There was a looker in the flea market at Dayton a couple of years ago.
She was selling, of all things, a pneumatic tower!


Anyone with a moderately dirty mind can think of various applications
of that.... ;-)

Subject: Hams Gripe At Hamfests
From: "Ryan, KC8PMX"
Date: 7/13/2004 8:42 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

Hot babes??? Which hamfests are you going to?? LOL Mostly guys at the
ones I have been to.


Ryan KC8PMX

Besides... If we wanted to pay retail, we'd just go mail order.
Hamfests are where one goes to look for a bargain.

Not me!...I go to check out the hot babes!

(gurglegurglechokechoke ! ! ! !)

Hence the reason I added the "gurglegurglechokechoke"...! ! ! !

73

Steve, K4YZ

In article , "Ryan, KC8PMX"
writes:

My gripe is why the hell do they have to be soooo early on the weekend?

Because in most of the country, it gets hot later in the day.

There's also creeping time inflation. The flyer for the 'fest I went to on
Sunday said "Sellers 7 AM, buyers 8 AM". Yet when I pulled up at 6:45,
intending to be there when the gate opened, there were already two rows of
sellers all set up and many buyers actively looking.

The
weekend is my time to relax and sleep in a little bit compared to my
workweek of which I normally have to be up at about 5:30am.

Heck, I get up at 4:30 AM in order to have time to run.

If they were to
start at say 10am instead of 7am or 8am like I see most of them start I
might actually go to more of the hamfests....... (since I have to drive at
least 1-3 hours to get to most of them.)

Just part of the Boiled Owl tradition.

The other gripe is, personal hygiene....... is it really a huge inconvience
for someone to grab a quick shower and toss on a little bit of
antipersperant/deodorant???

Everybody I saw at Kimberton was perfectly presentable in that regard. A bit
casual, but presentable.

Maybe it's the proximity to Valley Forge...

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article , "Ryan, KC8PMX"
writes:

Well Jim, at the hamfests within our local area/state it seems to be a TON
of junk, and not too much in the way of decent stuff from the past 10-15
years which is what I am looking for.

One person's junk is another person's treasure. Watch the "Antiques Road Show"
and see how much people value some "junk".

It seems more like packrat mentality
types finally trying to get rid of stuff from 20-30 years ago.

Is that bad? What about old cars and furniture? Does age make something "bad"?

Do I really need a damned Commodore 64 computer?

Why is it "damned"?

The C64 was a wonder of its time. Of course it seems kinda limited today, but
so what? *You* don't have to buy it.

I guess one mans junk is another mans
prize..... My impression is that hamfests are the equivalent of a a
yard/garage/rummage sale but for ham radio people. (private sellers, not
dealers that is)

Exactly!

If somebody has a nice clean late-model rig, which venue do you think will
bring a higher price: a typical hamfest or eBay?


73 de Jim, N2EY

"WZY083XBG" wrote in message
...

"Kim" wrote in message
...

4:00AM here, and I am with you!!! When we first got into the "hobby" of
amateur radio, my husband would always get up and go to those
sidewalk/parking lot/hamfest/ad nauseum sales. Earlier than the crack
of
dawn, he'd be up and outta the house to get to meet the folks:to get to
the
breakfast:to take the trip:to get to the sale, etc. Oy!

I got sucked into Hamcom here, once. Ain't happenin' again, and hasn't
since. I just do not like getting up like that; and I really don't
enjoy
those things anyway...

But, I know lots of amateurs who'll never fail to get up, plan a road
trip
and get out there to those sales (and they say women are bad) : )

Kim W5TIT




Are you a member of the NOW gang (National Organization of Women)?


Hank


Nope. You soliciting for them?

Kim W5TIT

In article , "Ryan, KC8PMX"
writes:

I saw lately a ham trying to sell some PC's that were in the 100-200Mhz
range for over 400 bucks!

Well, they're just outa their gourds, that's all.

Table next to mine on Sunday had a Compaq 7360 slightly used in the original
box with all the paperwork and goodies. 500 MHz K6/Athlon processor, 128 meg
ram, burner, speakers, modem, etc.. No monitor. Clean, working, ready to go.
$100 OBO. I was really tempted.

73 de Jim, N2EY

In article , Mike Coslo writes:

I've had good luck at hamfests by:

- Marking "asking" price on items so people have an idea what I think it's
worth.
- Marking "firm" if the price is not negotiable
- Offering stuff I just want to move as "name your price" or "make offer"

That's the way to do it! Somehow I suspect you don't hate the customer
either, eh?

Exactly. I'll even carry stuff to people's cars.

Of course eBay and the 'net have had a big effect on 'fests. We've
essentially
got a worldwide 24/7 hamfest going on, either as an auction or outright
sale.
Plus you can toss out "wanted to buy" posts. Only downside is you're
dealing at
a distance and the whole packing/shipping/payment/insurance headache.

And getting robbed one way or the other.

I don't know what you mean, Mike. In seven years of online buying and selling
I've *never* had a real problem. Not on eBay, not on the reflectors or
newsgroups.

Why folks expect to get eBay prices at a hamfest is beyond me, though. If
you want eBay prices, go to eBay.

The bloom is fading from that rose anyway. I did a quick perusal of ham
related equipment, and the prices seemed quite similar to what I would
expect to pay at a flea. There will always be the occasional outrageous
selling price, either on the high or low end, but it looks as if sanity
may be coming home in Ebay.

Some forces are at work the

- eBay hit big back when the economy was booming and people had lots of
confidence in their financial futures. It wasn't that long ago that "retire at
55" was a catchphrase - and if the markets had kept climbing, it would have
been reality for a lot of folks. But since boom-dot-bust hit, there are a lot
more sellers and fewer price-no-object buyers

- eBay was a new phenomenon back then, too. Equivalent to a 24/7 hamfest. I saw
things for sale on eBay that I'd never seen in 37 years of hamming, like the
famous-but-overrated-in-my-opinion SX-88. Such a new environment is a perfect
setting to make things appear rarer than they really are, and prices followed.
Now, people have learned that if something was on eBay once, it's a very good
bet that sooner or later another one will show up.

- The inital impact of eBay was to raise a lot of expectations about price. The
first SX-88 I ever saw on ebay went for over $6,000, and the bidding was
furious. I'm sure a lot of folks saw that auction and went away with the
thought "an SX-88 is worth $6000" But less than two weeks later, a second SX-88
showed up and went for less than $4000. People remember the high price but
forget the low ones.

73 de Jim, N2EY

N2EY wrote:
In article , "Ryan, KC8PMX"
writes:


Well Jim, at the hamfests within our local area/state it seems to be a TON
of junk, and not too much in the way of decent stuff from the past 10-15
years which is what I am looking for.


One person's junk is another person's treasure. Watch the "Antiques Road Show"
and see how much people value some "junk".


It seems more like packrat mentality
types finally trying to get rid of stuff from 20-30 years ago.


Is that bad? What about old cars and furniture? Does age make something "bad"?


Do I really need a damned Commodore 64 computer?


Why is it "damned"?

The C64 was a wonder of its time. Of course it seems kinda limited today, but
so what? *You* don't have to buy it.

I would still recommend one as an example of a simple computer. A
person that spends a couple weeks with an old C-64, and learning a
little basic can move to newerfasterbetter with some idea of what is
going on in the thing.

I am probably the only person in North America that would recommend
such a thing....



I guess one mans junk is another mans
prize..... My impression is that hamfests are the equivalent of a a
yard/garage/rummage sale but for ham radio people. (private sellers, not
dealers that is)


Exactly!

If somebody has a nice clean late-model rig, which venue do you think will
bring a higher price: a typical hamfest or eBay?

A year ago I would have said Ebay. That is changing.


- Mike KB3EIA -

Kim wrote:
"WZY083XBG" wrote in message
...

"Kim" wrote in message
om...

4:00AM here, and I am with you!!! When we first got into the "hobby" of
amateur radio, my husband would always get up and go to those
sidewalk/parking lot/hamfest/ad nauseum sales. Earlier than the crack

of

dawn, he'd be up and outta the house to get to meet the folks:to get to

the

breakfast:to take the trip:to get to the sale, etc. Oy!

I got sucked into Hamcom here, once. Ain't happenin' again, and hasn't
since. I just do not like getting up like that; and I really don't

enjoy

those things anyway...

But, I know lots of amateurs who'll never fail to get up, plan a road

trip

and get out there to those sales (and they say women are bad) : )

Kim W5TIT




Are you a member of the NOW gang (National Organization of Women)?


Hank



Nope. You soliciting for them?


Ziiing!.... Good one, Kim! 8^)

- Mike KB3EIA

N2EY wrote:
In article , Mike Coslo writes:


I've had good luck at hamfests by:

- Marking "asking" price on items so people have an idea what I think it's
worth.
- Marking "firm" if the price is not negotiable
- Offering stuff I just want to move as "name your price" or "make offer"

That's the way to do it! Somehow I suspect you don't hate the customer
either, eh?


Exactly. I'll even carry stuff to people's cars.

Of course eBay and the 'net have had a big effect on 'fests. We've
essentially
got a worldwide 24/7 hamfest going on, either as an auction or outright
sale.
Plus you can toss out "wanted to buy" posts. Only downside is you're
dealing at
a distance and the whole packing/shipping/payment/insurance headache.

And getting robbed one way or the other.


I don't know what you mean, Mike. In seven years of online buying and selling
I've *never* had a real problem. Not on eBay, not on the reflectors or
newsgroups.

I had two experiences on Ebay. Was nailed both times. Once buying, once
selling. My recourse? Leave negative feedback.

If you haven't, that's great.

Ebay won't be really clean until they are held accountable for the
shenanigans that go on there. Once something big enough happens, that
will happen

- Mike KB3EIA -