In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the MMSN, we had a booth
at the 2008 Dayton Hamvention.
Another Hamvention has come and gone and we had a really good time.
The booth was staffed by Fred W3ZU, Al AG4WK, Rene K4EDX and Tom VE3II.
Although we were not "selling" a product at the booth, the
intention was to present the net to the public and to raise the
awareness of the net. We also hoped to educate those not knowing
about the net and to stimulate more participation.
It was
great to hear some of the stories that people told us about the net, the
great work that the net does and the genuine appreciation from those who have
used the net over the years. There were several visitors who were
deployed military in the 70's and 80's who used the net a lot and they
were very, very thankful to the net. We also met hundreds of
people who knew about the net and monitored it but never checked in.
Again, you just never know who is listening.
We were also visited and congratulated personally by Riley Hollingsworth
of the FCC, John Peterson of the NCS SHARES program, John Dura of the
ARRL, Major Pat of the SATERN group, Ross Merline of the Department of
Homeland Security, Cheryl Seiwald of Kantronics, Felton Mitchell of
Vibroplex and many, many others.
Rene and I also met Tom Lange (ex-W4MDL). Tom was the radio-op
aboard the USN vessel when the baby was born, back in 2001. Tom
said that the sailor who "spoke" to his new born son on the net was
overwhelmed at the time. See the Recent Events page for details.
We had a guest book that many people signed. We will store that
for posterity.
We had a laptop computer that was used to remotely connect with other
net controllers stations. But, with the hectic pace of the event,
it was only used a few times. Also, with all of the other
exhibitors using the internet, the speed was sometimes very slow which
negated the effort. But, several contacts were made remotely and
the audio from the net was played through the speakers for most of the
weekend.
Lastly, a VERY large thank-you to Bernie NP2CB. Bernie did all of
the logistic work, communicating with the event organizers, some
possible commercial sponsors and arranging for the booth and the
trimmings that went along with it. Also, thank-you to the
controllers who donated to the cause. The only two
commercial sponsors who expressed an interest in recognizing the net was
Icom and Tokyo Hy-Power. Icom supplied a banner, congratulating
the net for it's service to the ham community and Tokyo Hy-Power gave us
some excellent pens to give out to the visitors.
Here are Rene (right) and I on the first morning.
This is Al AG4WK, from Nashville, TN, who assisted us throughout the
weekend. That's his happy look!
Al is a long time supporter of
the net, although he doesn't get on HF much! The remote
station (laptop) is at the back and
the slideshow,from Steve NN2NN, is on the front table.
I found this sign somewhat interesting!
