[NJARC] Kutztown, Gilbert, & Mullica Hill (no, not the railroad...)

[Scott Roberts]

Just thought I'd pass along my impressions of the three swaps- Kutztown, Gilbert (Red Ball) and Mullica Hill.

Donna and I took the day yesterday, left early and headed to Kutztown. Arriving around 10:30, the first people I saw were NJARC members, including Bob Bennett & John Tyminski! I kept running into NJARC members all morning, and it was quite nice. Donna commented to me she felt "accepted" by the group, as everyone remembered her, and was sure to say "Hi" We wandered there till a little after 1pm. I ended up spending a few dollars- but not a lot, and brought home among, other things, a neat Hallicrafters S-27 UHF receiver, in the wrong case(for a military Hammarlund, it appears) for $35. Not a bad price! Mainly picked up small stuff there, but had a fun time. Next year, I have to take more time, but I wanted to get to the Red Ball military vehicle get together as well. 

Running about an hour up the road, we went to Gilbert, Pa., and the Red Ball MV rally. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, most people were packing up, and the military radio guys were near the end of their day. I ran into Al Klase & Rob Flory, but we didn't get a chance to chat- they were both watching a talk on some of the military survival radios. I did run into several old friends from my WWII reenacting & vehicle days, and bought a few other items I needed for that. Not a bad show, I just got there too late in the day to get much out of it I'm afraid.

Mullica Hill was fun this morning- I finally met John Dilks, and can only say good stuff about him- every time I went to buy something from his table, it was either a great price, or he didn't want to take it home! I git a few super items from him- even some I needed! lol... Rob- "Dave from the New Jersey" said to say "Hi", and be sure to mention the fact I bought one of their radios: a Hallicrafters S-27-C-A UHF receiver. I can't find any info on it, but it does have a nice USN property tag on it. It is kinda rough internally- the transformer is missing, as are a few knobs, etc. I mainly bought it ($10) for the case- for the S-27 I'd bought yesterday! I am trying to decide what will happen with the rest... The trip to MH was fun on its own- I had a brain disconnect last night when I looked it up, and got directions to the club meeting place. I drove to Williamstown, and realized I needed to be in Mullica Hill. I punched in Mullica Hill on the Tom-Tom,
 and headed west... Took about 20 minutes, straight run. I called Donna (before 8AM- I Owe Her!) and she got me the exact spot from the internet. So I arrived nice and early. Besides running into John Dilks, I spent my day chatting with our man of great capacity, John Ruccolo. Seems every time he turned around, I'd just found another great deal(especially on WWII mikes) a T-17 and a Navy RS-38 mike(with hanger!) each for $3... A 100W Drake dummy load for $5, all sorts of little stuff.. I hung around till after 1PM, and really enjoyed myself. 

Looking forward to OMARC & Parsippany(I plan to get a table this year...)

Scott