- 2023
- May
- 2
The TUSCO Amateur Radio Club 2023 Show - Junk I Took Home.
I tried to limit myself to Small Things this year, and not drag home any projects. I almost succeeded!
The meters are of particular note, one was an old, old, old unit with a telephone test jack on it. I occasionally have need to test single-line analog jacks, so I offered the guy $10 for it and he took it. The other meter, an Ohio-made Triplett, was a beast of a unit costing $200 when new in 1992. It’s loaded with functions, and has internal relays to isolate and switch inputs. Quite unusual and cool.
The other items were simply parts, unusual test equipment, or books. Not pictured are some RCA tube manuals I picked up for $5 each. You’ve seen those before.
The ZM-11/U - this is an interesting piece of equipment. It’s a fairly precise bridge for checking capacitors and inductors, and uses an eye tube as an aid to the relative quality of the device under test. It’s in pretty good shape physically, a few dents and dings and one broken bail on a clip.
Electrically, the vendor said that it worked (and it all lights up,) but that the internal 1Khz source was dead. Feed it an external precision source and it’s fine. I’m planning on digging into this device at some point, it needs a cord and some minor cleanup. I’ve already removed the line cord as it was in bad shape. When I get to it, that will be it’s own post.
Next up is Dayton on the 19th of May, but until then, enjoy the pictures!
- 2023
- May
- 2
The TUSCO Amateur Radio Club 2023 Show
This was the first time I’ve attended this show. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it turned out to be pretty good for being such a small show. I spent about an hour and a half wandering the two halls, looking at thing and re-checking them to make sure they didn’t want to come home with me. I left several things behind but brought home several more.
This show was at the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds, and occupied one of the commercial buildings. There was mention of a “trunkfest,” so I suspect that there may have been some outside stuff had it not been a rainy day. Overall, however, it was a good way to spend a Saturday morning. I’ll probably go next year, time permitting, since it’s so close.
- 2023
- Apr
- 28
The 2023 Dayton Hamvention is almost upon us!
This is the big one of the year!
The Dayton Hamvention
Greene County Fair and Expo Center
210 Fairground Road
Xenia OH 45385
May 19th 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
May 20th 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
May 21st 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
I usually park in Remote Lot #2 at Xenia High School. Shuttles are free, but drivers take tips.
Xenia High School
303 Kinsey Road
Xenia OH 45383
See you there and stay tuned for pictures!
- 2023
- Apr
- 28
My haul from the Cuyahoga Falls Hamfest.
As usual, there was a lot of good stuff to be seen at the show. I had to force myself to not bring it all home because a lot of it isn’t useful (to me) past a “Wow, that’s neat!”
Boxes of relays from the “Pay what you want table.” This is all donations for the club, and was the estate of a now silent key.
Hayes 56k modems that were part of a BBS. Yeah, I don’t know why except that they’re a matched pair.
An interesting Ethernet to Serial gateway. Vendor said it was from a friend who was doing some odd project. It was free, with the caveat that it’s a project case if it doesn’t work.
Jacks from Rat Shack of the past. Nothing more to say about this.
Adventureland is the game that’s credited as defining the Interactive Fiction genre. While the original release was for the TRS-80, the VIC-20 version wasn’t far behind. I don’t have a VIC, so this cartridge is more as a piece of computer history than as a useful item.
Of note here is this Regency counter. This device is kind of unusual for something Regency produced. It’s a fairly competent piece of test equipment with a crystal oven and a known ppm deviation. Apparently, it was designed for FCC compliance checks (at the time of manufacture.) It works, but needs an alignment. If I can find some service data, that will be it’s own post.
I kind of wish I’d got that phase corrector device, I found out later that it went for $5 - that’s a steal and a shame, but I have no use for it.
Next post(s) will be the TUSCO Hamfest. That one was small, but excellent. Stay tuned!
- 2023
- Apr
- 16
Cuyahoga Falls Amateur Radio Club Hamfest, 2023 show pictures
This year’s show was about the same number of vendors as last year, so it was pretty good. There seemed to be more general electronics and whatnot this year, and less test equipment and other non-consumer items. Not really a big deal, there was still plenty to look at, including some vendors that I recognized from last year. I didn’t take as many pictures because of that, and missed some opportunities to get more because a friend I hadn’t seen in 18 years showed up and we were chatting the whole time.
In all, it was a decent show and worth the trip. While I only brought home about as much as I did from the TMRA show, it was only because I had to stop myself from dragging home more - there were a number of things I’d have like to had, but just do not have the room.
Enjoy the pictures, and I’ll be posting my haul a little later.. I found an unusual piece of equipment from a manufacturer that you wouldn’t expect to make something like it is, and I’ll be breaking that out into a separate post - if I can find it’s service data, it will be a technical post as well.
- 2023
- Apr
- 13
The Tusco ARC Hamfest
I’ve never been to this show, but it’s close enough that I’ll check it out. They claim this is the first one since the world decided that a runny nose was cause for martial law, hopefully some good stuff will show up. See you there, and as always, stay tuned for pictures of the event.
When:
Saturday April 22nd, 2023 8A-??
Where:
Tuscarawas County Fair Grounds
259 S Tuscarawas Ave
Dover, OH 44622
(Must Enter Through the Tuscarawas Ave Gate)
Admission is $5.00 per person.
https://www.w8zx.net/hamfest
- 2023
- Apr
- 13
The 67th Cuyahoga Falls ARC Hamfest
This show was excellent last year, and I’m looking forward to attending this year. Unless something major comes up, I’ll see you there!
When:
Saturday April 15th 2023, 8A-1P
Where:
Emidio & Sons Party Center
48 E. Bath Road
Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio 44221
Admission is $7.00 per person.
Stay tuned for pictures of the event.
https://sites.google.com/cfarc.org/cfarc/hamfest
- 2023
- Mar
- 19
The TMRA Hamfest Haul
I was kind of disappointed, nothing really stuck out at me and I didn’t see anything picture worthy. The only real item, other than some parts, was a nice old Hickock DVM with VFD tubes, but someone picked it up and put it on their own table for resale (at a higher price of course.) I don’t need another meter but eh…
I don’t know if it’s because of the area, because what I’m looking for didn’t show up, or because there didn’t seem to be as much general electronics as I’d expect, I only came home with trinkets.
A sleeve of 35W4, because you always need more of those, a couple of books, some insulated drivers, and some parts are all I took home. There are more shows coming up, so we’ll see what happens.
- 2023
- Feb
- 28
The Breezeshooter’s Hamfest 2023
I just noticed that the Breezeshooter’s club in PA is holding their annual hamfest again this year, after several years of everyone’s television saying we were all going to die.
While the details are scarce, it appears to be happening the first weekend in June (3rd and ?4th?) - this has always been a good show when I’ve attended, and has a lot of good deals and eye candy. I’ll post more details as they become available.
- 2023
- Jan
- 29
Addendum to the hamfest list…
As much as I’d like to make it to the Toledo show, that may not be possible this year due to the drive. I’m still going to try, however.
In the meantime, I may try to get to the show in Dover, OH at the fairgrounds. According to the information, this is their first show since 2019, so people may be itching to get out and bring their junk out for sale.
TUSCO Amateur Radio Club Hamfest
Sunday, April 22nd, 2023. 8A-1P
Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds
295 South Tuscarawas Street
Dover, OH 44622
The flyer notes to enter through the Tuscarawas Ave gate.
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/tusco-hamfest-dover-ohio-april-22-2023.848201/#post-6430335