[R-390] Hosstraders Spring 2003 hamfest report

[Todd Bigelow - PS]

Well, it took a couple days to recover from all the excitement. 
Hosstraders Spring 2003 meet is history. Got to meet a few listmembers I 
hadn't met before as well as touching base with old friends like George 
Rancourt K1ANX and Michael Crestohl W1RC, a.k.a. 'Mr. Mike'. Dale, KW1I 
had his usual great military surplus goodies for sale including a 
TBW(?). Got to meet Alex, AI2Q and John KB1FQG. John had his Amelco 
R-390A along for sale. Very nice rig, clean and in great shape. Did it 
sell, John? I never even asked what the price was to prevent being 
tempted. Alex and I made tenative plans to get the URC-32 working on the 
USS Albacore in Portsmouth, just to insure sure we had enough radio 
projects to stay busy. Also met Bruce W1UJR and Larry NE1S who came down 
from Maine.

George had some nice old military gear for sale with good prices - 
ART-13s, BC-312s and 348s, a nice HT-9 and an SP-600 JX-17 he had picked 
up with the original cabinet (no, it wasn't for sale). I saw one of the 
ART-13s walking away in someone's arms later. Saw one other SP-600 for 
sale by Chuck, K1KW. This was a later model without the crystal unit but 
with ceramic disc caps throughout. John was hoping to buy this if he 
sold his R-390A, but at the end of the day Chuck sold it to one of the 
AM crowd for $200.

Saw a fair amount of old gear. Here are some examples:

Johnson 500 - $1500
Collins KWS-1 and 75A-4, $1500
numerous HQ-120, '129, an early SP (no prices and owner was off wandering)
Several Knight stransmitters, one with the matching receiver
KWM-2 w/Waters rejection tuning and 516F-2 supply, $900 (sold for $875)
numerous old keys and bugs, including a Vibroplex in a foam lined case 
for $295 (he took it home)
SP-600 (mentioned above) $275, sold for $200
misc. hacked up Command sets, 1 ARC-5 HF/VHF receiver control box, misc. 
dynamotors, a fair amount of mil surplus gear throughout

One thing I did not see this year were R-390s or R-390As. John's was the 
only one I saw, and it was nice. There may have been others there as 
well on Friday, I arrived early Saturday morning. Friday was another 
washout, with high winds and torrential rains. I had thought about going 
over and sleeping in or under my truck (last minute planning will get 
you everytime), but one glance at the radar loop convinced me otherwise. 
If it's any hint just how nasty it was, the Old Man of the Mountain rock 
formation in Franconia Notch collapsed. For those who have never heard 
of it, just look on the back of a NH quarter. Here's a link if you'd 
like to know more:

http://www.mutha.com/oldmanmt.html

That must've been some storm!

Saturday was once again the better of the 2 days. Sunny skies, warm 
temps, just beautiful weather. My tresures included some IERC shields 
found in a box for $2 along with some military connectors that looked 
like they might fit the R-390 power connector (right plug, wrong center 
pin thread), a pair of 6080 tubes for $1, 5 NOS 40/450v x 2 Twist-Lok 
filter caps for $1/ea., a nice old round mobile speaker from George 
which looks like it might be an early Motorola unit ($2 w/bracket and 
hardware),  noise-cancelling hand mic for $2, pair of Navy 838 tubes 
with porcelain bases for $5, misc, oddball tubes for $1/ea., an 
absolutely beautiful Clegg 22er MKII FM from my Clegg benefactor Warren 
Zeigler, K2ORS (ex NY2H) for $20 (he donated a Comet to me a couple 
years back as well), and a nice Collins 26W limiting amp for the AM 
station given to me by Joe, WA2PJP. Joe and I have sworn an oath to 
reduce our piles of 'radio stuff' in the coming year. He's doing better 
at it than me, though - which is why I stuck to picking up pieces and 
parts only (other than the two units delivered to me there).

Ended the day at the 'AM Luncheonette' a few miles down the road with 
Joe, Chuck, Tim (WA1HLR) and Jack (W1JS). This was at least as much fun 
as the 'fest. Great food, great radio talk, great company. We solved 
most of the problems in the world and amateur radio over lunch and a 
couple beers. Topics included the pros and cons of ePay, property taxes 
and antenna restrictions, and the upcoming Rochester NY hamfest.

For those of you who have never made it to Hosstraders, you really 
should. It is held twice each year, generally the first weekend in May 
and October. It's one of the best social gatherings for radio nuts in 
the east. Plenty of old gear to go around, too.

73 de Todd/'Boomer'  KA1KAQ