Over 600 amateur radio enthusiasts ham it up at 1st-ever Hamcon: Zion in St. George

Written by E. George Goold
July 12, 2024

ST. GEORGE — Ham radio operators throughout the region gathered at the Dixie Convention Center Friday afternoon and got to be among their own.

The American Radio Relay League and the Dixie Amateur Radio Club is sponsoring the two-day Hamcon:Zion 2024 event for ham radio operators.

It featured workshops, presentations, social events and a group of vendors offering the most modern ham radio equipment.

“We’ve been very blessed. There’s been kind of an organic media pushing it through,” event chairperson Rachel Campbell told St. George News. “All the people we reached out to responded with real enthusiasm.”

Opening day events were winding down Friday afternoon but Campbell anticipated a large turnout Saturday.

Ham radio legend Gordon West, center, waves from vendors row at Hamcon:Zion 2024, St. George, Utah, July 12, 2024 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Campbell said that once word came down that St. George would host the event, organizers wanted to make it unique compared to some of the other so-called hamventions (ham radio conventions) around the country.

“We realized that we’re in an excellent position geographically to be the biggest hamvention in the West,” Campbell said. “We’re in the right position to make it a little bigger, so we started dreaming a little bit.”

Campbell said particular attention was paid to selecting presentations about topics that would interest ham operators.

Among other topics, experts presented on solar weather, tropospheric ducting (which allows radios in Utah to pick up stations in Florida some days) and arduinos (small microcontrollers that can be programmed to perform a variety of functions).

Elijah Shades shows off the repeater he built at Hamcon:Zion 2024, St. George, Utah, July 12, 2024 | Photo by E. George Goold, St. George News

Campbell praised the quality and support of the vendors at the trade show. She said a lot of them are based in Utah, with some from Phoenix and a couple from California.

Walking around the booths and visiting amongst the hams, it was clear that ham radio is a hobby enjoyed mostly by the older generations. 

Noticeably bucking that trend Friday was 15-year Elijah Shades, who came to Hamcon:Zion to display a repeater he built.

Shades, a ham from Herriman, Utah, told St. George News that he built the repeater with the help of Skyhub, a group that links together repeaters throughout Colorado and Utah.

Shades said he is a technician for Skyhub.

“Repeaters take your signal, like your transmission from your radio, and rebroadcast it at a high power level and it can go further,” Shades said.

Hamcon:Zion 2024 runs through Saturday at the Dixie Convention Center.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2024, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Eric George Goold came to St. George News from southwestern Colorado, where he was a radio news reporter. He has been a journalist for over 20 years in five different states. He graduated with a master's degree in English from Kansas State University and writes nonfiction as well. Goold has been published in Sunstone Magazine and has done multiple public readings about local history. When he has free time, he enjoys chess, movies and dogs.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGnews

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