A guest post by Eric McFadden, WD8RIF
I had the pleasure of attending the annual Voice of Aladdin Amateur Radio Club’s Columbus Hamfest this past weekend, on Saturday, August 4, 2018. The Columbus Hamfest is a smaller, local or regional hamfest but every year when I attend I’m pleasantly surprised by the presence of a really nice variety of fine used gear available at the event. This year was no exception.
I made snaps of some of the fine old “boat anchors” and some of the not-so-old stuff available at the hamfest. (And I must apologize for the flaring evident in some of the photos. It seems the lens in my MotoE4 smartphone is prone to flaring in direct sunlight—somehow, up this point I had not managed to discover this.)
Realistic DX-160
Central Electronics “Multiphase Exciter Model 20-A” transmitter
Yaesu FT-101EX transceiver and accessories
Collins R-388/URR receiver
Drake R8 receiver
Johnson Viking Ranger transmitter
A selection of MFJ single-band QRP (low power) CW-only transceivers and a vintage Heathkit SWR bridge
At the event, I hadn’t noticed how many of the vintage receivers were made by Hallicrafters.
Hallicrafters “Sky Buddy”
Hallicrafters HT-32A transmitter
Hallicrafters SX-101 receiver
Hallicrafters SX-111 receiver
Hallicrafters SX-99 receiver
Heathkit DX-100 (bottom) and Hallicrafters HT-37 transmitters
And while not a radio, this is certainly vintage and is very pretty—and it was for sale.
1966 Chevrolet pickup-truck (it was for sale)
1966 Chevrolet pickup-truck (it was for sale)
1966 Chevrolet pickup-truck (it was for sale)
Last week, my buddy Vlado (N3CZ) informed me about a small hamfest in Greenwood, SC–I had never attended, but had heard positive comments about it.
I believe Vlado was somewhat on the fence about going, but once I expressed a strong interest in selling some gear, he did too so it quickly became a plan!
Greenwood, South Carolina, is about a 2.5 hour one-way drive from my home. Vendors were encouraged to arrive around 7:00 to set up (general public admission was at 9:00), so Vlado and I hit the road by 4:30 AM!
Notice the lack of traffic on the interstate at 4:30 AM!
We arrived as the doors opened and purchased a total of three tables to sell our gear. My goods took up most of one table and Vlado packed the other two with his gear!
By general admission time, less than half of the vendor tables were occupied, which did worry me. However, overall foot traffic wasn’t bad at all! This vendor was certainly pleased.
I sold at least 80% of the items I brought with me, no doubt due to my generous and agressive pricing scheme (i.e. nearly giving things away–!). Vlado sold some large items, too.
In the end, I didn’t purchase a single item at the hamfest. I was in selling mode, not buying mode, at this hamfest as I’ve been making an effort to downsize some of my collection and use the money to offset the costs of travel this year. With that said, I would have snagged a classic portable had one appeared.
This BC-317 is just asking to be taken home!
Mind you, I was very tempted by two BC-317 receivers being sold together for an asking price of $60, but I resisted as the whole idea of “thinning the herd” is to make room in my small radio shack.
I find that small hamfests like Greenwood actually have better vintage radio pricing than the larger ‘fests.
Though the hamfest was modest in size, there were quite a few quality offerings among the vendors. I was very impressed with the number of transceivers–indeed, a new ham would have had a selection of affordable benchmark 90s era rigs to choose from!
Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge or comment on the photos. Most of the photos were taken prior to the doors opening but I did my best to capture price tag information if available:
Do I plan to revisit Greenwood next year? You bet!
My Labor Day weekend was free of travel again this year, so I was able to make another pilgrimage to the Shelby (North Carolina) hamfest with my good buddy, Vlado (N3CZ).
The Shelby Hamfest–referred to, locally, as “The Grand-Daddy of them All”–has long been regarded as one of the largest hamfests in the southeast US. This is the third year I’ve made a concerted effort to publish a photo tour of the event.
I sold both my Hammarlund SP-600 and Hallicrafters SX-99.
Like last year, we set up a table in the flea market to sell a few items along with other good friends from the NCDXCC. In other words, once again, I was in selling mode, not buying mode, as I need to downsize some of my collection and use the money to offset costs of review radios, and some of the conferences I’m attending this year (including the Radio Preservation Task Force Meeting in Washington DC on behalf of our Shortwave Radio Audio Archive).
Overall turnout was a little less than last year, I believe. No doubt, this was due to the possibility of rain that never materialized. By lunch time the sun was out and the foot traffic increased.
Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge or comment on the photos:
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My Labor Day weekend was free of travel again this year, so I was able to make another pilgrimage to the Shelby (North Carolina) hamfest with my good buddies, Vlado (N3CZ), Dave (K4SV) and Phil (W9IXX). This year, all four of us brought things to sell in the flea market.
The Shelby Hamfest–referred to, locally, as “The Grand-Daddy of them All”–has long been regarded as one of the largest hamfests in the southeast US. Last year, I posted photos from the hamfest and many of you sent notes of thanks for that.
We arrived very early yesterday, prior to the gates opening for general admission. We set up our tables and almost immediately had customers in front of us. This year, I was in selling mode, not buying mode, as I desperately need to downsize some of my collection and use the money to offset costs of review radios, and some of the conferences I’m attending this year.
The seller of this Grundig Satellit 500 only wanted $75–an exceptional bargain. I turned it on, though, and quickly discovered the LCD screen worked intermittently after having only been on for a few seconds. It was a little scuffed up too. Still–it produced great audio.
Someone had done a spectacular job restoring this Super-Pro. It would make a fine addition to any shack.
The same seller who had the Grundig Satellit 500 was also selling this Sony ICF-6500W for $75. Other than scratchy pots, it seemed to work well. It was very tempting to purchase, but I passed in the end.
He was selling this Panasonic for $150. I passed because I had a hunch it needed a little work.
One of the finest R-274-As I’ve ever seen. Again: someone spent a great deal of time restoring this beauty. By the time I found it in the flea market, it had already been sold. Thank goodness!
I must have spotted at least six or seven Hallicrafters SX-100s this year at Shelby.
I managed to come home with only $40 worth of parts: connectors, cables, plugs and a 17 meter band MFJ whip antenna (to try on my recently-acquired Elecraft KX2). I was pretty proud of myself as there were an exceptional number of vintage radios I would have loved to have taken home (like the console radio below–!).
Any Post readers attend the Shelby hamfest? Have you attended any other local hamfests recently? If so, please comment on what you found!
For the first time in over a decade, my Labor Day weekend was free of travel, so I was able to make a short pilgrimage to the Shelby (North Carolina) hamfest with my good buddies, Vlado (N3CZ), Dave (K4SV) and Phil (W9IXX).
The Shelby Hamfest–referred to, locally, as “The Grand-Daddy of them All”–has long been regarded as one of the largest hamfests in the southeast US. The last time I attended–most likely in 2004–I was amazed at the number of vendors and, especially, the size of the flea market section (my favorite part of any hamfest).
We arrived just after the gates opened at 8:00, yesterday morning. While there were quite a number of vendors sprawling the Cleavland County Fairgrounds, attendance must have been down as it seemed there were more vendors than attendees.
Still, it was nice to hunt for treasures without so much competition at each table!
This BC-348-R (above) was one of the first radios that grabbed my attention. Though I already have a BC-348-Q, I certainly wouldn’t mind having another one of these classic WWII era receivers.
This BC-348-R was very clean inside and in pretty good original cosmetic shape on the outside. To power this BC-348, I would need to add a transformer or a 28 volt Dynamotor. The seller had it priced at “$100 OBO” (or best offer). I was willing to make him an offer, but even though I kept checking back, I never found the seller at his table. Too bad.
This BC-348-Q–priced at $125–needed a new transformer and a “tune-up,” per the seller.
It’s rare to find a GPR-90 this clean and with a matching speaker.
The seller only wanted $40 for this Hammarlund speaker.
There were a number of Hammarlund SP-600s scattered across the flea market. I have one and can confidently say that it’s a joy to operate–especially on the medium wave band. 
The seller wanted $200 for this Harris–it needed substantial repairs internally.
This gorgeous WWII era ART-13 was the most tempting thing I found in Shelby.
It would look so good sitting next to or above my BC-348-Q.
This one had been professionally restored and was in perfect working order. I’ve seen ART-13s at other hamfests, but never as clean as this one.
The seller wanted over $500. While I know an ART-13 in this condition could command that price, I simply didn’t have the budget for it on this trip. Fortunately, the seller is a friend-of-a-friend and if he still has this ART-13 post-fest, I might just contact him!
The Ten-Tec Argonaut 509 is a classic little QRP transceiver! Someday, I’ll pick one up.
If memory severs, the seller wanted $275 for this used Satellit 750 and $325 (or more) for the 800. I noticed he had sold the 750 by my second pass. 
This Sharper Image shortwave receiver (above) has BFO and tone controls on the back(!) of the unit. Very strange–imagine tuning in an SSB station by reaching behind the radio and tweaking the BFO knob!
The seller wanted $100 for this Hallicrafters portable receiver. Knowing my weakness for anything Halligan, I forced myself to slowly back away. It wasn’t easy leaving it on the table.
There were very few console radios at this hamfest; all of them were in poor condition which made it much easier for me to pass them by. 
This 1960’s era Signal Corps TG-34-A Morse code reader was also tempting and one of the last items I viewed in the flea market. The seller wasn’t at the table, so I never bothered asking about the price. If it had been a WWII era reader, it would have come home with me.
Elecraft had a nice indoor display and a steady number of attendees inquiring about their new K3s transceiver and, of course, the KX3.
In the end, I came home from Shelby with very little: only two patch cables and a male SMA connector.
I did, however, get to spend time with my friends, re-connect with a buddy I hadn’t seen since high school, and meet a few SWLing Post readers. I certainly call that a successful hamfest!
