[NJARC] A 'micro report' on the MAARC meet in Beltsville, MD

[John Dilks K2TQN]

Forwarded from the CC-AWA News Group

Subject: [CC-AWA] A 'micro report' on the MAARC meet in Beltsville, MD

Hi All,

I thought I'd broadcast my thanks to the folks that put on another fine
annual conference for the Mid-Atlantic Antique Radio Club ---- Well done!

The weather was just about as crazy as last year....  Unusually cool and
wet!  At least Friday was dry till late afternoon so everyone had plenty
of time to cruise the fleamarket.  I went the whole day however without
finding anything for my collection.  I was 'tortured' by finding two sets
I would have loved to have if they had just been in better shape.  But a
cold analytical study told me 'theys ain't never gonna look rite'.

The special auction of Transoceanic radios was quite a treat.....  I
thought that, with the exception of a half-dozen sets, the prices were
below what I would have expected.  As an unexpected surprise there were
five (I think) shutter dial consoles with excellent cabinets that went at
bargain prices.

The size of the old equipment contest was typical for this group....  A
good number of interesting entries but I'm always left wishing that more
folks would take the time to bring their stuff out to share.  After all,
collectively the folks that attended have well over 50,000 sets.....
Can't we do better than to exhibit less than one tenth of one percent?

Because of the heavy rain on Saturday, I think more folks than usual left
early.  I still enjoyed the talks by Ed Lyons, Paul Farmer, Lud Sibley
and Harold Cones.  I think about 85 folks enjoyed the banquet.  (The next
time you see Tom Houghtaling, ask him why he held a pair of TV rabbit
ears in the air for five minutes at the start of the banquet.)  The
Sunday morning general auction offered a good selection but there were
way too many no sales due to high minimum bids.  I finally picked up a
little Philco portable in fine shape that I've been searching for years.
  There was a bag of  '01-A type tubes in the auction that appeared to be
duds but something kept pulling me back to them....  I finally got brave
enough to open the bag and start opening boxes and testing tubes.  Much
to my surprise there was a rare UV-201 variant made by Westinghouse....
I think Lud is happy to be taking it back to Oregon...

That's more than I intended to write....  Will I go to the show again?
YES !!! ...... But I might think about bringing along SCUBA gear!

All the best,
Robert

Robert Lozier
600 E. Green St.
Monroe, NC 28112  USA
704-283-2638  -  E-mail: kd4hsh at juno.com