Wyong field day, did you go? Score anything awesome?

[snoopen]

Despite the horrible weather yesterday there was still a good turn out today at the Wyong field day. However there were significantly more flea market sellers last year. I hope it was just the weather.

Did you go? Buy anything awesome? Win anything in the lucky gate prize?

Much to my better half's relief I didn't really buy much apart from a few questionable bits of tech from the Jaycar stall.

I saw Dave floating about doing some recording! Looking forward to those vids.

[EEVblog]

I didn't score anything.
By the time I finished recording and talking to people and went back around to actually look at stuff, all the car boots had packed up and gone 
Video uploading now.

Dave.

[TerraHertz]

I'd planned to be down south, camping. But since that got canceled, and the weather on Sunday morning seemed to be improving, why not Wyong? Except, didn't decide to go till around 10am.

That turned out to be way too late. It's a long drive from Sth Sydney, and I didn't arrive till 2pm. Just as all the sellers but one had finished packing up and leaving. Bummer. People I spoke to said the turnout had been very low this year compared to recent years.

So drove on up to Catherine Hill Bay and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the coast bushland, wind and sea.

This photo taken today about sums up my Wyong experience this year. Maybe next year.

[jhalar]

Unfortunately a leaky roof stopped me going (higher priority) due to the heavy rain Sydney had been getting.

[snoopen]

That turned out to be way too late. It's a long drive from Sth Sydney, and I didn't arrive till 2pm. Just as all the sellers but one had finished packing up and leaving. Bummer. People I spoke to said the turnout had been very low this year compared to recent years.

Yeah I was surprised how quickly it rounded up. I got there at 9:30am which was a pretty good time to get there. Certainly was at it's busiest then. I left for lunch about 11am and it had thinned out a fair bit. At 1pm when I got back it was almost abandoned except the few hanging around for the raffle draw.

[EEVblog]

Yeah I was surprised how quickly it rounded up. I got there at 9:30am which was a pretty good time to get there. Certainly was at it's busiest then. I left for lunch about 11am and it had thinned out a fair bit. At 1pm when I got back it was almost abandoned except the few hanging around for the raffle draw.

Yep, that was my experience too, I left at 1pm.
Most of the car boot sales had packed up by 12pm.
Sales were good though I heard, AVcomm sold practically everything on their stand.

Dave.

[SLJ]

Same thing happens here in the US at swap meets.  Sales start early (in some cases as early as 5 am).  Everyone is usually packing up or gone by noon.
There are exceptions.  My favorite here lasts three days and nights and has free camping on site.  It's loaded with antique radios, phonographs, test equipment and parts.  Held twice a year, May and September.

[Raff]

I go to all the nearby Hamfests here in Qld, and used to go to Wyong every year, havent been able to go to Wyong for 4 years due to ill health. but from my experience Hamfests start early at like sunrise, and end at lunch time. Best bargains are at sunrise, and at the time people are packing up to go home, they dont want to have to take their "junque" back home so will often accept almost any offer of cash

I missed Jaycar at the Hamfests here in Qld!
C'mon Jaycar, I need some bits for the junk box!

[N2IXK]

Yep, looks just like hamfests here in the states, just with some different brandnames of gear and such. If you really want to grab great deals at some of these places, you need to bring junk of your own to sell, so you can get in early to set up your space. For better or worse, most of the real great deals go down even before the gates open to the general public.

Interesting that they call this event "Field Day". To hams here in the states, "field day" isn't a hamfest, but a nationwide contest/event that takes place at the end of June each year. Ham clubs "take to the field", setting up rigs and antennas at outdoor locations, running "off the grid", and attempt to contact as many other stations as possible in a 24 hour period. Intended to keep us in practice for providing emergency comms under adverse conditions after storms, earthquakes, or whatever.  Usually great fun, and a good way to meet other hams in your area.  Do ham clubs have a similar event down there in VK-land?