On September 15th and 16th, 2023, the Delaware Valley Historic Radio Club (DVHRC) held the 48th edition of their famous antique radio swap meet at Renningers in Kutztown, PA. Things are more-or-less back to normal, with Just Grillin' in operation, the usual auction on Friday night, and a nice fireworks show before the ever-so-blasphemous bonfire, though there were fewer "victims" this time around than with recent shows. As usual, festivities wound down around noon on Saturday.
Like my previous photo set, I aimed to take photos of things besides boatanchors and test equipment, though there's still plenty of stuff like that. While others do a great job taking photos of the many tables filled with conventional antique radios, many of their photos seem to be taken on Thursday before things open to the general public, so I aimed to get a good view of what things looked like on Friday morning when the crowds were let in (though some tables still hadn't been opened for the day when I was doing so, so there will be some gaps). Also unlike last time, I made use of a different camera, a Panasonic Lumix FZ40 which is lighter than my usual Nikon DSLR, though it occasionally had issues with the focus and/or zoom functions. In spite of the glitches, I still managed to snap nearly 700 photos, so most of these will be presented without comment, and in roughly the same order they appeared in the halls as I walked around. As always, enjoy!
View of my and other campsites:
The cornfield behind my tent:
Another view of the campsites:
A shot of the parking area:
Another view:
A truck on its way into the parking area:
View inside the left hallway of the main pavilion:
Various vendors and their wares:
A nice National NC-98 with matching speaker:
A fine Zenith console:
Not entirely sure what this is...didn't buy it, anyway:
Close-up of the Drake components:
An odd clock radio which I did not buy:
Didn't buy this, either:
A pair of Eico tube components:
Oops:
Need a set of rabbit ears?
Another view of the box, plus what was above it:
Some sort of semiconductor trainer:
An Atwater Kent breadboard set inside a glass case:
More nice radios behind glass:
A rather elaborate Federal 61 TRF set:
The DVHRC club table:
The stuff on said table:
Back to the vendors:
Some funky test equipment, including a Tektronix curve tracer:
A TMC SBE-2 transmitter/exciter, with the matching power supply:
A vintage engine order telegraph, manufacturer unknown:
Some vintage boatanchors:
I did buy the SABA 9241 receiver under the equalizer:
Not sure what this was:
Some CDs(?!) for sale, plus some nice audio gear:
A weird "Adjust-A-Volt" pseudo-variac:
A HH Scott 299 integrated amp:
Some funky tube amps:
"Got Tubes?" plus some nice radio gear:
An EH Scott SLR-12B, missing its knobs:
A Grebe Synchrophase which has seen better days:
More radio gear:
Some sort of early superhet:
A painting which someone had leaning against a vendor table for some reason:
More vendors:
Some sort of funky galvanometer:
An early DeForest Audion set:
A loose coupler of some sort sitting next to it:
The T-shirt vendor:
With some boatanchor-related shirts this time around:
Some other stuff they had for sale:
Yet more radio vendors:
No, I didn't buy this:
Or this:
A funky tube tester thing:
The rare Hallicrafters SX-73, aka R-274B, sitting backwards on their table for some reason:
Peter back at the club table! (applause)
Working on an Advent 300 receiver:
The club radio station, now on four frequencies:
Still more vendors:
Mike Koste's "Gobs of Knobs":
Some sort of "radio game":
A nice Sparton Bluebird:
Another pair of expensive-looking tube amps:
A couple of nice EH Scott consoles:
The Magers and their "Waves":
A nice Dumont neon sign they had:
Some HRO coils:
No, I don't know:
A neat hotel radio:
No idea here, either:
A neat paperweight:
"Tom's Tubes":
Alongside its new competitor, "Bruce's Tubes":
Other stuff for sale on the NEARC club table:
Whoa, it's Wilbur!
Buford Chidester's lovely cone speakers:
The jukebox guys hauled in a neat Wurlitzer:
Which needed some work:
A different Wurlitzer they had with them:
One of RCA's oddball German table radios, this time with a record changer in the top:
A view of the right hallway:
A view into the second pavilion:
A view of the vendors in the second pavilion:
(sigh) Yes, I bought this:
A nice Yamaha turntable:
A Sparton 'Sled':
A rare Marantz SLT-12 linear tracking turntable:
A funky Proton clock radio:
A weird military camera case:
Close-up of the ID tag:
A pair of McIntosh MC30 tube amplifiers, in different styles:
Another view of the MC30s:
No idea what this stuff was doing here:
Some radios nearby:
Another of those funky Proton clock radios, which I did buy:
Some geiger counters:
Some sort of time switch?
A funky AC Delco see-through radio:
Another nice Atwater Kent breadboard set:
Close-up of the tube displays:
A weird Seiko animated wall clock which plays melodies:
A General Radio Capacitance Bridge:
Some funky old Electro-Voice (I think) speakers:
The antique NCR cash register:
The Beogram RX2, which I did not buy:
Some Hallicrafters receivers, plus a B&K function generator:
Weird military radio gear:
Didn't buy this, either:
A nice Dual turntable:
Some rare Kyocera audio gear:
A weird old "Gard" heater:
A Heathkit tube amp:
A HH Scott 222 integrated amp:
An early Western Electric amplifier using "tennis ball" tubes:
Some communications gear on the floor:
A cylinder record carrying case:
Two nice turntables (and a pair of speakers):
A table with some nice radios:
A nice grandfather clock radio:
Some real odds and ends:
Yet again, no idea:
Another knob vendor:
Some nice audio gear:
Including a nice Technics SL-1500 turntable:
A nice Heathkit AA-100 which eventually sold:
Some nice Collins S-line gear:
Not sure why this turned out fuzzy...it reads "Around the world reception with ROSS":
I didn't buy this, though I did type what's on the screen:
Thanks for the warning!
A rather substantial meter:
A piece of Collins A-line gear:
Another Sparton 'Sled':
More McIntosh tube gear:
A neat Akai tape deck:
Ouch...
Some vendor entertainment:
A Hammarlund SP-600, aka R-274A:
Magnavox console guts:
The one outside vendor which showed up, and their wares:
A Dynaco ST-150:
A couple of large Bogen amps:
A pair of Dynaco Mark IIIs:
Once again, DVHRC held an auction in the Renningers "White Room" on Friday evening. I took these photos shortly before the auction started, mostly of the items up for bid, but also a few shots of the crowd as they were filing in. Anyway, here they are:
Not the best advertisement for an auction like this:
Another view of the hearse:
View inside the hall:
The table inside the door:
Stuff along the back wall:
Tables going towards the front of the room:
A nice Thorens turntable with two tonearms:
Some early Marconi radio gear:
More tables:
A rare Marantz model 19 stereo receiver which went for big bucks:
A McKay Dymek DA5 active AM antenna which also went for big bucks:
A couple of tube amps:
A rare Atari Video Music sitting on top of a Pioneer reverb unit:
A neat animated sign advertising radio station WNIL. Click the image below to see a brief video of the sign in action:
A shot of the crowd shortly before the auction began:
Some collectors may find these images highly disturbing. You have been warned!
The images of the ever-so-blasphemous bonfire can be found:
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On Saturday, attendance was down compared to the previous day, which has become typical for these shows. Unlike before the pandemic, there were few normal flea market vendors in the front half of the second pavilion on Saturday, mostly radio/audio sellers from the day before. I started out taking photos of the club table, then whatever might've been new/interesting inside both pavilions, including what few new sellers showed up. Here they are:
Views inside the main pavilion on Saturday morning, with lots of empty tables:
New additions to the club table on Saturday morning:
Other stuff around the main pavilion, starting with an old Heathkit printer:
The inside of the "Got Tubes?" sign from earlier:
The back of the large galvanometer seen earlier:
I ended up buying this:
Not this, though:
A different outside vendor on Saturday:
A crate of car audio stuff:
Guess I don't understand:
More of their stuff:
The hallways going into the other pavilion:
A new vendor in the second pavilion:
Guessing this offer is no longer valid:
Some funky military stuff:
The Beanie Babies were still there, for some reason:
Some stained glass stuff:
Anyway, that's it for my photos. Can't wait for the next Kutztown show!
