Hard to Imagin today but once that was one of the biggest shows in the east. Think several years of rain and the high price of gas killed it. Did drag the mutt out and operated the RTTY and Voice Nets on Saturday with the 0900 RAT Net working well but the MMRCG Voice USB net settled around 7285 with a LSB station being right below making 7280 useless and we only had occasional interference with some AM station deciding to call out CQ on 7288 and wiping out N2MS on a couple transmissions. KE8ULR and WF2U were solid and W1NZR popped up around the end of the net so we all went several more rounds.

N2IA, K1HF and I all played around with different frequencies and radios on 51.0, 7.280 and 3885 with a number of radios on Friday from the WS-19 to KD2GIY PRC-70 that I have to admit works really well with his small Lithium or whatever battery pack he built, played with that radio a lot and the battery was solid.

With the dwindling attendance, rain and the fact that they beat me down for $50 for my space have to wonder if I will keep doing that event at the same level. Let's hope Hamvention is better.

From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of MilComm Guy via MRCA <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2026 3:38 PM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: [MRCA] AAR Hagerstown MD MV Show

I left at 8pm Thursday night, arrived Friday morning 830am a good 12hr drive from Maine. This is the first time I have been to the show so I was not sure what to expect.

The show is on the apron/ramp area to the aviation museum, the wind was strong and caused problems with holding anything down. The vendor area was about 60% empty, I think there were 12 or so MV's on site. I sold a few items I brought pretty much right away, the crowd was ok but thinned out quickly. I met up with Bernie first then Ray showed up around 11, I also talked with Jeff and met Tom for the first time. I attempted a field repair on Ray's mutt exhaust but the down pipe was badly deformed and would not seal, no new pipes could be found at the show so repairs will continue at Gilbert. Mil comm gear was scarce, I saw one PRC-25 they wanted $500, a good supply of MV antennas and brackets, one vendor was using a WWII radio to hold his canopy down.

I returned on Saturday at 8am, the rain was in full force and it rained all day. There were about 6 vendors left and I did not see anyone else coming in. Ray set up for the teletype net at 9 and that's when I decided to leave for home. I met up with Alex in NJ to pick up a TW100F radio which was pre planned. Traffic and rain were steady all the way home and I did not land home until 0200.

I purchased a battery hold down and pioneer tool kit for my HMMWV and a bunch of 50cal ammo cans that were a screaming deal. The sponsors of the show were very friendly and did a good job, I think the price of fuel and threat of rain killed it. Given the distance I think I will probably just stay with the Gilbert show given it's track record, it's also a 12hr trip for me.