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.
This is a small show at the Tuscarawas County fairgrounds in Dover, Ohio. I’ve been attending since 2023, when they reopened after the country decided that they needed to not do anything for a few years.
This show seems to attract a decent crowd of vendors, and a decent crowd of attendees. I took home a few books and odds ‘n ends from this one, which is exactly what I expected.
Some interesting equipment. Radio gear?
Lots of vidicon tubes. Lots and lots and lots!
The early 80s still live among us.
A dual band (lol!) Lafayette Radio.
I bet you never thought you'd see more radios.
AM/FM/8-Track with a cool honeycomb face.
Radio Shack ghosts haunt us.
A couple of old Tek (tube-type) scopes. Ok price.
A mini scope. That seems high priced.
Just stuff from the CFARC guys. I took the decade box.
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Prices generally seem to be heading North this year, so get it while the getting is good. I did see some things that were not very reasonably priced - they would have been fine 10 years ago, but with technology changes things that were portable then are obsolete now.
Not a whole lot else to say about this one, so enjoy the photos - ACARA’s photos are coming up next.
This year’s show seemed to be pretty crowded. Prices were still good, but were certainly rising - people’s enthusiasm for a better economy is starting to show. The flood of CBs has started to slow down, and some older radio sets seem to have dropped in price quite a bit. Other than that, it was a good mix of old and new, and worth the drive.
A nice AOR scanner with a serial control port.
A table full of audio related stuff.
BetaMax anyone?
A giant broadcast tube.
A small capacitor checker. This went home with me.
Some cool 1970s cases. I took a woodgrain special home.
Someone had a collection of early music video.
A lot of radios and tubes.
The club has a table of cheap stuff.
A coffin set. These have become cheap.
The inside of the coffin set.
Another coffin set.
Another coffin set. Would have got this if I had room.
I bet this thing can't hear WLW next to the tower.
A giant-size signal generator.
Some radios and one of those monitor scopes.
Self explanatory.
Some old Heath stuff. Some of it's not all that useful these days.
Another small Heath scope. Took this one home, it's in great shape.
Dad's homebrew projects.
Knobs. Need I say more?
I wonder who Lafayette was channeling here?
The last Heathkit of it's type.
Who didn't have one of these?
A stack of old meters.
An old mill controller.
How many of these were made?
A nice National radio.
Pulse generators.
Various rackmount equipment.
Surprise, radios!
Even more radios.
You guessed it, radios!
You'd think this was a radio show.
An “Electric Eye” science kit.
A nice old Solar cap checker with a meter instead of an eye.
I couldn't pass this up for $5.
I see you hiding in there.
A lot of different equipment.
Just some stuff. There was a calibrator here I took with me.
I wanted the triple stack, but we couldn't come to a bargain.
A television test jig and degaussing coil.
Some oddball one-off set made in the 1970s in the USA.
I love that they used a lot of color on these.
This year, we even made it over to what was, up until a week before, the last freestanding Arthur Treacher’s Fish and Chips shop in the world. It was just like I remember from the 80s. This is going to be a regular stop when we are in town!
Next two shows are TUSCO in Dover, Ohio, and then ACARA in Athens, Ohio - both back to back on the 26th and 27th of April. After that, it’s Dayton!
This Saturday marks the sixty-ninth Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club Hamfest.
Located in the Emidio & Sons Party Center at 48 East Bath Road, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, this show has always been pleasantly surprising in the stuff that shows up for sale. It even includes a well stocked “pay what you want” table where people can leave donations and, of course, pay what they want!
If you’re into this kind of thing, and are close by, this is a good show to attend. It’s Saturday, April 5th, from 8AM to about 1PM, and admission is $8. Assuming nothing gets in the way, I’ll have plenty of pictures for you soon.
This is my second year going to this show. It’s a small show, and was a bit smaller than last year - probably due to the fact that it was snowing like crazy when we left, and that probably kept some people away. Regardless, it still had that nice cozy feeling to it, and there was plenty to see for a small show. I picked up a set of Heathkit test equipment, mostly for one of the pieces (but the whole set was cheap!) and my fellow show-goer picked up a nice Dell i7 4th micro machine for his home entertainment center.
Here’s what I saw that was interesting at the show:
A bunch of old-school test equipment.
That 1970s blue.
Still a lot of AM CB stuff.
A big, old, Heathkit power supply.
How big can you make a 5W CB?
I didn't buy a voltmeter this time!
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Not a lot of pictures because of the size of the show. This year’s theme seems to be starting out with AM CB stuff again, much like last year - it’s literally everywhere, everything from big base stations to modern car portables. That’s probably going to be like PC compatible stuff and videotape was some years ago - things changed, and people are cleaning out until it’s gone.
There’s a couple of shows in February and March, but the next one I’ll probably hit is the Cuyahoga Falls show in April. That gives me some time to go through the things I have. It’s “fix and keep” or “get rid of” time, and having a couple of months with no new stuff coming in will help.
The first show of the season is a small hamfest in Shade, Ohio - a little town about 90 minutes south of Columbus. Last year was the first time I attended this one, and I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn’t big, but had a couple dozen vendors, with a nice, warm “get out of the cold and get cozy” feeling to the place. It attracted quite a few people, and I walked out with a few decent deals. I’m looking forward to this one.
There is a chance of snow throughout the day, so take your time if you go.
See you there!
Sunday Creek Amateur Radio Federation Hamfest
Shade Community Center
2380 Old U.S. 33
Shade, OH 45776
January 19
8A-2P
Admission $6
http://www.arrl.org/hamfests/sunday-creek-amateur-radio-federation-hamfest-4
