Dayton Hamvention 2013 Report
What a great time! As you all know, this year is the 80th anniversary of the incorporation of Collins Radio and the CCA has been in “Celebration” mode all year. Our presence at Dayton was no exception.
The CCA booth was moved to a better traffic location and doubled in size in the East Hall at location 508 & 509. The booth was redesigned with additional hospitality space, carpeting and active displays of Collins related videos as well as rare presentations of Collins equipment from the 30s through the 90s. The booth traffic was tremendous and the displays and Special “Eyeball QSO – aka raffle tickets” well received. It should be noted that Jim Green (WB3DJU), our past Treasurer and mainstay at the Dayton Booth, was sorely missed and promises to be back next year.
One of the great results is that, as a result of the traffic through the booth, membership sales at the booth and ensuing sign-ups on the website that weekend, we have almost 40 new members in the CCA.
There was a great pre-banquet dinner on Thursday evening with about 16 notable attendees from the helper and supporter category and then of course we had the Friday night banquet where we celebrated the anniversary in wonderful style with a round of speakers talking about the equipment and history of the company over the 80 years with a focus on “Things you did not know”.
Rod Blocksome (K0DAS) Takes us Through the Rockwell Collins Years
There was also a huge round of door prizes again, thanks to our sponsors and supporters and a great raffle for a Collins 212Z Broadcast Mixer, which strangely enough was won by Rich Sperling, WB3JLK, a Broadcast Engineer and AMer of “Dance Card” fame. Nice going Rich – well deserved and Thank You again for supplying the Dance Card information.
And…..it was a great audience!
Saturday evening, a number of the helpers and supporter gathered for the traditional post booth takedown pizza. There was a good supply of Collins gear out in the swap area and reports are that a lot of it went out the gates in new hands, so my impression from talking to folks after the fact was that it was a great Dayton in all respects.
Butch Schartau (K0BS) shows us his wares in the swap
Jim Stitzinger, WA3CEX, again schlepped his HF-80 Shelter Restored Prototype across the country to give us all a treat seeing it in operation. A last minute ruling by the Dayton Fire Marshall nixed our hopes for some Special Event operation from the booth and from the shelter due to not being able to park it up by the booth exit door. Jim did move it to the Ramada patio again so everyone could visit and use it at the Friday night dinner. We, again, owe him a huge Thank You for this contribution of time, effort and gas money.
Speaking of “Thank You”, and at the risk of biffing it and leaving someone out, which with my memory is a real possibility, I have to try and list here all of the folks that made this fun extended weekend possible for all of us.
K6GLH, a Welcome Supporter – Gary Halverson – was there in spirit!
First we want to thank all of the donors of door prizes and the raffle prize. These folks are all listed on a separate page so that they do not get lost in the overall report here. Please take a moment to look at that link from the News Section of the Home Page and browse the list. Better yet, make a note and try and patronize these folks when you get a chance. Most of them support the CCA every year. Now for the big risk…. We had most of the supporters stand at the Friday dinner, and there were over 30 folks, out of the 100 plus that were there, that were standing. Without this kind of help, this kind of an event would not be possible. Please take a moment to read through the list of people here and the next time you see them, tell them Thanks. And……If I have missed someone, please forgive me and let me know. Event Organization (General & Dinner): Jim Stitzinger (WA3CEX) & Scott Kerr (KE1RR) Dance Card: Rich Sperling (WBJLK) Booth Set-up and tear down: Floyd Soo (W8RO), Charlie Talbot (K3ICH), Rich Davis (K8PJQ), Tony (W9JXN) & Brian (W9SRK) Sokol, Bryan Pedersen (AA8CY), Scott Kerr (KE1RR) Booth Duty: Tony Sokol (W9JXN), Brian Sokol (W9SRK), Jerry Kessler (N4JL/Membership Chairman), Scott Kerr (KE1RR/ V. P. CCA), Floyd Soo (W8RO) Financials: Tony Sokol (W9JXN) and he balanced to the penny – Great Job! Training DVDs and Feature Videos: Floyd Soo (W8RO/Hi Res Communication), Les Otto (W9LSO) Rockwell Museum Tour Video, Gary Halverson (K6GLH) for copies of his “Lost Decade” and “Part II of California Hammin’/Collins Style”, Display Pieces: 18M-5 (1938) Bill Carns (N7OTQ/K0CXX), Three Complete CC-1, CC-2 & CC-3 stuffed and ready for Special Ops by Scott Kerr (KE1RR), and a Beautiful Rockwell Collins 851S-1 brought by Jim Stitzinger (WA3CEX). These were in the booth and also carried back and forth to the dinner for all to see up close. Dinner Reservations, Badge Distribution & Greeting: Paul Kluwe (W8ZO) Past CCA President and Board Member. Raffle Tickets and Prizes: Ticket Sales – Rich Sperling (WB3JLK) and Butch Schartau (K0BS)….. Prizes were called by Jim Stitzinger while Barbara Misic (KB3MPF) drew numbers and Paul Kluwe (W8ZO) and Karl Bowman (W4CHX) delivered the goods. Door Prizes (Organization): Karl Bowman ( W4CHX) 30L-1 Survey Organization and Distribution: Karl Bowman (W4CHX) Event Photography: Les Otto (W9LSO), and Zhang Rui Lin Dinner Speakers: Robert Hobday (N2EVG), Deputy Director Antique Wireless Association Moderator Prewar Years & War Years: Bill Carns (N7OTQ) Post War Years: Scott Kerr (KE1RR) Post Rockwell era: Rod Blocksome (K0DAS) As indicated at the beginning of this report, without all of the help, donations and support, this year’s very successful CCA presence at Dayton 2013 Hamvention would not have been possible. We all had a great time and We hope that you did also. The pictures included here below tell the rest of the story. AND…..for those of you that could not make Dayton, up next is our CCA Dinner at the Dallas HamCom in June…. and then it is on to Rochester for our Joint Meeting with the AWA. We hope to see you all at one of these functions… or on to Lebanon MO for the ARRL Joint Event or our new event at Pacificon. We have five big meetings this year so try and make one of them, if you can. They are all listed in our events calendar. 2013 Dinner Pics 2013 Booth Pics 2013 Swap Area Pics