While this, and other engine shows I attend aren’t necessarily electrical in nature, they are certainly prime examples of old technology. I’ve always found the mechanics of such devices to be fascinating, and worth my attention.
The MVSTA show is one that happens on the Western edge of Columbus every year, and I try to make it out there at least every few years. This year’s show was bright and sunny with no threat of rain anywhere. Prime viewing time for all of the mechanical eye candy that showed up.
I don’t have much to say about these pictures, so no annotations.
This year’s show was maybe 2/3 the size of normal - I suspect the dangerous looking skies kept some people away, but fortunately the rain held off for the show. It was, however, sticky enough that you could probably have put a straw in the air and drank some.
There were still some interesting things to be found at this year’s show, and some good deals to be had. This is what I saw this year:
A Cushman broadcast band analyzer and a counter among the parts.
A board from an early Atari arcade cabinet.
A “Bedframe” antenna. Well built.
One of those early programmable scanners at the bottom of a pile. Used punchcards.
I believe this is the club's table.
An HP 3300 Distortion Analyzer and some sort of teaching breadboard.
What you expect to see at these shows.
A silent key's artifacts.
You could bean someone with that switch.
Just stuff.
More of what you expect at these shows.
An Edmont sound level meter with Coshocton, OH markings.
Some equipment that went home with me, all lonesome.
The decade box I brought home, should have grabbed the vibrator tester too.
I brought home some things that I didn’t need, but isn’t that the point of this kind of show?
A Vishay decade box and a frequency counter / generator. They both seem to work well enough for the age. There’s also some high-voltage mica capacitors sitting on top of the decade box. Those were a buck, and I said why not?
I can’t go to a show without bringing home at least one meter. Unfortunately, this one seems to have some issues, it will zero but not read. I need to open it up and make sure that any batteries left in it aren’t corrodeedoodled all over the place. It had a lot of bad resistors in the divider chain.
This PACO generator is the same as one I have in better condition. This one is a $5 parts unit.
This is a PACO power supply that came from the same vendor as the generator, also $5. It’s an interesting piece, being an early bench supply for audio work, but in reality it’s a glorified battery charger. Stay tuned for a teardown on this guy. It eventually got passed on to someone for scrap. That’s what it’s worth!
No idea what this is, my fellow show-goer suggested it was some sort of early electronic switch for process industry. He’s probably right, but I got it simply for the cheapness of a 250VAC transformer that could be reused. I tore it down for parts.
That’s it for this year. I’ll be posting show pictures, and some other, recent engine shows as soon as I can get the images cleaned up.
One of my fellow show-goers was talking about taking some of the audio gear he collected to Dayton in 2025, and we’ll set up a table on the flea market. This sounds like a cool idea to me, I’ve attended shows but never had a sales table.
In the spirit of things, I took a look at what I’ve collected over the years that’s never going to go anywhere, and there’s a bunch. It’s time to start cleaning out, and I have a bunch of things that could go. Where does it all come from?
See you there, and maybe you can take something home! It’s cheap cheap cheap!
(If you see something you like, drop me a line on LinkedIn and we’ll see about a deal!)
Pictures from the Columbus Hamfest, Cool Spring Power Museum, and Miami Valley Steam Thresher Association shows are all in the works. There’s simply a lot of them and I have been a lazy little pig. Check back in the next few weeks and I promise that you’ll have some cool stuff to browse!
They’ve all been posted! Sorry it took so long on some of those…
I took a lot of pictures at the show this year. The individual exhibitors had mostly pulled out by the time I arrived, but the museum’s displays were all up and running in their greasy glory. I haven’t had time to fully process the images for display here, but they’re on the way.
I tried to limit myself to things I could possibly use, and I (mostly) did so. We’ll see if all these things actually work, or if some of them need some work.
This HP AC Transistor Voltmeter Model 403A seems to be in good condition, and has a Westinghouse tag on the back. I can’t really test it because it has some odd battery requirements. It looks to need 5 mercury cell batteries - 2 4V batteries, and 3 1.35V batteries in a configuration that provides bias and + / - voltages. These are unobtainable, so a small supply may be in order if I actually want to use this thing.
This came from a vendor that had boxes of parts. One part was $2, if you took the whole box it was $1. So…I took a box of mica capacitors and some other parts. High voltage mica caps can always come in handy.
This DigiMax Instruments D-1200 counter claims to go to 1.2GHz, and has lamps for an ovenized reference on it. It’s awfully light, but it does light up. I need to get a signal in it to see if it’s actually counting, or if it’s just spitting out garbage.
The Harris-Dracon butt sett was picked up becaue it was cool looking. I don’t know what I’ll use it for, but whatever. The Waage All-Purpose Tester Model 066 test box was a dollar - it’s mostly just an ammeter you can switch out, with a fuse and a lamp for testing the AC line. It’s pretty rusty, but looks clean inside. Who knows where this will end up.
This VIZ Senior VoltOhmist WV-98C meter seems to be operational, and has a case you could kill a poodle with. It’s a two-tube unit, using a 6AL5 Dual Diode and a 12AU7 amplifier. It’s small enough to go on the bench instead of the giant EICO VTVM currently there.
This Weller solder gun has all of the tools with it, and is one of the units made in the USA. I have a couple of these, they come in handy soldering chassis items.
That’s this year’s haul. I tried to limit myself to smaller items I could use, and I mostly succeeded. There were a lot of larger items that I wanted, but left there since I don’t have room for them. In all, I didn’t spend a lot and brought home some neat things.
Next show is either the Van Wert, OH show - that’s a long drive and may not be in the cards - and/or the Columbus, OH show which is a lot closer to me and much easier to attend. Either way, stay tuned for pictures from those shows, and I’ll see you there!
The VIZ and HP meters had some serious issues and became parts. The Waage 066 is now a lamp.
It was raining where I was, and threatened rain all the way to the show - but when we arrived, the sky had cleared and it was a sunny, slightly breezey 71F. Essentially, perfect conditions for wandering the aisles. While I didn’t see some of the things I hoped would show up this year, there was still quite a bit to look at. I spent a couple hours wandering the show before heading out for some lunch.
The usual mix of equipment showed up here, and a few things managed to wander home with me. This is what I saw at this year’s show:
I wonder if they will take my battery club card?
A BC-221AA Signal Generator.
A buck a box or two bucks per part. I took a box.
Motorola Communications Analyzers.
An old school engine analyzer.
Some equipment and schematic manuals.
This guy never prices stuff.
Don't bump the equipment stack.
The lighted switchbox up front was neat.
The VIZ meter in the middle went home with me.
An estate sale from a silent key.
Frequency doodads.
A floppy drive, and lots of solder.
A Boonton AM/FM Signal Generator.
A couple of neat chromed radios.
A Heath Weather Station with all the stuff.
An interesting Lafayette tuner on the right.
Something to monitor 3-phase stuff?
We go to shows for tables like this.
The 70s appear to be calling.
I swear one of these scopes exists for every person on the planet.
Yet another sig gen, this one branded Olson.
Some interesting rack mount radios.
More radios, who would have guessed?
Some Heath stuff.
I bet you can't guess what this is.
The scopes on the ground were free.
A big piece of Singer test equipment.
A bunch of GE radios.
A weird tape deck and some EQs.
A Tek 455 scope on it's cart.
A Tek 547 missing a plugin.
A bunch of odd testers. I took the one with the bulb.
Trans-Oceanics for parts.
A Knight radio and a tube tester, and stuff.
I don't know what this one is.
.
Next show will probably be the Columbus, OH hamfest, although there are some happening before that. Regardless, I’ll (maybe) see you there!
This is a great local show, and has always offered a few hours of wandering aisles and some “Dayton items without the Dayton prices.” I really need to lay off buying more boatanchors this time, but I’m sure a couple will come home with me. The club had some things they were selling last year, one piece in particular should have gone home with be - if it’s still there, it will!
(The forecast is calling for possible showers. We’ll see.)
See you there!
Breezeshooter’s Hamfest
Butler, PA
Butler Farm Show (Kind of a fairgrounds thing)
625 Evans City Rd
Butler, PA 16001
June 9 2024
8A - 2PM
https://breezeshooters.org/ns/
