When I went to take my test last week the VECs and I were talking a little about equipment. I had made the comment that the Hamfest here (Gray,TN) was pretty lame it had a lot of junk totally not related to amateur radio...unless you can build an amateur out of arts and crafts and a can opener.
Anyway the prices were ridiculous on some of the used equipment. I said I was going to look on E-Bay. The Vec said E-Bay is the problem...People seem to go all willie nilly bidding on used equipment, the vendors at hamfests see this and set their prices in line with E-Bay making everything more expensive.
I saw a FT-2800 go on E-Bay the other day for 145+shipping....WHY?? A new FT-2900 is 159 at Universal right now. Why pay the price of the new model to buy the discontinued model??
No, this is a bunch of bunk. The Hamfest is killing itself. How many people did you see there trying to sell modems, DOS books, 15 year old sound cards, and other junk that is not really radio? Or better yet, how many people were selling 11 meter crap? There is a lot of junk at these hamfests, and that is what is killing them.
You don't go there looking for a deal on new radios or a table of slightly used Icom 706s. You go to a hamfest to buy little odds and ends that radio shack once sold. You get there looking for parts for old gear, or boat anchors.
__________________ Jogging is for people who wear velour track suits and look like a Soprano. I, am a runner. If you tried to catch up to me or keep up with me, you would never get jogging and running confused - ever again.
There are still some good "hamfest" flea markets or swap meets, though: Dayton being the obvious large one.
I've found rare treats at Dayton, brought them home, polished them up, and sold them at 2x-3x the cost just a few days later to people who were extremely happy to buy them. One could make a business out of doing that, as several evidently have -- using eBay as their marketing tool!
I picked up a "gorgeous condition" Drake 2B with its original carton from 1961 and its original owner's manual, at the TRW Swap Meet here in L.A. a few years ago for $125. Much as I wanted to keep it, a guy kept bugging me to buy it and he finally offered me $350 for it, so out it went. If I really wanted one, I could find another.
The eBay audience is enormous, so you'll find stuff that you may never find anyplace else. But if you're just looking around for "stuff," and may be happy to find anything that's new to you and works, I still find local swap meets are a bargain by comparison. Plus, the face-to-face purchase allows you to make a new friend.
The nice thing about TRW is it so large, that you get a certain amount of good HAM stuff just by shotgun effect. But 90% of it is worthless computer junk and stuff that even I would throw away! But, sprinkled amidst the DEBRIS and TRASH, are priceless Treasures WELL WORTH the 140+ mile ride each way for.
Last week I scored a very nice Hammarlund HQ-110 and a Hallicrafters S-38 (needs knobs). The 110 went for only $60. On Ebay it would have shot up to probably $200! The S-38 was landed for $20 while on Ebay you can't even get the KNOBS for $20! So there are smatterings of good quality stuff there. Also seen was a Collins 30L1 (too pricey for me!) and quite afew other Ham sets out of my price affordability.
But I would say that while Hamfests are declining in attendance and quality of products found, the prices are going up. Every seller says "I am asking $100 because I can get $200 for it on Ebay!" ( Even though it is only worth $50 at best!) The Ebay phenonomen has driven radio prices throught the roof, EXCEPT for those sellers who DON'T do computers THERE are where the bargains are. They are priced realistically or discounted to affordable.
The nice thing about the swapmeet is that Prices can go DOWN, not up like Ebay. The seller wanted $75 for this HQ-110, even though a similar one was on sale down a few stalls for $125. So I took out 3 Twenties, waved it before his nose and told him I will take it for $60. He was as happy to take the 20s as I was the HQ-110!
Another problem is that the amount of BOAT ANCHORS is slowly decreasing, as fewer OTs are selling them and now listing them on Ebay instead. That is why outrageouslyWEALTHY people buy things like SX-88s for $10,000 there. There was a rumor that a SX-88 appeared at a Hamfest with a tag of $100 on it. SURE wish I had been there for that!
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EVERY Ham should know how to properly Solder!
I go to the DeAnza College Hamfest here in Cupertino CA. Yes it has junk; but that is why it becomes necessary to sift thru stuff. Makes it a hunt this way. I've found a Uniden Grant XL/11 meter radio for $10 that didn't work. So I fixed it - and provided me with exposure to work on and fix electronic things. Which helps me improve my amateur status! I also tuned up the receive section - which also improved it. It has dual-conversion receive - very clean audio for both TX and RX.
Nice little radio to have in the car when driving cross-country, as truckers are excellent sources of road info. They're a nice lot - and not at all like some other CB'ers I've encountered.
I also have bought RF filters, connectors, solder - and other useful and needed things and bargain face-to-face - achieving a better deal than eBay could ever do. Each time I've went to this Hamfest - I've also found odd/different things - only if I really took the time to carefully sift thru what was there. I try to go and keep my expectations low - so as not to be disappointed. It is really the fun in going -and to me - it IS the hunt...
EBay is different. The highest bidder gets to take away junk!
No, this is a bunch of bunk. The Hamfest is killing itself. How many people did you see there trying to sell modems, DOS books, 15 year old sound cards, and other junk that is not really radio? Or better yet, how many people were selling 11 meter crap? There is a lot of junk at these hamfests, and that is what is killing them.
You don't go there looking for a deal on new radios or a table of slightly used Icom 706s. You go to a hamfest to buy little odds and ends that radio shack once sold. You get there looking for parts for old gear, or boat anchors.
You are 100% correct. I saw at Dayton golf range finders, commodore 64 5 1/4 inch floppies, clothing and other non amateur radio related stuff. And, I saw Heathkit HW-101s going for around $200 that were in terrible shape. I bought my Hot Water 101 from a local ham for $100 that was very clean except for a small section of paint chipped off the case and needed just an alignment done to work properly. Some of the ones at Dayton looked like they had been dragged behind a truck and placed in with a gorilla to play with. I was hoping to get some like that for spare parts and ended up not buying any of them. I was really disappointed with the flea market. However I did manage to find a few good deals, like a nice antenna switch for $7, a 2 meter/ 220 tuner for $20 and loads of connectors and cable.
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The deals were probably there, but at a Hamfest/Swapmeet, the rule is:
The FIRST rat to the cheese gets to EAT!
So it is very mandatory that you be there WHEN they open up the trunk of their car for the first moment. If you don't, the DEALS are gone, and all that is left is JUNK as you described. Can't GIVE IT AWAY stuff!
That is why I am NEVER EVER late for TRW. My best deals are in the first few moments after it opens. Then I have time to cruise around and find things that were burried under the first layer of debris.
Things to gamble on are whether to buy the moment you see it, or let it "SIMMER". The longer it sits on the sellers table, the cheaper it gets.
But, there is always the chance DADDY WARBUCKS will come along and PAY his asking price, and you will be SOL!
I like buying radios that are VERY VERY UNSIGHTLY. Radios completely TRASHED AND THRASHED!!! Just the kind you mentioned that look like they have been drug behind a truck all the way to the hamfest. Those go the CHEAPEST, and to me, CHeapest is highly important as I have very little cash to spend. I see these HIGH ROLLERS coming to the Swapmeet with a THOUSAND BUCKS in their pocket!
If I have $100, it is a GRAND DAY!
But I have the ability to turn these Trashed radios into magnificent masterpieces through sweat and toil!
So I would have nabbed the junkers you passed on.
__________________
EVERY Ham should know how to properly Solder!
When I went to take my test last week the VECs and I were talking a little about equipment. I had made the comment that the Hamfest here (Gray,TN) was pretty lame....
And I'll also bet you could count the number of "under thirty somethings" you saw at that hamfest on the fingers of one hand.
Unfortunately, what you observed is yet more anecdotal evidence (as if we needed any!) of a very disturbing downward trend in our hobby that, unless things quickly turn around and we begin attracting much larger numbers of youthful newcomers to our Service, our overall demographics are poised to "tank" in the out years.
I've also been told (by someone who has actually seen the information) that the ARRL, too, has been doing some of their own "scientific" sampling along these lines as of late. And their scientific surveys simply confirm what should be becoming blatantly obvious to anyone in our Service in the United States who still holds a license and has eyes to see and ears to hear:
Our hobby is, quite literally, dying!
Indeed, all one really has to do these days is to simply look around the room at the shrinking attendance, expanding waistlines and graying (or balding) heads of participants at various amateur radio-related gatherings to see these very clear demographic trends on display.
Any way you cut it, participation in our hobby is way down from recent years and we are, as a group, getting older. What's more, our once active bands (even during sunspot minimums) are increasingly less crowded these days. Save for the occasional contest weekend or 75 meter net, overall, our bands are becoming ever more quiet as compared with just a few short years ago.
For example, how often have we called "CQ" with no results just before a contest into a seemingly "dead" band, only to have that band very quickly come alive with DX contesters once the contest began?
Try doing the same thing after the contest and you'll most likely get the same dismal results as before the contest. Indeed, a lot of the time, our bands are absolutely wide open...it's just that there's fewer and fewer people actively operating on them these days.
Once active VHF and UHF repeaters, too, are falling increasingly silent…if they are even still on the air. Nowadays, the bulk of repeater activity occurs during "drive time". The rest of the day, usually all one hears…sometimes for hours at a stretch and up and down the band…are repeater IDs.
And, as you've so eloquently noted Charles, once crowded hamfests, too, are now feeling the pinch.
Even the "granddaddy" hamfest of them all … Dayton…is attracting less and less participation these days. I'm told by someone who has actually seen the final numbers that this year's Dayton participation was well under 19,000. Any way you cut it, that's an abysmal showing for a world-class extravaganza that, in years past, has routinely attracted upwards of 35,000 participants from around the globe.
What's more, other, once very popular US hamfests (like the Miami hamfest) have now gone the way of the dinosaur from lack of participation. Countless other smaller 'fests have long since evaporated as well.
Now, granted, online swaps and auction services like E-Bay have probably taken their toll on hamfest attendance in recent years. And when that trend is viewed by itself, it wouldn't be cause for alarm.
However, when all of these downward trends are viewed collectively, I believe they paint an (admittedly anecdotal) picture that our hobby is now dying a very slow, painful death. And, as I have noted in previous posts, I contend we really have nobody but ourselves to blame for it.
For decades now, we have been obsessively maintaining an absolutely arcane licensing and regulatory system for our Service in the United States that's been based largely on ego-stroking "exclusivity". Unfortunately, all we really have to show for a half-century of that needless regulatory overkill is an ever-aging (and dying) US Ham population and a shrinking brain pool of younger talent.
Or, to put it another way, since the late 1960s, we've been very successfully (and very happily) "eating" an ever-larger portion of our "young" along the way. And, predictably, our Service is now paying a very high price for that FCC-sanctioned, ego-stoking nonsense.
Indeed, it may very well prove to be our "swan song".
The deals were probably there, but at a Hamfest/Swapmeet, the rule is:
The FIRST rat to the cheese gets to EAT!
So it is very mandatory that you be there WHEN they open up the trunk of their car for the first moment. If you don't, the DEALS are gone, and all that is left is JUNK as you described. Can't GIVE IT AWAY stuff!
That is why I am NEVER EVER late for TRW. My best deals are in the first few moments after it opens. Then I have time to cruise around and find things that were burried under the first layer of debris.
Things to gamble on are whether to buy the moment you see it, or let it "SIMMER". The longer it sits on the sellers table, the cheaper it gets.
But, there is always the chance DADDY WARBUCKS will come along and PAY his asking price, and you will be SOL!
I like buying radios that are VERY VERY UNSIGHTLY. Radios completely TRASHED AND THRASHED!!! Just the kind you mentioned that look like they have been drug behind a truck all the way to the hamfest. Those go the CHEAPEST, and to me, CHeapest is highly important as I have very little cash to spend. I see these HIGH ROLLERS coming to the Swapmeet with a THOUSAND BUCKS in their pocket!
If I have $100, it is a GRAND DAY!
But I have the ability to turn these Trashed radios into magnificent masterpieces through sweat and toil!
So I would have nabbed the junkers you passed on.
Yep, I agree. I've been to Dayton many times and the rare finds go before it even opens...sellers buying from other sellers before the gates open. Which is why when I go as a "visitor," I always buy a space at the Swap Meet. That allows me to get in earlier than the general public and start hunting.
Plus, it gives me the opportunity to park my car inside the fence, so if I find something heavy I want to bring back, it's a short walk to the car.
Even though that would be a rental car, since I have to fly to Dayton to get there. But if I find something heavy I want, I buy it, stick it in the car, and hit the UPS or FedEx mailing station before I leave so I can ship it back to myself. UPS and FedEx are set up right there on site to handle this, or I can stay over until Monday morning and just hit them on the way back to the airport.
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Is E-Bay Killing the HamFest?
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