[David G4EBT]

Greatly enjoyed my trip to the NVCF today, along with my wife and younger son, who also enjoy the event. Firstly, a special thank-you to all who organise and staff the event, right down to the signs posted at junctions, often quite some miles away from the event, which of course, need taking down again.

I'd gone with an open mind, with about £500 to spend if sets which particularly appealed to me came to light. In the event, I only spent about £40, mostly on 10M lengths of the excellent silicone insulated flex in several colours from Phil Marrison, for re-wires, which will see me through till next year.

Some of the radios I'd thought I might be interested in were either too highly priced IMHO, or, to be practical, were far too large to find room for. I'd often fancied an Ekco AC86 ('Dougal'?) but when I saw some 'in the flesh', decided it was much too large, so I can cross that off the list. Same goes for the AC86.

There was the usual crop of circular Ekcos with silly asking prices, some with very manky dials, which remained unsold when we came away at 2.30pm. I suspect that an offer £100 below the asking price would be accepted by pragmatic stallholders later in the day.

Prices for Bush TR82s seemed to have softened a bit from former years, when £40 asking prices weren't uncommon. There were several undamaged ones for £25ish. A few DAC90As there too, but some were priced as high as £90. (Huh?)

One of the odd statements made by several stall-hoders was to say "these go for £xxx on e-bay". What's that all about - is it supposed to imply that it's a bargain? Fine - stick it on ebay then, and have the hassle of packing, posting, insuring, commission, maybe not getting the price you'd hoped for, and risking negative feedback if it turns up damaged or attracts a complaint that it isn't as described.

Fact: Mention of e-bay by hopeful sellers is not a credible bargaining ploy and has no relevance to swapmeets and fairs. Many people, myself included, would never dream of buying or selling anything on any auction site. For me, it's swapmeets, car boot sales, or nothing.

I came away with just one radio - a Little Maestro in an unloved wooden case with a damaged back, for £15. Saw a Murphy U198 in nice condition, needing a polish and clean, cheap enough at £16, and one on another stall polished up for £60.

The display of radiograms organised by the BVWS was splendid, with some awesome monsters in full voice. It must have been a great effort to transport them, unload them and take them back home.

Nice to meet a few forum BVWS 'luminaries' - Graham Terry, Treasurer, manning the stand, and Brian Pateman - one of the mods - doing his bit on the B&B, where I collected some octal valves which Ian B had kindly left for me, for which, as promised, I made a donation to the Museum. Thanks Ian!

Caught a fleeting glimpse of Mike Barker, but he was dashing about all over the place, too busy to while away the time chatting to all and sundry! If he didn't get much sleep last night, I'm sure he will tonight!

All in all, a nice friendly event as usual, and by far the best venue - easy t get to, with excellent parking and catering. I hope it was a success for the stallholders in these difficult recessionary times, and for the BVWS.

Many thanks to all those who have worked so hard behind the scenes to make it all go so smoothly.

David