After reading all this, and with the recent Kutztown event in the
background, as well as my three weekend finds, I am not so sure eBay
has much to do with anything as to radio prices or availability. This
is based on several assumptions which I will list for
correction/addition/amplification:

a) the west, southwest and south in general suffer from a dearth of
good radios. This has been the case for the over 20 years I have been
in the hobby and remains the case today. Exceptions include Florida &
Maryland... stretch to make MD a 'southern' state although it is below
the Mason/Dixon line.
b) the Pacific northwest suffers from the same lack to a lesser degree.


With this in mind, eBay has always been a presence in areas where the
natural crop is limited or non-existent. This group will typically have
a view of radios that is wildly distorted in price, as they start with
the "everything costs $15" mentality based on shipping alone.

As one moves east especially into (former) wealthier parts of it, and
around older major cities (Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit and so forth),
radios become thicker and thicker until one hits the East Coast, where
even the most limited multi-family garage sale will offer a few
examples of *something* loosely described as being related to the
hobby. Then, at Kutztown, the typical $30+shipping eBay brown bakelite
radio goes in the $15-if-that range at the end-of-meet auction. And the
$229-for-a-common-RCA (albeit polished to glow-in-the-dark proportions)
simply does not happen.

So, it is "all according to" location and opportunity. Kutztown is a
free-to-the-public event held at a major Farmers' Market/Antique Market
that also has weekly tables for anyone selling. Accordingly its
attendance is disproportionately large and consists of a
disproportionate amount of the "general public" walking through out of
curiosity and because they were 'there anyway'. This would not happen
at a destination-event if only because of the lack of general publicity
as much as the uninterested public would never go nor have any reason
to even be proximate that they might go. And, of course, the admission
fee would deter those few that did happen to be straggling nearby.

I will also state for the record that Kutztown had _at least_ thousands
of radios in all states, of all types and in all price ranges, from
high-end, high-tube-count consoles through lovingly restored tabletops
through standard junk. The peripheral events are limited... no
hotel-banquet-hall lectures, but those few were directly on-point and
even of interest to non-radio people (The talk on Crystal sets, for
example).

So, from purely anecdotal evidence, it appears that those venues where
the general public is not actively solicited, those venues that are
'preaching to the converted' are shrinking. Those that do solicit the
general public, those that run at (apparently) a much lower key appear
to be growing. The two local examples would be the DVHRC-sponsored
events (Kutztown, PA) and the NJARC-sponsored events (Hazelet, NJ).
Those of you that go to the NEARC events in Nashua, New Hampshire...
how are they doing? I hear from some acquaintances that they are doing
quite well? And I also hear that Rochester is a mere shadow of its
former self? Is this true?

In any case, I remain of the general belief that eBay is not a
significant factor in the hobby to those in the east. And to those in
the west or out-of-range of large, older population centers, it has
_always_ been a factor, neither more nor less much than now.

The thoughts of others are actively solicited!

Peter Wieck
Wyncote, PA