Andover radio rally

[beamcurrent]

Very pleased to see this is useful radio rally is back in action 21 April.

http://www.arac.org.uk/downloads/Wil...-Sale-2024.pdf

see you there!

[G6Tanuki]

Yes, I heard this being discussed on the local-ish 2M repeater yesterday.

Good to hear that it is still alive.

[Cobaltblue]

Added to Calendar.

Cheers

Mike T

[ortek_service]

I was wondering if it would return this year / what date is was, as I hadn't seen it listed in the RSGB list yet.
So I've just gone direct to the Club website and discovered the date
- Straight after doing the same for the Foxton one (which I hadn't seen listed yet) that I also normally go to, and isn't too large a distance away from Andover.

Unfortunately, I've now found they are both on the same date this year!
- Whereas there doesn't seem to be any other dates in April that have rallies anywhere near these

(Last time Andover was held - the late in the year one - it seems it clashed with Telford so it didn't have many traders go to it. Although at least there was a fairly significant distance between these, so not too many who would have gone to both if they had been on separate days)

[ortek_service]

Originally Posted by ortek_service

I was wondering if it would return this year / what date is was, as I hadn't seen it listed in the RSGB list yet.
So I've just gone direct to the Club website and discovered the date
- Straight after doing the same for the Foxton one (which I hadn't seen listed yet) that I also normally go to, and isn't too large a distance away from Andover.

Unfortunately, I've now found they are both on the same date this year!
- Whereas there doesn't seem to be any other dates in April that have rallies anywhere near these

(Last time Andover was held - the late in the year one - it seems it clashed with Telford so it didn't have many traders go to it. Although at least there was a fairly significant distance between these, so not too many who would have gone to both if they had been on separate days)

Well I now discovered (from this group) that Foxton has now been postponed, so no-longer clashes with this one (but Foxton now seems to have moved to the same day as the McMichael (Reading) rally date this year !)

[ortek_service]

Did anyone on here manage to get to this ? as I was wondering what it was like
- The last time it was held a couple of years ago, the one remaining trader when I eventually got there (due to roads chaos) said there'd only been about 12 there! (Maybe with clash with Telford? although probably not too many / larger traders who normally went to both?)


I did actually attempt to go to it last Sunday, but discovered the A34(S) was closed south of Oxford with some queuing to leave exits quite a bit before that, that were being signposted as diversion route. These didn't seem a very good choice, so I thought I'd try and get as far as actual closure and then get SatNav to find some backroads route (My one seems very good at taking you down every single-track road it can find, when choosing 'Shortist route- So I normally often avoid choosing that) down to next exit to re-join it.

But I then discovered it seem there are NO alternative roads whatsoever, from where it was closed! (Or useful Diversion signs) - When I did try and go through Chilton etc. I just ended-up coming back out again on closed Southbound junctions to the A34 driving round Didcot & Harwell a few times.
And by the time I looked at a proper (larger scale) paper map, to find an actual alternative (seemingly only West towards Wantage and down A338 / A343), it was going to be another hour to get there and would have been all-over when I got there, as I hadn't set off until later than I'd originally intended. So I gave-up and drove back (via Abingdon for cheapest Petrol at least)

I later searched online, and struggled to find why the A34 was closed. It did seem there may have been an overturned lorry a day or two before, that had led to an emergency A34 closure to resurface parts. But when I looked on one.network live map, I found the A34 was closed all the way to just north of Newbury and that it seemed to be for planned resurfacing maintenance for the whole weekend.
Plus one.network shows there's further closures on a weekend in each of the following months: 10-13th may, 7-10th Jun & 5th-8th Jul 2024.
- Luckily it seems none of these clash with Newbury or McMichael Rallies, but it would have been useful to have known about closure for Andover, as I hadn't seen anything on the rally website.

I've not had much luck with the A34 in recent years - with the only times I've used it, I've found it has been closed - Burst water-pipe for Andover 2yrs ago, and then closure for resurfacing last year for Newbury (with most alternative routes also blocked as long-term A420 roadworks closure so I had taken hours to finally get back via Oxford city centre with confusing / poor diversion signage).

[beamcurrent]

I attended it this year with a land-rover full of stuff to sell, all satisfactory.

The rally size and attendance was much as it has been in previous years. Modest but still good. As it is a boot style rally it starts early say 8.30 and is over by lunch time and you have the afternoon to examine your purchases!.

[G6Tanuki]

I had planned on attending but on the Thursday before, I made an 'uncontrolled descent into terrain' as the aviation types would say - falling out of a large apple tree while trying to attach a scaffold pole as an antenna support.

Going to the rally with a cracked rib and painful bruising was not on.

I heard a few people on the local repeater who were on their way home from the rally, it sounded like it was a bit smaller than in times past. I suspect that the unusually cold and wet spring we have been experiencing may have deterred some potential attendees.

[bionicmerlin]

I would say it was slightly smaller than it used to be but it’s one of my favourite rallies. But then I would say that as it’s not to far away.
Although small it alway has in my opinion good stuff and I like the car boot type set up . As always, I come away with some good tat . Andy