I attended this 59th annual DX event in Visalia on Saturday.  One of the few advantages of living in Bakersfield is that it's about an hour south of the convention.  This was my second year to attend.  I invited new ham Jason - KI6OII and we spent the day. 

I'm pretty sure that Jason at 21 years old was the youngest in attendance.  I'm 48, and I felt young.  Our ham DX ranks are getting pretty old.  I'm concerned about our future.  I don't know why more young people fail to see the hobby as fun and interesting.  Jason is hooked.  He had a chance to operate the convention Special Event Station, K6V, and loved it.  I did too, managing to run a pileup for 45 minutes or so on Saturday evening.  Great fun using the K3 to an Alpha 9500 pumping out 1500 watts to the Big Step IR 36-foot boom at 85 feet high.  Great equipment!

Both of us managed to win nothing.  Maybe next year!