NVCF 2010 - Thanks to all!

[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

[Paul Stenning]

Originally Posted by David G4EBT

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.

I helped with loading some of them back onto the van at the end and can confirm that they were damn heavy. Some may have noticed that Mike Barker was not as nimble as usual due to the effects on his back of loading them the day before.

[David G4EBT]

I wonder how many wives/partners took the opportunity to change the locks on the doors as soon as the gram was out of the house!!

The most surreal sight was someone pushing a huge trolley with just his lunchbox on it. He was returning to the hall from his car, where he taken a 'gram!

David.

We're all quite mad, of course

[jay_oldstuff]

Ditto a big thanks to all who organised the event it was a grate day indeed. There where a few sets i would of loved to have come home with but sadly the asking price on them was a little over optomistic all where still there when i left around 2pm. I did however pick up a dac90a all be it in kit form and missing speaker but with a mint case for £12 the only other thing i baught was a very desheveled pye LV30. i was very tempted by the Pye V4 after reading OTT's exploits but resisted the temptation did a forum member buy it i wonder?

Jay

[Paul Stenning]

The only thing I bought this time was another of those little "replica" radios, this time a Tesla replica, for £10. I'm about to move house again and have no spare cash.

I also came away with a couple of bits and pieces that were abandoned on the Bring and Buy (a tatty red radio and a pair of PC speakers), plus a DVD player which a stallholder left under his/her table when they left. I don't know whether any of them are any good but it saved them from landfill.

The estate sale next to the B&B did very well, which was partly evident by the number of empty cardboard boxes I was able to retrieve from there for my forthcoming house move.

Initial figures suggest that numbers were a bit down on last year which is a shame but I guess not that surprising in the current economic and political climate. Air travel concerns may have affected the number of European visitors too.

It was good to meet some of you there, in some cases for the first time, and it seemed like everyone was having a good time.

[KeithsTV]

Another vote of thanks for the organisers of the event, my third. Came away with almost as much stuff as I brought but most of it was FCS stuff for Steve P. I'll be taking it over to him on Monday.

Yes I saw the V4 with the added tuner and thought of OTT but as I didn't have room in the car I also declined.

It was good to meet up with so many members of the forum, more than I've ever met at one of these events, even though most of the meetings were in the car park transferring stuff from car to car/van (did you manage to fill that van Neil(29)?).

Next year I might remember to make up a badge.

Keith

[Phil G4SPZ]

It certainly was one of the best NVCFs that I can remember, and I've been attending for years. Thanks to the B&B crew for their sterling efforts too.

My view on the high prices being asked for restored sets is similar to David's. However it was good to note that many of the sets and equipment in my own collection are actually worth real money - particularly Quad amplifiers - but, as has been pointed out, the true value of any item is the price it realises when actually sold, not merely its price tag.

It was also really interesting to see the healthy numbers of relatively young people attending, and ladies too. It seems that vintage radio still has a bright future. Overall highlights for me were the good availability of components, knobs, and dance band 78s in excellent condition at realistic prices, together with the beautiful display of radiograms. If I only had the space...

Thanks again to the organisers for another splendid event.

[audiomagpie]

Likewise well done to the organisers, a most enjoyable event.
If you don't own one, it's all too easy to forget just how good those old radiograms sound!
A splendid display!

Besides many bits and pieces, I came away with a Ferguson 988T tv, c.1951, to keep my ol' 978T company. Filthy inside and I think worm still active in the cabinet, but otherwise looks pretty original.

Again, a big thanks to the BVWS team

Greg

[chipp1968]

I enjoyed it as usual. Also nice to see plenty of younger people there.I met up with an old mate from my classic car days , not seen for over ten years and He bough a lovely battery pye sunrise set ,and he may join the bvws !
I came away with a rather expensive french.. HMV monarch junior
Horn Gramophone circa 1905..last year it was a phonograph.this is a worrying trend

[Lloyd 1985]

It was a fantastic event! I've never seen the que that long to get in before! I really enjoyed it today, i actually stayed till 4pm. spent a small fortune, finally got a black and chrome round ekco someone beat me to the pye V4 I'd been wandering round looking at it.. good job someone did buy it before me! serious lack of space in the workshop. the display of radiograms was really good too, I rather like the RGD tv/radio/gram
thanks to all who make this event possible!

regards,
Lloyd.

[AlanBeckett]

I had a splendid time - thoroughly enjoyed it. I was doing very well - I'd only bought a bacon sandwich, a cup of tea and some components - until I went for a last sweep round before coming home. I'd noticed an old Advance D1, but at £20 I thought it was a bit too much. However, there it was reduced to £5. It's built like the proverbial brick outhouse. I almost had another heart attack getting it to the car.

The reason that I went for a last sweep round was to try to find a knob for a Pye radio I'd collected. Just to make sure I could identify the correct one I took one with me. I didn't find one, but when I got back to the car I'd lost the original. Now I need two :-(

The display of 'Grams was wonderful. I still want an A40RG, but I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't a Fenman II RG.

Alan

[dominicbeesley]

Thanks to all from me too...good to put some more faces to names from the forum and see a few familiar ones too, I only wish I'd had more time (and more money to spend) before I had to come back. And sorry Lloyd it was me who nabbed the V4 I've broken my promise to self to get some sleep and been playing with it tonight!

Next year I'll definitely make more time, have a shopping list, and try and get up a couple of hours earlier!

Dom

[Duke_Nukem]

I enjoyed the day and bought a stack of stuff - mostly filling gaps in various magazines, but also good to see boxes of valves at sensible prices there too. And if I'd known there was a Paegent TV or only a fiver I would have got the early doors ticket to get it ! Consolation prize was I bought an Ekco U29 as it matches one of the early toy radios I have.

There were some awesome music centers on display too - that McMurdo had to be seen to b believed, in the attached photo of it you can see part of an RGD music center + tv combination on the right, so hopefully that'll give you some idea of the sheer size of that thing.

There was a huge queue to get in - almost off-putting - but it was surprising just how quickly the queue got in to the hall, seemed very quick.

TTFN,
Jon

[tedzed1]

What a brilliant day, my first NVCF, and was quite a shock when i walked into the
hall, the sheer size of the event was overwelming.
So went a bit mad, and came away with eight radios, and empty wallet.
but i think bargain of the day for me was a bush dac10 that was complete, and reduced
to £10 towards the end of the day,

Cant wait till next year, WELL DONE to all that organised the event, and it was also nice to put a face to a few names.

regards for now Paul

[Neil F]

Yeah, I loved the 'grams too - it's easy to forget just how good a 78 can sound when played on the right kind of gear. Thanks to all involved in mounting a fabulous display.

[John M0GLN]

Can't add a great deal, except to say 'hear hear' to the previous posts, excellent day and many thanks to all the organisers for the hard work, put a few more faces to names, collected a nice Farnell oscillator from Mark Hennesy, and from the stalls, some 807's, mains trani', lots of smaller comp's, but one thing I did buy that I've wanted for about 55 years was a 'Pifco Radiometer' test meter, working order, boxed with instructions, I can remember as a 12 year old there was one in the local wireless shop window, I used to stop every time I passed the shop and wondered if I would ever be lucky enough to own one.

John

[Mike Phelan]

Indeed an excellent day out, and many thanks to the organisers.

Good to meet many friends from here, and, as usual, didn't meet many others despite the fact that I would have known them such as Keith, Mikey, Dom and Jon. Saw Howard and Ron, but they didn't spot me. Such is the size of the event.

I usually pin on a name badge so I can remember who I am, but did not remember to bring it.

There seemed to be more stalls than usual, and certainly the B&B was full to overflowing.

Lovely radiogram display - surely one day these must get better prices?

[newlite4]

Great day out as always, thanks to all involved, so good to see so many familiar faces. I bought some of those repro mains cables from the bottom of the hall, some caps from the BVWS and picked up an unusual French Radiola RA128A mid fifties set for £5 which is in need of some TLC. The McMurdo silver corporation radiogram never fails to impress. It was the first time that I had seen one on display. Such a nice journey there and back, I was able to take in Chipping Campden on the way home too .
Neil

[ppppenguin]

Apologies to all of you I met and failed to put a name to. Including those who'd only told me their names 5 minutes earlier. Good thng I was wearing a badge otherwise I might have emulated Mike Phelan and forgotten who I was too

It looked incredibly busy in the hall so I'm surprised to hear the numbers were down slightly. Apparently the stall numbers were up on last year.

I've thanked the B&B guys in a separate thread but didn't mention the rest of the NVCF team who did so much hard work. A fork lift truck might have been a wise investment.

[The teleman]

Hi Guys , Another fantastic show ! came away with 2 tv sets , A 21 inch GEC & a rather rare radio rentals set , It was great to meet some forum members , All in all a real treasure lets keep this event going ,Best Regards to all involved , Chris