Dunstable Downs car boot sale discussion thread

[mikeselectricstuff]

Years ago Picketts Lock was THE radio rally. 3 big halls packed with stuff, queues round the block an hour before opening.
Like most others it declined over the years, accelerated by high venue fees, and  a couple of venue changes towards the end (Ware and  Stevenage I think) put the final nails in the coffin.

[G0HZU]

In the good old days, in the 80s, Leicester had a massive one at the Granby Halls

I remember going to that rally (on a coach trip!) in 1985 when I was a spotty student   It was held over 2 days.

The first rally I ever went to was the classic Drayton Manor rally in the early 80s where I bought a Tek 585 scope, and an Marconi frequency counter. In those days it was a brilliant rally and I went most years until the late 90s. I used to do to several rallies a year for maybe 15 years but they went downhill by the mid to late 90s.

Looking at DL's video the DD boot/rally looks like a time warp to a bygone era. Probably my biggest surprise was the fact that the vintage of the radio gear and test gear on offer at this rally has hardly changed from the rallies of 30 years ago...

Sadly, what IS missing is the 'buzz' from all those years ago. In the 80s the rallies had a bit more life to them and the traders were much more active with their sales pitch. There were far more punters and lots more 'surplus' bargains on offer back then. Happy days... 

I watched the whole video and two minor items caught my eye. Some digital weighing scales for a fiver and a 1990s MiniCircuits IF/RF designers handbook. The MiniCircuits reps used to give me one of these every year at work but I foolishly threw mine away a few years ago. I'd have paid a quid for one of those just for the nostalgia

[nctnico]

That's the one - it was indeed Picketts lock. Smelled of poo around there if I remember.

Friedrichshafen is interesting. My uncle runs a hotel in Zurich (I've got some Swiss blood in me ) so that would make a nice holiday. Not sure the other half and the kids would appreciate the diversion - perhaps if I don't tell them until we get there 

My Fiat does 52mpg so I reckon it's doable by car without getting a loan. There's 5 of us so flights are going to be pricey. What are euro fuel prices like these days?

That depends where you fuel up. Luxembourg is about the cheapest at around 1.20 per litre (IIRC). The rest is more around 1.60 per litre. If you go through the canal tunnel be sure to bring a credit card along to pay for the toll for the French motorways. You can pay with cash but that takes forever. Count on spending around 50 euro each way.

Maybe it's cheaper to just browse around on Ebay.

[artag]

St Neots (Huntingdon) was dying out but seems to have got a new lease of life with the move from the car park to the field behind the school. Can be badly affected by weather though, being on the notoriously unreliable August bank holiday. Rugby used to be a favourite and I thought it had finished, but apparently it's doing well. Must try again this year. Cambridge Repeater Group was another excellent one, but has faded somewhat since moving away from the Philips site. Cambridge Radio Club also can be good but I think is suffering from venue costs. I've been to a a couple of the McMichael ones and enjoyed them. I haven't tried the northern ones, but northern Model Engineer's shows are the best.

eBay took a lot of good trade and junk away from the rallies, but as they push up prices and worsen conditions for selling, I think people are returning to them. If you have a lot of heavy, junky, cheap stuff to shift (and that's what I go to rallies to find), ebay is a  poor choice. Some of the weaker ones have gone and the remains are better for it.

I see Dave's got a classified and an auction section now. It will be interesting to see how that goes - given the traffic here, it might be very useful. We need a realistic alternative to ebay and I've seen great success on another specialist site, www.homeworkshop.org.uk.

[smjcuk]

That depends where you fuel up. Luxembourg is about the cheapest at around 1.20 per litre (IIRC). The rest is more around 1.60 per litre. If you go through the canal tunnel be sure to bring a credit card along to pay for the toll for the French motorways. You can pay with cash but that takes forever. Count on spending around 50 euro each way.

Maybe it's cheaper to just browse around on Ebay.

Thanks for the info. Much appreciated.

Probably is cheaper to browse around on ebay but half the fun as a Euro road trip