[Milsurplus] WA hamfests Puyallup, Seattle PSARA

[Hue Miller]

I attended the Puyallup WA W7DK hamfest and also the Puget Sound Antique 
Radio Association
annual open swap, both the third weekend of August. VERY little mil gear. As 
I was entering the
Puyallup, I saw a guy wheeling out a BC-312 using a handtruck - I happened 
to talk to the seller
later, he said sold it for $45. It looked complete (no mounting). Max Kaplan 
had a 3-piece GRC-109
and it sold - kinda surprising me. The next day, think I only saw a couple 
hammed Command
Sets transmitters, I wasn't interested enuff to even check the prices. One 
fellow had a Command
Set receiver, no cover, for some insane price, like near $100. At the 
Puyallup I saw some stuff
which used to be considered "desirable" but now seemed to not sell: a real 
nice Halli SX-133
for $35 or $40, a Lafayette HA-410 10m AM transceiver for $35. At PSARA I 
saw a very nice
SX-128 for $175, no sale. My Majestic wood radio with the 2/ 45s did not 
sell for $90. I did
probably see some mil test gear, but was not very interested, plus none of 
it looked very
interesting. One interesting spread must have had about a dozen S-120s and 
TransOceanics
each. I bought a box of books and mags, which made the days worthwhile to 
me, plus being
able to BS with long not-seen friends, but otherwise I'd have to say, the 
offerings were not
terribly interesting. I heard one fellow who bought some decorative plastic 
radio saying
that they sold for more just a few years ago. We talked about prices and 
sales - it seems
"people are not buying". I didn't really see any of the nice round top 
"gothic" radios
selling either. Good luck with those consoles! Why aren't they buying? We 
guessed,
the recession., people reluctant or unable to buy.  The older generational 
cohort all downsizing
their stack at around the same time.  Oh yeah, an RME-69, nice, for $125, no 
sale.
There was one fellow there, Jenkins last name, selling a large coffee-table 
photo book
on Wireless gear for $35, signed, he's the author. I had to wonder if 
there's still a place
for coffee table books? I don't maybe think a scroungefest is a a good venue 
for selling
a higher priced book. The same seller also had on display two supposedly 
"for sale"
items, some Marconi tuner, and a Marconi magnetic "ticker" detector. I heard 
prices
mentioned of $16,000 and $25,000; something like that. I sorta wondered what 
the
point was of bringing these out to a swapmeet also. The Bellingham WA 
"Museum
of American Radio & Television" had a panel truck there with some radio 
bargains,
I think. I bought a Traveler 1920s portable, one where the front cover 
unclamps
and mounts above and contains the loop antenna. Price was right.  I think 
"good" military
gear still goes, but at prices off the recent peak, maybe? And maybe the 
corner has
turned on "classic ham gear", as another post recently wrote? Hmmm....who's 
gonna
adopt that stuff after we fogies are gone?  -Hue Miller