[Milsurplus] Display at Aug WW II Lecture Hershey PA

[Mark K3MSB]

Last August I was asked to display some of my radios for a WW II lecture by
a B-24 radio operator.

Here's a picture of the display:

www.k3msb.com/misc/Display1.jpg

I had well less than a week's notice so I didn't have a lot of time to
think about things.

At noon prior to the lecture I did an impromptu talk in the parking at work
to interested Electrical and Software engineers.   Quite a few attended and
enjoyed poking around the radios.   Some had never even seen a vacuum tube
before.

During the lecture that night,  the most common comment I and the
organizers received about the radios was that people were very surprised
that any of these radios even existed.   They were more surprised to find
out that most were restored and I used them on the air.    ( The BC-375 is
a recent acquisition and hasn't been worked on yet).

I was excited to do this display as I've been wanting to display/demo my
radios for a while but never had the opportunity.    This event went well
(appropriate audience).  A reenactor was present and asked if I'd be able
to come the following weekend for a local event;  unfortunately I had
commitments for that date but hopefully I can attend next year.

I wanted to bring my SCR-274N system but that was impractical.   My setup
is built on a two shelf assembly that is 32 inches wide.   All mounts are
bolted to the shelves.   That is just too heavy to easily move around.
It seemed like a good idea 5 years ago, but being 5 years older.....  not
so much.    I took note of how Dave AB5S has his system setup for display
and I'm considering going to that type of setup.   Dave,  it looks like you
do not have your transmitter mount, receiver mount and modulator mount
actually bolted to your frame?   Ease of transport?

I think letting people hear those dynamotors spin up would have been
great.

I've considered doing a demo or display at some of the local hamfests.
>From the comments I've read on the “Big/Heavy Mil-Radio Dead” thread, it
seems that there is little interest by hamfest attendees.   I'm not
surprised.

It would seem that lectures like I attended or re-enactment events are the
venues to demo our military radios.    Perhaps we need to consider our
military radios as historical artifacts that utilize amateur radio, as
opposed to demoing amateur radio using military radios.   Just a thought.

I have a pair of BC-611's awaiting work.   I was thinking of a demo
consisting of one of those and a working SCR-274N or SCR-287.  Let a
youngster man the 274N mic and his friend use the BC-611.   Let the young
ones get some “stick time”.    Maybe some not-so-young ones too....

Grand plans,  but small steps first.

73 Mark K3MSB
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