VCF East Swap Meet - Save the Date - Saturday November 7 (Rain: Sunday November 8)
I was right about that, and I was right about hamfests. How many families and kids excitedly go to a hamfest? Swapmeets are incestuous, and that makes communities wither and go extinct.
I couldn't help but weigh in on this. Before making snide remarks such as these it may help to make sure you have actual data to back that up. Hamfests can be rather small and boring but others are MASSIVE coordinated events with large attendance. Most notably, the annual Dayton Hamvention which had an attendance of over 32,000. This event is to hams what VCF is to us vintage computer enthusiasts. The event is hugely successful and they have a full on flea market to go along with it. Closer to my neck of the woods is the annual Shelby Hamfest, an event that's well more than a few decades old and boasts several thousand in attendance and even offers campground space for the folks they know are traveling far and bringing families along. Based on these events alone I'd say ham is alive and well and far from extinct. Personally I think the swapmeet is a fantastic idea and has much potential. -Joshua A
Since everyone is sounding off. I think this is a great idea and it is long overdue Many people remember the trenton computer festival and they remember the flea market. I miss the old flea market and while this may not be the same, I hope it brings back memories. I thank everyone who will make this happen. Please post a weblink that we can share.
I'll pile on 'cause I'm a ham (don't mess with us! Haha). I frequently attend NEARfest which is a spring and fall hamfest event in the New England area. I don’t know the exact attendance numbers but if I had to guess I would say "a few thousand" when the weather is good. There are more hams licensed with the FCC today than ever before in history. Over 760,000 in the US alone (according to Wikipedia). And growing! http://www.arrl.org/files/media/News/Ham%20Radio%20Stats%202014.jpg Worldwide the number is about 3,000,000 (again according to Wikipedia). I wonder how many vintage computer hobbyists exist the world? Maybe we should learn something from the hams. 73 Eugene W2HX -----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vcfed.org> On Behalf Of Joshua Abraham via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Monday, September 14, 2020 7:47 PM To: vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org Cc: Joshua Abraham <jarvideo@gmail.com> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East Swap Meet - Save the Date - Saturday November 7 (Rain: Sunday November 8)
I was right about that, and I was right about hamfests. How many families and kids excitedly go to a hamfest? Swapmeets are incestuous, and that makes communities wither and go extinct.
I couldn't help but weigh in on this. Before making snide remarks such as these it may help to make sure you have actual data to back that up. Hamfests can be rather small and boring but others are MASSIVE coordinated events with large attendance. Most notably, the annual Dayton Hamvention which had an attendance of over 32,000. This event is to hams what VCF is to us vintage computer enthusiasts. The event is hugely successful and they have a full on flea market to go along with it. Closer to my neck of the woods is the annual Shelby Hamfest, an event that's well more than a few decades old and boasts several thousand in attendance and even offers campground space for the folks they know are traveling far and bringing families along. Based on these events alone I'd say ham is alive and well and far from extinct. Personally I think the swapmeet is a fantastic idea and has much potential. -Joshua A
Butler, PA is in the middle of nowhere and generally consists of an odd mix of farmers and meth addicts, but there's one hell of a hamfest there every year. I too thought hamfests had pretty much died, but then I was very happily corrected! I never miss that one. Of course, every year at the Butler hamfest I run across constipated old men standing around complaining about how ham radio (not hamfests, but ham radio) is dying. Sometimes I'm in a snarky enough mood to interrupt and inform them that it's bigger than it ever has been, but I usually just shake my head and leave them to their bran muffins. -Dave On 9/15/20 9:41 AM, W2HX via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I'll pile on 'cause I'm a ham (don't mess with us! Haha).
I frequently attend NEARfest which is a spring and fall hamfest event in the New England area. I don’t know the exact attendance numbers but if I had to guess I would say "a few thousand" when the weather is good. There are more hams licensed with the FCC today than ever before in history. Over 760,000 in the US alone (according to Wikipedia).
And growing! http://www.arrl.org/files/media/News/Ham%20Radio%20Stats%202014.jpg
Worldwide the number is about 3,000,000 (again according to Wikipedia). I wonder how many vintage computer hobbyists exist the world? Maybe we should learn something from the hams.
73 Eugene W2HX
-----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vcfed.org> On Behalf Of Joshua Abraham via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Monday, September 14, 2020 7:47 PM To: vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org Cc: Joshua Abraham <jarvideo@gmail.com> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East Swap Meet - Save the Date - Saturday November 7 (Rain: Sunday November 8)
I was right about that, and I was right about hamfests. How many families and kids excitedly go to a hamfest? Swapmeets are incestuous, and that makes communities wither and go extinct.
I couldn't help but weigh in on this. Before making snide remarks such as these it may help to make sure you have actual data to back that up. Hamfests can be rather small and boring but others are MASSIVE coordinated events with large attendance. Most notably, the annual Dayton Hamvention which had an attendance of over 32,000. This event is to hams what VCF is to us vintage computer enthusiasts. The event is hugely successful and they have a full on flea market to go along with it.
Closer to my neck of the woods is the annual Shelby Hamfest, an event that's well more than a few decades old and boasts several thousand in attendance and even offers campground space for the folks they know are traveling far and bringing families along.
Based on these events alone I'd say ham is alive and well and far from extinct.
Personally I think the swapmeet is a fantastic idea and has much potential. -Joshua A
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
Not to flog a deceased equine but... Sussex County NJ is home to a great hamfest too. We have over a thousand buyers through the gates and over 200 sellers. Ann and I usually run the kitchen. We see all kinds of folks. 73 de KE2L ________________________________ From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vcfed.org> on behalf of Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> Sent: Tuesday, September 15, 2020 10:33 PM To: W2HX via vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> Cc: Dave McGuire <mcguire@neurotica.com> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East Swap Meet - Save the Date - Saturday November 7 (Rain: Sunday November 8) Butler, PA is in the middle of nowhere and generally consists of an odd mix of farmers and meth addicts, but there's one hell of a hamfest there every year. I too thought hamfests had pretty much died, but then I was very happily corrected! I never miss that one. Of course, every year at the Butler hamfest I run across constipated old men standing around complaining about how ham radio (not hamfests, but ham radio) is dying. Sometimes I'm in a snarky enough mood to interrupt and inform them that it's bigger than it ever has been, but I usually just shake my head and leave them to their bran muffins. -Dave On 9/15/20 9:41 AM, W2HX via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
I'll pile on 'cause I'm a ham (don't mess with us! Haha).
I frequently attend NEARfest which is a spring and fall hamfest event in the New England area. I don’t know the exact attendance numbers but if I had to guess I would say "a few thousand" when the weather is good. There are more hams licensed with the FCC today than ever before in history. Over 760,000 in the US alone (according to Wikipedia).
And growing! http://www.arrl.org/files/media/News/Ham%20Radio%20Stats%202014.jpg
Worldwide the number is about 3,000,000 (again according to Wikipedia). I wonder how many vintage computer hobbyists exist the world? Maybe we should learn something from the hams.
73 Eugene W2HX
-----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vcfed.org> On Behalf Of Joshua Abraham via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Monday, September 14, 2020 7:47 PM To: vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org Cc: Joshua Abraham <jarvideo@gmail.com> Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] VCF East Swap Meet - Save the Date - Saturday November 7 (Rain: Sunday November 8)
I was right about that, and I was right about hamfests. How many families and kids excitedly go to a hamfest? Swapmeets are incestuous, and that makes communities wither and go extinct.
I couldn't help but weigh in on this. Before making snide remarks such as these it may help to make sure you have actual data to back that up. Hamfests can be rather small and boring but others are MASSIVE coordinated events with large attendance. Most notably, the annual Dayton Hamvention which had an attendance of over 32,000. This event is to hams what VCF is to us vintage computer enthusiasts. The event is hugely successful and they have a full on flea market to go along with it.
Closer to my neck of the woods is the annual Shelby Hamfest, an event that's well more than a few decades old and boasts several thousand in attendance and even offers campground space for the folks they know are traveling far and bringing families along.
Based on these events alone I'd say ham is alive and well and far from extinct.
Personally I think the swapmeet is a fantastic idea and has much potential. -Joshua A
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA
I have sold at & attended the SCARC in Sussex county hamfest for over 30 years and Kelly & his club always do a great job. I have scored quite a few vintage computer related items there over the years but the best bargain I got there was a KIM-1 Rev B for $20 back in 2016 . The seller said it didn't work but I brought it home, applied power, hit reset & it came to life. I think the seller might have confused the SST slide switch for a power switch. I entered the clock program & slot machine programs from the "First Book of KIM" and they ran fine. Hamfests are a great source for finding vintage chips, passive components connectors, ribbon cables, etc. I always ran into quite a few VCF list members at area hamfests and while many are hams, many are not. So if you get a can, check out the Sussex hamfest if you are able. 73, Jeff - N2KWK On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 7:14 AM Kelly Leavitt via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Not to flog a deceased equine but... Sussex County NJ is home to a great hamfest too.
We have over a thousand buyers through the gates and over 200 sellers. Ann and I usually run the kitchen. We see all kinds of folks.
73 de KE2L
Sussex seems to be one of the best meets I've ever been to. I don't know how many other big ones there are outside of Dayton, but this one seems to be the biggest one in NJ at least. I've gotten some cool stuff there over the years too, and a lot of it was computer related. Last year I got one of the TRS-80 handheld computers that looks like an old scientific calculator for a few bucks. On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 1:04 PM Jeff Galinat via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I have sold at & attended the SCARC in Sussex county hamfest for over 30 years and Kelly & his club always do a great job. I have scored quite a few vintage computer related items there over the years but the best bargain I got there was a KIM-1 Rev B for $20 back in 2016 . The seller said it didn't work but I brought it home, applied power, hit reset & it came to life. I think the seller might have confused the SST slide switch for a power switch. I entered the clock program & slot machine programs from the "First Book of KIM" and they ran fine. Hamfests are a great source for finding vintage chips, passive components connectors, ribbon cables, etc. I always ran into quite a few VCF list members at area hamfests and while many are hams, many are not. So if you get a can, check out the Sussex hamfest if you are able. 73, Jeff - N2KWK
On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 7:14 AM Kelly Leavitt via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Not to flog a deceased equine but... Sussex County NJ is home to a great hamfest too.
We have over a thousand buyers through the gates and over 200 sellers. Ann and I usually run the kitchen. We see all kinds of folks.
73 de KE2L
It seems that there is a lot of crossover interests between Vintage Computers and Ham Radio operators. Back in the late 80's and early 90's I was part of the Garden State Commodore User Group which was originally formed by ham radio operators. Great stuff! On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 2:00 PM Matt Reynolds via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Sussex seems to be one of the best meets I've ever been to. I don't know how many other big ones there are outside of Dayton, but this one seems to be the biggest one in NJ at least.
I've gotten some cool stuff there over the years too, and a lot of it was computer related.
Last year I got one of the TRS-80 handheld computers that looks like an old scientific calculator for a few bucks.
On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 1:04 PM Jeff Galinat via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
I have sold at & attended the SCARC in Sussex county hamfest for over 30 years and Kelly & his club always do a great job. I have scored quite a few vintage computer related items there over the years but the best bargain I got there was a KIM-1 Rev B for $20 back in 2016 . The seller said it didn't work but I brought it home, applied power, hit reset & it came to life. I think the seller might have confused the SST slide switch for a power switch. I entered the clock program & slot machine programs from the "First Book of KIM" and they ran fine. Hamfests are a great source for finding vintage chips, passive components connectors, ribbon cables, etc. I always ran into quite a few VCF list members at area hamfests and while many are hams, many are not. So if you get a can, check out the Sussex hamfest if you are able. 73, Jeff - N2KWK
On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 7:14 AM Kelly Leavitt via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Not to flog a deceased equine but... Sussex County NJ is home to a great hamfest too.
We have over a thousand buyers through the gates and over 200 sellers. Ann and I usually run the kitchen. We see all kinds of folks.
73 de KE2L
-- ========================================= Jeff Brace Vice President & Board Member Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity http://www.vcfed.org/ jeffrey@vcfed.org cell: 732-759-1783
participants (9)
-
Christian Liendo -
Dave McGuire -
Ethan O'Toole -
Jeff Galinat -
Jeffrey Brace -
Joshua Abraham -
Kelly Leavitt -
Matt Reynolds -
W2HX