What would you pick?

[W3WN]

This is a serious question... even though I know how things veer through tangents around here.

Given: A budget of about $1500 to purchase 2 or 3 main hamfest prizes.

What would you buy?

The catch? Well, simply put, the prizes have to be attractive to other hams, attractive enough to encourage them to buy (or buy more) main prize tickets. Not neccesarily what YOU would want to buy with that money (or win yourself)

[For example, that may rule out the Ten Tec 506 Rebel -- it's going to be an interesting little radio, and I certainly want one, but as a main hamfest prize? At best, maybe #3]

In the past, the main prize has been an FT-897, or TS-480SAT, or similar rig, or an Ameritron amp. Second prize was often a V/UHF dual band mobile rig. Third prize might be something like an MFJ (or similar) antenna analyzer. We've also tried an HDTV as 2nd or 3rd prize (popular, but now several other clubs are offering that, so it no longer stands out), and once we tried straight cash prizes (most hams told us that they'd rather win a rig, even if they sold it... they were less likely to buy tickets for cash prizes).

This came up at last night's club meeting. Suggestions were asked for... and it made me curious about what type(s) of rig someone would want to win.

What do you think?

[WX7P]

I think a good prize would be something you wouldn't necessarily buy for yourself due to cost, but would be fun to have.

Like a Yaesu ft-8900 quad bander or a VX-8DR.

HF rigs are cool, but doesn't just about everyone have one?

I like the antenna analyzer as a 3rd place prize.

[wa6mhz]

A good friend (and Carl knows him well too) just won a (OMG!!!) Yaesu FT-857D at a local hamfest! WOW! Would I love to have scored that! Prizes really rack in the tickets.
Probably the biggest prize drawing in the country is NOT Dayton, but the Visalia DX Convention. They have a budget of around $50,000!!!! So they give away SEVERAL of the high end radios, towers and such. Plus lotsa little ones.

I would put a good portion of the prize booty into smaller prizes, which gives the everyday ham a shot at bringing SOMETHING home from the hamfest. But the main drawing should be a nice HF radio. One thing that might work is to find a dealer who still has the Yaesu FT-950 on closeout, which might make it real cheap for a prize, yet is a SERIOUSLY NICE Radio!!! A garden variety dualband plus some HTs are a good 2nd and 3rd prize. Also score some of the Baofeng HTs that go for around $40, as they don't hurt the budget yet give a nice prize for someone to take home.
73

[W3WN]

You didn't answer the question Pat.

But... you also aren't aware of our prizes at WASHFest. We already have (assuming we buy 1 - 3) the 4th & 5th prizes. We usually have two "black box" drawings. 50/50, of course. And starting at 9 AM, we give away a grab-bag of misc. stuff every half hour (at least 2 every drawing, total of about 15 - 20).

For a little hamfest of approx. 400 - 450 attendance, I think that's pretty good. But Visalia, we're not.

[W3WN]

I think a good prize would be something you wouldn't necessarily buy for yourself due to cost, but would be fun to have.

Like a Yaesu ft-8900 quad bander or a VX-8DR.

HF rigs are cool, but doesn't just about everyone have one?

I like the antenna analyzer as a 3rd place prize.

Quite a few hams around here don't have HF. There is a very large contingent of 2 M & 70 cm FM only ops.

That aside... we've done a dual band rig, or a D-Star rig, as one of the main prizes in the past. (Sometimes a 45 - 50 W rig as 1st, a 25 W rig as 2nd). So I wouldn't rule that out.

A couple of years ago, another club had as a main prize the Flex QRP rig (1500? I forget the model number offhand). No, I didn't win it... because I was a nice guy. I let a husband & wife from my club buy their tickets ahead of me, he won. (And sold the rig a month later, untouched, but that's another story. At least I used that TS-480SAT I won for a year before trading it)

Hopefully, you can all see what I'm driving at. I know what I'd pick as prizes... but that doesn't mean my tastes in gear are the same as the general ham populace. The whole idea is to pick prizes that will sell a lot of main prize tickets, thus generating shekels. And while we're not hurting... we still have a nice balance in the bank... we just spent 3 years of hamfest profits on the repeater move & related upgrades, and we have more to do.

[K7SGJ]

There is always an '85 Yugo. I'll bet no other club ever offered one.

[W3WN]

There is always an '85 Yugo. I'll bet no other club ever offered one.

Good. I'll pencil you in for 100 tickets on that one. That'll be $100 please.

[K7SGJ]

Good. I'll pencil you in for 100 tickets on that one. That'll be $100 please.

When Maxwell flys.

[KB3LAZ]

Quite a few hams around here don't have HF. There is a very large contingent of 2 M & 70 cm FM only ops.

That aside... we've done a dual band rig, or a D-Star rig, as one of the main prizes in the past. (Sometimes a 45 - 50 W rig as 1st, a 25 W rig as 2nd). So I wouldn't rule that out.

A couple of years ago, another club had as a main prize the Flex QRP rig (1500? I forget the model number offhand). No, I didn't win it... because I was a nice guy. I let a husband & wife from my club buy their tickets ahead of me, he won. (And sold the rig a month later, untouched, but that's another story. At least I used that TS-480SAT I won for a year before trading it)

Hopefully, you can all see what I'm driving at. I know what I'd pick as prizes... but that doesn't mean my tastes in gear are the same as the general ham populace. The whole idea is to pick prizes that will sell a lot of main prize tickets, thus generating shekels. And while we're not hurting... we still have a nice balance in the bank... we just spent 3 years of hamfest profits on the repeater move & related upgrades, and we have more to do.

Yep, my area is in the same boat. HF rigs sell the tickets. The suggested 8900 is not a bad prize but 10m FM in my area would be of little use. It would appeal to a lot of people that could not use FM on that band. Also, the general population in my area would have little use for it as well. 6m in this area isnt much better when talking FM for either simplex or repeater use.

If your area is anything like mine, I would rule out rigs geared to specific bands, particularly 10m, 6m, or 220. That makes it HF and or dual band rigs. The problem there is that even the low end HF radios would eat up a large part of your budget.

Something like the TS-480SAT is appealing to many. It is a decent size for either mobile or desktop use. Also, it offers a built in tuner. Finally, it leaves you some cash to pick out a nice dual band mobile such as the FT-8800.

I would not buy either of these radios but they do seem to be popular. My gradfather won a 480 a breeze shooters a few years back. He likes it. It is in his truck at the moment.

I do like the analyzer idea that Janet pointed out as well. A few nice dual band mobiles may sell tickets as well. I know a lot of people that stray away from buying tickets when an HT is in the top 3. I know for many people they really are an after thought item unless they live in a metro area with a lot of repeaters.

Edit: That aside, an item that I would like to see on a top prize list is the TS-590. Not in the budget, I know. Actaully I would like to see TT, Elecraft, or flex on a prize list at a hamfest at least once but I never have. Then again, it is not often that I make it to a large hamfest.

[WØTKX]

If the high numbers of VHF/UHF only ops are due to the fact that they are Techs, perhaps an HF receiver would be cool?

While it's not a directly "tangible" item, large dollar gift certificates to HRO, AES, GigaParts, etc.?

Maybe a West Mountain PowerGate plus the batteries to setup emergency power?