RCHTA Show Report

By Michael Benolkin

Greetings from Chicago! This year's RCHTA (Radio Control Hobby & Trade Association) was held over October 19-22, 2000. While there were plenty of new and/or improved products on display, attendance appeared to be lower during the 'trade' days on Thursday and Friday. This may have been due to the distinguished visitor photographed at the show...

I wasn't brave enough to stay for the public days Saturday and Sunday (trying to drive out of Chicago Friday afternoon was as much of an adventure as I could stand...).

For those of you who are unfamiliar with RCHTA, this forum started out as the annual trade fair for the radio control hobby industry, and gradually expanded to encompass all of the products you would expect to see in your better-stocked hobby shops. Until the internet became a household communications tool just a few years ago, RCHTA was one of the premiere events for learning about what new products were forthcoming in the next year. With the advent of websites, chat rooms and other media, however, many of us know what products are on the horizon from the majority of hobby manufacturers.

Nevertheless, this is the show where hobby-related manufacturers and distributors can network with each other and with the representatives of hobby shops from all over the world. I saw booths as well as visitors from the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Japan, South Korea, China, Poland, Russia, Czechoslovakia, France, Ukraine, and the list goes on. If you get a chance to visit a RCHTA show, I highly encourage you to attend. If you are a member of the hobby industry, the show is exclusively yours on Thursday and Friday. The doors open to the public on Saturday and Sunday.

This year, I'll report on the new releases and other news from the following companies: