[Boatanchors] The Belton Swapmeet and more "Swapmeet in a Box"

[Gary H. Harmon, Jr]

It was a good for sure.  Lots of radio gear and not much computer stuff.
The fellow with all the R-390s was Hank Arney from the Dallas area.  He is
the guy that remanufactures a lot of panels, covers, etc.  He made the SX-88
bezels several years ago when we needed them.  Mike Payne from Alvin had a
set of racks containing standards that Weston used to calibrate their
meters.  Notable missing was the Sign Man and his wife from Baton Rouge.  I
got a really cool RCA Marine DF receiver that works great.  Oh yea, I bought
6 Bennie Babies for my 5 year old granddaughter.

I love hamfests!

Gary H. Harmon, Jr. / K5JWK
6003 Archwood
San Antonio, TX 78239-1504 
210.884.6926
 
"Retirement means everyday is a Saturday except Sunday."

-----Original Message-----
From: boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:boatanchors-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Kees & Sandy
Sent: Saturday, April 19, 2008 5:11 PM
To: glowbugs at piobaire.mines.uidaho.edu; boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Boatanchors] The Belton Swapmeet and more "Swapmeet in a Box"

Another Belton swapmeet is history and this one was a good one. I think it
was better than the last one which is outstanding, considering today's gas
prices. The parking lot was very full on Saturday. Usually there are more
vendors inside on Friday but Saturday had a very good turnout (maybe due to
the weather). The excellent weather helped out a lot since a front came
through and it was cool during the early morning with clear blue skies all
the time.
The "rig of the swapmeet" was the FT-101... those things were everywhere. I
personally saw 10 of them on/under various tables. The other surprise was
the sheer qty of real heavy "straight from the barn" equipment out there,
from big homebrew linears to test equipment from the 60s and earlier. Much
of which was in rack cabinets or rack mountable. Friday was especially busy
with that big iron equipment. 
Richard was there, as usual, with his aluminum cart buying National,
Johnson, etc equipment ....anything that looked like a good boatanchor deal.
His pickup was loaded Saturday noon.
I saw a BC-348 and BC-312 which went for $20 each on Friday (missed them), a
Kenwood TS-820 (needs work) for $100, and a guy with four or five R-390As
under the table. I made a comment about the qty he had for sale and he said
he owned about FIFTY and was "getting rid of some". 
I had some "good stuff" and four boxes of "instant junkbox" misc, unsorted,
parts which were sold for $1 per handfull. Most of the time, there was a
crowd around those boxes. It's also interesting to see what people consider
a handfull ....but 46 people took me up on it and all that stuff is GONE.
Lots of opportunity for engaging in conversation. All the comments about
"I'm going to do that next time" leads me to believe there will be more
parts next time.
Speaking of "Instant Junkbox", "Surprise Box", and "Swapmeet in a Box" I
want to again offer a USPS Flat Rate Box ($8.95) full of parts (I have
plenty left) for $20.00 postpaid in the USA. I'll fill up the box, shake it
a little and full it up again, seal it and it's off to the post office.
73 Kees K5BCQ
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