons!!! - Matt S to coordinate on what parameters we need to pay attention to.

Miscellaneous (some inspired by Harry Bloomberg's Friday (5/7) NBEMS - Digital EnComm Presentation)

• assemble-able AS-1887A antenna (use with tuner). Harry says they're getting rare, probably cost > $50.
• rollup solar panels ($300 range a bunch of years ago, might be a little cheaper)
• Mounts: Harry recommends Pro-Fit International (http://www.pro-fit-intl.com/) mounts. They come with a 3M made glue surface. The claim is that they will hold up in summer sun, but can be removed with hair dryer.
• "pick n pluck" configurable foam cases (for radios, etc.)

Items for non-attending Members

• Doug is willing to keep track of a few things to pick up if stumbled across.