RARSFest 2016

[Andrew Robinson]

Great event today. Figured I would attach some pictures for everyone. Good to see you again Richard.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Rex Allers]

I'm on the other side of the country so I wasn't aware of that hamfest. Looks like a nice one, and rain-proof.

Did any nifty stuff entice you to take it home?

[Richard Hull]

Just when you start to think there is little more that you might need.............(famous last words of a hamfester)

As Andrew noted, we ran into one another there and I saw several old pals from the UNC physics teaching staff there as well and we talked fusion and fusor for a while.

The RARSfest was good to me this year (it almost always is). I picked up a lot of smaller stuff, (hardware, Arduino goodies, OLED display, tools,etc.)

I also bought a few other items seen in the images below.

Probably the best deal was the $30.00 loaded and functional NIM bin. seen in the first image. The great thing is not the Spectrum scan module or the linear amp module, but the two, 4 position Tennelec, full size, blank modules into which you can build any NIM accessory you want! Very good deal here.

Next, is a Sony broadcast, professional Trinitron monitor. My company sold these highly regarded 9" color monitors for $1050.00 new as recently as 5 years ago. You will see this in broadcast studios to this day. I paid $15.00. Fabulous buy. Beside the monitor you will see a fully functional 56k baud TTY terminal for phone line use by the deaf and mute folks who need to use the phone or answer it from instituions and other friends of their ilk. $10.00 for this guy. I hope to adapt its nice 25 digit vacuum fluorescent display in future.

Finally some smaller goodies. For $1.00 I obtained the classic old Eveready C battery (circa 1920). If you don't know what a C battery was used for, look it up.
For 25 cents each I picked up three nice 10 turn precision pots with vernier dials. The meter is a WWII aircraft radio tuning meter with RA slathered all over it's dial. Reads 60,000cpm on a 2" pancake. cost was $3.00. Also there are two, flatpack Lithium ion batteries of 5800mAh capacity... $1.00 each

Overall, a good fest. The 3.5 hour drive each way to Raleigh is more or less at the extreme range of hamfesting for me.

As always, click on image to enlarge for detail then back arrow (previous page) to return to this post

Richard Hull

[Andrew Robinson]

That NIM bin must have been hiding under a table somewhere

[Richard Hull]

For those who haven't read my, now updated, hamfest post in the "files" forum, (now updated and at the top of the files heap)..........

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=7954

Reference the paragraph on "seeing at sight". A tough thing to do until you have many years of hamfesting under your belt. I have hamfested constantly since 1979. I went to as many as 13 each year. Now I am down to about 8 per year.

There were three neatly stacked NIM bins sitting on top of a table, well displayed, but not very clean or pretty. The top one had a load of modules in it. (the one I bought). As I walked away with my bin, there were two empty NIM bins still on table around 11:45AM. The photo of my bin was taken after 1 hour of clean up with foaming bubbles spray bathroom cleaner and after about 20 different pieces of masking tape, departmental labels, inspection sticky tags and magic marker scrawlings were removed with acetone and WD-40. I used about 40 paper towels and two single edged razor blades in the effort. I had to pretty her up for her picture.

I am sure these rather sad looking items were stacked in a dusty college warehouse or languished in a basement for a while. Still, the price was right.

Richard Hull

[Andrew Robinson]

Ha wow. Must have walked right past them multiple times as I was there when the doors opened at 8. In the end though, I have no need for them. Then again, do any of us really have a need for half the things we keep stashed haha. I'm more so just flabbergasted I missed the one thing that usually catches my eye lol. Kudos on the write up Richard. Words of wisdom, and all very true!