West Liberty Iowa Hamfest

[WQ9E]

The W. Liberty (aka Southeast Iowa) hamfest is a smaller fest but the Muscatine and Washington Area sponsoring clubs always put together a very nice event.  Other small (and larger) fests could learn a lot from this dedicated group.

Daughter Anna and I took off Saturday afternoon after her soccer game (an exciting tie match).   The weather was absolutely perfect at 61 degrees without any clouds or wind.  It was the postcard perfect Fall day.  I picked up a Icom SM-20 microphone during the setup and then at 6 P.M. we attended the cookout.  Bratwurst and potato salad during an early Fall evening is the perfect meal, it would have been more perfect with beer but I had to drive to the hotel.

Sunday morning started off at a chilly 31 degrees and the electric seat warmers were on high for the drive to the fest.  It was pretty cool at the start but bearable without wind.  A lot of stuff was present and changing hands.  I picked up several items including a Collins 75A-1, Lettine 242 VHF transmitter, a Lafayette 6 and 2 meter VFO, the matching VFO for my Kenwood TS-900, and an interesting Meissner Signal booster which will help out some of my very early receivers.  The Meissner will need refinishing but since I have never seen one before it was a buy.  In addition I picked up a pair of mid 60s era Yaesu twins at the hamfest, this was a pre-fest transaction and I traded a spare HQ-129X for the twins.

Some very low cost vintage test gear also became mine.  I started looking at the mil manual for my BC-610 and it ended up as part of a deal with the test gear.  The ZM-30 bridge was a new one to me and the Leeds and Northrup Wheatstone bridge is a BA classic with a bakelite panel, black wrinkle metal sides, and a nicely finished wood base.

It was also a good hamfest for vintage magazines and I picked up a large group of Popular Electronics, several years of CQ, and some early years of Radio News (prior to it becoming Radio and TV News).  A National RCE-2 (CAA sliding coil catacomb of the NC-100 family) came with some of the magazines.

My first time at W. Liberty was 5 or 6 years ago after I won a ticket at another hamfest.  It is a friendly and fun fest that has become a habit even though it is a 360 mile round trip.  Total cost for all the acquisitions and the hotel room for a night was 1 HQ-129X in trade and $500. plus another $70 worth of diesel for the trip.  Daughter Anna turns 8 this month and is a joy to travel with and take to hamfests.  She finished reading Tom Sawyer on the drive up after she quickly decided that the corn and bean fields in central and western IL and Iowa all look pretty much the same

[w3jn]

Wow, nice haul, Rodger!

You're lucky Anna loves going with you.  My two sons loved hamfests too, when they were younger - then when in their teens they didn't want to get up early anymore.  Of course if you're not gonna go early, there's no point in going at all 

[W3GMS]

Rodger,

Well you just can't beat a good Hamfest going with someone that enjoys attending!  Your Daughter will remember those times for her entire life.  I use to do the same things with my son and daughter when they were young.  As John mentioned, the teenage years brings out other interest. 

You picked up some nice gear.  What is the model number of the National receiver?  The closest thing I can find is the National NRCL.  I have the receiver, but it does not have a name tag on it.  It goes from 200 Khz to 30 Mhz.

Joe, W3GMS
   

[K5UJ]

I have never seen that Meissner before.  ditto for the Lettine 6 and 2 rig.  The early vintage Yaesu's are something I would have never expected to see in W. Liberty Iowa.  Interesting what sees the light of day at some of these fests.

[WQ9E]

JN,  so far Anna is a morning person like me.  Our hotel was close to I-80 and at 5:30 we were awakened by the sound of a very loud Jake brake on a semi so no wake up alarm was needed    Anna is usually pretty successful at finding something for herself at fests which helps.

Joe, the model is RCE-2 and the plate states it was made for the Civil Aeronautics Authority.  I will be happy to send you a high res closeup of the nameplate if you want to have a duplicate made for your receiver.

The Yaesu twins were a pre-fest arrangement with Jim WO9DX in the quad cities.  I own a set of the earlier FR-50/FL-50 twins and I was curious how the more advanced models perform.  Frank W0KH provided radio transport since W9WRL Dave and Jim were planning to ride their Harleys over to the fest.  A lot of interesting stuff shows up at these little fests and W. Liberty has a lot of Collins alumni attending due to its relative proximity to the Cedar Rapids area. 

[The Slab Bacon]

Just FWIW, up until recent years, I have been a genuine hamfest junkie. (Now suffering from "my cup runneth over" syndrome) I have always found some of the most interesting stuff and never left empty handed from the smaller hamfests. I used to really enjoy them every bit as much as the bigger ones!

[DMOD]

Roger, you daughter Anna in your QRZ pic reminds of the little girl in the Subaru commercial, one of my favorite commercials, BTW.  

I have two grandson's that seem to be taking an interest in everything technical so there's hope!

For some time I have had three NOS 807's which checked really good on the Hickok 800A and wasn't quite sure what project I was going to put them in and Wolla, I managed to pick up a Viking 1 with a box of other Valiant (spare) parts Sunday.

It came with the original manual. I haven't put it on the variac as yet nor checked the tubes but will be doing that shortly.

I have been reading EF Johnson's 1953 note on mods as well as W7IIP's mod notes I found here on AMFONE,

So I may be asking you guys for tips and tricks on bringin' him back to life.

Phil - AC0OB

 

[WQ9E]

Hi Phil,

I think you got the Viking from Frank W0KH, did you buy it at the far end of the fest (farthest from the indoor exhibitors)?  Frank is a good guy so you probably got a very fair deal.  He transported the Yaesu twins to the fest for me to pick up.

I am sure we saw each other, I guess I need to get one of those call sign hats    I probably looked a bit unkempt at this fest.  As Anna and I were leaving the house the phone rang and I put down the bag that had my electric razor in it so I was sporting the unshaven street person look at W. Liberty.

The only fairly common issue I can think of with the Viking 1 is dust buildup on the 5R4 tube bases/sockets can cause arcing and carbon tracking.  Other than that check to see if the electrolytic caps need replacement, the HV cap is oil filled and should be fine.  4D32 final tubes are pretty inexpensive now so you might keep an eye out for a spare for the future.  I don't know if you picked up the matching VFO from Frank (he had it for sale earlier) but one of those makes a nice combination.  I don't run full break-in on CW so I use an extra set of contacts on the T/R relay to keep the VFO on during transmit which does away with any tendency to chirp.

I think you will really enjoy the Viking 1.  What receiver do you plan to pair with it?

Hopefully we can get together for an in-person chat at one of these fests.

Rodger

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

It's good to see someone still hauling large piles of gear home from these events, Rodger. Did that for a lot of years, trying to move mass in the other direction now. Having one or two goodies follow me home after selling several is okay with the Mrs.

I'd wager to say that Meissner is a pretty scarce beast. Uses the same bezel as their pre-war receivers. Definitely one worth saving.

[DMOD]

I am sure we saw each other, I guess I need to get one of those call sign hats    I probably looked a bit unkempt at this fest.  As Anna and I were leaving the house the phone rang and I put down the bag that had my electric razor in it so I was sporting the unshaven street person look at W. Liberty.

I usually wear my Call letters hat but forgot it that day. A new ham friend of mine and I were checking out the goods. If you saw a 6'3" guy (me) walking around with another big guy   (new ham) it was us.

think you got the Viking from Frank W0KH, did you buy it at the far end of the fest (farthest from the indoor exhibitors)?  Frank is a good guy so you probably got a very fair deal.  He transported the Yaesu twins to the fest for me to pick up.

Yes, it was Frank, W0KH out of Davenport. I didn't see a VFO for sale. Would have bought it had I spotted it. The V1 had been in a slight shipping accident and the only thing I can see is a slightly bent transformer cover/holddown and a missing SS rectifier in one of the 5R4 sockets.  It does have a few new electrolytic caps and the original oil-filled cap.

Hopefully we can get together for an in-person chat at one of these fests.

Rodger

By all means. And if it's any consolation, I didn't shave that morning either.  

I intend to use it mostly on AM feeding into my Inverted-L.

Until I get a different receiver, I will probably use the ICOM 706 with a shorting relay with a sequenced relay system.

Phil - AC0OB

[WQ9E]

Todd,

I did haul some stuff to the fest so I am trying to approach equilibrium but I am not there yet.  I have a Meissner VHF converter with similar front panel issues so I will have to scan and create decals and then find a paint that comes close to matching the original finish.

Phil,

The two 5R4 tubes are in parallel to provide sufficient current capacity, with SS replacements only one socket needs to be populated.

It shouldn't be too difficult to scare up a VFO, the Heathkit VF-1 would also work well with your Viking 1. 

One thing I forgot to mention, check that the switch controlling the extra 160 meter components moves freely (it is controlled by the 160 in/out control).  I have worked on a couple of Vikings that had the drive pulley sheared off from  the shaft because of a frozen switch.  The damage is repairable but better avoided.  Add a few drops of synthetic oil (I have found standard 5W20 motor oil works very well for this) so that it penetrates where the shaft goes through the bushing on the switch, if necessary you can heat the shaft with a soldering iron before applying oil and as it cools it will pull it into the shaft/bushing interface.

Frank forwarded some additional photos from the hamfest, I will see if I can find you

[W3GMS]

Joe, the model is RCE-2 and the plate states it was made for the Civil Aeronautics Authority.  I will be happy to send you a high res closeup of the nameplate if you want to have a duplicate made for your receiver.

Hi Rodger,

When you have a chance to do the scan that would be great.  Mine is in pretty good shape and with little work would shine up nicely. 
Take your time with the scan. I have many projects ahead of it!

Joe, W3GMS

[WQ9E]

Joe,

Attached is a close-up of the plate.  Looks like I have some plate corrosion to clean up.