When I turned in my ticket at the Hamvention I
normally check out what the prizes are. This year
I couldn't see even one item from Yaesu. Kenwood
and Icom etc. had items on display, but not Yaesu.
I wonder if the Hamvention did something to tick
them off.

Also I would say that both the flea market and the
inside vendor numbers were down by at least 20%.
There were MANY empty spaces in the flea market
area when in past years it was mostly full. I also
heard that Mendelson wanted more space and a break
on the flea market rental since they are going out
of business. The Hamvention, based I what I heard
around, said no dice, so they didn't even bother
to show up and they're only a few miles from the
arena too. They spaced out many of the inside
vendor booth areas so it wasn't too obvious that
the number of vendors was way down.

What did anybody else notice? I hope the above
isn't a long term trend.


--
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO

"Leland C. Scott" wrote in message
...
When I turned in my ticket at the Hamvention I
normally check out what the prizes are. This year
I couldn't see even one item from Yaesu. Kenwood
and Icom etc. had items on display, but not Yaesu.
I wonder if the Hamvention did something to tick
them off.

Also I would say that both the flea market and the
inside vendor numbers were down by at least 20%.
There were MANY empty spaces in the flea market
area when in past years it was mostly full. I also
heard that Mendelson wanted more space and a break
on the flea market rental since they are going out
of business. The Hamvention, based I what I heard
around, said no dice, so they didn't even bother
to show up and they're only a few miles from the
arena too. They spaced out many of the inside
vendor booth areas so it wasn't too obvious that
the number of vendors was way down.

What did anybody else notice? I hope the above
isn't a long term trend.


--
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO


Don't know if it was down or not but enjoyed it immensely. I and the OM
were helping out a new ham select and buy equipment and of course picked up
a few goodies for ourselves too.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

On Sun, 22 May 2005 20:53:18 -0400, Dee Flint wrote:


"Leland C. Scott" wrote in message
...
When I turned in my ticket at the Hamvention I
normally check out what the prizes are. This year
I couldn't see even one item from Yaesu. Kenwood
and Icom etc. had items on display, but not Yaesu.
I wonder if the Hamvention did something to tick
them off.

Also I would say that both the flea market and the
inside vendor numbers were down by at least 20%.
There were MANY empty spaces in the flea market
area when in past years it was mostly full. I also
heard that Mendelson wanted more space and a break
on the flea market rental since they are going out
of business. The Hamvention, based I what I heard
around, said no dice, so they didn't even bother
to show up and they're only a few miles from the
arena too. They spaced out many of the inside
vendor booth areas so it wasn't too obvious that
the number of vendors was way down.

What did anybody else notice? I hope the above
isn't a long term trend.


--
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO


Don't know if it was down or not but enjoyed it immensely. I and the OM
were helping out a new ham select and buy equipment and of course picked up
a few goodies for ourselves too.

I'm glad you had a good time, so did I. I just found the reduction in the
number of flea market and inside vendors very noticeable compared to years
past.

Regards,
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO

Leland C. Scott wrote:
When I turned in my ticket at the Hamvention I
normally check out what the prizes are. This year
I couldn't see even one item from Yaesu. Kenwood
and Icom etc. had items on display, but not Yaesu.
I wonder if the Hamvention did something to tick
them off.

Also I would say that both the flea market and the
inside vendor numbers were down by at least 20%.
There were MANY empty spaces in the flea market
area when in past years it was mostly full.


Yep, less flea vendors than the past couple years. Also less complete
junk. There was certainly junk there, but I'd say that the quality level
was up a bit.



I also
heard that Mendelson wanted more space and a break
on the flea market rental since they are going out
of business. The Hamvention, based I what I heard
around, said no dice, so they didn't even bother
to show up and they're only a few miles from the
arena too. They spaced out many of the inside
vendor booth areas so it wasn't too obvious that
the number of vendors was way down.

What did anybody else notice? I hope the above
isn't a long term trend.

I don't think the number was 20 percent, but it was down a bit.

I had a good time, spent too much money, and will be back again next
year. One thing is for certain, vendors that weren't there didn't get
any of my money...

- Mike KB3EIA -

On Mon, 23 May 2005 07:53:45 -0400, Michael Coslo wrote:


I don't think the number was 20 percent, but it was down a bit.

I had a good time,

I did too, but its the trend I don't like.

Regards,

Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO

Leland C. Scott wrote:
When I turned in my ticket at the Hamvention I
normally check out what the prizes are. This year
I couldn't see even one item from Yaesu. Kenwood
and Icom etc. had items on display, but not Yaesu.
I wonder if the Hamvention did something to tick
them off.

Yaesu was not in the same arena with Icom and Kenwood, either. Don't
recall if it's always been that way.

Also I would say that both the flea market and the
inside vendor numbers were down by at least 20%.
There were MANY empty spaces in the flea market
area when in past years it was mostly full.

I was there on Friday. I thought it would plus-up on Saturday.

I also
heard that Mendelson wanted more space and a break
on the flea market rental since they are going out
of business. The Hamvention, based I what I heard
around, said no dice, so they didn't even bother
to show up and they're only a few miles from the
arena too. They spaced out many of the inside
vendor booth areas so it wasn't too obvious that
the number of vendors was way down.

The ARRL was there in force.

What did anybody else notice? I hope the above
isn't a long term trend.

Old men. Yes, it's a long-term trend. bb

On Mon, 23 May 2005 18:55:16 -0700, bb wrote:


Yaesu was not in the same arena with Icom and Kenwood, either. Don't
recall if it's always been that way.

They were located in the same areas as they have been for the last 5 years
or so that I've been going to the Hamvention. This was the only year I saw
where Yaesu didn't have one single item donated for a prize.


I was there on Friday. I thought it would plus-up on Saturday.

That was nothing compared to a few years back where EVERY space in the
flea market area was filled! It used to take me at least one full day to
walk the outside area, this last time I did it in half a day because there
were so many empty spaces.

The ARRL was there in force.

They didn't look too particularly busy either. Several of the booths they
had set up for specific areas the people behind the tables looked like
they had a had time trying to stay awake since nobody was there asking
questions etc.


What did anybody else notice? I hope the above isn't a long term trend.

Old men. Yes, it's a long-term trend.

That's really too bad since there is a lot the ARRL can do to change that.
One of the big problems is the ARRL, and the old time Hams, who want to
treat HF as the "Crown Jewel" of Ham Radio and the heavy emphasis on it
when trying to recruit new Hams and current Hams to upgrade. The fact is
young kids can DX all they want on the computer, no license required. So
if they want to get young Hams in to the hobby they need to wake up and
show them what Ham Radio has to offer that they CAN'T get using the
Internet and a cell phone.

Regards,
Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO

Which is ... ????

Jim


if they want to get young Hams in to the hobby they need to wake up and
show them what Ham Radio has to offer that they CAN'T get using the
Internet and a cell phone.

On Tue, 24 May 2005 06:14:05 -0700, RST Engineering wrote:

Which is ... ????

Jim


if they want to get young Hams in to the hobby they need to wake up and
show them what Ham Radio has to offer that they CAN'T get using the
Internet and a cell phone.

For one thing rebuilding a wireless network in this country. In some
areas, like Detroit, packet is nearly dead. I use computers a lot, I have
4 on my private home network now running several different operating
systems, and I would love to be able to setup several servers without
having to worry about my ISP threatening to cancel my service for doing do.

Using modified WiFi gear, or the Icom D-Star system, would give many Hams
speeds much faster that you can get using just dial up, and many Hams
still use dial up because they can't get DSL or Broadband at their home.

Then there is nothing like having communications that doesn't die when you
you need it most, and doesn't come with a monthly bill. I was on the air
back when we had the great north east black out several years ago. When a
lot of people couldn't get through using their cell phone because the
system crapped out or was simply over loaded. I also know of several Hams
who will not get cell phones for their older kids because of the cost of
the bills. It was cheaper in the long run to get some low end VHF HT's,
get his kids licensed, and had them use the radios when they need to talk
to them. As much as teenagers like to gab among themselves I think getting
them HT's instead of cell phones would work out much better, it's like one
big party line, and they don't have to worry about air time minutes.

And that's just a couple.

Regards,

Leland C. Scott
KC8LDO