I'll stand up in defense of the Dayton Flea Market. Unless you take a very
narrow view of what constitutes ham radio stuff (by excluding desktop PC's, for
example), there is not all that much non-electronic stuff out there. Sure,
there is a lot of stuff that would have been good dumpster material decades
ago, but one man's trash is another man's treasure.
It does, however, make a big difference if you're driving or flying. If you are
limited to buying (or selling) stuff that will fit in a suitcase and still go
through TSA, you are very limited. Which is why the flea market at Orlando is
far less interesting than that at Dayton. A snowbird like myself has had a good
time socializing and checking out some exhibits at Orlando, but being limited
to what will fit in a car headed north in the spring along with all our other
worldly possessions means I'm not going to be buying physically big stuff. Nor
will I be bringing any such stuff to sell.
OTOH for years I've been selling stuff at the Mad River Radio Club's flea
market spot. Most years I'm able to make my XYL very happy by coming home with
more money and less junk than I left with. And keeping the junk pile at home
down to a dull roar is a good thing.
Sure, I'd like nicer bathrooms and non-erupting sewer lines at HARA. But for
those of us within reasonable driving distance, it still fits the bill very
well.
See you in both Orlando and Dayton!
73 - Jim K8MR
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Clarke <ku8e@bellsouth.net>
To: cq-contest <cq-contest@contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Nov 16, 2015 10:54 am
Subject: [CQ-Contest] Dayton Hamvention Future?
Agree 100% with Bob. Plus it seems like half the stuff in the flea market is
non-ham radio related stuff. It's understandable why DARA would sell these spots
to non-hams because they can make more money. I'm sure the local non-ham types
who sell stuff at normal flea markets take advantage of this because they know
they will have a huge audience to sell their trinkets.
The question to ask is
does DARA want quantity (i.e. attendance) vs quality. ( a premier ham radio
event)
Jeff
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