[MRCA] VCF East 9.1

[Ray Fantini]

The InfoAge Science and History Museum and National Historic Landmark are located at the former Camp Evans in Wall NJ. Located at the same complex are several different groups that also includes MARCH (Mid Atlantic Retro Computer Hobbyist), the NJ Antique Radio Clubs Radio Technology Museum, Garden State Chapter of the Association of Old Crows Electronic Warfare Display, Ocean-Monmouth Amateur Radio Club and unrelated items like the New Jersey Shipwreck Museum operated by the New Jersey Historical Divers Association (NJHDA) and soon to come Atlantic Surfing Museum although somehow reminded about Lt. Colonel  Bill Kilgore's comments about surfing and New Jersey in Apocalypse Now.
The InfoAge web site along with links to everything there can be found at:
http://www.infoage.org/

This weekend MARCH held what they call VCF East 9.1, housed in three buildings one containing there collection that's always on display and two other large halls that were full of people displaying items from their own collections set up in a format where everyone who came to visit was encouraged to learn or work with the systems. There were many vintage systems ranging from Commodore 64, Radio Shack TRS-80 and S-100 base systems from Alter and IMSAI and my favorite has to be the people who brought out Digital PDP-8 and PDP-11 systems along with couple of the big HP systems that were there and working. Possibly during the event this is the largest collection of working vintage systems around. They also had a tent located next to the building and had presentations Friday thru Sunday on soldering, test equipment usage and programing. I was there for a limited time and did not attend any of the sessions.
There was also a separate sale aria where at least one equipment dealer and several individuals were selling vintage computer items, I bought an old DEC terminal to go with one of my systems being that they are getting harder to find these days. Prices were fair being that much of this stuff still sells for less at Ham fest but they were less than what you would pay on EBay.
You had to pay $15.00 at the door for a one day entrance or for $20.00 that paid for all three days.
I would have to say I thought that it was a well-run event and was attended by many people with many attending from out of town. Know of at least one group from Atlanta and several from the Maryland/DC aria attending and showing systems. If I had any complaint it would have to be with the general condition of the complex and poor condition of the display aria, but being a volunteer group and not having sufficient resources imagine they do what they can with what they have.
Don't think I would go thru the four or five hour drive there for just the MARCH aria but with the addition of the Antique Radio Clubs Radio Technology Museum and visiting the people over at the Ocean-Monmouth Amateur Radio Club and seeing their huge satellite ground station they are restoring it may be worth the trip. The VCF East fest is definitely worth going back to if you're into the retro computer world.

Ray F


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/mrca/attachments/20140407/422b72cb/attachment.html>