NEAR-Fest XX Report

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Got back to VA yesterday just before noon, still catching up but figured I'd throw out post about the 'fest.

Left here early Thursday to meet up with W3JN a little north of here for breakfast followed by the long ride to NH. Aside from a couple road work stops early on we made good time until we got to 495 outside Boston after 5PM sometime. A bit of stop-n-go up through Nashua, then things cleared up pretty well. We got to the fairgrounds a bit before 7PM. Dropped off a receiver with George/K1ANX and picked up another to haul home.

A chilly start both days with frost the night before but temps got up around 60 or so Friday & Saturday, no rain but a bit breezy. We set up to sell along with Joe/WA2PJP in our usual spot at the point of the old AM Corral location.

Attended the 20th AM Dinner at NEAR-Fest held at Johnson's over on Rte 4 for a great meal. MrMike even made it over this time. We had a great turn out, 15 or 16 folks made it over (never got an accurate count). Met Tom/W6TOM for the first time.

We bugged out just before noon Saturday so I could stop to visit family in Concord (pronounced 'Concahd' by the few remaining natives) and were back on the road to MD after that. Arrived back at JN's place a little after 10PM. Was a smooth ride home, no traffic or construction to contend with.

As for stuff at the 'fest, there was plenty. Every event seems to have an unintentional theme, this time it was the BC-348. Must've seen 20 of them, 6 or more at one table. Noticeable absent were the usual ARC-5 and Command sets, hacked or otherwise. Didn't see a single one. Don't think I was any ART-13s or BC-375s either, though I did see a couple tuning units. There were at least two GPR-90 receivers, both sold under $400. Saw one R-390A w/meters & covers, working w/bad 16khz filter being the only issue, think it sold for $280? Brown, Dale and the green radio guys had the usual pile of good stuff with some VERY good prices. Tom/W2ILA gave me a much-needed and long-sought after part needed for one of my projects here, a big THANK YOU to him for that gift.

I sold two items, a nice LS-7 speaker and old Sonar 2-way set. Johnny did a bit better, of course, since he brings nice stuff that everyone wants. I set out determined to bring home nothing big, and aside from the receiver George was holding for me the last 2 years, was quite pleased to only have 4 connectors in my pocket at the end of the day Friday.

Saturday was a different story. Ended up bringing home a couple more things that were calling to me. They are currently in hiding at an undisclosed location.  

Saw many of the AM crew there but unfortunately left my camera home (and forgot I had a new phone with camera, apparently). Hopefully some of the other folks in attendance got some shots. I know Joe/W3GMS was taking shots at the dinner, he and Martha were there from Thursday on so he may have more.

Overall it was a really good event: good WX, good stuff, good food, good company. The apple crisp was especially good this time. Hope it was as enjoyable for everyone else.

[W6TOM]

 Todd it was nice to meet you too!! This is the 4th Fall NEARFEST (NEAHFEST) I have attended, the first two in 2013 and 2014 I just went up for the day on Friday but the last 2 years I've gone for both days, which is really the way to go. Lots of very nice stuff but shipping to the home QTH would be prohibitive. We have lots of regional swaps in Northern California and a good Boat Anchor swap at the N7RCA QTH in Minden, NV but none thing as large as NEARFEST.

 Here are a few pictures I took.

[W6TOM]

More Pics

[W6TOM]

 More Pics

  The GRC-109 is going home with me to the PRK (Peoples Republik of Kalifornia for you in Rio Linda!!)

[Carl WA1KPD]

Hey Todd,
It was good to see you and John. We did well selling a lot of items, but by Sat at 11:30, still hads some on the table. We had moved to a sunnier location on Sat.
Picked up a RCA ACR-175 which should pair up nicely with the HT-9, caught up with a lot of old friends some from the Northeastern W1KBN days and several from High School who no longer live locally.
Missed GMS, did not see him at all.
Excellent WX and good times.
Hope to see you in the Spring
Carl
/KPD

[W3GMS]

Hey Todd,
It was good to see you and John. We did well selling a lot of items, but by Sat at 11:30, still hads some on the table. We had moved to a sunnier location on Sat.
Picked up a RCA ACR-175 which should pair up nicely with the HT-9, caught up with a lot of old friends some from the Northeastern W1KBN days and several from High School who no longer live locally.
Missed GMS, did not see him at all.
Excellent WX and good times.
Hope to see you in the Spring
Carl
/KPD

Sorry Martha and I missed you Carl.  This was a working session for us since we involved with the commercial operation, clubs and nonprofit organizations.  We had a great time though but really did not see as much of the fester as in prior years.  We drove up Wednesday, was at the Fairgrounds at noon on Thursday to help set up.  Then on Friday it was an early day starting at 5AM getting ready for the commercial vendors coming in at 6AM.  Then we spent a good amount of time collecting money for their booth space, tables and chairs.  Then after they all left late Saturday we got the buildings cleaned up a bit and got out around 5PM.     

Joe-GMS

[W3GMS]

Some pictures of the AM Dinner that was held on Friday night along with a few candid shots.

[W3GMS]

Some more....

[W3GMS]

A few more....

[KD6VXI]

Really wish we had hamfests like that here on the left side.   The AMI crowd throws a good one I've not made yet,  and there is the events W6TOM threw out,  but otherwise,  here it's more 'themed swap meets'....   Or,  computer junk fests,  if you will.

I seriously drool at the pics you guys post!   :-)

--Shane
KD6VXI

[KE5YTV]

I wish we had the selection of boat anchors here at the Texas meets that always seem to show up at the northeast festers. 

[W2INR]

ah snitchervisal, I missed a good one!!

G

[W3GMS]

ah snitchervisal, I missed a good one!!

G

They are all good Gary!  You as one of the NEAR-Fest founders were sorely missed.

If I had more time, I wanted to take more pictures of the gear for sale, but just was kind of busy this year.  Next time back, it will be better and I will have more time to do such things.

Joe 

[WBear2GCR]

Yes, I were be there too.

Now, I wore a name-tag with bold letters so that people might be able to identify me.
The rest of this crowd runs incognito.
Hard to know the players without a scorecard or program - that's why ballplayers have numbers on their backs!!

Must have walked past and even spoken too a whole bunch of youze guyz and not known whoze youze bee!!

However I did speak to Mr. GMS, Ted K1QAR (who was resurrecting a burnt R-390A), W3JN, Todd KA1KAQ, WA1HLR,
Mr. Mike, and a bunch of others, including some the crew over where the military trucks were parked... and of course
Steve W2TRH.

My goody finds were somewhat limited. Only was able to make a cameo appearance for about 4hrs on Friday, but was
glad to finally shake free and do that after too many years of not being able to even show up... found very cheap a Behringer bass guitar
amp, a Roland Cube 60 amp (both with smoke damage, but both seem to work! will need a shower in Zep 505) grabbed some
decent lengths of used RG-8 coax, mostly for a friend who is a newly minted ham, a quad of 803 tubes (what for?), a ton of small
parts cheap (transistors & hardware asst'd), 3 parts cabinets with large bins (need those!), a homebrew 220v theater light dimming thing with
nifty lever style pots/controls (those level pots are neat!), couple of tower side light red glass domes (they'll tie in nicely with the
red military DESTRUCT EQUIPMENT buttons I got off ebay). Oh, a 50mhz Phillips 'scope... works fine, quiet, no fan, so a good monitor scope.

It's interesting how each hamfest seems to run hot and cold for certain things, and there seems to be some sort of strange trend to what
is being sold.

One fellow showed up with a Land Rover 109 (the long bed) that had a military motorized screw based tubular tower on the rear bumper, I think
35ft... neat.

Sorry no camera, no pics

[K4RT]

Thanks for posting the NEARFest report & photos.  I would like to get up there some day.

Can anyone fill in names & call signs for those shown in the photos?  Maybe some of us have had a QSO with these ops.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

You'd love it, Brad. A lot of good stuff even if you're not looking for anything, and the AM presence is a high overall ratio. I'll let Joe plug away at the names and calls associated with his photos so I don't mess up. 

Sorry you didn't get to make it, G. Been a few years and all that, would've been good to catch up. Still have your old transmitter here along with a now almost 4 yr old baby girl. Time flies!

Carl - I'm guessing you got the RCA from George/W1LSB? It was the only one I saw there. Was so busy drooling over it that I didn't realize who the owner was for a few minutes. Managed to talk myself out of even asking the price since I wasn't there to buy, then ended up hauling home three other chunks instead! Other than a few odd knobs that receiver was pretty nice overall. Congrats.

[WBear2GCR]

IMG_4852, the last one is Larry NE1S, not just anyone ess NE1S!

Spoke to Larry too...

[AJ1G]

More Pics

Great meeting up with you Tom.  Thanks for the nice pix (JPG6) of the KW1I radio truck and the Tres Tacos of Glenn/N1SNG, myself/AJ1G, and Jeff/N1AEA.  That's Glenn and Tom, W2ILA sitting on Glenn's Tacoma tailgate, and Pete, WB2JWU, in the white sweatshirt next to my truck.  I thought the guy with his back to the camera was me, but that's not my ball cap.

If anyone is interested in those Ameco converters, the TX62, and the matching VFO, they didnt sell, except for one of the CN144s and the power supply for it. Three CN-144s and a CB6 left, two of the 144s work, the third, not sure.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

I think that's Dale's brother Dean/KK1K sitting on the tailgate, Chris. Tom is the guy in the white sweatshirt walking between the trucks. You can see it under his brown coat in pic #4 when he was talking with me (back to camera in green flight). Think he went and put it in his truck as I was heading back to the corral.

Was good to see you there, BTW. Sorry we didn't get to chat, Tom and I were in deep thought and discussion about something important, no doubt. Probably a jeep or radio.

[AJ1G]

You are indeed correct Todd on both counts.  That is Dean talking to Glenn. Tom next to my truck...sure looked like Pete to me at first squint.  Likewise was hoping to chat with you...we will catch up in the air or maybe next Near-Fest.

[W1RC]

As always, another great 'fester, XX, is now history.  Lots of great people and plenty of "stuff".  I didn't buy much because I am trying to lighten the load nit add to it.   My buddy and co-conspirator, a join, N1JAF (formerly KB1FQG) scored a nice Gummint NC-183D rack mount receiver.  Nice piece,  I will have to content myself with the cool Gummint Treasury Department SWR meter that reads out in the actual standing wave ratio and is reasonably small in size.l

We will do it all again next May 5th and 6th.....

[Tom W2ILA]

Just to keep the thoughts of spring alive, see you all in May!
NFXX was tons of fun and the sub-theme was TCS sets. There were quite a few and they seemed to find new homes.  I hope to hear everyone on the air this winter as the projects come alive.

73

[Carl WA1KPD]

 
 Chris, I saw Rod Lucas last Saturday. He looks great and asked to be remembered to you. Spoke very highly of you...
Sorry about the pic of my Dads dog in the 30s! Here are pics from the family album of Rod

Carl

[W3RSW]

Bear,
I Looked closely at ne1x pix. and all three badges he was sporting.
He has a unique way of honoring his sk friends.
Can't think of a word, maybe 'charming.'