In the announcement I wrote that last year the first motorhomes were already on site on the Thursday. This year I wanted to be cleverer and arrived on Thursday myself — and still wasn’t the first. In Märwil, somebody is always there earlier. I’m taking it in good spirit: if you come second, at least you don’t have to barbecue alone.
Friday: motorhome after motorhome
From Friday lunchtime things really got going. Motorhome after motorhome rolled onto the site, and the afternoon consisted essentially of three activities: greeting friends, positioning vehicles and waving people in while they manoeuvred. By the evening a sizeable motorhome village had grown up around the rifle club house — everything from compact panel vans to full-size liners was there.
Of course, the barbecue evening couldn’t be missed. The weather wasn’t entirely on our side — a bit rainy and cool — but nobody really minded. We went to bed early anyway, so as to be fresh for Saturday. You get sensible as the years go by. Supposedly.
Saturday: the big day
At eight o’clock the sellers arrived and stocked their stalls, and at nine the doors opened to visitors. And this year it was especially worthwhile: the tables were well stocked, and more than one great item was just waiting to be bought. Radios, antennas, accessories, boxes to rummage through — exactly the mix that makes a flea market.
By the way, anyone walking along the car park on Saturday morning didn’t need a sign to know they were in the right place: the vehicle roofs with their antennas gave it away more reliably than any signpost.
At lunchtime the canteen served exceptionally good spaghetti bolognese — the kitchen team did an absolutely brilliant job, and people at every table said so. In fact: a big thank you to the volunteer helpers of HB9TG. Without this crew, who set up, cook, direct people and tidy everything away again at the end, this weekend simply wouldn’t exist.
The rest of the day belonged to conversation. At the tables people talked shop, haggled and swapped stories, and every few metres you ran into a familiar face. That’s exactly why you go — the flea market is the occasion, the people are the reason.
Towards evening the motorhome crowd fired up the barbecue once more, this time in better weather. Lots of lovely moments and conversations there too — the kind of evening where you talk about antennas until it gets dark, and then a bit longer.
Two special thank-yous
Two encounters from the weekend deserve a paragraph of their own. Tobi HB9HTZ brought me a Yaesu FTX-1 Optima on loan so that I can keep working on Ham-Tools — nothing replaces real hardware on the workbench, and someone simply sending their own radio off on a trip for that is anything but a given. And Akio HB9HJK sent his drone up and contributed the aerial shots — the view of the site at the top of this post is his. Thank you both, this is exactly how this hobby works!
Sunday: packing up and heading home
On Sunday it was time to pack up and drive home. It’s the same small miracle every year: what takes half a day to set up on Friday disappears in a few hours on Sunday, leaving an empty site and a full head.
Thank you, HB9TG, for the organisation and the hospitality — the 9th Eastern Switzerland Hamfest and the 14th Ham Flea Market were worth every kilometre of the journey. I’ll be there again next year. Probably on the Thursday again. And probably not the first again.
73 de Chris, HB9HJI
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