Dayton Hamvention May 2014
Always work a trip to Fair Radio Sales and Midwest Electronic Surplus into the weekend.
Friday, May 16th
The first day at Dayton was
representative of typical Dayton weather, clear, sunny, warm, cold and periods
of rain. The good thing was it did not Rain all day and
had
about equal periods of mist and rain and sunshine with the majority of time
being between weather. Saw ARC-5 tipple racks for $55 and $60 each, a Sunair
GSB900 with cables, microphone and manual for $500 and a gray RAB and URC-9 for
$200 each, BC-342 with mount for $125 and a RAB for $100 along with an old
BC-608 and RT-67 for less and at William Perry space along with all type of
connectors , plugs and assorted parts were several ARC-5 receivers and
transmitters in the $30 to $40 price range. Did see an unmodified TU-10 for $40;
remember when they were as common as dirt? Only one I saw today.
Two Harris radios , a RF-350 for $1,200 and a
RF-590 for $1,750 I am planning on making an offer on the 590 tomorrow but don’t
think I have the money it takes to buy one. Speaking of big money radios
Murphy’s surplus is here and they had plenty of state of the art high end radios
to look at and drool over. At the other end of the spectrum saw one person
selling two BC-348 receivers, one Q and one M without cases for $50 for both and
two R-390A receivers that were not working for $200 each, all four were gone by
the time I went back in the afternoon.
Collins KWM-2A were selling for around $600
with a slew of 51J receivers from $375 to $700 range with a R-388 for $400 along
with a HF-8054 for $1,200 also saw a ugly RCA Radiomarine receiver for $85 and a
R-390 not “A” for $500, same seller had a BC-348 for $75 and one of the old Nems
Clark vacuum tube telemetry receivers for $75. Saw one SRR-11 for $150 and a lot
of other stuff that I did not get the price for. There were at least three
SP-600 receivers with one being as much as $700, don’t know why they are big
money receivers speaking of that there were two Racal RA-17 receivers, one for
$400 and the other for $1,700
Saturday, May 17th
Today's
weather was somewhat improved but still had periods of showers including hail
and temperature never got above sixty. Nothing closes up tailgating like rain
with hail.
Almost
all of the deals from yesterday were gone this morning, the high price stuff was
still there but all the bargains went! No more cheap command sets or anything
like that. Additional items I saw today included more BC-348 receivers in the
$150 price range, a BC-312 for $100 and a Navy NC-100 for $185,
also saw the gray face R-388 with case that was
listed at $550 and a Collins 51S1 that was marked at $1,000 but was told that's
only a starting point. Navy RBO for $150 and learned that the price for the
PRC-47 kit was $375 MECO Surplus had PRC-104 sets for $2,500, PRC-117 for $600
and several other high end radios for sale along with low priced things like
PRC-68 bags for $10. Saw a couple ART-13 transmitters that were sold for $175
and two Harris RF-301 transceivers, one for $200 by itself and one that had the
radio, tuner, remote head, microphone, manual and the vehicle mount for $350
3885 Kc AM Net, Twelve Hundred Hours Local
The noon 3885 AM
net had around twenty two participants using assorted radios including several
BC-611 transceivers. Net control was Joe running an ART-13 transmitter and
BC-348 receiver all from original dynamotors powered by four car batteries. The
sounds and operation of the radios were a big hit with the local crowd and the
batteries held up the entire time.
51.0 FM Net, Fourteen Hundred Hours Local
The six meter FM net hosted by K9WT had a total of forty
six participants with a number of people using PRR and PTT-9 sets along with the
PRC-25,77 and 68 sets that frequent that net. Operation of the net was delayed
by the net control station, a PRC-25 having a dead battery but once that was
sorted everything went well.
Not a bad year, despite the weather and this is the first
year in a long time that I did not buy anything big! Lots of little stuff. Also
have to thank everyone who brought me spare batteries for my PRC-119
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June 14