Dunstable Downs electronics bootsale (Luton.UK) May 22nd

[bd139]

I think that didn't sell because rule one of hamfests is "it probably doesn't work" and rule two is "someone probably fucked with it".

I tend to only buy stuff for the value of the parts on its own.

That's why prefer to show my decent stuff working, which needs a 'lectric supply. No, I'm not going to power my decent stuff from a car battery and a modfied sine wave inverter!

Even so, I think £150 would be the upper limit for something you could flog at a hamfest. Unlike sproglet, it is strictly cash for me. I don't have smartphone so can't use these newfangled payment machines that are commonplace in farmers markets etc.

It's strictly cash here too for tax reasons 

Agree with showing stuff working. I've seen your excellently presented goods pre-covid at Harwell

[Squarewave]

I loved the Harwell Rally, shame they've not done it for a while. I remember the one in 2018 I bought a vintage Advance pulse generator for £5, some great big modular thing. I stored it back then and have never seen it since. Maybe one day I'll do something with it.

[bd139]

Yeah that was a reliable one. I got a Tek 2445 I think early in 2020 just before Covid that worked for £80 which I was happy with.

Oh and a whole bag of VHF PA transistors.

[mikeselectricstuff]

BVWS auctions don't have the buzz of a rally. I have been to them, but even some of the auctions have their sharks. Plus, I'm guessing here, this is only a guess, but the fake seller buying stuff to sell on later is probably buying more expensive items than I'm prepared to buy at a rally.

BVWS also have a rule about not selling before opening, but impossible to enforce, stuff just gets put aside.

The problem at rallies is most people are there just to get rid of stuff easily, not necessarily at the highest price, so will happily take the first offer.

[Zenith]

The problem is having a dedicated professional buyer, who's worked out what's needed to clean up, at what's basically a relaxed social scene for enthusiasts. Yes, some people have their eye to business and a lot of the stuff probably winds up on ebay, but he's taking it to a different level. You have to ask questions, because this can't be much of a profession.

I've been to a BVWS event as a stallholder, and there was a lot of inter-stall action before people were let in. The auction was mainly a load of domestic stuff, old tellies, domestic radios and like that. I'm sure there was some test gear. Just the place to go it your idea of an RF sig gen is an Advance H1. It may have changed, that was a long time ago. Professional valve dealers latched onto it. People going there to cop a pair of PX4s for their 1930s radiogram, hoping to get them for £20, perhaps going as far as £30, found they were bidded out of sight. These valve dealers may not have been entering into the spirit of things, but they weren't doing anything wrong.

I also went to the bashes at the NEC. You could pay £15 extra to get in before the crush, which I did, and snagged some bargains. If you have stalls, it's hard to avoid the problem of the bogus stallholder, who's really a buyer.

I've also been to a Radiophile auction years ago. It was a silent key sale of the estate of a very dedicated collector. There was a huge amount of stuff. Some of the lots were far too big. There was a palate of AR88 spares, including NOS O/P transformers. The professional auctioneer got fed up and started to bundle things together, offering them to previously successful bidders for the same price. A valve dealer outbid everyone on a lot of 25 NOS 5Y3GTs. I was glad I went there because I scored some real bargains. I came away with the feeling that it hadn't been entirely satisfactory.

To cut an already overly long post short, I don't see how radio rallies can be turned into auctions. It's not what they are about. It's a shame the Demon Buyer takes the gloss off it for some of us, but there we are.

[Zenith]

I loved the Harwell Rally, shame they've not done it for a while. I remember the one in 2018 I bought a vintage Advance pulse generator for £5, some great big modular thing. I stored it back then and have never seen it since. Maybe one day I'll do something with it.

I liked Harwell. It was early in the year and it was perishing cold. I never bought anything significant there, but it was enjoyable.

There was one in Worcester where I bought an RA17 for £27, and there was another good one in Wythenshawe? (South of Birmingham). I never thought much of Drayton Manor Park, which was huge.

[Squarewave]

The last Harwell I went to, was the 2020 one which was the last one they had, the wind was howling, attendance was at an all time low, we wasn't sure if it was a combination of the horrendous wind and the other issue coming up at that time. Hopefully we'll see it back, but with two years absence, the hall might well have other ideas.

[tggzzz]

I tend to drag one or both of the eldest two kids with me now as they can carry stuff and it only costs me a McDonalds breakfast or lunch for the services. Although sitting there in Andover McDonalds with a cold McPlant after Newbury was an all time low. It reminded me never to move out of the city...

It was nice to meet your sproglet at Newbury; she seems a good person

If I had know she was so easily satisfied, I'd have tried to raise her expectations    Yup, I'm a troublemaker, and have a tendency to explicitly point that out.

One time I chose not to point that out involved some Brethren preaching on a city street corner. I talked about the Bible and related some of its teachings to the kid's experiences. Eventually the adults, um, grown ups, um, supervisors became worried they were listening to me and, gasp, thinking - and huddled the kids away for re-indoctrination. Most satisfactory; I like to think I saved some people that day.

[bd139]

Causing trouble is appreciated on that level at least. That was purely for sustenance based on the uninteresting selection of stuff that was found on Tripadvisor in Andover. We weighed up going to Ivy Cafe in Richmond but I don’t think either of us would have made it there alive 

Have had similar run ins with the local JW. They stopped knocking after I gave the associated child soldier my copy of The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Fingers crossed you did indeed at least kick off some introspection.

[tggzzz]

Causing trouble is appreciated on that level at least. That was purely for sustenance based on the uninteresting selection of stuff that was found on Tripadvisor in Andover. We weighed up going to Ivy Cafe in Richmond but I don’t think either of us would have made it there alive 

Have had similar run ins with the local JW. They stopped knocking after I gave the associated child soldier my copy of The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Fingers crossed you did indeed at least kick off some introspection.

Needs must, I suppose 

With JWs, I use the unpublished backstory as to what lead to Yasmin Gibson becoming the first "home alone" mother. Last time their comment was "that shouldn't happen". Well, yes - but it did. (I knew Yasmin when she was a toddler and I wasn't much more).

The last time some evangelical turned up on my doorstep, I used phrases like "Don't trust me, look at the Bible". The youngster was last heard asking her mother in an incredulous voice "does the Bible really say that?", with the mother not answering. The world became an infintesssimally less bad place

[Zenith]

Last time I had JWs come round I was doing something round the back. They asked me if I thought aii these bombs and rockets going off and killing people were terrible. I said no, I thought they were great. I'd worked on three missiles and the company I worked for now supplied major components for several missiles, which I listed, and the development systems needed. The only time I had doubts was when business was slack, which wasn't often.

They were dumbstruck and walked away. I don't believe they expected such unrepentant wickedness.

That was about 20 years ago. They haven't been round since. I think I was blacklisted.

[bd139]

It's definitely possible to get on a blacklist. Blissful it is too 

Perhaps I should start my own cult. "Have you heard the good news? You can get it on 145.5MHz FM if you buy this Baofeng HT off me for a one off price of only £200!" 

[Squarewave]

Anyone here at Chippenham today? Usually a good one, though I couldn't today.

[tggzzz]

Anyone here at Chippenham today? Usually a good one, though I couldn't today.

I went... https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg4331617/#msg4331617