The AM Forum

Fantastic weather and great time both days!

WELL....

I had a great time!

The weather was tops, and good folks were there to chat with. Above all, this fall it was a boat anchor's paradise with many Johnson, Collins, National, Central Electronics and other gear to be had, many ad really good prices!

Here are a few folks and items that were fun to see...

Had a good chat with one of the former principles of HossTraders, Bob N1GWU who was selling a trailer load of old broadcast gear.

Dan

More photos...

It took me ALL my effort to pass on that HRO at $100.

more!

Yup...more

Ever see a Kahn SSB exciter?

a few more

Todd drive up from VA, and Joe tries to pour coffee on a Central Electronics rig!

A couple more...

An HRO-50R for under $200.

Ted with his 40m magnetic loop.

Dan

yes more

Finally...

An old HBR receiver!

A perfect Friday....

Dan

Some of my pix:  Rat Rod RBO....the chassis was actually very clean compared to the front panel.

Rat Rod HRO:  Damn my thumbnails are still posting upside down..the pics when selected are OK though.  Rockabilly should play great on these receivers.

A mint NIB BC-645 WW2 Tail End Charlie IFF set I
picked up from Wally JDR.  This is going to a warbird, maybe I can get a plane ride in return for it.  Please don't tell me that's the thermite squib below the front panel!

I like the looks of that Globe Trotter.

Thanks for posting the pix. Looks like the WX was good.

Another view of the BC-645 with the lid on.  I have never seen such a pristine piece of WW2 surplus equipment!  I did a little research and found out that those red wires are not the thermite destruct squibs.  The are in fact the arming wires for the squibs.

Gorgeous!
Even the plywood looks like it just came through the time portal from 1940's trees
The case top side, Now that's black crackle as it should be.  I guess you could lash up the thermite pouch. Just don't try to take it through security.  ;D. I don't think I've ever seen a period piece that pristeen either.

Yes, With the remote, dynamotor, and proper cables it'll make one heck of a display or period piece in a working plane.  Looked up the final tube specs. Neat spherical tube. Way Kuhl.

Yes, the CE-20A is coffee compatible Dan!  I did sell it for $35.00 in very good shape with the original manual.   

It was a great Fester for sure.  I sold everything I took, but did bring back a Comet Pro and a beautifully built HB rig that uses a pair of Taylor T-20's in the PA.  Both of those came from Carl-WA1KPD.   I have several TBS-50's, but never had an original power supply for them.  Well, Bob-WB2FOF gave me a great deal on a very nice TBS-50, matching VFO and power supply.  In fact, I think that is the one in the picture shown above.

Weather was perfect and attendance was great especially on Friday.  We also had a great turnout for the AM dinner Friday evening. 

Looking forward to the Spring event.

Joe-GMS       

Had a great visit with many AM guys, Todd, Joe, Steve, Bob, Tom, Al and others and a few SSB friends and enjoyed some good discussions.  Picked up a bunch of parts that are getting harder to find, a nice variable cap, and a NOS $350 1KVA toroid pwr txfrm for $25, perfect voltage for a linear amp project, what a steal.  Thanks for a nice visit to the USA.

73s  Nigel

It was an excellent event this time around for sure. One of the best in memory, very much like the Hosstraders hamfests of the past. Excellent WX both days with equally-excellent attendance as mentioned.

There was a LOT of good gear with great prices overall. Carl/'KPD was set up in his usual spot with several tables of equipment, most all of which he sold. Johnny and I did well also. I moved everything I brought except the RAK-8 and one set of NIB 4-250A tubes. Brought home only 2 items, both of which were pre-arranged.

We bugged out a little after 1PM for the long haul back to MD which we made in about 8.5 hours. An hour & a half later I was back in northern VA. Took a ton of photos, will post some later once I get caught up here at home.

It was great seeing many of the AM crew again and meeting a few new ones like Nigel. A decade later and NEAR-Fest is still going strong, even growing.

Best hamfest I've been to in a LOOOOOONNNG time.

Dan, the Kahn is a SSB converter, not an exciter.  20-some nuvistors and a few transistors.

Great meeting you Nigel.  Keep that soldering iron hot and keep sharing your work.  I really enjoy your technical post.

73,
Joe-W3GMS 

Ended up with well over 50 photos, so rather than hanging three on each post, here is a link to the NEAR-Fest XXII Gallery:

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?action=gallery&cat=21

And just a few of them added here, including W3JN's beautiful CR-91A w/stock meter, WA2PJP with his BA transmitter haul, and my "Mystery Transmitter" which isn't a complete mystery to some. The T-368 shock mount is not part of it.

The 4th pic in your gallery looks like a HT-20...

You don't see those too often.. sorry I missed the 'fest

During the AM dinner Friday night, Andy-WA2CDL pointed what was on the TV just behind our table.  Could not resist taking a picture of it.  
Joe-GMS  

Speaking of which, I didn't get many shots at the dinner though I did get a few. Unfortunately, my cell phone camera lens isn't very wide angle and apparently blurs easily. But you can get the gist of it.

16 AMers in attendance. Was good to see Dirk back with us.

  Got back to the Bay Area a few hours ago, day began with a bus ride from Plymouth, MA to Logan Airport in Boston at 4:40 AM. Two hours to Chicago and a two hour lay over and then another four hours and something to Oakland.

  Spent both days at NEARFEST, great swap, we have lots of small swaps here in CA, but none thing that compares in size to NEARFEST. Enjoyed the AM Dinner and getting to meet those who post here.

 Thanks for the pictures, this is the 5th Fall NEARFEST I have made, should be around for the one next Fall.

                              Tom, W6TOM

It was good to finally meet you Tom, along with Nigel who trekked in from Ontario. And of course, always great to see Joe & Martha who drove up from PA and the rest of the AM crew. Even saw Dave/WB1EAD wander through the AM Corral at one point. Wayne/WA1SSJ was also amongst the group of sellers.


Actually Dan, Johnny did the bulk of the driving to and from. I had only to drive the hour & 20 min to his place up in MD and back. We made excellent time both ways, only running into traffic Thursday afternoon on 495 north of Beantown and on 93 to Nashua. Beyond that, it was clear sailing. We got to JN's place around 21:45 Saturday night and I was back in northern VA at 23:36. Sunday morning I was wandering around the Smithsonian. Talk about a mind shift!

BTW - anyone who has photos can post them to the NEAR-Fest XXII album for all to see:

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?action=gallery&cat=21

I have a few more to post but haven't gotten to them just yet. Will post some shots of the Mystery Transmitter now that it's unwrapped, as well.

would be nice if higher res pix were posted up... most seem to be 640 wide... a bit old school sized, imo.

Very few pix have detail I need to see better. Most, it's just nice to see already known rigs in this fest with decent call up speed on an iPad or older computer.

I wouldn't make these much larger than twice height and width, four times area, if you want to make them relatively speedy on most computers, or in deference to slower  net users on this site.  Perhaps dual sites for low and high res. pics would be possible.
Yes It is fun to read labels, sale prices, and rig details on hi-res pics.

Mucho Tnx to Todd fer posting them.

Serious?

Slower web users in 2017? Who? Where?
In a time when everyone seemingly has a smart phone that doubles as a "wifi" and computers
with minimum screen resolution IF they are OLD of 1028, and most machines built in the past 7+ years
sporting 1480 width, 640 width is going back to ~1990s resolution. 640 is about 1/4 the information of
a 1080 screen, but actually a 1280 screen. That is a lot less resolution than is usual today.

Most cameras and smartphones are sporting 12MP CMOS sensors or higher now, which is about a 4k resolution,
which is approximately the limit of 35mm film, fyi.

Do you still watch a CRT TV at home?
Go back and see what that looks like compared to even a 480i image on a typical LCD flat screen TV.
You won't watch it for long.
Or maybe you will.
I won't.

I'd like to be able to read the price tags too, fwiw. And not see a blur.

yes, thanks for taking and posting Todd...

Anyone can post their NF photos to that album, too. Did I already mention that?  :)

As to size/resolution - due to restrictions on a couple of automotive forums I use, my program is set for smaller shots. And with 50+ photos, having originals around 1 Meg or so adds up to a fair amount of space fast. I can send single photos via email for those who need more detail on a specific item if it's needed. I should add, though - clarity from my cell phone is not that great compared to the Nikon I use at home.

Kodak used to sell a film called EKTAR in ASA 25 that was super sharp. IIRC, you could enlarge it up to 72 times and not lose any resolution. That was something like taking a face in a crowd and enlarging it to poster size. Unfortunately it had issues with color shifts and they discontinued it. Had a lot of fun with it in the late 80s/early 90s when it was around, though.

All the more reason to attend the event!

Joe-GMS

Pan x in 2 120mm.......  nice stuff, print on paper with a negative, piece of glass and a lamp....... The proof was in the pudding.


klc

Curious... what was the ticketed price  on those two HRO-500s??
Did they sell?
Who had them?

 

Panatomic X
What a fabulous name...

Or Tri-X for the faster B&W. I've still got a test roll of color 3200 ASA by Konica I was given to shoot years ago by the rep. Astronomy stuff. Never got around to it. Not sure if it ever made it to market.

The HRO-500s were JN's and they sold. $550 for the pair, sorta working as I recall. (Large) photo attached.

Oh well...  :'(

Think I'd have gone for a pair at that price... just to say I had owned one... love those nixies!

Neither one was in great physical shape.  Projects I lost interest in and took a fair loss, just glad to be rid of 'em!

Ahhh, the classic hybrids. I always liked the look of that line. The National HRO-500 RX and NCX-5 transceiver came out at about the same time and had an excellent ad campaign. They were placed on a pedestal in most ham's eyes, though in reality they were probably in the class of Galaxy V transceiver construction by Leo and WRL.

I remember the 1967 era "heartbeat" ad of the NCX-5 showing its VFO drift.  They sure were purty though. Some manufacturers really knew how to do cosmetics and some did not. Collins and Johnson knew how to get a ham's heart beating.  

I will always remember the silky VFO feel of a Swan transceiver while the insides were marginal.   Drake had a good MOJO going too.  I remember telling Denny Hadd at Dentron they gotta do something about their cheap knobs, but nothing changed. Their HF-500? transceiver looked like Radio Shack knobs and failed. Compare that to Collins knobs.

The ultimate cosmetics magician gurus had to be the Japanese when they introduced the FT-102 and FT-1000D. They had the look of sophisticated military hardware, but were made of plasdick. Quite a feat.

* The VFO knob look and its tuning feel are 90% of the sales sizzle. Watch any ham who approaches a used rig. He will always grab the VFO knob and give it a spin first... ;D  The HRO-500 VFO knob gets high marks.

T

I was 3000 miles away, so this was the best resolution photo I could get of the hamfest. 

Drake, Johnson and Elmac equipment still tease me on eBay.  As a teen I remember salivating over the FT-1000 but it was way too expensive.  They're affordable now, but too old for solid state equipment.  None of today's radios have that same sex appeal except for the really expensive ones, but then that's just being a show-off if you buy one.

Jon 

perfect!

next time use a fatter pen, in black, like a marker?
but the resolution was great!
I could see the price tag on that rig!!! :p

TNX Mr. Mike, for your hard work and putting on by far the FBest of hamfests!