I attended the 2025 Big Bear HamEscape last weekend.
It was a three day event. Friday’s schedule included an all day HF University and ARES bootcamp. I drove up early on Saturday (26th) morning and stayed overnight. The event was held at the same hotel as last year; Holiday Inn at Big Bear Village. The event schedule is here.
Attendance this year was @5oo registrants (Last year had @150). It did not seem that crowded. Continental breakfast was provided on Saturday morning of donuts, pastries, muffins, fruit plates, and coffee.
Here is my review of the event.
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- There were five – 1 hour breakout time-slots on Saturday. This year, they separated the breakouts with a 30 minute break. This was great. Last year they did not do this and it was quite chaotic changing presenters.
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- You had a choice of several breakout sessions during each timeslot. It is always tough to decide, since there are multiple presentations you want to attend occuring at the same time.
I attended the below presentations on Saturday:
Breakout-1 “What’s Up With the ARRL?” – Bob Turner (W6RHK) ARRL Orange Section Manager.
Breakout-2 “San Bernardino Office of Emergency Services” – Anjila Lebsock, Assistant Director of Emergency Management.
Breakout-3 “Summits on the Air” – Mark Knight (KD7DTS)
Breakout-4 “All about Starlink and Ham Radio” – Aaron Scullin (K6AMS)
Breakout-5 “P-A-C-E Planning & Preparation” – Rick Schirmer (KK6CTT)
I attended the below presentation on Sunday:
Breakout-1 “Report from ARRL National” – Dick Norton (N6AA), ARRL Southwestern Director.
- I enjoyed most of the sessions. The two presentations on the ARRL were the most interesting to me.
- I also attended the SwapMeet early on Sunday. There was some interesting gear for sale. I purchase a Kenwood TM-700A dual-band mobile. This is an older radio, but it appears in good shape. This will make a great Winlink RMS or APRS gateway.The second radio I bought is a Yaesu FT-450D. This is also an older model, but it was incredibly popular in its day. This unit was used in an EOC and has very little use.
- This year there was a very large room on the first floor where the vendors set up their booths. This provided much more room. Vendors in attendance:
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- 12-Volt Power/Comet
- Bioenno Batteries
- Connect Systems
- Ham Radio Outlet
- Hitched4Fun
- Impulse Electronics
- Lido Radio
- PAPA Systems
- Park Lane Jewelry
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- There was an ARRL table in the hallway on the 2nd floor. This was good to see, since the ARRL has had limited visibility on smaller Ham events.
The real value to me of HamEscape is networking with other Hams. I had great conversations with many old friends, and met some new ones.
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- Ray Hutchinson (AE6H) – SOARA. Ray did a presentation in Breakout-1 on Wildfire Watch programs. It was very well received according to may attendees I talked to. Very timely topic. Ray was there with his wife. He looks great. It was good to see him.
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- Dale Tyler (W6EDT) – SOARA. I had several long conversations with Dale. He is a first-class guy and brilliant. He is very low-key, and has deep experience in embedded systems and comms. I really enjoy his company.
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- Gordon West (WB6NOA) – The Legend. Gordo was there and gave a presentation on Ham education courses. Had a great chat with him.
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- John Bigley (N7UR) John is the Section Manger of the ARRL Nevada Section. He is one of the hardest working guys I ever met. Very active in the Ham community and a fun guy. I learned a lot from him this weekend.
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- Keith Morris (KC6ZGG) – Chief Radio Officer, Emergency Communications Service, San Bernardino County, Office of Emergency Services. Keith was a co-presenter at the SB County presentation. He is quite knowledgeable about radio operations in the County. He encourages others to reach out to him.
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- Bruce Dixon (N6MPO) – CRO City of La Mirada. Bruce is a very interesting guy. He has been involved in the Baker to Vegas (B2V) police race for 30 years. He heads up a group called the Mojave Desert Rats, that supports teams that participate in the B2V race. In the 2025 race, they supported the USC Police team.
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- Tracy (Wm6T) and Jodi Lenocker (WA6JL) – This power couple is very active in Ham radio. I had a great visit with them in the Hotel restaurant on Saturday night. Tracy is the POTA Mapping Manager for California and Hawaii. It was fascinating to learn what it takes to add a park to the POTA program.
There were two big takeaways from this event. First, this is a Ham event that I highly encourage you attend next year. It is growing rapidly, and is hosted in a great getaway spot in the San Bernardino mountains. It really is a fun weekend.
Second, sadly, it appears there is a great deal of turmoil within the ARRL organization. Membership renewals are down (a lot) month over month. This cannot be attibuted to silent keys. Too many non-renewals. I am not close enough to know all the details, but it seems the ARRL is headed in the wrong direction – on many levels. This is something we all need to keep a close eye on over the next year.
Although I do not know for certain, I doubt the event will be held at the Holiday Inn next year. There was a very large price increase for the event presentation rooms this year that busted the event budget. They will be looking for another location next year. Big Bear has two convention centers that may be a better choice.
See you next year in Big Bear!
73,
N1SPWs