With the high price of gas these days, I think it would be a great idea to know what's being offered at small hamfests and swapfests ahead of time. The power of the Internet allows us to do this.

If your organization is planning one of these events, you might consider making it known that you will be accepting detailed information from sellers as to what they will be selling. For example, someone setting up a table can say that they will have a (name) dual band rig, a (name) antenna tuner, etc. You can post this information on your group's website for all to see.

It sounds like a lot of trouble, and it is, but it could help convince the person living 100 miles away that there just might be something at your event worth traveling for.

You could gather this information over two or three months preceding the event. The preferable method would be by e-mail, so that you can "copy & paste" the information into your group's website. It's up to you, but you may even want to consider allowing a photo or two to be attached to the e-mail.

What I would not do, however, is reveal the identity of the seller. This will prevent deals being made before the event, and causing you to end up with just a small percentage of the gear that you thought you would.

Listings for your first event might be kind of "light", but word will spread, especially if you make it known with flyers at the ticket table.

Of course, not everyone will be able to take part in this project, or even want to take part. I suppose there are a lot of older hams who do not care to make use of the Internet. It would be up to you whether or not you accept these pre-listings by snail mail. Of course, this means someone will have to enter the data by hand.

Personally, I'm tired of going to these small events that claim to be hamfests and turn out to be junkfests. Maybe if you give me an idea of what's for sale, I might be willing to spend the gas money. Calling it a hamfest these days has nothing to do with whether or not it's a real hamfest.

Don't forget, buying online from out-of-state major vendors is tax free and, usually, shipping free. Plus, we know what we're getting. If you want to combat that factor, plus those high gas prices, you're going to have to be a little innovative.

Come on…innovate!

73,

WF5TX