Charleston Hamfest 2019 acquisitions

This year’s hamfest notable acquisitions:

  • Yaesu FT-1802M/E 2m mobile
  • Yaesu FTM-3207D 70cm mobile
  • AADE LC meter IIB kit (unassembled)
  • Morse code bug
  • Heathkit HD-1250 grid dip meter
  • Kanga PSK interface (unassembled)
  • DZ 40m HT kit (unassembled)
  • Yeary Communications short wave crystal receiver kit (unassembled)
  • Several boxes of random items that were set on the “Free Stuff” table (I haven’t gone through these yet)
  • MITS Altair 680

Ended up spending more money that I usually do at hamfests, but quite a bit less than I could have.

I haven’t had a chance to test either of the radios yet, but they both looked pretty clean (the FT-1802 looked like it had never been taken out of the box).

The kits I picked up came from the W4RAK collection that was donated to the club. I had been wanting to get one of the AADE LC meters for a while, but unfortunately the owner died before I could pull the trigger on one. When I saw the unbuilt one in a box, I grabbed it right away. I saw the 40m HT kit, I was like “Huh, wut? What the heck? Holy crap! I need this.” A quick look at the documentation shows it’s a 40m (7.290 MHz) AM radio in a handheld form factor, rechargable (lithium ion) battery pack, but without the optional antenna/antenna matching unit). Realistically, it’s essentially a novelty item and I don’t expect to get a whole lot of use out of it. Maybe I can get it built in time for next year’s AM Rally though.

The Heathkit grid dip meter is a bit messy because of foam padding disintegration (foam rot), but otherwise looks pretty pristine. Should be pretty easy to clean up I think.

The gem of my acquisitions I think is the Altair 680. I haven’t plugged it in yet, but it seems to look in pretty good shape.

With PhD work, it will probably be a while before I get around to messing around with any of my new acquisitions.