Faraday wrote:
wrote:
I wouldn't go to Dayton if y'all paid me.
cuhulin

We'll pay you not to go to Dayton.

well if were him I start the bidding

Dayton,according to my Rand McNally Road Atlas,population of 169,400.Not
far North of Cincy town.
cuhulin

I like Dayton and I have never even been there before.I wonder if good
old Rosie in Lima,Ohio and her gang are spending the weekend at Indian
Lake?
cuhulin

lemonhead wrote:
"Lisa Simpson" wrote in message
.. .
Just returned from the Dayton HamFest; only found a coupla SW receivers
for
sale, used, high-ish prices; quite a few old tube receivers way
overpriced,
and of course the new ones at normal to slightly high prices.
Disappointing.

I was there for 4 hours on Saturday.
Nothing but old test equipment and computer junk.
Only reason to go anymore is to meet people, albeit an
expensive one. Never again will I goto Dayton.
It's day has ended, period. E-Bay and private ad's on places like
QRZ.com have killed it. Not worth the effort anymore.

Actually Ebay didn't kill the Dayton Hamfest. In the 1980's it was
being handled as though it was still the 1950's and full of stuff that
had been carted between too many hamfests. Dayton is dying because the
promoters made the conscious decision to do nothing.

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

Peter Wieck wrote:

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.


According to the snowbirds from the New England area, Florida is the
southern tip of new England.


--
Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I've got my DD214 to
prove it.
Member of DAV #85.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

good points.

The local flea markets here, always seem so barren of good stuff. So I
managed to get to one 35 minutes before official opening time.

I was surpised to see the smart buyers already walking out with boxes
full of all the good stuff !

The best items sell, as the spots are still being set up.

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Hambone the Porkbutter wrote:


Do the $$$ homework boys - you guys that run these ham events
are screwin yerselves faster than Barbaro broke his leg last week.


So, you're saying that the price hasn't changed that much since I left
Ohio in the late '80s? Do you think that they get Hara Arena for free,
or all the cops and bus service for park and ride?
I think many think they do or more precisely that the Ham have already
paid the nation for those services by our "public service"

On 2006-05-22, Peter Wieck wrote:

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!

As a rank newbie (not even licensed, yet) I more or less have to
agree. Here in the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) where there are at
least a couple local ARC swap meets per month, I see none of the stuff
found on ebay in the way of classic old ham equipment. Hell, I can't
even find a used morse code key to practice on. I'm gonna hafta buy a
new Ameco from HRO. Not quite sure exactly why this is. Perhaps most
of SFBA ppl are all digitally oriented due to Silicon Valley being the
original hot-bed of digital. Whatever the reason, old Collins, Drake,
Heathkit, etc, rigs are rarer than cheap gas and low real estate
prices.

On the positive side of the ledger, due to the glory days of the late
great SV, there's hardly a man or woman alive in Northern California
that can't fly a Fluke or wield a mean Weller. I'll be flogging my
own acid-free flux and have already bought my first QRP kit with my
eye on another.

nb

" wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Hambone the Porkbutter wrote:


Do the $$$ homework boys - you guys that run these ham events
are screwin yerselves faster than Barbaro broke his leg last week.


So, you're saying that the price hasn't changed that much since I left
Ohio in the late '80s? Do you think that they get Hara Arena for free,
or all the cops and bus service for park and ride?
I think many think they do or more precisely that the Ham have already
paid the nation for those services by our "public service"


I was curious about the way it was run so I talked to the group that
organized the event every year. You wouldn't believe the crap they have
to wade through to run a hamfest that size, even though the money raised
is used to provide emergency communications for the area.


--
My sig file can beat up your sig file!