This is (I think) the biggest amateur gathering in the world.
For your diaries the dates are May 17-19th 2019. This is often the venue when the major companies announce new products. Sometimes the products are very early models. You can imagine the development departments at ICOM, Yaesu and others working overtime to meet the dates! Fail by a few days and I can see sackings.
I have never been there, and probably never will, but can imagine it is quite something.
I haven't been yet to the new venue. The old venue was quite a dump. That being said, short of disparate flea markets on the west coast of the US and surplus places spread around the world, there isn't anywhere I can imagine being able to get all of the kinds of things you may come across at this event. I think with eBay and all of your accrued bookmarks over the years of places like QRP Labs and other kit builders would certainly allow you to get what you need. About the only thing you may well be missing outside of the in person knob fiddling of the latest thing is the serendipity of seeing some old curious piece of junk that you might buy in an impulse that you certainly don't need :D ... For me I bought some Atari 2600 paddles and joysticks and they've been on my shelf ever since. I did get to shake the hand of the guy who made the HackRF. I was appalled at the over priced questionably sourced drones and surplus riot gear someone was selling. I saw a complete Drake set which was out of my price range. I managed to park fairly close, though and didn't have to ride the tram. When I was a kid 30 years ago, my dad and I bought computer parts there as it was easier than mail order. I am not sure if I'll go this year, but I may go again sometime in the future. Thanks as always for a great blog!!
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