[Boatanchors] BERRYVILLE HAMFEST REPORT

[W4AWM at aol.com]

 <<  Could anyone who went to the Berryville Hamfest today furnish us a 
report. 
Any nice gear?  What about Collins?

Weather?  Temperature?

Thanks

Dave, W3ST >>

Hi Dave,

Other than it being a really nice day, I can't say you missed anything much.  
There was a KWM-1 PS which I have seen at several other fests, a KWM-2 A 
which I believe had an AC supply built into the separate speaker (I don't speak 
S-line except for my 30S-1) several Hammarlund receivers, some kind of RCA 
marine receiver, a couple of S-38Es and a Echophone EC-1.  There was no St James 
Gray that I saw.  Danny had some Drake gear and there were several linears, 
including a Heathkit but I didn't pay any attention to what the others were. Other 
than that, there was the usual hamfest junque.  There were some tubes but 
most were TV types and too expensive. Many were used, but boxed.

RF Connection, Jeff,Goodman and a number of commercial dealers were also 
there. I got there at 6AM and left by 10AM. I noticed that Jeff had still not 
opened up by the time I left, at least I didn't notice, I didn't try to sell 
anything, mainly because they had one of those little golf cart type pickups that 
was constantly running around moving heavy gear for folks.  It was on call from 
the PA sysyem which was nice, making service fast, but it created a cloud of 
dust everythere it went and it went everywhere.  I didn't care to have to 
clean the dust of my gear no out of the back of my station wagon, so that killed 
it for me. I have to say, though, that the fairgrounds is normally that dusty, 
but the dry WX recently turned it into a dust bowl of a minor sort. I am sure 
there will be folks who disagree with me on this point, but it was dusty in my 
opinion. It was a nice fest overall, as it always is. I was surprised that it 
was so well attended, given the gas crunch, Internet sales and the downward 
attencance of many local hamests recently, but Berryville has a good solid 
reputation as a good fest and this did not change today.

73,  

John,  W4AWM