What about Hi-Fi stuff - not ham related but still an interesting facet of electronic stuff. You start limiting no CB's, no computer related parts (cables, boards, plugs, etc. etc.), no Hi-Fi, no public address amplifiers, remote control stuff (planes, cars, dogs, etc.), or other "non-ham" electronic type items, is probably not a good idea. Vendors, when gathering their "stuff" for a flea market, aren't going to spend the time to separate out what might not be considered "ham-related". As Dave pointed out, there can be many visitors(potential buyers) to a hamfest that are not hams. Why limit the vendors (actually putting a burden on the vendors) to limit what they can display for potential sale (i.e. hand towels in assorted colors that say "I love ham radio", etc). Next you'll be requiring hams to wear ties and suit jackets and leave all the belt hanging HT's in the car or home. I love a hamfest that has a variety of products including non-ham related stuff. Driving these vendors and potential buyers away is not the answer to a continuing successful hamfest in today's hamfest arena.
Last hamfest I sold a Sears circular saw, brand new wide carriage printer, a flat-bed scanner, several motors, a bunch of CD's, VCR movies, and a number of "non-ham" related stuff, and a number of "ham-type" products. I would have been real pissed if you stopped me at the gate and said I couldn't try to sell those products. As someone else said, if you're not interested in what's on the table, "keep on walking". Pete, wa2cwa On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:01:34 -0400 "Todd, KA1KAQ" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On 10/18/07, Geoff/W5OMR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Robert Nickels wrote: > > > > > > > > > There are plenty of computer and flea markets and craft fairs if > you > > > like that kind of stuff. I'm all for keeping the "Ham" in > Hamfests! > > > > Ditto! > > > > I'm also not too much in favor of seeing 40 channel sympathized > CB > > radios at a HAM Fest, either... but the older Brownings, and > Robyn's and > > other tube-burning rigs, that are easily converted up to 10m.. > that's > > different. > > Yeah, you start to talk a pretty fine line when it comes to the > 'radio' stuff. Old wooden or Bakelite BC radios aren't really 'ham > radio' items either, but most of us enjoy seeing and sometimes > buying > them. > > The rule I came up with for our Guest Speakers and Forums/Workshops > pretty much says it has to be about amateur radio, the history or > radio, military radio, broadcasting, and related technologies. This > way you cover RADAR to the ENIGMA, Amateur to 2-way. > > Applied to the 'fest itself, it wouldn't leave a lot of room for > the > ceramic lawn toads, crocheted blankets, or beer can biplanes. Junk > sales are a dime a dozen, good hamfests are not. Trying to turn > them > into a 'something for everyone' free-for-all defeats the purpose of > having a hamfest to start with, and is more in line with the view > some > hold of trying to turn amateur radio into cell phones and PC games. > > Bah. > > > ~ Todd, KA1KAQ ______________________________________________________________ Our Main Website: http://www.amfone.net AMRadio mailing list List Rules (must read!): http://w5ami.net/amradiofaq.html List Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/amradio Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.html Post: mailto:AMRadio@mailman.qth.net To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word unsubscribe in the message body.
