How I Evaluate a Flea Market!

[W1RC]

One of the criteria I always use to assess a hamfest flea market is what kind of good stuff was there in the flea market and at what prices.  I always enjoy seeing guys and gals getting good deals on great stuff.  Maybe that’s why I ran a flea market for eighteen years.  I also really enjoy getting great deals for myself.  This past NEAR-Fest XXXVI at the New Boston location was absolutely outstanding if you look it from this aspect. 
I got:
A Webster Bandspanner for $10.Had one in the 60s and 70s.
A Atlas 210X with the ultra rare digital display for $150.
A SGC-2020 HF transciever for $200.  Now I have two. 
A Ten-Tec Century 21 transciever with a parts unit for $70.
And a lot more I didn’t get, like the Collins 75A-4 with three filters for $250.   You should have seen the look on the guy’s face who was standing behind me patiently waiting for me to decide if I wanted it or not.  I was severely tempted but in the end I let him have it.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

The assessment of a amateur radio hamfest by a buyer/potential buyer can be vastly different from a seller's assessment of the same hamfest.

I've been to many hamfests/flea markets over the years where the "potential buyers" just come to "belly bump" their "on the air friends", do constant tire kicks, shoot the BS with anyone who will listen(or can't walk fast enough), or just spend the time to wander aimlessly around the venue numerous times without spending a dime.

Probably why I enjoy spending the time on the opposite side of the table. 

Does anyone provide service and/or support for SGC products 

[W7TFO]

No dog, so no fleas.

Hamfests out here are usually a hoot.  I've bought & sold a lot of stuff over the years, with a great deal every once in a while.

Fests have a dearth period (about 6 mos), due to the usual hot WX.  T-shirts even in Winter is the rule.

Interestingly, little goes to or from friends I know.  Sales always go to real characters, like an older woman buying up a bunch of littles, saying she makes yard art.  Ohhhh-K.

My best buy was a WECo input transformer for $1.  Sold it online B4 getting home for $1K.

73DG

[W2JRO]

I picked up a few things of need (OK, want) at this recent Nearfest:
A set of ARRL Handbooks from 1948-1965 $70
A HP 5316a Universal counter - $50
An RCA w44-c audio generator - $20
I was tempted to grab ANOTHER Viking II w/122 VFO but didn't..It was just too nice to be a parts rig.
I sold a 75a4 for the same price as that pristine 3 filter example.

Nearfest prices can be all over the map. But in the end, the fairly priced stuff will sell, and outer space priced stuff will go back in the truck or trailer.

I really usually only do Nearfest and my local club fester.
I am going to Dayton 2025 (bucket list trip), and I would love to do Shelby one day. I miss the Rochester NY fest at the Dome in May. It's a shame it fell apart like it did.

[WD4LUR]

The Dalton, GA hamfest is the best one for a day trip in my area. I bought a Drake remote coax switch control box for $20 and a Johnson 122 VFO for $80 this year. It is a really good hamfest with lots of gear. I would definitely recommend going to Dalton.

I always liked going to the Ten-Tec hamfest. It grew larger every year. Then the sell of Ten-Tec and it's move to Ohio has been extremely disappointing.

Dan

[W1RC]

I am going to Dayton 2025 (bucket list trip), and I would love to do Shelby one day. I miss the Rochester NY fest at the Dome in May. It's a shame it fell apart like it did.

I too am saddened at the loss of the Rochester Hamfest because of infighting at the club,  I never missed Rochester along with hundreds of not thousands of Canadians from Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and other places.
This was the very reason why I didn’t make NEAR-Fest a club………

[Tom W2ILA]

The best part of the fests is the people.  Standing around talking nonsence with people you havn’t seen in months or years trips my trigger.  The gear is just a bit of glue that keeps us coming back.

[W3SLK]

W2ILA said:

The best part of the fests is the people.  Standing around talking nonsence with people you havn’t seen in months or years trips my trigger.  The gear is just a bit of glue that keeps us coming back.

100% correct Tom! I usually find myself shooting the scheißen with folks so much I never get a good full pass in and miss stuff! I have to write down a list to find stuff that I need. Otherwise I get to talking and forget what I came for!

[KD1SH]

  There are several words in the English language that are composed of two words but spoken as one word. When separated into their component parts, the first one stands out as the most significant. Ham...Fest.
  (Christmas, and Thanksgiving, are two others that come to mind)

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Holiday Ham...Fest

[Sam KS2AM]

One of the criteria I always use ...

... is the entertainment ! https://www.youtube.com/embed/4xZkGLyKW0M

[KA3EKH]

Use to have a space at the old Hara Arena about a half dozen spaces down from these people. But ended up trading that space for another on a different row. Thought what could be worse then listening to that for half a day or so but I was wrong, at the new space just across from me was someone hawking cassettes and CD of the “Old Time Radio” shows and after an hour of two of hearing Jack Benny and Amos and Andy crap over and over again was ready to stomp that guy’s CD player into one of the many pot holes that lined Hara’s parking lot.
Have some friends who never been to Hamvention at Hara and ask what it was like there.  Think the septic explosion of 2011 summed up that site well.

[Sam KS2AM]

Use to have a space at the old Hara Arena about a half dozen spaces down from these people.

So you were in the "Lemon James" section ? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/osHCYzRNHHc

[Pete, WA2CWA]

In the 24 years I had spaces at Hara flea market, I don't recall having any neighbors that annoyed me with  cassette, CD, or guitar playing.

[KA3EKH]

Did not see the Lemon thing, don’t know how I missed it! The Golden Days of Radio crap started right at nine in the morning and ran over and over again all day, not complaining and it never stopped me from selling at the Hamvention. Just added to the charm of the venue, If you never had anything like the septic explosion in 2011 that forced many vendors to relocate, I was not one but know a couple that did because before that those center row sections were prized locations, or the crowded bathrooms in the building or the overflowing “Rumpkie” Port-O-Pots or all the other things that were happening the last ten years that Hamvention was at Hara would imagine you never had to dodge all the potholes on the access road into the flea market?
Don’t get me wrong, been going for decades and plan to continue to go as long as I can make it, I am the first one to tell people if they have not been to Hamvention they missed out! Have not even started with things like the flea Bag Hotels that crank up their rate to two or three times their regular rate during Hamvention weekend or the concessions that were at Hara.
Going to Hamvention back in the Hara Days was like a trip to New York City, the place may be a dirty and a dump in some ways but it still is the center of the world.
Xenia is better in every way and would challenge anyone to show how Hara had anything on that?

[Pete, WA2CWA]

I stopped going to Hamvention in 2012. The overall costs were hurting my bottom line plus it simply lost its appeal to me. Don't miss it. I still attend a bunch of hamfests locally each year.

[KA3EKH]

Hamvention is like the Hajj, all devote Hams are obliged to attend at least once. Use to have minor pilgrimages to Rochester, Timonium and lastly Frost Fest but they have all fallen by the wayside.
Yes, it’s expensive. It’s not what it may have once been but just like the New York City analogy it’s still the epicenter of the Ham Radio world.
As a Master of the Art, and leader of the AM community you owe it to yourself just to see what its like at a clean venue, with food trucks and buildings that don’t smell like piss.
 

[KB2WIG]

Rockfester had cold beer.

KLC