Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

The final BVWS event of a busy 2019 is the Royal Wootton Bassett swapmeet and auction on Sunday 8th December.

There will be around 30 stalls selling not only sets but all the spares, bits and pieces that you'll need for those dark winter evenings in the workshop! The Bring & Buy stall will be in operation in the side annex for those who wish to bring one or two items to sell.

The usual excellent hot and cold refreshments will be available throughout the day and of course the customary mince pie at the door!

The BVWS table will have good stocks of capacitors, all those old fashioned values and in dimensions that modern suppliers don't stock any more! And De-oxit at lower than on line prices...

Everyone is welcome to visit, but only BVWS members may participate in the auction. However you might wish to join up on the day which will be possible. Or why not take the opportunity to renew your BVWS membership for 2020 while you are there? Payments by debit/credit cards gladly accepted at the BVWS stall!

Stall holder entry is at 9.30, general entry at 10.00. Auction start sometime between 12.30 and 1.00 (tbc) - there will be around 300 lots, including some extremely interesting and rarely seen items, the auction list with photos will be published a few days beforehand....

See the BVWS website for directions: details.https://www.bvws.org.uk/events/locations.php

See you there..

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

The auction catalogue and photos of some of the auction lots are now available on the BVWS website here:

https://www.bvws.org.uk/auctions/pho...ootton-bassett

The catalogue is also attached.

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Afternoon all,

I'm very much looking forward to this event, this is my favourite one of the year.;D
See you all there!!

Cheers

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Likewise! See you on stage helping with the auction Lee.

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

A pretty good morning's browsing and thanks to all involved in staging the proceedings.

One of the best things about these sort of meets is the little unexpected finds, the bits you'd wanted to finish something off ages ago but had resigned yourself to no longer existing! As always, Mike's auction banter was one of the highlights, but it was a shame to see so many low bids for some nice stuff. I went fairly early before London-bound traffic and the weather closed in, but stayed long enough to see apparently pretty good examples of AR88LF and Philips 681A go for almost tragically low prices, not to mention plenty else. (I was going to look closer at the AR88, but didn't dare move the vacuum bomb in a box on top of it....) A sign of the times, I guess- maybe it's an indicator that most of us who are so inclined are already saturated with vintage electronics and ex-professional test gear and there aren't so many younger ones following in our footsteps,

Colin

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Regrettably unable to make it due to a break in at my mother's - mum ok, police all dealt with, three doors and a lock to repair and needing to be sure she is ok. Fabulous auctions, although, yes, shed and house are stuffed.

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Sorry to hear that greenstar.
Well I made it, with mrs nut in tow (or wheelchair) , only to field a phone call that my dad wasn't well and the ambulance team were on their way. So we had to leave as soon as we arrived.
I guess the good news was finding out they were ok and after a just over 300 mile dash back I found them both in decent shape.
These things happen and I hope to get stuck in to the next swapmeet leafing through the books and magazines.
Nice to touch base with Greg too.

Andy

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Another totally enjoyable day yesterday. A big thank you to all those involved in this years Christmas RWB event.

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Andy, that beats my experience. One just has to be philosophical and try again next time!

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Likewise mine a few years ago. Having used my stepmother's in Oxford as a weekend stopover to make a day trip to RWB feasible, she was unwell and needed my presence, so at least I never set off from there to RWB. It did mean, however, that I missed out on an item I had arranged to collect, but which was then disposed of elsewhere.

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Well I was determined to "do" a Christmas RWB and this year I (or we as I had my usual companion Steve a.k.a. "Colourstar" with me, and a pleasant day we had meeting familiar faces and generally enjoying the ambience (although not the rain and biting wind outside!). I managed to keep myself in check regarding bids as "skint" is the word alongside a now complete lack of space!

A heartfelt "Thanks" to the BVWS team and entertaining auctioneer Mike and here's to the next "do".

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Does anyone know what the Siemen's morse printer sold at? (not that I am myself in that league!).

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Lot 261 Siemens Portable Telegraph Send/Receive Station went for £500 if that's the one you mean.

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Thanks Chris, friend who goes with me and had an interest.
Tony

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

I have asked Mike for the auction results and will add them to the BVWS website once I have them. It can take a little while as he has a lot of things to sort out after an auction.

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Yes Mike was having a bit of a struggle with the bidding system this time, well done Mike for keeping the auction on track despite the occasional hiccup :thumbsup:

Cheers

Mike T

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

I had a good day and managed to come home with not too much and everything sold that I took for the auction. I managed to get the nice 9” Invicta television, a huge box of assorted junk and a nice USA mantle clock radio. Bonus to find it was designed to run at 50Hz and not 60. I managed to get one of the German peoples set on the stall by the door to the B+B which I had been looking for.

I was surprised and saddened in a way that some of the radios didn’t even sell for £5 especially the Murphy radios or those with usable VHF bands. I presume that everybody who wants one has one and the space they take up is too much. I hope they don’t see the hammer of doom and eventually someone will take them for restoration.
Even in their dismantled state they would be worth more than £5 if you sell the output/mains transformer, valves, knobs, speaker and dial glass separately though I could not bear doing this myself on a set that is complete and would be ripe for restoration.

Christopher Capener

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

Chris,

Valves pulled, beaten to a pulp and gone to the tip.

If it does not get a fiver, then it is not worth storing for months on end to go to another auction where it will likely not sell.

Moral of this story is for collectors to buy more cheap radios to use for parts and experimentation.

I have always said the best way to learn how to repair/restore and fault find is on a cheap radio that you can really do no harm with. You will learn much more by seeing what happens when you disconnect/short out something or remove a component than reading pages of someone's experiences with nothing to physically experience it on. You also remember it much better and it gives you the grounding for more complicated problems.

BUY MORE RADIOS !!!

Mike...

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

I would have bought some cheapies if I had been able to go but due to a knee injury I am unable to drive at the moment. Even if I had been driven there it would have meant sitting through the auction in a wheelchair which would have got uncomfortable .
It's a shame to destroy radios that could be useful even if only for parts, I bought a few from Harpenden which were for various reasons not really worth repairing but parts from them helped repair others or will do in the future.
I have also found that equipment that does not sell at one venue is easily sold at another or sometimes the same event.
I took a rather nice record player to the NVCF in 2014 which despite being reduced to what the cartridge alone was worth at the end did not sell. I took it the following year at it's original price and it sold within half an hour of opening.
You only need one person to want it...
I appreciate what Mike says it is hard work loading and unloading the van and setting up etc. It must be disheartening when sets remain unsold.
I couldn't have brought myself to smash them up though.. I feel guilty enough dismantling rough sets.

I recently evicted a fairly rough 50's wood set from the loft with the intention of dismantling it the set had been there for years. However when I tried it the set still worked really well despite a minimum of capacitors having been changed years ago. The dial lit up really nicely . I just couldn't bring myself to strip it so I made some space polished it up and put it in the dining room.

Occasionally someone 'new' will visit my house they are mostly amazed at my collection of radios, Television sets, clocks and Jukebox this suggests to me that there still in interest in old technology. I showed the most recent visitor some pictures of the last NVCF and he was very interested saying he will be going to the next event . He was completely unaware that the event existed. What we need to do is attract new blood to the events, new blood with wide eyes and big pockets...

Re: Royal Wootton Bassett Sun 8th Dec!
 

We are probably all in the same boat. Many of us would like to save these 1950's valved radios, especially as they are going for £5, but many of us just don't have the space and are already struggling with the radios and televisions in our own collections.
I do feel that in the near future new younger collectors and restorers will see new value in these 1950's radios and appreciate them a lot more than we are.
I don't know what the answer is but it seems a great pity to have perfectly good radios broken up and skipped because at the moment they don't have much value and are considered to be a waste of space.