While I agree that is probably the case, when we were involved in
hosting a couple of ARRL
conventions, it was pretty much a given that the Big Three and Ham Radio
Outlet would rent
booth space; normally two or three spaces. Why? Because they would be
conspicuous by
their absence. It was a much harder sell to get the smaller vendors,
who wisely questioned
the return on investment.
I'm surprised that ARRL has any luck selling classified ad space in QST
these days, given the
myriad ways of buying/selling/trading gear on the Internet. I'm sure
you've noticed how
quickly things sell when advertised on this list.
73 de Jim - AD6CW
Rob Atkinson, K5UJ wrote:
I think all of the major ham rig manufacturers could halt all magazine
advertising TODAY and nothing would miss a beat. They are so well
established, well known, and so many hams have internet access they could
get by with just their websites. I expect within the next 10 to 20 years
QST will go entirely on-line. No vendor or manufacturer really needs those
full-page ads. Most of the product information hams get is off the internet
now. For me, the ads at the front and back of QST make up a sort of
monthly "catalog" to flip through, but not use for real information
gathering. The only good purpose they serve is to notify me of a new
vendor or product I didn't know about before and because of that, the
businesses that really need QST are the little guys who are starting up and
buy the single column inch display ads to use as a sort of "we exist--here's
our web address" type of heads-up. BTW, does anyone look at the Ham-ad
classifieds still?
<snip>
rob / k5uj
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