Quick hamfest report: I attended the Massillon ARC hamfest yesterday. It was held at the Stark County Fairgrounds which is in Canton? two exits up the road from the Pro Football Hall of Fame. A hamfest on Halloween day is not my first choice. There's too much family stuff going on so it makes for a hard day. Several people mentioned this conflict to me at the fest so I know I wasn't the only one thinking along these lines. Another problem for me is that this fest is a solid 2.5 hour drive from my house. So I had to get out early for the long drive home to be there for the kiddies in costumes...
The Stark County Fairgrounds is a very nice facility, large, enclosed, with reasonably clean bathrooms. Food was typical fattening hamfest fare, not cheap, and probably best avoided. I thought the turnout for vendors (maybe 50?) and attendees (maybe 6-700?) was good. I saw many Pittsburgher's there including N3BPB, Rich Sperling from the Collins group, a couple Cleveland hams I know and a bunch of others. My kid sold about $35 worth of stuff at our table. I only brought receiving tubes and small parts. So it took a lot of sales to add up to $35--it's a good sign that there were so many ready buyers. Boatanchors Seen: Very few. Heathkit Marauder. Gorgeous. $500. Unsold. Collins 75A4. Excellent with spinner knob. $1000 unsold. Military R388/51J3. Good shape. No cabinet. $275. Unsold. Tektronix 7x23 'Scope with selection of plug-ins. $75. Working on the table. Sold. Multi Elmac AF-68/PMR-8 w/2 M1070 Supplies, cables & docs. $170. Sold (to me) Hallicrafters SX-16. Good panel, bad cabinet. $120. Sold (to me) Test Gear: Just a small selection of old tube type HP stuff, the occasional VTVM and Heathkit 'scope. Great selection of Tek manuals. Broadcast: Nice Zenith Transoceanic $150 unsold. Otherwise just low-end stuff that needed too much work to make it worthwhile. Parts: By the boatload. You had your choice in just about every price range. One vendor had 3 or 4 tables full. But his prices were high (one swinging choke was tagged $50!). I restrained myself because I have accumulated way too much of this kind of stuff. I did buy a box of aluminum chasses for $10--some used, some unused. Auction: This club includes an auction with their hamfest that runs simultaneously starting at 10AM. The auctioneer is a ham on one of these lists--Perry, W8AU. The goods to be auctioned are piled up along one wall and available to look over. Yesterday, it was just about all parts and parts-set radios. I lost track of the time and only noticed that the auction had started about 11AM. I wandered over and picked up just a couple small things. The lots were being auctioned off one cigar box at a time. So it would take 2-3 minutes to auction a cigar box for 50 cents. I would like to have stayed but I was dog tired. Plus the lots were so small, you'd have had to stay all day to spend $10. So I beat a hasty retreat and left. Overall, I liked this hamfest and I'd go back next year if it's not on Halloween. This is the last one anywhere around me until the end of January so it was a nice way to close out the year. 73, Don Merz, N3RHT The information contained in this e-mail may be confidential and is intended solely for the use of the named addressee. Access, copying or re-use of the e-mail or any information contained therein by any other person is not authorized. If you are not the intended recipient please notify us immediately by returning the e-mail to the originator.(A)
