Hamfest Economics
Saturday, September 19, 2026 at 09:15:25
One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that you can really tell something about the economy by what turns up at hamfests and what the prices are.
During better times, more stuff shows up at higher prices, obviously. More vendors are travelling because they know they can sell stuff at shows for a good price. Things like the Hallicrafters S-38 series show up in volume and at high prices because they can sell them. Those of us that know about the stuff want to see it first, and if we can poke at it we’re often willing to give a bit more if it’s what we want. We also get the experience of talking to the vendor who might be the one that actually owned the unit and can tell us about it.
During leaner years, less shows up but it’s cheaper, and you get more sold online because they can usually get wider exposure and a price closer to what a show would have offered during good times. Things like the Hallicrafters S-38 series don’t show up (yes, those are a good indicator because there were so many of them made) or if they do they cost next to nothing.
2020-2024 was the lean times, but stuff was cheap and if you were willing to go to a lot of shows, you could get some good stuff for literally a few dollars. That’s where I picked up most of the equipment I’m working with now. In 2025, prices started to rise - but they fell back pretty quickly and it started to be more like the lean years.
These last shows? They’ve been miserable. Fewer vendors, less new stuff (I assume companies are less willing to travel to smaller shows because there’s no crowd) and there’s a lot more not worth the money asked items. The big piles of junk vendors don’t show up. The tube guys don’t show up. The size of the shows have been shrinking drastically. People with certain items are asking more than a new comparable device would cost you because they bought them during good years and need to recover money.
The biggest tell for me this last show that said the economy is really in the toilet and is just a thin coat of varnish over rot is the guys that buy up everything else before all the rest of us can get there. For example, there’s one guy that I see at a lot of shows. He goes around before general opening and will buy up a lot of cherry items for his own table. Maybe do a little cleanup to them, but often just sit them on the table at a higher price. This guy had nothing other than just some normal hamfest tat and maybe one piece of oddball stuff. I’ve never seen his table that thin…there’s simply no cherries on the crap sundae right now, even for the insiders. The fact that this guy that goes to every local show, buys up things beforehand, and then resells them had nothing - that’s probably the biggest red flag I’ve seen.
The markets may be good, but the people in the trenches are dead. You all knew that already, however…