I'm sad to hear of KA5ROW's passing as well; didn't know that. Anyone know what happened, there? I still like "hamfests." Some have swap meet/flea market sections, some don't. But the gathering of hams who all have at least one thing in common is a good social event. We have a lot of "mini-hamfests" when it's a local ham's birthday or something. I'm going to one in two weeks at W6YLZ's house as Miguel turns 75, and his XYL made it a party and invited lots of local hams to attend. Any time we can break bread with other hams and swap lies about the big ones that got away is a fun time.
Douglas Vernon Cain, KA5ROW-SK https://www.meaningfulfunerals.net/obituary/douglas-cain?fh_id=14344 August 11, 2018.
I haven't attended a HAM fest in years simply because the last one I had gone to was terrible and not to mention what showed up was some of the most dishonest people I had ever seen at a Ham Fest. I had gone to many ham fests over the years and had never had such a bad experience. 99% of the time the folks I dealt with were as honest and truthful about their items as they could've have been at prior ham fests. That said, the last ham fest I went to reminded me of a Political Event simply due to the lies told by some of the folks selling their wares. That was my last visit. I wanted to go this year and give it another try but I have been sick and wasn't able so maybe I can go to an upcoming event.
Hamfest organizers should consider collaborating with complimentary hobbies. For example, Ham radio & RC. Ham radio & Drones. Ham Radio & RV. Ham Radio & Electronics experimenters...
One of the things that has always bugged me is going to a hamfest and running into booth after booth of junk dealers who are not selling any electronics of any kind. At least with a combined fest like you suggest the non ham related sellers can be separated from the electronics/ham related and used as a buffer between the two listed fest topics. What you suggest is just good marketing, which has been lacking for too long.
You can not kill the truth with words like "dont say that" you can only change it with actions. have you elmered anyone recently? For every 1 we lose as an SK or non renewal we lose 4 more because they didnt get their licenses, and this in turn takes down demand, attendance and sellers at hamfests. I am constantly helping people by supplying study resources for their testing, both in person and via the net, all I ask of them is to pass the info on to friends and acquaintances, and I stress the need due to the emergencies the nation has faced in the last decade. I'm not just waiting to be asked for help, I'm stressing the NEED that the nation has to have the whole country blanketed with hams. Face it Ham Radio is more than a fun hobby.
Here's one: http://www.arrl.org/news/near-fest-xxiii-to-host-youth-science-and-technology-expo Any others out there?
I've been going to about 20 or 30 fests a year the last few years, helping out R. W. Antennastore, a vendor. We see Quicksilver, Debco, the Connector Guy, Monty from Ohio, the couple who drive the RV, and a few others, at almost every fest we attend. The thing is, you have to have a goodly number of attendees to get all us vendors to show. We're not going to drive 6 or more hours, then stay overnight in a hotel, for a fest that has only 1 or 2 hundred attendees. That is an unsustainable business model! There actually are Hamfests almost every weekend that have close to 1,000 attendees, it just takes some driving to get to them. We tried doing some of the smaller local ones last year (2017), and they just didn't work out. I've also noticed there seems to be a "critical mass", if you will, for the vendors. As more and more vendors are advertised to be at a fest, more and more hams will show. Just my 2 cents. Oh, and forums are great, but they need an hour or two break in the middle. All to often, I hear "Well, I was in the forum all day, and when I got out, everybody was gone!" FYI Guy KC2PMM
Yep. Or the final prize drawing is scheduled so the people attending the last forum (which is usually the best, and runs long) have to scramble to get there. It would not hurt to schedule a small gap between forums to allow people to get there, as well as allowing the presenters extra time to wrap up, if the presentation runs long. Forums don't have to always start at the top of the hour.
Would love a list of the "bigger" hamfests to try out; I went to Fort Wayne Indiana this year and got a table - it totally sucked in my opinion as a vendor. I get that hams are cheap creatures... but there are just not enough hams with any sort of disposable income in this area, to buy anything more than a few PL259 connectors - presumably, most are pensioners living on a social security check now days; A The cost of setup is becoming obscene: This is supposed to be the Indiana state convention, but with a $25 table fee , the $7 entry fees, the $9 hamfest hamburger, and gas money, it's just not worth it any longer from a business model standpoint; And the hamfest crew didn't even have a projector for the Yaesu Fusion discussion/presentation. The organizers have become senile and can't organize or manager their way out of a box... Unless changes are made, this hamfest is gonna die soon enough - down to one building, too expensive, and no one buying. Lots of junk for sale too (eg... the flashlight vendor, the lady selling heated gel pads, it was a real junk fest) Attendance was way down. Even the guy who bought the table next to mine never showed up...
We didn't do that one yet, almost went this year, but just out of gas this late in the year, and WACOM was a bust this year as far as sales went, but it's a real nice new venue they are in now. Modern and clean and tons of room for all, so that was very nice. We did great there last year, at the old venue. You never know what's going to happen, right? Just pay the Lady and take your chances. We'll go again in 2019 I'm sure. The place was packed, just not buying NEW stuff and I got to tell you we only sell NEW stuff...well, a couple of used radios here and there but 99.9% of the items are brand new. Our local Lockport winter show is next for us, January 26th, it's small but local, then Orlando and the one Rich and Chris do on the way to FLA..... 73 Guy KC2PMM
For us, being based in Lockport, NY which is north of Buffalo and east of Niagara Falls, these are the 'bigger" shows we did this year (just off the top of my head), and I know Rich and Chris did some that I couldn't make: Two Rivers PA Cayahoga Falls OH Drumlins NY Nearfest Spring NH Dayton OH RAGS NY Sussex NJ Berryville VA Boxboro MA Saratoga NY Cleveland OH Elmyra NY Nearfest Fall NH WACOM PA Probably the longest drive is to Nearfest, it's a 9 or 10 hour drive. The rest are all closer, about 2 - 8 hour drives. More than 10 is just too far! Guy KC2PMM
