Panorama view of the APRS Forum at the 2009 Dayton Hamvention

When I returned to my room last night, I discovered that the hotel’s Internet access was down and was still down when I awoke this morning, so I was not able to write a new blog entry. So I dragged my Mac to the Hamvention and am using a variety of free Internet access points available in the Hara Arena.

Friday was eventful and the weather was excellent.

The forum I moderated (the APRS Forum) had standing room only. There were 15 rows of seats with 20 seats in each row and they were just about full, plus there were probably 50 to 100 people standing, so I estimate 350 to 400 in attendance and very few left during the hour plus of presentations. The only problem was that we ran out of time and had to abandon the question and answer portion of the program.

I spent the rest of the day working the TAPR booth or walking around the convention floor viewing the various exhibit booths. I ran into a lot of old friends and I met some folks in person, who I had only met over the air or over the Internet. There was a lot of interest in the HPSDR project that TAPR is supporting. The booth had two HPSDR transceivers set up at each end of our five-booth spread communicating with each other on 52 MHz and this set up was a big attraction. People could see the “project” in operation.

After our day at the convention, we attended the TAPR-AMSAT annual Dayton banquet. Despite having to drive halfway to tarnation to the site of the dinner, I had an enjoyable time. Dinner was good and I encountered more old friends and acquaintances (some from the packet radio era) and enjoyed the after dinner speaker, Richard Garriott, W5KWQ, a recent tourist astronatut, and son of Owen Garriot, W5LFL, the first astronaut ham. Both father and so were present at the dinner.

I returned from tarnation and found no Internet access at my hotel, so I went to bed about 11:15 PM and fell asleep instantly.

The dreaded road lane closure sign on I-80.

Arrived in Dayton, safe and sound.

Met my neighbor from Super 8 at breakfast: Earl, KC8TC, from Michigan. He was not going to the Hamvention, but to the Garden State.

I successfully got through Akron without missing an exit, although the last exit was a close call.

Rained lightly off and on until Akron. Between Akron and Lodi, it rained heavily. Then the rain tapered off and as I approached Dayton, the sun began poking through.

Drove just under five hours today from Clarion, PA, to Dayton with one pit stop on the way to buy a refreshment. Total driving time from home (725 miles) was about 12 hours. Like I wrote earlier, I lost about an hour due to the road lane closures due to construction.

I am tired and I am going to rest until the TAPR board meeting at 5 PM.

Left home at high noon yesterday and arrived at the Super 8 in Clarion, PA, at 7 PM. You can see my APRS track here.

Traffic was light most of the way and I made good time until the last 75 miles of the trip. Construction on I-80 turned the four-lane highway into a two-lane highway and during the last 5-mile segment of construction, traffic moved at a 5 MPH clip! I probably lost close to an hour due to the construction.

Not much activity on 146.52 MHz, but I expect that will pick up today as I approach Hamvention.

A retired couple in the next room have a ham in the family. Their Cadillac SUV does not have ham license plates, but I noticed a call sign made up of self-adhesive letters (the kind you use to identify rural mailboxes) on the back of the SUV; I did not recognize the call and forgot it!

Weather was good driving out, but as I got farther west, it began to cloud up and the temperature dropped. Looking out this morning, the ground looks wet and the clouds are ominous (as you may be able to see in the photo).

Next stop, the Dayton Airport Hotel in beautiful downtown Vandalia, Ohio!

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

An intense thunderstorm passed through here early Saturday night and a rainbow appeared near the storms end. I photographed the rainbow and to my surprise, when I viewed it on my computer, I realized it was a double rainbow.

I e-mailed the photo to Geoff Fox, K1GF, the weatherman at WTNH, and he showed the photo during the 10 PM news on channel 59 and the 11 PM news on channel 8.

I looked out at 9 PM and the sky was not overcast. There were a few thin scattered clouds and the moon was in the clear, so I brought the telescope out and viewed the eclipse until about 10:10 PM. The view was spectacular and I was surprised how well I could still see the features of the moon even though they were in the dark orange shadow of the Earth.

During the eclipse, I momentarily swung the telescope over to Saturn, which was the closest naked eye object northeast of the Moon last night and got a good glimpse of Saturn’s rings.

The air was very calm last night and except for the scattered clouds, it was an excellent night for telescoping. It was a great show!

During October, the temperature has only gone below 40° F once: 39° F for about an hour around dawn on the 13th. The high was 83° F recorded on the 5th and 6th of the month. The average for the month so far is a hair under 60° F.

On the 13th, I picked all the tomatoes and peppers that were worth picking. I put the peppers in the fridge and the set the tomatoes on a shelf in the garage to ripen. The next day, I intended to pull up the plants and put them in the compost pile, but I never got around to it

The weather started warming up again, so I continued watering the plants. The tiny tomatoes and peppers I did not pick are now growing to full size and they will be ready picking for picking soon.

This weather is nuts!

I replaced some tie wraps that broke off a couple of cables.

The 2-meter APRS digipeater vertical Diamond antenna has a noticeable lean towards Europe, so I checked it out. I tightened the bolt that is supposed to prevent the lean and it improved it a bit. The base of the antenna is still a little loose, so I will have to revisit the problem on a cooler day.

I remarked to my wife that I think that lightning strike was very close!

I got up out of my chair and inspected the inside of the house to see if everything seemed normal. The only abnormal thing I found was the slight smell of ozone as I passed by the closed slider door that opens onto the deck.

I was curious about the two clicks, so I posted my experience on the wxqc (weather data quality) email list, which “is for Citizen Weather station operators who have an interest in improving the quality of the data that they report. This includes aspects like the siting of stations, how to calibrate sensors, how to interpret data quality problems and other general topics of interest.”

I received a bunch replies. The consensus seem to follow what retired meteorologist, Thomas Giella, KN4LF, wrote:

“You were hearing the sound of the upward leader moving skyward from your tower, tree, telephone pole, etc. just before it met the downward stepped leader from the cloud and the lightning discharge occurred. You were VERY close to those strikes and lucky to have been unharmed and/or have suffered no property damage.”

Wow!

I did not see many hams on the road today. It seems that in past years, I’ve seen more on the way to Dayton, but I did leave and arrive earlier than I normally do, so maybe that accounts for the difference.

The weather cooperated for the trip. A few sprinkles here and there. I probably had my windshield wipers on for less than ten minutes the whole trip. But, it is unseasonably cold and I know someone who neglected to pack any long sleeve shirts. The forecast is for warmer weather Friday and Saturday, so maybe I won’t need the long sleeves afterall.

I have the TAPR board meeting this evening. In the meantime, I think I will try and get some sleep.

Meanwhile, here is the LOUmobile with a very excellent parking space in from of the hotel.