This month’s show ended a few hour ago, and I made it out there on a very chilly, windy Saturday morning. For some reason, it opened later this year…some whispers about something that happened with the other show in Atlanta but I couldn’t pin it down. Doesn’t really matter, I guess, we entered about 8:45 and started wandering the not-quite-open aisles.
As usual, the place was packed with vendors and there was a lot to see. Not a whole lot I wanted to take home, but a radio that caught both my and my fellow show-goer’s eye decided to go home with me for a superb price. Check out that device, there will hopefully be a series of posts about making it sing again.
Here’s what we saw at the show:
Lots of small outboard motors for boats. Shiny!
I need one of these for work.
A multi-station internal system phone.
Remember this show?
It looks kind of dangerous.
This looks even more dangerous!
A lot of lanterns.
A mechanical musicbox, before records.
A phone patch panel. Connect your radio to the telephone.
Crappy parts in a hard to work on case!
A lot of different kinds of phones.
A nice cylinder player. Great shape, good price.
A lot of nice wind-up record players.
Let's go to the L&K for the Fish Friday!
A Rider's branded VoltOhmyst. Pre-RCA!
A lovely 50s vintage weather station.
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Next show is the weekend before Christmas. See you there!
The show this year was smaller than usual, occupying maybe 3/5 to 3/4 of the normal space, with a large section left empty. Prices at this show ranged from ok to stupid, which is kind of unusual as this show usually features pretty good values. There were a couple that simply were smoking crack and asking prices that would have been appropriate years ago when the equipment was newer.
I primarily went to get a bunch of tubes from Bob at hamtubes.com - he always has really good prices on tubes both rare and common, so that’s where I spent the bulk of my purchase money. A few other things came home with me, including a couple that will get featured here as soon as I can get to them.
There were still good things to see, and here they are:
A Hallicrafters radio and a junk-tier audio generator.
Indiana Bell with the old logo.
The magneto crank is still there.
An old school transistor checker.
An old CBM desk calculator.
delco.jpg
An Eico meter that's well loved.
Just a bunch of equipment.
More test equipment.
The main floor.
Voltmeters n things.
More voltmeters including a rare Simpson.
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A nice old Philco radio.
An unusual name on a stereo.
This rusty artifact went home with me.
This guy had a bunch of good radios.
Lots of this kind of radio this year.
One of those press-panel scanners.
The 1970s are calling.
Just stuff.
More stuff.
This is what we go to shows for.
Lots of junk, er, goodies.
Even more things.
Radios n more things.
Big old equipment.
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I went to this show mostly for this vendor.
One of many tube testers.
More tube testers.
Test those tubes!
And more tests!
A friend said “It's…um…yellow!”
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That’s it as far as hamfests for 2024 - the next two shows will be the Scott Antique Market events this coming (after Thanksgiving) weekend, and right before Christmas. I may combine those two into one post, depending on what I see.
The Fort Wayne hamfest happened today. The show was kind of mildy disappointing, with somewhat less vendors showing up this year - and some that were simply smoking crack when it came to prices. One in particular made eBay prices look low, and reminded me of the vendor that had those big stainless steel racks of test equipment at Hamvention with astronomical prices on them, rain or shine. I wish them luck in selling, but you’re going to be hard pressed to unload some of that stuff - especially when you can get new equivalents (from the same manufacturer!) for less.
Regardless, there was still some good stuff to see and take home. Stay tuned, pictures are on the way!
The Fort Wayne hamfest is happening in a couple of weeks. This is a two day event happening November 16th and 17th 2024, and opens at 9AM each day. Admission is $8, and the venue charges a parking fee (this does not go to the show.)
I’ve been to this show many times, it’s all indoors so it doesn’t get snowed out. Prices seem to run average at this one, but there always seems to be a great selection of unusual stuff.
This is the last hamfest I attend for the year, and it makes a nice bookend to the year’s shows.
Fort Wayne Hamfest
Allen Country War Memorial Coliseum
4000 Parnell Ave
Fort Wayne, IN 46805
November 16, 17 2024
Hours vary by day, opens at 9AM https://www.acarts.com/hfmain.htm
Photos may be delayed a bit due to some obligations the week after, but will be posted as soon as I can get to them.
This is a show that I’d never been to, but it was a double treat. The show itself had a decent array of vendors and stuff, and the show was being held at the Military Air Preservation Society hanger, so we were able to tour the grounds as part of our show admission.
I highly suggest you check out the air museum portion, there’s a lot to see. Pictures of that coming soon.
We browsed the aisles for a couple hours, wandering through a few times. I brought home a few books and a small scope, my friend brought home some older high-end audio gear. There were a few other things that caught my eye, but I’ve got enough anchors working right now that I’m good - and the few remaining ones I’d like didn’t show up here.
Regardless, we had a good time and will probably come back next year, time and circumstances permitting.
An old Rat Shack reverb device that uses a BBD chip.
A friend wanted to know how much they were asking for the bomber.
An older CountyComm radio amidst the parts.
These will be available forever, I think.
A video filter, I thought it was an 8-track with BNCs at first.
A bunch of monitorradios and a novelty device.
An old Jerrold cable television analyzer device.
These are slowly vanishing from the scene.
A Papst metal fan. This thing had some heft!
Looks like someone was copying VIZ.
There is one monitor scope for every person on Earth.
The requisite boxes of parts.
Radio Shack stuff was pretty decent, TBH.
Another “Not a sig gen, a big gen!” For FM work.
Just stuff. It's what we go to shows for.
Some unusual electronics trainer kits.
A stack of radios. Go figure…
The tuner and CD player went home with a friend.
An old WEN soldering gun.
Begone ye demon of the past!
I think we saw this one before.
Zenith made this chassis forever.
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Next (and last hamfest of the year) show is Fort Wayne on the 16th of November. See you there!
This was a show I’d never been to. It’s certainly a local thing, with a few rows of vendors and a good, but light crowd. Regardless, there was some of that cool stuff you get at shows like this, and I picked up a few books and a boat anchor for my collection of things that hold the floor on the ground. It’s close enough that I’ll probably go next year as well.
Here’s what I saw at the show:
A Ramsey FM Transmitter built from a kit. Had one of these, never could get it to tune properly.
Seneca Fuses from Columbus
A Heathkit IG-72. This, and a parts unit went home with me.
I think this was the only big piece that showed up.
The requisite trays of parts.
Pumpkins! Oh, and some reference books too.
Some sort of military radio.
A relay for RF. The buyer was delighted to find it.
A chonky switch. It goes clunk!
You usually find some really good stuff at the small shows.
Miscellaneous tools and stuff.
An early frequency synthesized radio from Yaesu.
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On the way home, we stopped at a place I didn’t know still existed - one of the few remaining Rax Restaurants.
Next show is the MARC show at the MAPS hanger near North Canton. See you there!
I grabbed a friend and headed down to this show earlier today. It was a pretty small event, but that’s the kind of thing I like to go to - you never know what you’re going to find. We even stopped at (the last?) Rax on the way home.
I didn’t pick up much - some books, some parts, and this Heathkit Audio generator with a parts donor unit.
I’m asking it for 60Hz, and getting 59.7. That’s pretty good for a piece of 50 year old equipment. It’s a simple capacitive oscillator, so there’s not much to go wrong - exactly what you need for your bench. It’s certainly in need of service, but what do you expect?
Pictures from the event are on the way, so stay tuned!
As stated earlier, this was my first time attending this show, and I didn’t leave unhappy. It consisted of about 4 rows of vendors in the parking lot, and a small building mostly full of vendors. There was certainly plenty to look at, and prices were generally very reasonable. Everyone was willing to deal, so I’ll blame that for my haul.
The fairgrounds are tucked behind some houses, so we had to make a go-round and get back to the entrance, having turned the wrong direction the first time. But no big deal, we arrived at 8:15 and spent about three hours browsing the warm, sunlit aisles of stuff.
The trip home warranted a stop in Coshocton for lunch and a brew at Wooly Pig, a place I highly suggest you check out if you are in to that sort of thing
Here’s what you’re waiting for, all of the things I saw at the show.
An Aerovox capacitor tester - missing the rest of it's oddball probe.
Random audio gear and an old SW radio.
I love those old Bearcat scanners and their 1970s colors.
Books. I took home his small collection of crystal radio stuff.
A butt set. Not a collection of behinds, but a telephone test handset.
A device to exercise a CDC disk system. There was a stack 'o disks on the ground.
The guy had boxes of chips. I took home some unusual dot matrix displays.
A nice example of a CT455. It needs a little work on the radio, but plays well.
A digital trainer doesn't always work with digimon.
You don't see a lot of those HP lunchboxes these days.
A nice National Radio in National grey-blue.
A test device marked Philco-Ford.
Power strips for 30 amps. A friend took this home.
Just some random things.
Random radios. The Zenith portable was kind of cool.
A reel-to-reel player. For reels. Of tape. On reels.
Those little rat shack speakers weren't bad for the day.
A baby Tek scope holding the ground down.
Not sure, but I heard the word “SONAR” mentioned.
Staple guns. I took the hand brad nailer in the middle home.
A lot of tube testers at this show.
150 watts to measure a voltage - if you dare!
The bakelite Zenith was in awesome shape, especially for $35.
I’ve attended a lot of shows this year, mostly because I’m unsure as to what’s going to happen later - if some sort of unrest begins, that may cancel shows for a while. So … git while the getting’s good, I guess!
I’m not sure if I’ve been to this one, I seem to remember a small show in Southern Ohio that I went to back in the 90s, my first small “Not Dayton” hamfest. It had some decent things, but was a really small show - I still have the big NIXIE counter purchased from that event.
Regardless, “If I Feel Like It,” I’m going to head down there and check it out.
The Scioto Valley Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Saturday October 5th 2024
8A - 12P
Admission $5
