5th FEB, BVWS SPECIAL AUCTION @ RWB!

[Phil G4SPZ]

Well, it was my first time at a BVWS auction and I came away very impressed. Having attended other organisations' auctions in the past, I appreciate the time and effort that goes into running such events. Mike's very rapid sale rate of just over 100 lots per hour was quite superb. Sadly I didn't win anything - prices were higher than I could justify spending - but there was certainly no lack of cash available from many bidders!

Thanks from me to all who made the event possible.

[Hunts smoothing bomb]

It was indeed a very enjoyable day, there were too many temptations though and I came away with quite a few sets!

It was a long day for me, I was on the road at 6am and didn't get home until 7pm and so I must tip my hat to Mike and the team as they had been at it since 4am and were still there when I left at 5 plus I know Mike wasn't feeling tip top!

Going back to what Cobaltblue said about younger people in the society, The question is how do we get younger blood into this interest/hobby?

I feel that it's not the case of most youngsters aren't interested in this stuff but I think that they're not even aware of the technology!

It's a difficult one and I'm not sure how we get the interest back into the younger generation.

Cheers

[Phil G4SPZ]

Encouraging younger enthusiasts is an interesting topic, worthy of its own thread, although I daresay it has been widely discussed in the past. I am involved with several other technology-based hobbies, primarily historic lighting and preserved railways, and there seems to be a healthy influx of younger people into those. However, for reasons that currently elude me, vintage radio (and amateur radio to a large extent) doesn't seem to have the same appeal.

Perhaps the vintage radio hobby will change as the age profile changes. As many of us older folks grew up with fond memories of valve wireless, gramophones and the like, perhaps modern youngsters will have similar fond memories of their first iPod, VCR, computer, cassette recorder etc and may wish to repair and preserve those technologies.

I know a name change for the BVWS is under consideration, that may help.

[GMB]

perhaps modern youngsters will have similar fond memories of their first iPod, VCR, computer, cassette recorder etc and may wish to repair and preserve those technologies.

... but they will be disappointed because of the fundamental shift that occurred when micro processors started to appear in everything, which now means that a lot of the function of a device cannot be found anywhere in the actual circuits. The firmware will leak away and then the "soul" of the device will be gone forever.

[newlite4]

I was encouraged a few months ago at work when I had the task of disposing of a cupboard load of bakelite meters of all shapes and sizes. I was about to take two trolleyloads down to the disposal bay when some students asked me where they were going. On hearing my response they decided that they would like them. Within half an hour some 50 students were walking away with vast amounts of mid century technology and loving it!
Neil

[thermionic]

Originally Posted by Phil G4SPZ

Encouraging younger enthusiasts is an interesting topic, worthy of its own thread..........

I know a name change for the BVWS is under consideration, that may help.

I wholeheartedly endorse a name change for the BVWS. I propose something like BVES. ( British Vintage Electronics Society). If one looks at the items at the auction yesterday which sported lots of excellent quality equipment, then I would say that 70 per cent were Radio sets. It may be that vintage TV, Audio and 1970's electronics in general will appeal to a different. ( younger) audience in years to come.

I have a 17 year old son who I bought along to a RWB swap
meet a few years ago. Whilst he loves technology, at the moment he is not interested in the hardware. I'm still hoping!

SimonT.

[Boater Sam]

Probably going OT but I feel a comment is called for. Just changing the name of the BWVS may help, but its a tinmans patch.
Its the same problem with other 'hobbies' as well.
Younger people don't expect to have to fix anything. The manual dexterity and skills are not developed beyond texting thumbs.
They are also becoming less likely to join in anything where personal face to face contact is the norm, social media sites are more of an insular attraction.
Its a sad departure from what most of us old engineers experienced 50 odd years ago.

[GMB]

Back on topic, as I had a long wait for my item to come up I decided to find out what happens at these auctions...

About 2/3 of the attendees went away with something.
One person bought about 10% of all the items.
This pie chart shows, of the people who bought something, how many items they bought (roughly, as my data was not complete).

[Cobaltblue]

HI GMB

That's an interesting finding.

I was surprised that one person only bought 10% at times it seemed many more.

I went away with 5 items and very pleased with my purchases too.

I guess your data was incomplete since you didn't always hear the membership number.

Prices were higher than a few previous auctions over the last few years in the main I thought although for most items still lower than the peek in the late 1980's.

However the AD65 and some of the 1920's sets were back into that sort of prices although inflation means that the items were still cheaper relatively.

There was a good percentage of quality items.

A fantastic day.

Cheers

Mike T

[Pamphonica]

Just to add my grateful thanks to Mike and to the team of porters and helpers, and to Jim and the kitchen team who kept us so well victualed. I know they had not only a very long day on Sunday but a lot of preparatory work beforehand. I don't know what we would do without you all. Actually I do know - we would simply not be able to enjoy the social pleasure of meeting fellow enthusiasts at these very enjoyable meets.

Even though I only bought 3 items I was very pleased and came away with a slightly rare early Avo DA112 nixie multimeter (basically now working after some tlc), a sweet little Philips midget record player (also working) and a superb Avo Douglas No3 coil winder (less motor) for a pleasingly modest price.

And of course lots of time for chats with many friends. A pleasant interlude for me, as we are currently without a kitchen and there is dust and noise everywhere at home as the new one is being fitted.

all the best

Jeremy

[Paul Stenning]

Originally Posted by Boater Sam

Probably going OT but I feel a comment is called for. Just changing the name of the BWVS may help, but its a tinmans patch.
Its the same problem with other 'hobbies' as well.
Younger people don't expect to have to fix anything. The manual dexterity and skills are not developed beyond texting thumbs.
They are also becoming less likely to join in anything where personal face to face contact is the norm, social media sites are more of an insular attraction.
Its a sad departure from what most of us old engineers experienced 50 odd years ago.

We do have the advantage now of a much younger Bulletin editor on the committee. Alex is about 20 so may well be able to help us make the Society more attractive to younger people, if indeed that is a viable goal. I'm sure he will bring a lot to these discussions at committee meetings in due course, once he has fully settled into his main role.

[Paul Stenning]

The auction results are now on the BVWS website here http://www.bvws.org.uk/auctions/resu...ootton-bassett