[Milsurplus] TRW Swap Meet

[Mark M]

Visiting LA for the weekend. Got up early Sat for the TRW ham swap. When I lived here in early 80s it was legendary. Every stall occupied. Great stuff for sale. Lots of classic gear and mil surplus. 

How the mighty have fallen. 35% stall occupancy. Almost no ham gear. The sparse ham gear that was here had unrealistically high prices e.g. old Alinco HF xvcr with severely  weathered tuner $500. Lots of older laptops, LED lights, tools and tons of cell phone accessories. Disappointing. 

One guy had literally HUNDREDS of NIB China made but good looking 12 VDC fixed lens CCTV cams with RCA composite output. $5 each. Didn’t see one sold. It’s a new world with HD cams and digital video. 

Literally not one piece of mil surplus gear spotted. Lots of old HP test gear dirt cheap (most  $10) but it looked like the units had literally been thrown into a trailer. Banged up cases. 

Made me appreciate our Sunnyvale CA ham swap where you see at least some mil radio gear at every event. 

AF6IM