[AMRadio] Ham-Com message

[Donald Chester]

> It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter about the future of
> Ham-Com. After 41 years, Ham-Com has decided to close its doors in lieu of
> the restrictions in place for COVID-19 and the rising costs of putting on a
> show. 

Although I never attended I know this has to be a disappointment to
those who attended regularly.  I have QSOed with many over the years 
who had good things to say about the event and caused me to regret living
too far away to make the trip.

Jim's announcement implies that the hamfest was already on the brink and
COVID was the final nail in the coffin. I sadly predict that this will be the  
fate of other hamfests as well, since hamfest attendance,  like OTA
activity, seems to have been in decline in recent years, and some of these 
events undoubtedly will never fully recover after (or if) the pandemic is
finally over.

Sometimes all it takes to kill a hamfest is a change in venue, or one year's
cancellation due to unavoidable  circumstances. One example that stands
out to me is the Cincinnati Hamfest whose flea market used to rival that of 
Dayton, but which as I understand, eventually dwindled to a small local
event after the original Stricker's Grove site was moved to the outskirts of
town. Another is the Rochester NY hamfest that was abruptly cancelled 
one year after it was already up and in operation, when a team of NY State
tax agents moved in and forcefully closed it down because each individual 
vendor had not applied ahead of time for some kind of newly required flea 
market tax form.

A tragic fall-out from this is vintage equipment and other unobtanium going 
to the landfill because there is no nearby ham gathering for the owner to take 
it to, and (s)he does not want to take the risk of advertising it on-line and 
having strangers come to the house to look it over during the pandemic.  
 
I just saw a posting to that effect on QRZ.com the other day.  The owner no 
longer had the space to hold onto the item and was afraid to receive visitors  
to take it off his hands, so he cancelled his sale/trade posting and indicated 
that he had already hauled the item to the dump.

Don k4kyv