Butler Report

[Ed - N3LHB]

Well, I did the Butler Breezeshooters hamfest for the first time ever. About a 2 3/4 hour drive from here, always heard it was a good fester, so I figured I'd try it out. Rained the middle third of my trip, and the wx looked threatening when arriving at the fester at 8:00 sharp.

Immediately after entering I spoted a fairly clean non-A R-390, with meters. Of course as I was eyeballing it, the owner said it's already gone. So was the box of extra decks for 390's or 390A's, not sure. Didn't look much after I heard the "it's already gone". sigh... (like I really need another, but gone at the beginning, it must have been a bargain, I didn't ask how much, didn't want to get depressed right off the bat).

Good sized fester considering the threatening wx, saw a decent scratchy Apache, various National Super Pro's, a very nice Collins 75A-1 (pricey), a R-392 with a H/B power supply, multiple military non-descript green transceivers and receivers (most marked sold), a few very nice short rack cabinets (both about 40", one was a buck!). A pretty good assortment of old buzzard rigs were there, saw a few varimatch mod transformers, I think the biggest was a 50 watter (good for an interstage to drive your final audio tubes with). Also saw a fairly nice Ranger for 300.

Didn't see any reconizable calls or faces, hoped to see some of the east coasters there, I am sure some were, just didn't run into them. My big score (ahem) was about 30 IERC shields (the kind with fingers for yer pubes pleasures) for 5 bux. Also bought a Collins tee shirt for 10 bux. Big spender, eh?

I left about 9:45, and as I got about 5 miles west of the fester, it started to pour. Hopefully Butler will get better wx next year...
     





 

[flintstone mop]

Hi Ed,
Yup that's 30 miles from me. Me and my wife moved to New Castle Pa. last June.
The WX was not nice after 10AM and my money situation is in a retirement mode. There are other things planned this month that had priority over the 'fester. I think in Sept there is another one in Butler.

Fred

[AB3L]

Well, I did the Butler Breezeshooters hamfest for the first time ever. About a 2 3/4 hour drive from here, always heard it was a good fester, so I figured I'd try it out. Rained the middle third of my trip, and the wx looked threatening when arriving at the fester at 8:00 sharp.

Immediately after entering I spoted a fairly clean non-A R-390, with meters. Of course as I was eyeballing it, the owner said it's already gone.

The trick is to get vendor space and camp out there the night before. Not that I have done it but I started to wonder a few years ago why a local guy would have his back seat loaded up with purchases right after the starting gun. His kid works the table at his van selling his items while he wonders around the grounds doing his shopping. That gets him the early pre-sale. I watch for the late comers driving in knowing the vultures havn't been there yet.

I skipped this year since I have already had enough rain this week. I didn't want to drive for an hour to walk in more rain.

The second Butler fest is run by another club but is still a good sized event none the less.