[CQ-Contest] Hamvention - New Venue, etc.

[cqtestk4xs at aol.com]

My two cents.

Overall, I'd give it a B or B-.

Positive stuff:

Food was A+....excellent variety, fair prices and good quality
Forum facilities were an A....air conditioning worked and the rooms were plenty large
Exhibitors facilities were an A...nicely spread out and no major congestion even when it started raining
Planning ...B-  Maps were posted and the booklet about the hamfest was complete.  They obviously spent a lot of time planning this.  However they blew it on the traffic...see below.
Restrooms...A  lots of porta-potties and they were pretty clean (for porta-potties)  Also lots of regular facilties.

Negative stuff:

Traffic: F... it sucked...the roads leading to the place are all 2 lane roads.  I got there at 7 AM and the traffic was already backed up a quarter mile.  Others got there later and were stuck in traffic a long time.  I know they can't do anything about the roads, they are what they are.  However, they better figure out something since many of the guys I talked to said they weren't coming back until this was resolved.  Friday was horrible, Saturday was a little bit better since there were less people there.

Flea market was a D.  Why?  The flea market is set up on the infield of a horse racing track.  The track itself was nice and firm.  However, with cars, ATVs and golf cart driving on the grass infield in combination with the some rain, the lanes where you walked became very muddy by mid-day Saturday.  Several guys slipped and fell into the mud.  Some equipment for sale was spattered by mud from the golf carts, ATVs and cars using the lanes.  Same happened to some people.  It really was a mess with several cars getting stuck.  I know they can't do anything about the weather, but they need to address this since the fleas are what really appeal to many of the hams.

Overall, it was a big improvement over the old place.

My two cents.

K4XS/KH7XS







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