2008_contest

Old Equipment Contest 2008

At the CCAWA ‘Spring Meet in the Carolinas’

by Robert Lozier

For the first time in years I was not able to participate in the judging for the contest because I was still working to clear buyers and sellers from the exceptional auction we had this year. Fortunately we always seem to have folks willing to help get things done just for the asking. This year Jeoff Bourne recorded the contest results for me and Barker Edwards, Louie Scribner, Don Patterson and Ernie Hite served as judges.

The number of contest entries seemed to be down this year. I was told that the auction prevented some folks from having enough time to bring in items for show…. Hopefully that will not happen again. However, the overall quality of the items that were brought for exhibition remain very high. A true delight to the visitors….

This year we suggested a total of 24 categories for participants of which there were 6 categories with no entries. In some of these categories there was only one entry. Fortunately even these single entry categories had high quality items that would have fared well in contests with likely competition, so the judges frequently had no reservation in awarding a first or second place ribbon regardless of no ‘on site’ competition.

So I will now list the findings of the judges:

Categories:

Pre-1912 Electrical devices

No entries

Pre-1920 receivers & transmitters and wire line telegraph items.

First Place to Don Patterson for his AMRAD SCR 74A Trench Spark Transmitter with extensive photographic documentation.

1920’s era Broadcast receivers

3a. First Place to Merrill Bancroft for his AEREX crystal set with additional VT detector.

3a. Second Place to Merrill Bancroft for his A.W.Bowman one tube radio.

3b. First Place to Merrill Bancroft for his TECLA receiver and two tube amplifier.

3c. First Place tie to Bob Slagle for his Jones Symphony radio

And to Gary Alley for his Elkay 5-S (Super-Selector)

3c. Second Place tie to Merrill Bancroft for his FARAWAY radio

And to Robert Lozier for his MELCO Supreme

3c. Third Place to Barker Edwards for his Radiola Grand.

3d. No entries

1930’s – 40’s – 50’s era Broadcast Receivers

4a. First Place to Bob Slagle for his Revere ‘dual level’ tombstone set.

4a. Second Place to Tom Bourcy for his Crosley model 148

4a. Third Place to Fred Crews for his Philco ‘Bing Crosby’ (46-1201) radio/phono

4b. First Place to Bob Slagle for his Crosley ‘Johnny Smoker’ mini-console.

4c. First Place to Louie Scribner for his SNR Excelsior 55 receiver.

4c. Second Place to Bob Slagle for his Trophy Baseball radio (with box!)

4d. First Place to Don Patterson with his Pilot ‘Candid’ 3” TV – working (with box also!)

Transistor radios

5a. First Place to Louie Scribner for his Sony CRF-320

5a. Second Place to Richard Owens for his Hallicrafters TW-1200

5b. no entries

5c. First Place to Richard Crews for his Constellation globe radio.

Communications Equipment RX & TX

6a. First Place to John Dilks for his 1930 homebrew TX with power supply.

6b. First Place to Herman Cone III for his SBE Model SB-36 transceiver

6b. Second Place to Richard Owens for his Hallicrafters S-41-W (yes white!)

Sound Reproducers, Cones & Horns

First Place to Fred Crews for his Ambotone cone speaker

Special Recognition to Marty Reynolds for his Columbia 360 Stereo Phono with unique amplifier design.

Military Radio Equipment. (In this case a transceiver used by the FBI’s bureau of Alcohol & Tobacco Tax agency on raids of liquor stills, etc. (i.e. ‘Revenooer’s’ radio.) Special thanks to Marty Reynolds thinking a little outside the box to bring this entry in for this category.

Test Equipment

No entries

10.

Vacuum Tubes

First Place to Robert Lozier for his 3 – 1920’s vintage tubes that attempted to avoid basic triode patents.

Second Place to Don Patterson for his Atwater Kent Type 607 cold cathode rectifier along with a vintage notice that the tube was to be discontinued.

11.

Radio Advertising and Radio Literature

First Place tie to Imre Vanyi for his display of GE Radios

And to Geoff Bourne for his collection of glass ‘magic lantern’ slides – all radio related.

Second Place to Don Patterson for his extensive photo albums of radio pioneers and personalities.

Third Place tie to Barker Edwards for his RCA & Victor advertising brochures

And to Merrill Bancroft for his Cunningham Tubes cloth banner.

12.

New construction from old parts or replicas.

No entries

13.

‘Survivor’ Sets

First Place to Robert Lozier for his PZT set from Poland via Australia.

Second Place to Merrill Bancroft for his Campbell D and A2 radio outfit.

Third Place to Ernie Hite for his Tungsram brand set made in England.

14.

Thanks to Bob Sands for bringing an exhibit that is part of the Gray Museum. The exhibit shows the Crosley Reado facsimile machine…. A late 1930’s attempt to deliver newspaper content to your home using facsimile signals sent out over AM stations after normal broadcast hours.

And to Barker Edwards for showing his deForest F-5 receiver of 1925 vintage.

15.

Superhetrodyne Radios

No entries

The judges award recognition for the following:

Best Restoration award (with documentation of the work performed) to Tom Bourcy for his restoration of a Crosley model 148

Best Presentation award to Imre Vanyi for his extensive display of GE Radio material in the lobby of the hotel. (Not only that but he also brought in a whole display of basic radio kits that you would have found in toy stores from the 1940’s to 1960’s. And, if that was not enough, he also had a collection of radio games, premiums, banks, etc. on exhibit.)

Personal note: One important thing that Imre was able to demonstrate in his exhibits, is that items do not have to be in pristine condition in order to put on a highly effective show. After all this is not an antiques & collectibles dealers show where items are treated primarily as commodities. One of our primary goals is to inform the public about the history of the artifacts we collect. Much of that is technical information, but Imre is especially good a showing the ‘emotional/motivational’ side of the industry. Well done!

Peoples Choice – We had planned for conference attendees to have much more time to view the contest entries but as most of you know, the auction ran far longer than normal. So there was no time to solicit a significant quantity of votes in order to award a Peoples Choice. Our plan is to resume this next year.

Best of Show award by the judges went to a rather unusual exhibit this year…. This was for Geoff Bourne’s collection of some 200 vintage glass slides and vintage projector. The subject material of the slides range from 1920’s vintage radio advertising slides shown in movie theaters, to slides to be used at radio manufacturer meetings and even to one of the oldest collections of antique wireless equipment assembled be Ed Raser in the 40’s & 50’s.

As always, I urge all of you to make available items you have collected by bringing it out to our vintage radio meets. Think about loaning your items out to local libraries and museums. Almost always you will have the opportunity to meet new people and spread the word that this sort of technological history is really worth preserving and knowing about for many generations to come.

Robert Lozier – kd4hsh@carolina.rr.com