Dayton Hamvention May 2012

Have been going to the Hamvention for a while now, started keeping this web thing as kind of a blog thing about the trip. At one time the Hamvention or ham fest or what ever you want to call it was the only and primary reason for going but over the years being a annual event a lot of other events have become part of the pilgrimage.

Something that almost as much fun as the ham fest itself is the annual trip to Midwest Electronic Surplus and Fair Radio Sales out in Lima Ohio. Although the city of Fairborn in Ohio tried its best to keep us away from Midwest with road construction we still got there, note that there is one person working and four supervisors.

After the visit to Midwest it was up the interstate about fifty miles to Fair Radio. Did not get there last year due to issues with the Hamvention people, so don't know if all this was there last year or not but they did add a new dish right out in front

There was a new section right up front with a lot of choice items.

Still my favorite has to be the back warehouse

 the ARC-38 and 618T stacks

After a day spent there went back to the hotel in Dayton and have to wonder why the gas stations in Dayton also sell garden products like mulch?

Every night at the hamvention I try to put together something to post to Millist, this is a copy of the Thursday night post:

Here it is the day before Dayton and as usual this is the day spent visiting the local sites. Midwest electronic c Surplus was in full operation this morning despite the fact that the city of Fairborn is in the process of tearing up the street in front of the store and in true municipal fashion there was one man working a jack hammer and five supervisors standing around watching. But in spite of the cities inconvenience several people were there buying. Later in the afternoon I traveled out to Fair Radio in Lima and it was good to see everything going well out there. Was not able to visit Fair last year but did see this year that they have added a new section right in the front of the store with a lot of new items although new is not the right word to describe things like BC-610, TCS and BC-348 receivers. There was also newer equipment like R-1051 and URC- 35 sets too. The weather in Dayton appears to be the best that I have experienced in years, no rain and tempters in the seventies. From a weather stand point this may be the best that we have had in years. People like Mr. Stark and many of the others are already set up and I noticed a crowd around his space. Will be posting more tomorrow and will see what shows up for sale.

Friday

Much has been said about the size of the crowd in attendance, these pictures were taken on Friday morning and give a size of the crowd.

couple of pictures from Saturday morning.

Not the largest crowd that I have seen but this was also very early in the morning. Here is a copy of the post that I sent out Friday night followed by pictures of equipment that was there.

Today the weather was great, not a comment you can often make in regards to Dayton. At 0630 it was clear and around fifty five degrees and by 1030 was in the mid seventies. The crowd was about average for a Friday morning but thinned out by noon possibly due to the high temperatures around eighty three and the bright sunshine, there were no clouds. I was tied up at my truck until around nine thirty so did not see every deal but this is some of what I saw. BC-348 receivers, at least six for sale starting at $50 all the way up to $125.00 in various condition, ART -13 transmitters at $400.00, $250 (two at that price) and parts transmitters for $35.00, R-390 and 390A receivers at $500, $550, $650,$800 (two) and $1,100.00, R-388 receivers $300 and $500, 51J4 receiver $500, TMC GRP-90 receiver for $500, Collins 51S1 for $750, R-392 receivers for $350 and T-195 transmitter for $375, complete clean TCS set of TX, RX , Books, cables and dyno deck for $500 with well used TCS RX for $35 and TX for $50, saw first thing in the morning a Navy MAK with shock mount and connectors that looked unused for $100 and very clean RAS (HRO) with power supply, coil box and speaker with all matching numbers for $395, couple SRR-13 receivers one for $300 and the other had no price on it, URR-35 receivers for $50 each, RDZ and MBF for $50, RAB or  is it RBA TRF LF receiver for $250 and a PRD-1 direction finding system, complete with all transit cases for $500, newer stuff like Cubic 3030 receiver for $1,000, a huge Sunair RT-9000 with LPA 9600 kW amplifier for $7,500 and lots of AM-6154 amplifiers in the $250 price range. There was also the complete PRC-47 field kit with a ratty PRC-47 but all the trays and accessories including things like the back frame , legs and antenna that was a make offer deal. I did not make an offer myself being that had all ready spent money on a Harris URC-94 that I bought this morning. Only saw two different people selling ARC-5 radios and junk sets, looks like the supply is drying up also saw many of the regular dealers that were selling there PRC-10, RT-68, PRR/PRT-9, GRC-9 and other stuff that are always here.

And more equipment on Saturday

And in the Hard Core Military Radio section

 Being the center of the military radio universe, well at least at Dayton this is where the net control operates for the 3885 and 51.0 nets. This year the 3885 AM net control station was a ARC-5 set up.

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June 12