Weather yesterday morning at the Dayton Hamvention was quite pleasant–cool and partly cloudy (the rain moved in by afternoon).
As I walked around the Hamvention Flea Market yesterday, I snapped a few photos. Here they are, in no particular order: 
The fellow who owns the military radio truck mobile unit (above) allowed me to take a few photos inside:
I hope to post some photos of the inside exhibits tomorrow! Stay tuned!
great p;hotos again……callsigns on tables would surely increase sales potential
thanks for the photos …..great work
joe
Really enjoyed your pictures. Thanks for sharing!
Especially liked the pictures of the Transoceanics and glad I was able to see some of the prices!
I’ve only been there once…..maybe next year?
My first trip to Dayton was in 1974 at age 19. I was attending DeVry in Columbus at the time so I went both days. After noon on Sunday a curious thing happened…people started giving me stuff they couldn’t sell. I filled up the back of the pickup truck I had and it was a feeding frenzy in the apartment complex parking lot!
Some interesting pictures. But lots of price gouging. Mind you good on them. If HAMS are willing to pay some of those prices for lots of old junk. Then I suppose it’s a good business move.
Awesome pics. I remember going to Dayton years ago, with some friends. It was definitely a good time. Found lots of things for projects, which I couldn’t find anywhere else, and some were even reasonably priced! If I can ever get the garage & basement cleaned-out, my wife might let me go again. Albeit, this time with the whole family. Should be interesting with a 4 & 5 year-old! 😉 Thanks for sharing the pics.
It would be nice if Florida had a flea market like this? Does anyone know if one even exists in the state?
Certainly lots to choose from, great seeing those older rigs, like a walk down memory lane. Thanks for the great snapshots Thomas.
I love the Zenith Transoceanic Clipper that has the listening time next to the band buttons – MORNING – AFTERNOON – EVENING – ALL DAY etc.
Fantastic!
Good pics. Rained all morning saturday and tarps on tables. But in the afternoon was able to buy from the nice owner of a Dentron Super Super Tuner who used it for a number of years and then upgraded gear and never used it again. Savings of tuner (compared to eBay) paid for the cost of my trip! I hope to use it for continued experiments with a couple of receive-only antennas.
Not only about buying gear, sat in on a mini-talks in the VHF/UHF/microwave session, some very smart people who are involved in the HAM stuff!
Talked to the Bonito Germany rep from Hanover (forgot his name) and their price list now has the two receive SDR’s on special at the convention. He also said the IF design allows for much better audio fidelity than typical SDR’s which he appreciates because of his father’s background in setting up Berlin Symphony Orchestra’s audio equipment and tuning.
But I did buy the next to last EF-SWL antenna from LMR on sale. 🙂
So tempting to spennd spennd spennd…….
Looking at live streams, pictures and still don’t know what the hype is all about this convention. I could go through the external and external tables faster than what it would take to drive there.
I haven’t read anything new available now from any of the big manufacturers and the second day is coming to an end…a big disappointment.
The trash tables are what you’d pretty much find anywhere else. This only shows there’s a LOT of pack rats in one location that just don’t want to get rid of their junk unless they get some kind of coin in return.
It’s big. It’s not local, or even regional, people attend from everywhere.
At your local hamfest, maybe you’ll find interesting things, it really depends on what the locals have. I once saw a Galaxy R-530 at a local hamfest, I was surprised how big it was. But until that one goes back on the local market, I suspect we won’t see another one locally (and that assumes that it will be sold locally at some point, when it might be sold elsewhere).
I got to the Rochester hamfest a few times in the seventies, another destination hamfest, at least at the time. Lots of things not seen locally, especially the small dealer types selling parts. One of those times I ended up with a few Collins PTOs for cheap, not likely to see those locally.
At the very least, it will take a long time for some things to appear at a local hamfest, if ever. A regional, or Dayton is going to offer up a lot more a lot faster.
Yes, a “dangerous” place, since suddenly so much is available, and it’s buy then or lose out. I can see overspending if I ever made it there.
Michael
Great photos, Thomas! Included are photos of the first model Zenith Trans-Oceanic multiband MW-SW portable. The story goes that the prewar speaker grill featured the sailboat motif which was changed to the B-17 bomber after the US entered the war.
I attended the annual swap meet hosted by the local ham club last weekend. I was looking for tube era parts and a variac. Prices seemed very similar to what I see every day on eBay. eBay has played a big role in setting prices for vintage gear at a national level. All of my tube gear was purchased in the early 1980’s when sellers were unloading it at truly flea market prices. I still have eleven NOS 3TF7 ballast tubes (for the R-390A) I found at a swap meet for $1 apiece.
The former Sacramento Army Depot was not far from where I live. It was finally closed in the early 1990’s. One of base functions was maintenance of communications gear. Needless to say, a local military surplus store featured some great deals on government surplus electronics. That’s where I bought my lightly-used late production SP-600 for $50, bargained down from $70.
Wow! $50–what a deal!
Awesome photo gallery of the flea market area. This is where I spend most of my time at any hamfest.
Some of those prices looked a bit optomistic. Although I would love to attend I have no desire to travel that far. I’ll stick to New England and enjoy Ohio by reading your excellent posts. Thanks for taking the time to record the event.
Hi..!
I’m off to the Dunstable Downs radio club annual boot sale tomorrow, Sunday, 22.May http://www.dunstabledownsradioclub.org/
Don’t think it will be as grand as Dayton, but I might take some photos for your viewing.
Some of the radios you show I’ve owned, some I’ve operated and some I still own.
Best regards from the UK. We keeping our figures-crossed about the weather..!
73 de G8AUU & SO6AUU/9
Please share your photos, Kris!
-Thomas
Hi, Thomas ..!
You requested some pictures of the DDRC boot sale from last weekend. I’m having a hard job sending. The email address of swling.com had a part & trying to load pix on this Reply box doesn’t seem to work.
So your assistance requested
73 de Kris
Wow! Great photos and great radios.
Wish I was there. Thanks for posting!
Gary W4EEY