[Radio Wrangler]

Most of the amateur radio rallies I know do entry an hour early, for no extra fee, for the disabled only (often the fee is waived as well). The rest of us turn up early-ish to have a decent chance of finding a parking spot, and are then forced to hang around outside the doors having a natter, meeting old friends and all those sorts of hardships.

Letting people in early just for a fee seems to be an amalgam of a **** Air type ethos, and the fear that if you don't stump up, you'll miss all the best bits. I suppose it means the eager beavers reduce the entry fee for all the others, though.

When the rally doors open, I spend an hour or two looking around before buying anything, and I deliberately don't buy anything nice-but-heavy until right at the end when stallholders are not thinking happy thoughts about lugging it back to the van and storing it for the next event...

David