The Shriner’s Hamfest in Columbus, Ohio is happening August 2nd. This is a small, local show, but it’s always been good for something decent - be it a project device or simply something unique. Since it’s my local show, I always make a point to attend. As always, I’ll have pictures shortly after the show.
Columbus (OH) Hamfest
Aladdin Shrine Center
1801 Gateway Cir
Grove City, OH 43123
August 2
8A - 1PMish https://aladdinshrine.org/hamfest/
For the most part, I’ve only brought home parts (or parts units) this year - prices on equipment has really gone up and it’s moving things into the “I’d like that, but not at that price” territory, with some of the stuff being so far out of budget that there’s no way you could negotiate it down.
It shouldn’t be said that there aren’t bargains around, because there are. I did pick up some interesting things because I they were unusual or cheap.
First is this device. You’ve seen it before, since I had a post on it earlier. It’s a “tube tester” - aka “filament checker” for tubes. It’s some little device a company packed up with a RCA tube manual - in this case, the manual doesn’t look like it’s ever been cracked open. That’s the primary reason I purchased this, but the gadget was cool as well. It looks to have been used maybe one or two times - probably right up until the original owner realized you could just check the filaments with a meter instead!
Next up is a signal tracer! Yay! Well, not really. There’s nothing special about a signal tracer save this one is one of Precision’s devices (aka PACO) and is somewhat unusual. You see more of PACO’s signal generators and other devices - I believe this ST-22 is the first tracer from that manufacturer I’ve seen. It’s in very dirty shape and missing a knob, but it works. I did some cleanup on it and borrowed a knob from a PACO G-30, and it will probably be able to get put into service with a filter change. Stay tuned for a post on that in the future.
An Eico 902 Harmonic Distortion Analyzer is next up - this is a fairly late item for Eico, and as such, has very little wax paper capacitors to go bad. That’s good, because this is a fairly complex device under the hood. Providing some of the same measurements as the AA-1 and IM-48, this device could do both AC VTVM measurements as well as provide harmonic distortion measurements for audio amplifiers. While I don’t do a whole lot of audio work, this device was so cheap I really couldn’t pass it up. Next year, this will probably be back to 3 figures, so I picked it up now. There will be some posts on this one later as well.
Last, are some rather banal parts. These CSC (Continental Specialties Corporation) proto-boards match standard breadboard layout. You’ll probably recognize these - everyone from Radio Shack to no-name Chinese vendors sold a board with this exact same layout. Since I use these at times, and you can’t get them from the rats at the shack anymore, I picked these up for a few bucks. The 1970s packaging is just a bonus.
That takes care of finds from the first part of the year. Next show(s) are Columbus and Cincinnati in August, with a few more in September and November. Stay tuned for pictures of the goodies that show up!
Unlike last year, this year was promising rain - we could see it coming on the RADAR feed, but thought it would hold off for a few hours.
…but it didn’t hold off for long. We got about an hour before it started raining. Not hard, just a summer shower, but it wasn’t going to let up. We headed out.
The threat of rain kept a lot of vendors away, as the outdoor part of the market was less than half of last year’s crowd. That’s just the way this works - sometimes it rains. Still, there was a decent amount of things to see and the indoor portion of the show was full. Prices on some of the things was kind of high, with a few of the things I saw being just crazy - they were stopgap hobby things when new, and they aren’t aging well. Still, if someone is willing to pay it then more power to the people selling.
I did pick up a nice metered GenRad variac for $10, and some old Rat Shack style protoboards for a couple bucks each. I was offered some other things really cheap, but the “I don’t need more of this stuff” mentality kicked in.
Here’s what I saw at the show:
A lot of progessional audio gear
Some old protoboard like rat shack sold. I took these home.
An old, complex, impedance bridge.
Some cool old clock radios.
A couple of Conar (NRI) radios.
A signal generator in a truck bed.
I don't understand the prices on some of this stuff.
Was Hello Kitty on everything?
An old HP1200A scope.
This guy had a collection of meters for sale.
My friend loved this but said he couldn't afford it just to play Mario Bros.
A cool old Panasonic table radio.
Some radios, at a radio show…
Lots of random things.
This show has a lot of tables of things.
And even more random items.
What was this from?
An official Ma Bell teleprinter repair manual.
A tube tester and stuff.
Random radio gear.
It was a dollar because there were no tubes.
Tube testers are expensive.
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This finishes shows for the first half of the year, as there aren’t any I’m going to attend in July. Next is the Aladdin Shrine Audio Unit show in Columbus, Ohio, followed by the Cincinnati Hamfest in (obviously?) Cincinnati, Ohio.
As expected, this was a tiny show and had maybe a dozen vendors show up. I didn’t see a whole bunch of stuff I was interested in, mostly some nice radio gear and some electronics flea market stuff. Nothing really photo worthy except this interesting meter:
If it had been cheaper I would have bought it for the probe. $50 was just too much for something I wasn’t going to use much.
I did pick up a bunch of parts, so I’m happy with the trip.
Nothing wrong with stocking your parts bin with things.
This is a decent size local show that happens in Butler, PA at the Butler Farm Show event ground. I can usually spend 2-3 hours here, as they have several outdoor and indoor market spaces set up. It’s worth the trip if you’re in the surrounding area.
This is usually one of the first “Dayton Items without the Dayton Prices” shows that I’ll attend. See you there!
Saturday turned out to be a sunny, cool, and quite breezy day at the show. It looked like a few vendors left, and a few new ones showed up with stuff being unpacked throughout the day. We took a second tour of the flea market and looked inside one of the exhibit halls - things were just too packed in there to worry about.
I didn’t take home much this day - some parts and a couple of books.
Here’s what I saw on Saturday:
A giant box of selenium rectifiers.
A bit large for a porch lamp.
It has a giant tuning capacitor on top.
We've all needed this at times.
A portable inflatable atenna tower.
Solar cells for charging phones.
Lots of chickenband (CB) radios, not as many as previous years.
A random console radio.
Lots of CRT testers showed up this year.
The guy wanted $150 for this.
It's a converter. For your digitals.
Giant diodes.
Didn't see many of these this year.
Random stacks of equipment. Random show-goer not for sale.
Only the finest of turntables.
I didn't know GenRad made a frequency meter like this.
Lots of siggens. Some were a bit pricey.
Not a Bond movie, but a gold-plated protoboard.
It has the high sensitivities. No WiFis or GeeBees included.
A nice homebrew receiver device thingy.
Some high voltage storage media.
Varmints for your bench.
It measures the milliamperes.
One of many National receivers that showed up…
…and it was pretty inside.
This would explode some places I've worked.
A family member had one of these years ago.
The prices on the S-38C units went way up.
Just random equipment.
Not sure how this is supposed to be profitable, but hey.
It's a radio. I think.
A Heath speaker. Poor cabinet condition.
Stuff, and it's stacked.
Power supplies for your plates.
One of many tube testers at high prices.
W-J clones.
These really need shorting bars on them.
A Zenith Radio.
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I decided to skip out on Sunday, as I’d already seen everything twice and just didn’t feel like walking more.
Next up is SVARC in Piketon, and then Breezeshooters in Butler, PA. See you there!
Friday started out to be a nice day, quickly turned angry looking, and remained there for the rest of the day. It was threatening rain, but that all went to the south of the show during the day, and we had a relatively cool, slightly breezy afternoon for browsing the aisles.
This year was more of a “ham radio” year than previous. Yes, this is a radio show, but a lot more rigs and things seemed to show up. One of the vendors stated “Yes, that’s because everyone is dying,” and the older crowd we observed (myself included) seemed to indicate that more of the same would be happening. That’s probably where my stuff will end up in 30 years…
There was still a lot of good stuff to see, although I didn’t find what I was looking for. I did manage to drag a few things home, and overall had a good time.
This is what I saw on Friday:
I used to work for this toxic company.
Some big rackmount amps.
Somoe old Motorola comm analyzers.
A cool looking antenna controller.
A stack of audio gear.
A cool old blue B&H oscilloscope.
Lots of parts.
Stuff is just laid out on whatever.
It's chrome plated!
Lots of walkies.
A table full of consumer era radios.
One of those high-precision Regency counters.
Someone bought a box of CRTs and related materials.
A nice Heathkit decade box. Took this home.
A dirty Hallicrafters.
Not going to break this one.
Hard to believe it's only 1.7GB.
A giant dummy load. Dummy not included.
A nice Eico harmonic distortion analyzer. Went home as a project piece.
The accompanying Eico RF generator.
An Eico scope. Tempting, but I have too many scopes.
There’s a small hamfest in Piketon, OH on the weekend of the 24th - if you didn’t get enough junque at Dayton.
I attended this one last year (except it was in October,) and pulled a few good deals out - including my IG-72 Signal Generator. I’m pretty sure I was at this one a couple times in the 90s, but who knows - that’s too long ago for me to remember.
It was a small but decent local show, and if you’re in the area it’s worth stopping by.
Scioto Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Saturday May 24th
Pike County Fairgrounds
311 Mill Street
Piketon, OH 45661
8A - Noonish https://www.arrl.org … radio-club-hamfest-3
Bonus, there’s one of the few remaining Rax Roast Beef joints just north on US23!
Break open mister piggy because it’s almost time for the Dayton Hamvention. You still have time to get tickets at a discount rate, but they’re being held will-call at the ticket booth on site.
Times are:
Friday, May 16th - 9A to 5P <--- Probably the best day to go.
Saturday, May 17th - 9A to 5P
Sunday, May 18th - 9A to 1P <--- Vendors leave, but some have free stuff!
Forecast, as of Wednesday the 14th:
Friday: Sunny and 86 with a chance of early afternoon showers.
Saturday: Sunny and 78 with a chance of early morning showers.
Sunday: Sunny and 75.
(Things have changed to be a bit more rainy. May want to pack some gear!)
I’ll have pictures posted as soon as I can get them processed - probably the following week. I’ve got a few items on my want list, and I’ll post anything I pick up that’s unusual or really interesting.
This was my first time attending this event. It was an easy drive, so I decided why not? This took place at the Athens Community Center in Athens, OH, and featured about two dozen vendors in a sheltered parking area as well as a couple in the center itself.
This one had a different selection of gear, with more test equipment and consumer gear appearing to show up at this one. Of course, a handful from TUSCO were also here, so I saw some of the same stuff (but didn’t photograph it as you and I have already seen it!)
As with the other shows this year, I’ve noted that prices are trending upwards, especially on those things that are considered cachet - Simpson 260 devices and tube testers are commanding higher prices again, even if they’re a bog-standard bottom of the barrel emissions tester. Dayton will be the tell on this one, if prices there are back to normal we know the economy is doing better.
Here’s what I saw at the show:
CD-R…once a miracle, now just junque.
The camera doesn't do the chrome justice.
An interesting passthrough counter.
A desoldering iron from the tube socket era.
An all-in-one RF test station.
Some older test gear including a cap checker in the box.
An HP 200 series generator and an old tape player.
A “Portable” multimeter.
Once of those tube unit power supplies.
An old Sony reel-to-reel tape player.
A couple of scopes. Interesting, but not needed.
An interesting Sencore tube tester.
Radios and an overpriced PACO tube tester.
A bad shot of some old gear. Would have taken the rightmost one if it had been in better shape.
One of Trio's active panel meters.
One of Heathkit's interesting lunchbox tube testers.
Some radio tuning gear.
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As I wandered through the show, I overheard someone saying that he’s not going back to Dayton because it’s held at Xenia now. “HARA was a dump but it was my dump! and I don’t like Xenia.” I had to lol, ok dude - I appreciate being able to walk through the parking lot and not twist my ankles, so you can stay away and I’ll buy the junk. HARA was certainly a dump, and I don’t miss the burnt mystery burgers and the dimestore nachos.
Speaking of Dayton, the Hamvention (as of this writing) is only about 3 weeks away. I’ll certainly see you there, but if you can’t attend then come back for pictures shortly after.
