[Milsurplus] Belton Swapfest

[Kees & Sandy]

Again, as usual and as expected, a good time was had by all. Plenty of friends and acquaintances. Our WCARC area expanded from 1 table to 3 tables. Glad we all brought fans.
The swapfest seemed a little reduced in size, both indoors and outdoors, with plenty of open spaces left indoors. The weather was HOT and HUMID, good work-out weather. Some of the lack of attendance may have bee the game day traffic between Austin and Dallas which was heavy but OK, except in the cities themselves. 
There were some interesting items which caught my eye. One trailer had a nice large crank and tilt 50ft? tubular tower $$$ and several tubular fiberglass, 2 section, 35ft antennas. They looked very commercial and I never found out what he wanted for them (didn't have my trailer anyway). You could "easily" lift them.
Had the usual appearance of Yaesu, Kenwood, Icom gear  .....bla, bla, bla. 
SURPRISINGLY little Collins equipment was seen, where did you guys go ?
Two guys were selling old (30-40 items) test equipment straight from the barn and in pretty bad shape but it was cheap. I talked a friend of mine into buying a large signal generator to make into a regen (tuning cap, reduction drive, power supply, etc) for $2. I think most of their items were in the $2 to $10 range.
One old ham had two R390As in his pickup which he sold for $550 total in <10 minutes, that individual later resold them for $400 each to another ham who restores R390As and used to restore them for Fair Radio. They were in really nice condition and I'm sure you will see them again in premium condition at premium prices. The restorer had also found a third R390 (I don't think it was an "A") which was also in the back of his pickup.
Good ol' Richard in his overalls and aluminum cart was there again stocking up. At noon on Saturday he had his pickup loaded to the top with good deals. This time he brought a trailer for larger items. He must be expanding his warehouse(s).
I would say the "boatanchor rig of the day" was the Hammarlund SP-600. There were several both inside and outside. Some sold on Friday and the ones left on Saturday were all in such nice condition that I didn't even ask what the price was since I already have a nice one. Not too much military gear like ARC-5s and BC-348s this time around. Saw only one BC-221 for $25. I didn't see any military "big iron" like BC-610s or others you can't lift, this time. Didn't see a single R-392 and there are usually 2 or 3. Of course, I know I didn't see all the stuff, especially if it sold early Friday. Ther were some people who said they camped out Thursday !  
Mike was looking for a 2m allmode and found a great looking Kenwood, in the box, with the manual, has an intermittant, for $25. He was one happy camper. I looked for a PK-232 for a friend, found one for $20, gave it to him earlier today, and he just called to say it works great.
Dang ! "It was working last time he used it". 
Bill brought a number of boatanchors and had most sold before he got to the table, including some items to Richard and the guy who helped him unload his van onto my table. The "like new" RME 5350 with matching speaker started at $350 (Richard made an offer) then down to $325 and he finally sold it to a local club member for $275 because it will definitely be used. He felt quite good to have sold everything he brought up. I had to cart some heavy stuff back home, and some new stuff, of course.  
I bought a TCS Antenna Matching Unit for $5 and a Heathkit DC (12V input) power supply to be modified for my AN/GRC-9 for $5. There were three individuals selling the military fiberglass 4ft pole sections for $3 each. You never know when you need some. I would have thought after 3 or 4 Beltons he would have finally sold out. 
One ham was snapping pictures right and left and I asked if that was for one of the local ham clubs. He said "No" a buddy of his in Florida couldn't make it and he wanted to show him what Belton was like. 
This time, just to see what would happen, I brought a big box of 4-pin, 5-pin, 6-pin and 7-pin tubes. There was a lot of sorting, selected globe tubes went first at $5 each, then the rest of the globe tubes at $3 each and a few others at $3 each. There were plenty left when done and I have more ....maybe put them on "Boatanchors".  
After the swapmeet was over, dropped by the "Cowboy BBQ" place in Salado and had a couple of jalepeno sausage wraps on homemade tortillas, iced tea, and some cobbler ....mmmmm. 
73 Kees K5BCQ   
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