Mid-Atlantic Antique Radio Club
RadioActivity 2004
Beltsville, Maryland -- June 4-6, 2004

REPORTED BY RAY CHASE AND LUDWELL SIBLEY

Web Edition

The Mid-Atlantic Antique Radio Club (MAARC) held its annual RadioActivity meet at the Sheraton College Park Hotel in Beltsville, Maryland, June 4-6, 2004. This meet, always one of the nicest on the east coast, has historically been plagued with inclement weather. In the early part of the week, just before the meet, we watched the weather forecast every day, and lo and behold, the forecast for the weekend was beautiful. At last we thought we'd have good weather.

We arrived early Thursday afternoon, found a good spot in the parking lot and started to set up. We were told by the organizers that there was to be no selling until Friday morning which was fine with us We hate that mayhem of buyers poking into everything while you're trying to organize things. So, we leisurely set up our tents and tables and repaired to our hotel room in the evening. Upon turning on the TV, we heard those ominous words, "We have a significantly revised weather forecast. Rain is now forecast for the weekend." What a downer!

Anyway, we got up in the morning to clear skies, got our goods out and had an active Friday morning of buying and selling. MAARC usually has good programs set up and this year Ludwell Sibley made his annual East Coast trip to MAARC instead of AWA at Rochester. His tube program was scheduled for the afternoon, and since I did not want to miss it, the missus watched the store outside while I went inside.

Wouldn't you know that after Lud's program, the rain started, light at first, so with our tent and side panels we were able to continue for the rest of the afternoon. However, by late afternoon, most outside activity had fizzled out.

The special "Zenith Only" Auction featuring the Trans-Oceanic collection of Gregory W. Pease was scheduled for Friday evening. Having more Zenith Trans-Oceanics and parts in one place would be difficult to imagine. On top of, most were in excellent or better than average condition. Certainly a feeding frenzy for the Trans-Oceanic collector.

The auctioneer was Brian Belanger who kept things moving right along. There was a minimum opening bid of $25, and if this could not be obtained, then the item was held for the Sunday morning auction. There was no buyer's premium, and the club kept a commission of 15 percent. The total realized from this sale was about $12,800.

More radios in the Zenith auction, ranging from a solid-state Trans-Oceanic to a 1939 console.

Saturday was a complete washout, and I spent the early morning hours trying to pack things away as we had to leave by late Saturday afternoon. Some space was provided for a few of us inside, so I brought some select items inside and continued to sell from mid-morning till after lunch. Since we had a captive audience, we did not fare too badly. However we had to pack up wet tents and tent walls in the afternoon and that was most annoying when trying to work between rain showers. Worse yet, I knew that when we got home, it would all have to come out and be set up again so it could be dried out.

The General Auction took place on Sunday. This sale, conducted by Brian Belanger, included about 360 items and totaled just above $7,000. It was hobbled to some degree by 60 unsold entries carrying unrealistic reserve prices. The general quality of the radios auctioned was quite good.

MAARC has a member-friendly policy on auction commissions: the maximum is $25, regardless of sale price. To uphold the quality of entries, a minimum bid of $10 was required on all sales except club donation items.

The listing below omits a few low-valued items having little basic information and incomplete descriptions.

MAARC sets up good program activities, including a very good contest, and interesting seminars and auctions. In addition to Ludwell's tube talk, Zenith expert Dr. Harold Cones, repair clinic expert Ed Lyon, and Regency TR-1 collector Paul Farmer all gave interesting presentations. So it was a shame that the meet was rained out again, especially on Saturday and Sunday when new and potentially new collectors would probably be attending.

A 1956 Zenith R520A/URR, JB600, gray military Trans-Oceanic with nameplate, headset, and contest display stand, all in very good condition, selling at $1,000.

e=excellent, vg=very good, g=good, f=fair, p=poor, unk=unknown condition, WT=with tubes, NT= no tubes, N.I.B.=new in box, wk=works, nwk=not working, g fil=good filament, BB=brass-based, TT=tipped, PS=power supply, PB=push buttons.

All prices have been rounded down to the dollar. See print version of A.R.C. for complete auction listings.

(Ray Chase, 1350 Marlborough Ave., Plainfield, NJ 07060; Ludwell Sibley, 102 McDonough Rd., Gold Hill, OR 97525)

The Mid-Atlantic Antique Radio Club (MAARC) publishes "Radio Age" monthly. and conducts monthly meetings. Dues are $20. For more information: Paul Farmer, PO Box 353, Washington, VA 22747-0352. www.maarc.org

A warning: Auction prices are not current values. Our selection of auction items is not necessarily complete. A listing such as this cannot adequately include the condition of cabinets, chassis, transformers, tubes, the operating status of the set, and the inclusion of incorrect, restored or replica components, etc. Auction prices are the result of the excitement of the auction process, the skill of the auctioneer and the specific interests of the participants. Nevertheless, auction prices serve as useful references and as another element in the value determining process. The possibility of error always exists, and if we are notified, corrections will be reported.