[R-390] Belton Report

[Don Reaves W5OR]

We have quite a few new members signed up in the last few weeks.
Welcome to all of you.  

Down here in the South, one of the best hamfest/fleamarkets is in
Belton, Texas in October.  It's a day and a half of pretty intense
shopping and swapping for test equipment, vintage radios, odd lots of
electronic flotsam from the Texas electronics industry, and many
surprises.  I was surprised to find a working HP3586B Selective
Voltmeter for a quite reasonable price.  The fest is double fun for me
because on that same weekend is the Texas Early Days Tractor and Engine
Association show http://www.tedtea.org/, in Temple about 7 miles from
the Belton site.  So we head over there after the fest winds down and
spend the last half of the day watching antique tractors, steam engines,
hit and miss'ers, tractor pulls, and engine startings.  It is big,
probably 1000 tractors and engines to see.

But back to the fest, I saw a couple of R-390A's, one Teledyne that
looked fairly good, except wrong meters, and one poor specimen that had
been chainsawed on the back panel and some kind of weird antenna plug
grafted onto it.  There was a gaping hole in and around that graft.  I
should have snapped off a picture, but my camera was malfunctioning.
Actually, the camera might have refused that shot! $250 was the price
tag on the chainsaw special. What were they thinking?  Someone said the
Teledyne was $750.  I hauled down a Motorola R-390 (nonA, for you
sticklers) just to get passerby's attention to come look over my other
wares.   Had a number of inquiries on it at $650 but fortunately it
returned to the roost.  I don't know if the 390A's found new homes or
who had them - I could never find the owner.  

Met a few members of our list. Hi again, fellas, and thanks for the
kudos.  But let me tell you this list is only as good as what the
members make it.  I just look over the mail problems, help folks get
subscribed and unsubcribed, and every now and then take a few of you to
task for needless noise and way off topic content.  So here we all are.
600 plus, all ears, ready to listen to your R-390 questions, comments,
stories, reports.  It's fall, time to turn on those R-390 room heaters.
Newcomers, let us hear from you.


Don Reaves W5OR
R-390 list wrangler
w5or@comcast.net

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