Have had some rough Dayton plans on the boards for month or so.
As usual I am a bit torn. I’d really like to see the people and spend some time at the various functions. I’ve relatives in the area I’d like to see as well.
Then I keep coming back to Hara, the rough side of Dayton with its problems, the investment in time (and money) to do the Dayton run, the likelihood of$4.00+/gallon fuel, with Chicago DOUBLING their tolls for 2012 to circumnavigate the windy city, and then the risks of playing the odds on personal safety.
Having a second cousin robbed at gunpoint at the Dayton Greyhound Station at Christmas puts me even more on edge,
Hearing that Dayton is averaging a murder a night or more.
I hear from Dayton area hams that they won’t go out and about without their conceal carry pistols.
I’ve couple friends who say they would like to go as a group, so perhaps in the end I’ll get past my objections, but it sure is tempting to pick another event to attend.
It doesn’t have to be this way. I attend several tradeshows each year, including some that are either modest fee like Dayton or fully subsidized for the attendees, and none are as seedy & unsafe as a show at the Hara in Dayton.
With a whole lot of use-or-lose air-miles to use in 2012 would I be better off to run the TSA Security-Gauntlet and do one of the other events?
What are your thoughts?
73
Steve
K9ZW
With Varying Frequency - Amateur Radio Ponderings 
“Hearing that Dayton is averaging a murder a night or more.”
Really? 365+ homicides a year? The Dayton Daily News reports that there were 40 in all of 2011 in the Metro area that has a population of over 800,000 people…
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/data/1057882.html
I think you need to pass on Hamvention Steve. Each year you trot out all the reasons why making a trip to Dayton is like a descent into hell itself and I don’t know why you would willingly subject yourself to that?
Stay safe – stay home.
The shabbiness of Hara seems to reflect many of the hams who attend. (Excluding me and thee.) You get what you pay for. Myself, I’d be happy to pay $100+ for a “good” venue, but Hara sets the price point at $20, for better or worse, and maybe that’s all the marked will bear. I thought last year’s sewer overflow in the flea market was a wonderful touch, actually. Shows they’re holding the line on infrastructure expense.
My partial solution is to base myself at the QRPARCI “Four Days in May” convention at the civilized Holiday Inn, with forays to Hara as necessary. The QRPers are fine folks. They actually still build stuff.
I don’t know where your security concerns are coming from. How many incidents have there been that involve Hamvention people? My biggest risk surely is the drive there from CT.
73 Martin AA6E
Lack of viable alternatives is an issue that is hard to get around.
Statistic was from residents. Not certain where it multiplied.
Gun point robbery occurred at the Salem Mall. This is the remote parking location for the Hamvention.
FDIM really outshines itself each year, and if my QRO interests weren’t as large it would be an alternative.
The guys who camp at the KOA have it right too!
Still thinking…….
I don’t believe Dayton is something to be afraid of, but if I’m going to spend the money to go to a “big” hamfest, it’s going to be Ham-Com in Plano, not Hamvention in Dayton. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Ham-Com, and it’s growing. Hopefully the Big Three manufacturers will get with it and have a better presence (read: product debuts) at Ham-Com instead of Hamvention, and maybe Dayton will get its stuff together, or people will be going to Plano instead. I’m sure the sewage bath in the flea market at Hara last year was the nail in the coffin for many.