It was a flurry of activity around the exhibit space for ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® and beyond. Trucks being unloaded, tables being arranged, boxes being opened and even tablecloths being ironed were among the sights and sounds Thursday at Ohio’s Greene County Fairgrounds as hundreds of ham radio manufacturers, retailers, clubs, and organizations prepared for Friday’s opening of the 2025 Dayton Hamvention®. To the eye, it was organized chaos, but the word we heard most frequently among vendors and visitors was “anticipation.”

VIDEO: See the exhibits being setup [YouTube]

Inside Exhibits volunteer Rob Lindsay, W5MRL, drew a mental picture for us. “Early in the day,” he said, “there’s a flurry of activity from hundreds of vendors setting up their booths in anticipation of all the visitors they’ll see on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We’re already seeing visitors from around the world, including Japan, the UK, Germany and Italy. As a volunteer, it’s interesting and great to give back to the hobby, but the most important part is interacting with the visitors and vendors, and making their visit enjoyable.”

ARRL Great Lakes Division Director Scott Yonally, N8SY, said some of the chaos is internal. “You know in your mind how you want it to set up but then you get here and say ‘I can do this’ or ‘I can do that.’ You have to be flexible to make changes while staying true to your basic plan. It’s utter chaos.”

But for major exhibitors, it’s all part of a well-oiled process. Ham Radio Outlet President Robert Ferrero, W6RJ, said that setup day is “the culmination or a 2-to-3-month process of planning and hard work. This is just 5-to-6 hours of finalizing all that hard work. We’re fortunate that we have a great team to make it all happen.”

Lori Hicks of FlexRadio noted that “We come in as early as Tuesday. We look forward to setup time, which leads up to the excitement of the opening of the show. It’s more than just setting up our booth, it’s thinking of how our customers will interact with us. There are always weeks of preparation before the event.” She added, “Dayton, for us, is THE venue to do new product announcements. We hope to come out with a successful new product launch. Also, the opportunity to meet with customers. It’s all about relationships.”

New products were also on the mind of Icom America National Sales Manager Ray Novak, N9JA. “The biggest thing at the show for us is having the IC-7760 functional for the first time,” he said. “We’re demonstrating it with the PW-2 amplifier with remote software so you can run a kilowatt from anywhere in the world where you have an internet connection.”

Finally, DX Engineering Sales Manager Scott Jones, N3RA, was also focused on new additions to their lineup, along with something much bigger. “Setup has gone really well,” he said, “with lots of new products ... We’re also pleased to have the ‘Roamin’ Gladiator’ with us, fully equipped and on display.” He’s referring to a customized Jeep with radios for various services but focusing on amateur gear.

Doors open at 9 o’clock Friday morning.

ARRL News will feature daily coverage from 2025 Dayton Hamvention.