Being a long time life member of the ARRL, I had to make the pilgrimage to Hartford for the ARRL Centennial Convention. And am I glad I went. Had a terrific time, the League put on a first-rate show.

The trip started out a little rocky when we got to the hotel and they didn’t have the reservation I had made with Expedia. I had to get on the phone to Expedia and have them call the hotel to sort things out. Normally I wouldn’t care too much about this kind of thing, but with the Convention in town I thought finding a room at the last minute might be kind of tough.

Anyway, Expedia and the hotel sorted things out between them. And then, the hotel, to “make up for the inconvenience” (which was entirely due to Expedia and had nothing to do with the hotel) upgraded us to the Club level. Well…free Internet, free breakfast in the lounge, and free evening “hors d’ouevres” – which amounted to more than enough for a meal. We didn’t spend a cent in the hotel the whole time we were there. And to top it off, the food was delicious. And all the staff were extra nice. One of the best hotel experiences I have ever had.

And what hotel was this, you ask – my new favourite hotel – the Sheraton.

But I digress – back to the convention. I attended Contest University Thursday morning, because it was that or DX University, and I didn’t really care much either way. However, I got to hear a very interesting presentation from Frank W3LPL on small receiving antennas for 160M and 80M.

Lunch Thursday was ok, and the talk by K5UR was interesting.

Not a lot of Canadians in attendance – probably only about 10 – but a good contingent from RAC.

Interesting talk by AB1OC on his station building efforts (https://stationproject.wordpress.com).

Got to chat with the inimitable Gordon West for a bit.

And what was effectively the keynote presentation by K1JT, Joe Taylor, recounting his history in amateur radio and how it led him into physics and developing the WSJT software. It’s not that often that you get to hear someone say “according to another Nobel prize winner” (quoting Richard Feynman) in a talk! Gee, I miss physics – but that’s a topic for another day.

So – great talks, the likes of K1ZZ, K3LR, W3LPL, N6AA, K7JA, VE6JY, OH2BH, W3AZD, K1DG, K1JT, and so on wandering around, and to top it all off – a trip to W1AW. Really, what more could you ask for!!

As K1ZZ put it, after the convention, the world will be divided into two classes of people – those who were in Hartford for the convention, and those who wish they had been.