I've just found out that the DX and Contest Forums will not be held at the
Arena this year.
This is very disappointing change. One of the strengths of past Dayton
Hamventions was the ability to attend parts of Forums which were of
interest, and then mingle with the booths and flea market at other times.
Furthermore, with the time it takes for shuttle busses to operate, it
basically becomes impossible to attend the Forums and also see much of the
rest of the Hamvention.
As a past speaker, I am also concerned about the potential drop in
audience. One of the major advantages of holding DX and Contest Forums at
Dayton was the opportunity for this part of the hobby to be exposed to
other hams who might not have considered how much fun it is. With the
Forums off-site, few hams who are not already DXers or contesters will take
the trouble to drop in.
And how will the commercial exhibitors feel? DXers and contesters, as a
class, spend a much larger amount of money on their radio stations than
hams in almost any other segment of the hobby... and the money spent by
DXers and contesters is spent on high performance and higher margin
products. Now you have just isolated a key target market away from the
exhibitors. That doesn't seem to make commercial sense.
I know others are not thrilled about the ticket price increase. From a
practical standpoint, it costs many hundreds of dollars to travel to
Dayton, eat, stay in a hotel, and so on. $2 is lost in the noise.
However, the message conveyed by price increases that vastly exceed the
rate of inflation is one of GREED. Did you really need the extra $100,000+
this year to organize the Hamvention? And how does that help encourage
young people to become more involved in our hobby?
These changes make me question whether it's really worth the trouble to
attend Dayton. After all, I already spend many weekends of my family time
on the radio. Why squander another fine spring weekend on Dayton and its
increasing level of inconvenience?
I hope you will reconsider these decisions in the future and change back to
the proven successful formula.
-- Eric Scace K3NA
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