Radio Rallies of the Past.

[m0cemdave]

Robin's point in message #70 is an interesting one. It can be quite a dilemma for rally organisers.

I have been a regular punter at numerous rallies since the 1970s, and over the last 10 years - in the interests of decluttering - have had my own stall at a few.

I have also helped run a local rally and usually end up looking after the club stall. There was one occasion where we had a very large amount of stuff to sell (two silent key sales) and the stall was in full view of the long line of visitors patiently queueing at the gate in advance of opening time. I was under strict instructions not to sell anything until the gates had opened, which generated much comment from traders. Most of it was friendly and understanding but some, er, really wasn't.
But I know there would have been a lot worse from the people in the queue if they had watched the stall being emptied of the best items before they were allowed in, and we still do our best to apply the same policy on the club stall at all our rallies.


On the one hand, if you are attending as a buyer then you won't be pleased if all the real bargains and the more desirable stuff has been snapped up by traders before the event has opened. Especially if they can see that the same items have gone straight onto their own stalls, presumably for a mark-up.

On the other, if you are the sole operator of a table at a rally then the only way you will get to look at the other stalls and make any purchases is either by abandoning your own table for half an hour (or more), or having a look round during setup before the official opening.


There is a variety of reasons for having a stall at a rally. You really have to decide in advance which it is to be, and stick to it on the day. But your choice will strongly influence your attitude to the points being made above and it may influence your decision whether to attend the rally next year.

Some are there purely to trade and make a profit, buying strictly to sell on - either at rallies or online.

Some use it as a way to get rid of unwanted items, using the proceeds to buy more stuff and to cover their petrol costs and entry fees.

Others just want to downsize or de-clutter with no expectation of making any purchases, resisting the temptation to fill up the empty space in the car and thereby defeat the purpose. This requires a certain amount of will-power and determination to avoid visiting other stalls!

[m0cemdave]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

... In the past I recall rallies offering educational threads - apart from walk-in Morse-tests there were things like "Getting started in digital radio", "Radio-enabled balloons", 'Foxhunting' and "Moonbounce for Beginners" - which to my way of thinking were great ways of interesting the next-generation in the hobby/sport.

Alas, again this seems to have fallen by the wayside ...

Unfortunately this is down to cost. Running a series of lectures, demonstrations, or morse tests requires some kind of reasonably sized rain-proof venue, as distinct from the now common "boot sale in a field" type of event.

Time was when village halls, schools, and local council venues were made available cheaply - usually on an "at cost" basis - for community and hobbyist events such as radio rallies. Over the decades, the costs of running such venues have increased at much more than the inflation rate as they have had to become more professional in their management. Added to which, the owners of these places are usually now required to treat them as profit centres and charge proper commercial hire rates, and many of them have outsourced their management to commercial companies who have to do the same.

Hiring a rally site is a substantial risk for a small radio club with an annual turnover in the low thousands of pounds and a contingency fund (if they have one) that only covers a year's normal expenses. Consequently many indoor venues are now out of their reach, which is why you usually find them in cheap-to-hire open spaces such as school fields and spare areas of sports grounds.

When the current pandemic is over, it's likely that even these sites will become unaffordable as site owners come under pressure to generate as much income as possible to help cover the costs and losses it has caused, either by increasing hire fees or selling off the land.

I anticipate that most of the small scale rallies will disappear before long, leaving only a few major ones that are big enough to hire large venues. And they certainly won't be charging stallholders £10 or £15 for the day, nor buyers' entry fees of £3 or £4...

[russell_w_b]

We used to go to the Preston rally back in the early 1980s, which was held in a school, and one at Barnoldswick, of all places!

Leeds rally; Telford rally; Blackpool rally at Norbreck: all in the 1980s. At the Leeds rally I bought a NOS Bell-type telephone receiver for 50p. Sealed on a poly bag with Govt. stamped label and desiccant. Having a degree in hindsight, I wished I'd bought the lot.

Pretty sure I went to a rally at Taunton in 1989 or 1990 too, but not too clear about this. I seem to remember some IBA transmitter equipment for sale contemporaneous to our BBC equipment!

[m0cemdave]

Originally Posted by russell_w_b

We used to go to the Preston rally back in the early 1980s, which was held in a school,

I can remember visiting the Preston rally a few times, around 1970. I think at least one of them was at a TA hall, or maybe a building at the Preston Barracks, and it later moved to a school.
I'm sure I went to one of the Belle View rallies in Manchester around the same time.

Also in the 70's, the Keighley rally. I think that was at the Victoria Hall.

I lived in Leicester for a few years, within walking distance of the rallies at the Granby Halls. The venue had been badly run down. It was scheduled for replacement, so no money was spent on maintenance, but the replacement plans were always being delayed so it just got worse. When it was eventually demolished, the promised new venue never materialised and the site became a car park, maybe still is... The rally moved to Donington Park but didn't last very long there. I'm guessing the costs were too high.
One year I think there was a disagreement between the ARRA and the clubs who operated the rally, resulting in two rallies that claimed to be its successor (fortunately on different dates).

The Elvaston rally was always one of the best. Much of it under canvas, and with alternative attractions that made it suitable for families.

Stockwood Park (a.k.a. Dunstable Downs) and Newbury are two very good outdoor rallies. They are big enough to be worth travelling to and consequently have a large catchment area. As a result they are well attended, both by visitors and stallholders. A kind of "critical mass" effect.

The Wythall rally is also recommended, all indoors and immune from bad weather. Large enough to spread over several buildings, and with some excellent regulars selling a wide variety of hard to find components.

[bigfathairyvika]

I used to organise the Cambridge and District Club rally at Woodgreen nr Godmanchester.
The main cost was the hall hire which cost roughly £1500.
Initiallly this was about £800 but when Woodgreen was taken over they decided that they wanted to charge us about £6000 for the day. After some tactful negation the cost rose to about 1200 with the expectation that this would increase by about 250 a year.
Insurance was included in the price and the local st John's ambulance were given a donation of about 250 quid to attend.
Eventually as club members became too old to help the rally became too difficult to run on the day due to lack of volunteer helpers.

We needed four people on the door to take entrance fees and crowd control, two more for general security, two people to deal with car parking, one on the talk in radio, as many as we could get first thing from 4am to help setup the tables.
The main problem with staffing was getting them to do more than half hour without wandering off. We did say volunteer got free entry but as usual that ment most turned up, pretended to do something then wandered off round the tables.
The hardcore of about six to eight helpers eventually had enough so it was given the boot.

Mark

[livewireless123]

The one I have been to most is the NARSA series, these started in 1962 and I first went to the belle vue meeting in the late 60s with the Eccles radio club
I remember buying a 19 set (already 'got at' for five bob, 25 P. still got it.
This rally moved about a bit during the 80s, it went to Pontins Ainsdale for a weekend in 1983 but never returned there. That's where I bought a 62 set for a fiver. Belle Vue was getting run down by the mid 80s so they went to Blackpool and have been there since. I remember they needed a volunteer anti-theft security patrol in the car park at belle vue for the last few meetings.I remember
selling a fairly modern CB set, still in its box at Blackpool from the Southport radio club stand. this had an obscure synth fault so it was clearly marked as
needing work and sold quite cheap. I later saw it on sale again at a big mark up.
no mention of any fault!
I have just dug through some old papers and found a wad of programmes from
past rallies

[60 oldjohn]

Apologies if they have been mentioned, Carlton and Hull. Hull was at the sports centre. Carlton was at a School, first time found it with no trouble, second time a quick look at the map before setting off, and upon arrival could not find the School. How many Carlton's can there be in a County?? Another brilliant Rally which the name escapes me was near the M18 / M180 junction last held 2019, unfortunate about the 2020 one.

John.

[whiskas]

I miss the Longleat rally... it was one of the highlights of my year!