22 Sep
2026
22 Sep
'26
12:50 p.m.
I shared this in Discord, but I know some folks are not on there (and I
do not blame you FWIIW). I have seen some of the other hacker/maker
spaces have had booths at Electronics Flea Market and Pacificon, either
as an informational booth or as a fundraiser. Sharing what I know & my
experiences attending over the years below.
When: Sunday, Oct. 18 2026 6:00 AM to 12:00 Noon (rain or shine)
Where: back parking lot of San Ramon Marriott Hotel (behind the hotel,
in between the interstate and hotel building)
URL: https://www.pacificon.org/events/swap-meet
What: Pacificon is the regional ham radio convention for northern
California and all of Nevada. This is their swap meet/flea market,
similar to the silicon valley’s Electronics Flea Market (EFM aka eFlea).
Tips/notes: As this is an event of the regional ham radio convention, it
is heavy on radio/ham items for sale. But there are surprises every year
I have gone, with one seller:
- having a ton of satellite equipment and boards, many were development
and engineering samples
- “cleaning out their garage” having a dozen brand new RasPi’s for $5
each (back when they were hard to find and crazy priced)
- A clean Thinkpad T60 with spare batteries, a docking station, and two
power supplies that has been working great
- Soldering stations, various hand and electronic tools, test equipment,
etc.
There are a small handful of sellers that you would recognize from EFM,
but most are individuals from out of the bay area or even out of state.
Last year the road in front of the hotel was closed between 0700-0900
for a runners road race; come early in case this is happening again.
Also note the gates into the parking lot dont stay open until 0800 or
0900 in the morning
Typically, a couple of us from BARC/BARG will sell at this event; come
find us!
As this is a “convention” they do have vendors inside the hotel, where
the majority of them you can see for free (do not need the conference
badge). The conference badge is only needed for one room with the high
end radio gear (but is easy to sneak into if you know what you are doing).
Vendors worth checking out inside are (note TBD if they will be there
this year):
Lidoradio.com – Solutions for mounting tablets & phones in vehicles,
many without needed to drill “holes” in your vehicle. I have a couple of
their products, work great IMHO. Based on past years, they do tend to be
within the room with the high end radio gear.
Wired Communications (www.wiredco.com) – All the little parts, cables,
and doodads you could want. Much is the similar stuff you can get from
Alibaba and/or AliExpress, but with a little markup for this husband &
wife company (without the horrid shipping experiences from Alibaba
and/or AliExpress senders). They are normally in the hallway just
outside the room with the high end radio gear. They normally have come
to EFM once over the summer, but were not there this year.