Any stories of Dayton?

From: Dan Veeneman <dan_at_ekoan.com>
Date: Mon May 20 14:46:16 2002

At 11:30 AM 5/20/02 -0700, you wrote:
>--- Bill Sudbrink <wh.sudbrink_at_verizon.net> wrote:
> > I wasn't able to go. Does anyone have any tales
> > of great classiccmp finds? Or any other stories?
> >
>
>I went, and I was somewhat disappointed.

Classic computer hardware, especially the less-common stuff,
was scarce this year. Granted, Dayton is mainly a radio-oriented
show, but previous years had more interesting items, and more
of them.

> (but I didn't manage to get to Marvin Johnson's booth).

I did get to Marvin's booth. He was busy with the fox-hunting
(as in locating a small hidden radio transmitter, not riding a horse
carrying a firearm) for much of Saturday, but I met him at the end
of the day. Very friendly and courteous fellow. He had some
Casio bubble memory modules for sale, but not much else that
I saw.

While looking for old microprocessors I ran into a gentleman who
may have a lead on RCA 1802 processors, if anyone is still
looking for them. E-mail me off list if you're interested.

>You'd think they had spare parts from the
>Space Shuttle.

There was a vendor selling old Space Shuttle parts. I recall
seeing several NASA transit cases, one of which had a
flight data recorder. I think he was asking $150 for it. No idea
if anyone ever bought it.

>There were some used test equipment vendors there;
>apparently, they hadn't heard of eBay (or they were
>hoping that their customers hadn't); trust me, you
>could do much better on eBay and in some cases with
>better guarantees.

Yes, in most cases test equipment prices (and prices in
general) were too high. One guy even had a print-out of
a completed eBay auction to justify his asking price.

>The few "official"
>personnel I found didn't know anything about the site
>and had no maps (the only maps I found were illegibly
>small).

The "official" staff are all volunteers, and I know there was
some turnover from last year above and beyond the usual
changes.

>There were no obvious markers, banners, etc for the outside
>vendor rows.

It's always been that way. Not to defend the operation, but
Dayton seems to be one of those places that you're just
expected to figure out. I've never seen a good map of Hara
Arena, and the identifying numbers on the outside slots
have long since faded away. The Hamvention staff will tell
you that the Hara Arena operators refuse to spend any money
to fix the place up. Don't even ask about the horrible condition
of the public bathrooms...

>Hey, but other than that, it was great!

Weather:
   Overcast Friday and finally started rain in the middle of the afternoon.
   Saturday was cold and mostly overcast, with the outside vendors
   somewhat damp.
   Sunday was sunny but still chilly in the morning.

Bought:
   HP 9825A with a 9866 printer and 9872 plotter, along with manuals.
   HP 9114A drive
   HP-IL interface for HP-41 calculator
   Two Tandy 102 and one Tandy 100 laptops
   NEC PC-8300 laptop
   DEC SA-1100 StrongARM development system ("Brutus") with
   LCD display, power supply, software and manuals
   Several Heathkit nixie tube counters
   Small Systems Engineering Hardbox for Commodore
   iSBC Applications Manual
   Many, many issues of '60s and 70's Radio-Electronics and Popular Electronics
   Circuit board with a socketed 1802 microprocessor
   "Electronic Calculators" book from 1974 by president of MITS
   Other electronics and computer books from the '60s and '70s

The most expensive item was the StrongARM development system, for which
I paid $55. Everything else was well under that.

I also paid real money for an Optoelectronics Digital Scout and interface
cables
from the Opto booth inside the Arena, but that doesn't meet the 10-year rule.

Scrounged:
   Apple /// monitor
   "Print-it" screen print card and button for Apple // series (in the
original box)
   Apple printer cables (new in package), 8 pin mini DIN to DB25 male and
female
   Epson MX-80 ribbons (new in package)
   Various pieces of satellite receiver equipment
   Mathcad software and manuals for Windows 3.X
   Various circuit boards for parts
   Random coax with video connectors

These were items left as trash at the end of the show.


Cheers,

Dan
Received on Mon May 20 2002 - 14:46:16 BST