Friday was opening day at 2025 Dayton Hamvention® and it was a day of superlatives — huge crowds coming through the gates, standing room only at “Salty Walt” Hudson’s portable antenna forum, and more as hams from across the country and around the world descended on the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio for the first of three days of total immersion in all things ham radio.

VIDEO: See the opening day excitement  [YouTube]

At the many booths that make up the ARRL Expo area, crowds were constant, and sentiments were similar among the employees, board members, and volunteers who staffed them. ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, was in the meet and greet area and talked with ARRL members nearly non-stop the whole day.

At the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) booth, ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, said “It’s busy. I love it! Hamvention is an awesome opportunity to talk to hams, find out what’s going on in the field, and share ideas,” adding, “It’s a unique opportunity to hear about problems and successes and try to help get issues resolved.” He also noted that informal conversations with influential visitors can often have far-reaching benefits.

Across the aisle at the ARRL Foundation booth, Development Operations Manager Christine Lessard, KC1TDM, said she “enjoyed connecting with clubs that have received club grants and answering questions about scholarship programs.” Lessard added that “It’s exciting to talk about all the good that the Foundation does for the amateur radio community.”

Development Director Kevin Beal, K8EAL, noted that the Diamond Club has been especially exciting this year because of the ARRL Sweepstakes for an Icom dream station and that a Diamond Club donation results in an automatic sweepstakes entry. He also pointed out that donors to the ARRL Spectrum Defense Fund receive a special mug and pin, adding that “It’s never been more important to protect our spectrum.”

The ARRL Lab booth had a steady stream of visitors who wanted to see if their handheld radios were up to FCC specs on spurious signal suppression. Engineers Rick Ciervo, W1CIE; John McAuliffe, W1DRF, and Matthias Zapatka, AJ4BB, had tested nearly four dozen radios by midday. Their favorite test radio today was an Icom ID-50 that had been accidentally dropped 14,000 feet and not only survived the fall in working condition but still passed the spectral purity test. Overall, noted McAuliffe, “It was nice to have one-to-one with members who don’t normally have direct contact with the lab.”

The ARRL Youth Lounge was busy all day, and “the kids were loving it,” according to Education and Learning Manager Steve Goodgame, K5ATA, who pointed out that the young visitors were building code keys from 3D-printed kits and testing them out by sending messages. Saturday will feature a Youth Rally with multiple activities. There is also a raffle for young hams, sponsored by DX Engineering, Gigaparts, Chatt Radio, Zumspot, and Begali Keys.

There were also meet-ups with book authors, including Repeater Book’s Garrett Dew, KD6KPC, whose data now “powers” the ARRL Repeater Directory, and Salty Walt’s Portable Antenna Sketchbook author “Salty Walt” Hudson, K4OGO, whose book-based forum earlier in the day had drawn a standing-room-only crowd.

“What you saw in that forum,” said Hudson, “is where hams are today. What I try to do is simplify things. Go out, try, do, make mistakes. That’s what my YouTube channel is all about.”

Hamvention continues on Saturday from 9 AM to 5 PM. ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® will provide daily coverage at www.arrl.org.