"Mr Fed UP" wrote in message
...
My last time at Dayton a few years ago it was a costly
one day ticket (my health not good either) and $8 to park in a handicap
parking spot
that might as well been down at the mall it was so far.

I believe the admission prices at Dayton are largely driven by the "going
rate" for the Hara Arena; renting large spaces like that is *quite* expensive.
The prices are certainly not high compared to similarly sized non-amateur
conventions I've attended.

The handicapped parking largely seems to be an issue because *so many* people
request it these days; it's impossible to have literally 300 handcapped
parking spots *all* close to the door. I agree that you're probably better
off parking in a handcapped spot at the mall and riding the shuttle bus.

I believe that for hamfests to continue being successful, they're going to
have to concentrate more on educational seminars, demonstrations, and events
(transmitter hunts, contests, etc.) rather than just a swapmeet.

I think it's a often sign of trouble when any organization seems to spend an
inordinate amount of time worrying about their own numbers rather than just
engaging in what it is that brought them together in the first place and
letting the membership numbers drive themselves. Ham radio (or at least the
ARRL) seem quite preoccupied with membership levels...

My wireless home phone and my computer
has more MHZ than my radio now. ;-(

:-) Yeah, I know what you mean. To some degree FCC regulations have held
back the development of amateur radio, but on the other hand the number of
amateurs out there who could successfully *design* or even *assemble*
something similar in complexity to a cell phone is miniscule.

Maybe it's as well though. Having started in the TUBE days and seeing SMD
parts
now I can't find, or use if I could find them for projects... might be
appropriate that we go
out together in a few years.

Parts availability today is, in many cases, far better than ever before.
Mouser and DigiKey are real treasure troves of inexpensive RF parts, you know
in the click of a mouse what the stock status is, and they deliver quickly.

---Joel Kostad