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Hamvention\u00ae 2026 in Xenia, Ohio, is officially under way, with large crowds filling the five exhibit halls, four forum rooms, and the giant flea market. Here\u2019s a summary of Friday, May 15.<\/p>\n
In the ARRL Expo area, attendees interacted with program representatives and volunteer leadership officials, including ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, and President Rick Roderick, K5UR. Emergency Communications and Field Services Director Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, and several volunteers promoted ARRL\u2019s \u201cYear of the Club\u201d program and the organization\u2019s participation in the America250 celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. In the ARRL Lab booth, Senior Lab Engineer Rick Ciervo, W1CIE, tested handhelds for spurious emissions while Digital RF Engineer John McAuliffe, W1DRF, demonstrated the new\u00a0QST<\/i>\u00a0Product Review Comparison Tool that \u2014 starting June 1 \u2014 will allow ARRL members to access Lab measurements on various aspects of reviewed radios and amplifiers online and compare them with each other. They will also be able to bring up a copy of the published review of each radio of interest. The Lab staff also highlighted CSI, the Clean Signal Initiative, which will create benchmarks and standards for transmitted signals and indicate in reviews whether a radio has met those benchmarks.<\/p>\n
In ARRL\u2019s membership and sales area, this year\u2019s big themes are Field Day, America250, and a handful of new ARRL book introductions including\u00a0Salty Walt\u2019s Next Level Portable Antenna Sketchbook<\/i>,\u00a0Satellite Operating for Amateur Radio<\/i>, and\u00a0Digital Networking for Ham Radio<\/i>. At the radiosport booth, the main focus is on helping people navigate the Trident, Triple Play, and 10-Band DXCC awards. Next door, the ARRL-VEC\u2019s Stephanie Borden, W2MAU, was helping hams with license renewals and answering questions regarding the question pools, as well as helping Volunteer Examiner teams continue the transition to all-digital exams and reporting of session results.<\/p>\n
Young hams are being treated to supervised soldering practice and opportunities to decipher Morse code messages and answer the question, \u201cWhat advice would you have for older-generation hams?\u201d At the adjacent College Amateur Radio Program (CARP) booth, student leader Tyler Schroder, NT1S, and volunteers Ally Brawner, KR4GVZ \u2014 a Ph.D. student at Clemson University \u2014 and recent Clemson graduate Cade Braxton, KO4VDX, greeted visiting college students and offered them the opportunity to get on the air using one of two remote stations hooked up inside the booth.<\/p>\n
Representatives were also on hand from the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), the Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL), the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), and the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB). JARL\u2019s Ken Yamamoto, JA1CJP, said coming to Hamvention offers a good opportunity to communicate in person with radio amateurs from America and other countries, to show off their presence to hams here, and to promote the annual Ham Fair held each summer in Tokyo. RAC President Allan Boyd, VE3AJB, talked about his organization\u2019s \u201creciprocating working relationship\u201d with ARRL, noting several shared concerns, including membership retention, getting more youth involved in amateur radio, recruiting more hams, and keeping current hams active. RSGB General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB, said what makes Hamvention special is the fact that there are so many people here from so many countries, and that his biggest reason for being here is to meet people, whether or not they are RSGB members.<\/p>\n
There were also book signings by ARRL authors Glen Popiel, KW5GP (Digital Networking for Ham Radio<\/i>), and \u201cSalty\u201d Walt Hudson, K4OGO (Salty Walt\u2019s Next Level Portable Antenna Sketchbook<\/i>). Walt\u2019s forum drew nearly 200 fans, packing the Hamvention\u2019s largest forum room. Hudson said he was mostly an \u201cHF propagation geek\u201d and that antennas \u201care just tools to explore propagation.\u201d He also encouraged greater study of the effects of ground conductivity on propagation, saying that \u201cIt\u2019s all about the surface below and near me, the ionosphere above me, and most of all, the antenna!\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside, Chris Knox, KI1P, was showing off his shack-in-a-van, with radios and antennas covering 1.8 – 902 MHz, along with an analog 2-meter repeater, a DMR repeater, and a VHF public service band repeater for use during emergencies. He says the station is set up mostly for contesting and that he can run up to 1,200 watts, operating either remotely or from the van. Knox notes that this is his \u201cone and only ham shack\u201d and that he even has a sleeping area in the back of the van.<\/p>\n
ARRL Senior Director of Marketing and Innovation Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, gave the keynote at the FlexRadio Banquet on Friday night. \u201c\u2026all of us in this room have a role in ensuring that innovation continues by creating an environment that welcomes and nurtures the next generation,\u201d he said. He highlighted the efforts of ARRL and the wider amateur radio community to encourage pathways for youth that lead to further education and careers in wireless technology. \u201cYou do not need to create a new technology to make a lasting contribution. Sometimes the most important innovation is simply creating an opportunity for someone else,\u201d said Inderbitzen.<\/p>\n
At the Southwest Ohio DX Association\u2019s (SWODXA\u2019s) 39th annual DX dinner, ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, was the keynote speaker. Minster spoke on \u201cradio sportsmanship,\u201d challenging the DXers in the room to pay serious attention to questions about excessive power, remote operating that uses stations in multiple locations, \u201cpay to play\u201d for getting confirmations from some DX stations, whether certain stations really need to work DXpeditions on all possible bands and modes while others are trying to make just one contact, the future of the DXCC Honor Roll and deliberate QRM. \u201cThe most important aspect of radiosport,\u201d he concluded, \u201cis to have a good time, but not at the expense of others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several awards were also given out at the DX dinner. Longtime QSL manager Charles Wilmot, M\u00d8OXO, and DXpeditioner Elvira Simoncini, IV3FSG, were inducted into the Heritage CQ DX Hall of Fame, now administered by the International DX Association; Yuris Petersons, YL2GM, was named SWODXA DXpeditioner of the Year for his operation from Marion Island as ZS8W, during which he made more than 30,000 QSOs; the Russian DXpedition Team, which included Hal Turley, W8HC, earned the club\u2019s DXpedition of the Year award for the 9U1RU expedition to Burundi, in which the operators made nearly 180,000 contacts. Finally, the Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF) bestowed its Excellence Awards to the PJ6Y expedition to Sable Island for its emphasis on youth participation, and to Otis Vicens, NP4G, and Ezequiel Prado, HI3R, for their 100% solar-powered, 100% remotely operated KP5\/NP3VI DXpedition to Desecheo. Vicens is also this year\u2019s Dayton Hamvention Amateur of the Year.<\/p>\n
Follow\u00a0ARRL News\u00a0for our\u00a0Facebook photo album\u00a0throughout Hamvention weekend as we add new images from the ARRL exhibit area, and from throughout the event. If you\u2019re attending Hamvention, be sure to stop by the ARRL booths in Building 2 \u2013 Tesla.<\/p>\n
2026 Hamvention runs through 1:00 PM on Sunday, May 17.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n