Mendips Rally 2025 redux.

[G6Tanuki]

Visited this today, I hadn't planned to but a non radio related friend in the vicinity was having trouble with her Internet connectivity and she is well known for the quality of her home smoked bacon ( she has a small herd of pigs ) so I made a trip.

The Internet issues were easy to fix - but beforehand I popped into the rally. Was not sure if it was still on, there having been a deluge of rain in the last few days and I have had plenty of experience of flooded car parks.

But it was still happening. A bit of a disappointment though, significantly smaller than in years past, only a dozen or so outside stalls (did the prospect of thunderstorms deter them?) and much of the stuff on offer was what I would consider as skip-fodder. Rusty old CB sets with knobs missing, who would pay £40 ? 1970s 2M handbag radios with obviously bulging battery holders for £30? Broken soldering stations?

I came away with a couple of. PL81 valves, a diecast box and some coax leads.

And dropped a fiver into the collection tin for the GB3WR repeater guys.

Part of me wonders about the future of the rally scene. It's been declining massively over the last 20 years, to me it seems like people only go to rallies these days to spend time nattering with other old acquaintances rather than spending the sort of money that makes it worthwhile for traders to attend. I suspect that the coffee and sandwich shop took more money than the typical stall.

Time moves on. Oh well... At least my freezer is well provisioned with pork!

[m0cemdave]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

Was not sure if it was still on, there having been a deluge of rain in the last few days and I have had plenty of experience of flooded car parks.

Maybe everybody else thought the same and, unlike you, weren't passing through the area anyway...

I have been to two rallies this year - Foxton and Stockwood Park - and they both seemed to have good numbers of traders and visitors.
My next one will be McMichael, wonder what the new venue (and the weather) will be like?

[trh01uk]

I've been around in the vintage (military) radio scene since 1993. The changes have been enormous, though apparently not apparent in this forum. In those days amateur radio societies were still thriving - judging by the ones I visited to give talks to. As I understand it now, many have folded from lack of interest.

The gulf between the prices and quality of stuff at rallies compared to what is claimed on Ebay has opened up to gigantic proportions. My impression that not much gets sold at either end of the spectrum judging by G6Tanuki's opening comments.

And personally friends I spent a lot of time with actually doing vintage radio - often demos in the open field - have died off. I wonder how many younger people are coming into the hobby? My experience is none, but I am no longer in the right places to be sure.


Richard

[G6Tanuki]

Perhaps also an influencer is that many of the likely rally attendees are now of an age where they no longer have a car and fuel provided by their employer or similar. The trip to yesterday's rally cost me at least 15 quid for fuel alone, if you are on a basic pension that's a significant chunk of your weekly income.
Equally, it is obvious that a lot of the stuff offered for sale is 'shack clearance' or similar downsizing/decluttering which no doubt reflects the ageing demographics.

Like I said, time moves on and we are all inexorably heading for our final QSO with the Grim Reaper.

(I still miss the days when there were the large traders at rallies and you could spend serious money with them)

[CambridgeWorks]

The Spalding rally a week ago had more boot stands than usual, about the same amount as previous years in the small building, less than a dozen tables.
However, visitors appeared less and by 1200 few still there.
Despite taking an estate car full, 2 x 6ft tables and stuff on the ground, my takings were a little over £100, with 2 buyers accounting for 2/3 of that.
So, heavier items will now be stripped for knobs, dials, valves etc and rest go to weee.
Even for useful bits like ferrite tubular sleeves of various sizes and 100kc crystals they had no interest.
As spares and parts I offered were well below normal prices I feel that many who I imagine might use them either have such parts already or just buy new commercial as and when needed.
The days of people buying to keep in stock for as and when needed seems long gone.
Postage costs can make a lot of my items no longer viable to send any more.
Rallies being my final option.
If or when such events throughout the country becomes uneconomic to stage, things will go from bad to worse and a lot more stuff will probably just get dumped.
Nearly all newcomers locally to amateur radio just buy ready to use gear, even simple things that could be made easily.
One exception for a few around here is a strong interest in antenna experiments. But, commercial ones are also in demand.
Around here, time spent with digital matters and new rigs being discussed seems to be far more than time spent with tools and a soldering iron.
The lack of black box traders at virtually all rallies means more sales are done online.
Rob

[FIXITNOW]

I did Spalding , took an estate car full and came back half empty . and £380 richer , but i priced it cheap to get shot of it , did Foxton the month before, netting £370 , still more to clear out

[CambridgeWorks]

The very few wanting something and started to haggle ended up taking it away.

The big lump I reduced from £22 to £13 then £5 is already being dismantled
It was a decent spec level measuring receiver with valves from maybe early 50s. Weight around 15kg put buyers off I think. Nobody asked a question or to look inside it.
An untested stereo amp with 2x ECL86 is also being stripped as no interest.
At least the valves, mains and o/p txfmr can be posted if need be.
Rob

[Sean Williams]

I was at Spalding - Been many times before. Total sales £0.00 - Not that I had much to interest anyone, but not even a sniff!

It's a shame to hear about Mendips Rally, but at the same time, glad I decided to stay at home - at around a 7 hour round trip, and probably a tank of diesel, it would have represented a poor day out, if only a few tables there.

It is generally the way rallies are going I think though - Stockwood Park a few weekends back was reasonable, but in no way the event it used to be.

I'm off to Friedrichschafen in a couple of weeks - with my first visit being back in 2012 - even this massive event is showing signs of stress - my first visit it took 2 days just to get around the "Flohmarkt". Last year, things were much less busy - the second hall was two thirds empty, and the first hall with a much less diverse mixture of things to look at. Even the main trade hall is a shadow of its former self.

As has already been pointed out, newcomers to the hobby generally do not engage in construction or modification as part of the hobby - Supplies of convertable radio equipment from the commercial market have died completely, due to the migration to TETRA, and largely zero conventional RF engineering. SDR has replaced a lot of experimentation.

Fundamentally, electronics have just become comparitively cheap - go back even 25 years when I was first licensed, the FT847 and PSU was the thick end of £2500, then add antennas, cables, and all the other odds and ends, and a beginner station quickly approached £4k.

Now, with the plethora of digital modes, and low cost well specified radios available online, £200 will get you a system working and on the air, working contacts around the world.

It's progress, though, I feel at the cost of the social aspect of the rally scene - I much enjoy catching up with people I have met over the years at these events, and if it also means I can pick up a few odds and ends I am looking for then that was a good day out.

[trh01uk]

Originally Posted by Sean Williams

It's progress, though, I feel at the cost of the social aspect of the rally scene - I much enjoy catching up with people I have met over the years at these events, and if it also means I can pick up a few odds and ends I am looking for then that was a good day out.

Sean,

I agree with your comments completely. I've always enjoyed meeting up with you when we have (by chance) bumped into each other. Right now I can't drive, due to illness, but have every intention of getting back out there in the future. Hopefully there will still be a few bits and pieces of interest crawling out of attics.......

People I knew in the vintage radio scene 20 years (now dead I'm afraid) were saying then that the whole military radio hobby would die out from lack of interest. I'm afraid their predictions are coming true, though for those remaining I fear that greed and scamming prevails as ever.

I've got rid of virtually all my excessive hoarding of various bits, and am now concentrating on the truly interesting (technically) stuff, like my Wireless Set No.42. I've often made the claim over the last 20 odd years to have the only production model in UK, and so far no-one has popped up to contradict me. That means bits for it are incredibly rare, but even so I now have the headset, connecting leads, pedal generator and the spare valve kit (including all the valves - even the extremely rare 2V heater PA valves!). It shows what happens when you are in this game for the long term.


Richard