SEA-PAC
“The Northwest’s Largest Ham Convention”

The 2013 Sea-Pac convention includes numerous exhibitors of new equipment as well as flea market tables where you can find lots of bargains on parts and vintage gear or perhaps sell some of your old equipment. If you don't want to set up a table, you can also sell equipment on consignment through the RAGS Country Store.

As usual, there will be a full slate of Seminars on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a Workshop on Friday. If you're looking to upgrade your license, VE testing will be available on Saturday morning, but you need to pre-register.

On Saturday evening, there is a Banquet Dinner which is a great opportunity to get to know some HAMS that you may not have met before, or maybe have only met on the air. The guest speaker for this year's banquet will be Jack Crabtree, W7JLC. Jack will be speaking about Amateur Radio Ballooning.

The dinner banquet is also where we announce the winner of the annual Chuck Mickley Scholarship Award. Applications for this scholarship are due by March 31, 2013. Qualification criteria and application materials are available at http://www.otvarc.org/scholarship/index.html. On Saturday, there are also special luncheons for DX and YLRL.

Throughout the weekend, there will be hourly award drawings as well as special drawings with major awards. Those who register by April 15, 2013 will also be eligible for a special Early Bird Award Drawing.

The STARS/SEARC clubs will again be presenting their Spaghetti Feed fund raiser on Friday evening, so be sure to arrive early and hungry. There is always lots to see and do in Seaside, so leave some extra time to explore the town and enjoy the beach. See you there...

Randy, K7AGE, has made 4 short videos of last year’s convention available.

I attended the SEA-PAC Convention, last year, June 2, 2012 in Seaside Or.

I have been attending this hamfest for several years. They really put on a very nice hamfest and it is well attended. Seaside is a resort town on the Pacific coast in northern Oregon. So besides the hamfest, there are loads of tourist activities to keep you busy.

My SEA-PAC videos are posted in four parts. I spent time interviewing the various manufacturers talking about their new introductions announced at the Dayton Hamvention hamfest and other interesting bits.

Part 1 - Introduction, views of the hamfest, bits from the forums of Chris W6HFP and Budd W3FF of Buddipole and Chip K7JA from CQ Magazine. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuNkK_PpVXk

Part 2 - Interviews with, Ray N9JA and David KE7ETX. Ray of Icom talks about Icom’s involvement with the Boy Scouts. David of AMP-3 is very active in posting videos on youtube, sells first aid kits and radio bags. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAOAAs5x7DE

Part 3 - Interviews with Greg AB7R, Phil N4DRO and Jim AF6PU. Greg is an Elecraft volunteer and talks about his experiences with the new Elecraft KX3. Phil from Kenwood describes Kenwood’s new TS-990 HF transceiver introduced at Dayton. Jim is from Elk Antennas, they sell some very interesting small V/UHF beams that are useful for portable and satellite work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkFuNk98xuA

Part 4 – Interviews with Greg K5GJ and Dennis K7BV. Greg is with Flex Radio. At Dayton Flex introduced a new family of SDR HD transceivers with loads of new interesting technology and features. Dennis of Yaesu also describes Yaesu’s Dayton introduction of their new FTDX3000 HF transceiver and FT1D digital and analog HT. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek88Vu2ggwY

To make your viewing easier, all videos are less than 15 minutes long.

Enjoy, vote THUMBS UP, subscribe to my youtube channel, and please tell your friends to watch my videos.

Randy

K7AGE