The Mississippi Historical Radio and Broadcasting Society
News Letter
A good many memberships run out this month: check your membership expiration date (just to the right of your address). We hate to loose anyone, but we're not going to nag. If you want to stay in the club -- Send in your $10.00. Otherwise, once your dues run out, you just won't get anymore newsletters. Enough on that!
Our regular monthly meeting was held March 14th, 1993 at the usual place and time. Our next regular meeting will be SATURDAY, April 10th - 3PM at 2412 C St. Meridian. It has been moved ahead one day because of Easter, on the 11th.
Our show February 27th was a large success. Though not near the size and scope of many of the larger and better established meets, this show had something for everyone. Vendors from Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana as well as local folks turned out to make both the Flea Market and the Auction quite busy. Considering this was only our second year, all of us were surprised and delighted at the number of people attending. (This year we had nearly as many people waiting for the doors to open at 7AM, as attended the entire show last year!). Many radios changed hands -- as well as many tales of "how it was".
The oldest radios on display were a couple of crystal sets from 1918. The newest radio on display was Earl Snowden's IFR precision analyst capable of receiving AM, narrow FM, wide FM, CW, RTTY, Pulse Code, DSB and Cellular (with code demod) in the frequency range of 1Khz to 2.7Ghz (that is .001Mhz to 2700Mhz!!!!). An EXTREMELY interesting radio to play with, to say the least! With our AM transmitter only about half completed, the IFR double as our AM transmitter during most of the show (when people weren't playing with it, that is!). Thanks to Earl for not only showing this fine piece of equipment, but encouraging people to explore withÊit -- and learn some fascinating things about Radio in the process. More than a few were amazed at the unit's ability to zoom down to the very low frequencies and find Meridian Airport's marker beacon, then zoom up through the AM band, noting each station's bandwidth and modulation on the built-in o'scope; zipping in on WWV / WWVH on the way past 10 & 15Mhz (and showing the slight phase difference between the two due to their different propagation paths); whizzing through TV channels (Cartoons, of course, being Saturday morning!); the FM band; HAM radio, the local county / public service stuff (cops, fire, etc.), pagers, mobile phones, more TV, some really strange stuff (data links, etc.) and finally Cellular phone conversations. Not that many years ago, to cover that much spectrum would require several different receivers.
Don Kresge and the Alabama contingent brought some neat stuff, as well as lots of stories. We really appreciate their contribution to our show!!! Thanks Guys! Don was interviewed by the one of the local TV stations (WTOK), and was quite fascinating, as usual.
The Auction brought in much needed funds, and combined with the donations, proceeds from T-shirt and cola sales, the show actually made money. Our treasury stands at just over $100.00. That will pay for postage on newsletters for another year plus a little.
Last year, the concession stand didn't do too well. We decided to limit our offerings this year to cold drinks, which were donated by many members. Randy Corbin popped a ton of popcorn (actually, we lost track after several 30 gallon trash-bags full!!!!) which was passed around to one and all (no charge). This time the concession stand did a fairly brisk business in colas all day -- and did a very tidy profit. We're still trying to figure out why everyone was SO thirsty!
We gained two new members at the show, and have received several inquiries since. It is apparent that our club is here to stay: we seem to have gotten over that magic mark where the club is self-sustaining. We will loose several members this month if they don't re-new their membership -- that will hurt some, but we are gaining more than we loose -- so far! The club down on the coast flopped, again, they just can't seem to get it together. We hope they keep trying, and maybe they'll get over that "critical mass" or magic number, or whatever and establish a successful club.
Advertising went extremely well this year, the Meridian Star ran several articles on the club before the show, and one after. They ran one large special article two weeks before the show that covered over half a page, and caused a large amount of local interest. WTOK ran a spot every day for a couple of weeks, WZMP ran several spots a day plus a big plug by Ken Rainy almost every morning. WINL (WZMP's sister station in Alabama) ran six spots a day plus an interview with the club's president on the air during their 5 o'clock news the Thursday before the show. Comcast ran a spot for a week before the show. A letter of appreciation is being sent to all of them. Also of note is The Ice House donated about a hundred pounds of ice. Thanks to them as well.
Since there is much about the show, and little time here, the next installment of Radio Collecting Today will be in the next issue.
We haven't got any classified this month so hopefully we'll have some in time for the next issue.
We can include a couple of lists this month that get requested every - so often. Note: this list is just a sampling of Vendors who nationally advertise. Inclusion here is not an endorsement, just a service for those looking for additional sources of parts, service data, etc.
Vendors:
Anitque Radio Restorations
635 S. Lincoln Ave
O'Fallon, IL 62269
618-632-7423
Dial reproductions, Catacombs, etc.
Antique Audio
5555 N. Lamar Suite H-105
Austin, TX 78751 (512) 467-0304
Tubes. Caps, Transformers, Books, etc.
Don Diers
4276 North 50 St.
Milwaukee, WI 53216-1313
Tubes, etc. 16 page catalog $2.00
The Mississippi Historical Radio and Broadcasting Society Newsletter is published monthly by:
The Mississippi Historical Radio and Broadcasting Society
2412 C Street
Meridian, MS 39301
601 693-5958
© 1993, The Mississippi Historical Radio and Broadcasting Society.
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