Richmond VA hamfest photos
http://www.virhistory.com/ham/rich-18.htm
Pretty good turnout of vintage equipment and vintage hams.

Holy Moly. Thats boatanchor city over there. I noticed almost nothing in the pics had price tags. Is that a normal thing for the sellers over there?

I'd say most of the gear did have price tags - often they were hidden from where I took the snapshot and I made no particular attempt to get them. Also these snapshots were taken during load-in and setup and sellers might not have stuck on a tag yet.
But some folks don't like to put on a price and instead ask for an offer...YMMV.

Agreed. Impressive selection of BAs. I wish we had hamfests like that around here!

I dunno - You'd think all those frozen MN hams would dispose of their gear before moving south to warmer climes. Or maybe they moved it all and only now are getting rid of it in pre-estate sales.....

Back in the 90s we had a couple of really nice annual ham fests but now not so much. There are several smaller hamfests throughout the year but they seldom have much in the boat anchor department.

Don't get me wrong. I still enjoy attending but the size and quality isn't what it was "back in the day".

Really interesting Collins-ish HB receiver with the PTO pushed way back.. and a Christmas tree bulb dial light. Wonder what kind of stories that ol' girl could tell. Thanks for sharing your hamfest photos with everyone. Really enjoy looking--almost as good as being there, and no temptation to spend!
Jim, K9DXL

I'd like to have the early crystal set.

Nick, Thanks for posting the pics for us to look at. I really enjoy them. It's a very nice hamfest.

Regards, Larry

Some nice stuff there! I worked on a lot of those old RCA amplifiers, years ago.

Ron,

My exact sentiments when I saw it!

-Tom

My buying at Frostfest varies from year to year, depending upon what instruments I need, see, and can afford. This year, as always, I bought a variety of used and new parts, a few RF adapters, and a few tools. The main instrument that I needed this year was a compact dual variable regulated power supply to carry in the Explorer for field work. I bought a Lamba 1/2 RU supply with handle that is just right for my needs - model LPD-421A-FM, 0-20V at 0-1.7A.

First Frostfest I have missed in 20 years or so. I started going to them when RATS (Richmond Amateur Telecommunications Society) put them on in the Bon Air community center, late 1970s.

I have acquired many boat-anchors from Frostfests over the years!

I have sold some too.

Wow! I used to own that old crystal set! I sold it at the Winter-Fest ham fest in Annandale VA about 2 years ago! I recognize that cracked knob next to the phones connection. No idea of what the asking price was? Hopefully the seller will read this post as I have the headphones and history to go with the radio.

The radio came out of a junk pile in Bad Aibling Germany, an U.S. government/military site. I rescued it and took it back to my unit in Kaiserslautern GE in 1994. I used to set it up in our radio room and train HF radio operators on what used to be as opposed to the modern equipment we were using back in '94.

It uses an old-style galena crystal in a holder with a cat whisker contact on the crystal. You can move the whisker around to fins the most sensitive spot on the crystal. It was quite sensitive, worked well.

I was cleaning out my stash prior to a move. I tried to donate it to a museum in Maryland but they wanted me to pay them!

Hope it went to a good home.

73

It must've sold fast. I got there just before 9AM and didn't see it. The Pilot SW knock off was still there. Didn't ask the price. Clearly the guy put a lot of work into re-creating it or some facsimile, but the new knobs on the new panel just didn't look good. Probably fun to play with just the same.

Sold my trusty old RAK-8 VLF receiver with matching supply and cable. That was all I brought this time.

Didn't seem like there was quite as much good/old stuff there this time, though still not bad. Several R-390As and at least one R-390, one or two SP-600s. A few of the Jr Collins sets but I think only one A-Line receiver.

Great pictures! Gotta go to Huntsville Hamfest in August!

When I took it to winter fest in Annandale, I didn't even get a chance to put it on the table I rented. A guy asked what's in the box (I think he had a clue) and when I opened it and he said sold! I might have been there 15 minutes max before it was gone. Took the rest of the day to unload my other "stuff".

That's the stuff I look for now at 'fests for the most part, along with parts for projects or pre-war shortwave sets. You really need to be there when folks unload as Nick was to see everything. This was the second year I arrived Saturday morning instead of Friday afternoon. Had to attend a charity ball Friday evening in DC and my 5 yr old daughter wanted to come along as well, having attended Frostfest last year for the first time. By the time we arrived just before 9 a number of the items in Nick's photos were already gone.

NEAR-Fest in NH had a badly mauled IP-500 last fall. Someone had converted it to use Octal tubes and added a power supply. From an estate sale, still confusing to see.

That's the way I got my R-390A, back in 1981; I snagged it just as the seller was putting it out.