[Fists] Hamvention 2005

[Hank Kohl K8DD]

In an effort to help FISTS members have a meeting at the Hamvention, and to 
find rooms in
the same hotel and have a place to hold a meeting, the QRP-ARCI is offering 
FISTS
members to join with the QRP-ARCI block of roomsat the "QRP hotel".

About ten years ago the hotel in downtown Dayton where we had a block of 
rooms went out
of business - it was turned into a parking lot!  One of our members got us 
into the Days Inn-
Dayton South, which is now the Ramada Inn - Dayton Mall.  The land where 
the Ramada is
is for sale, there is reported to be a "sale pending" sign up, the food 
service is not booking
there past February, and you cannot reserve a room at the Ramada.

QRP-ARCI has contacted another facility and at this point we are 99% 
positive that we will
have a contract in the next week for enough rooms to cover ARCI and 
FISTS.  We are also
including in the contract an extra meeting room for FISTS on, I believe, 
Friday evening.

Unfortunately we will not be able to negotiate for the price of $74 per 
night that we had been
getting at the Ramada, but the way things look it will be under $100 per 
night.  Everything
points to the fact that this will be a much nicer property than we have had 
in the past.

Links to watch
http://www.qrparci.org/fdim64.html for highlights from 2004's FDIM
www.qsl.net/k8dd/rooms/ramada1.htm for the latest news on rooms as it 
becomes available.
www.hamvention.org  for Hamvention news

Also, for the QRP folk amongst us:
Things are moving along for the 10th Anniversary FDIM - hard to believe 
that it has been ten
years since two guys no longer with us (Bruce Muscolino and Bob Gobrick) 
went out on a
limb and asked QRP-ARCI to help them with the wild idea that QRP'ers - 
maybe 30 or 40
of them - would come to Dayton Hamvention a day early to sit and listen and 
learn from some
of the masters of the hobby.

Incredible, this QRP segment of Amateur Radio!

72  73    Hank    K8DD