For New England people, there's the MIT Swapfest. https://w1mx.mit.edu/flea-at-mit/ https://phys.org/news/2016-09-mit-flea-specializes-rare-obsc... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8thW6anxdTQ&t=1m
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Electronics Flea Market
31–35 of 35 posts
Re: Electronics Flea Market
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don't count out local hamfests. Yeah, some tiny ones are a little disappointing, but bigger cities usually have respectable events. Even if you're not into ham radio, you'll find plenty of non-radio tech stuff. And there there's the Dayton (OH) Hamvention which is /huge/ - people/groups/vendors drive in from all over the US and setup flea market booths, to sell and buy stuff, but also to just sit around and talk tech…
I remember going to this in the 80's and 90s'. Was astounding what you could find. Is it still going? I moved to Florida in the early 00's but still have family in the Dayton area....
I used to go as a kid in the 80's with my dad every year. The Hara Arena where it was held is no more. It was closed up for years and was finally torn down a couple years ago. But the Hamvention is still going on at a new location.
Re: Electronics Flea Market
#33I'd love to see what shows up at a Silicon Valley hamfest. Having it outdoors cuts way down on Covid risks, so that's a big time plus. Does anyone have any good stories about unusual finds at past events? Unfortunately, I'm 2000+ miles East of there.
This year, I bought an HP 5334A universal counter for $60 at the flea market. A week later, I bought an HP 5384A frequency counter through Craigslist from a local in Los Altos. When I told him about the 5334A purchase, he replied “Oh yeah, I was the project lead for that one.” You can see the loot here: https://tomverbeure.github.io/2023/06/16/Frequency-Counting-... . I bought another HP counter today in Monterey… It…
I have a friend whose bucket list included owning an Atomic Clock. We ended up repairing several HP 5061Bs along the way. We did the X/Y axis oscilloscope comparison of two clocks, it was a diagonal line when we went to lunch, and the same diagonal line when we got back... amazing stuff.
I think that makes me a qualified Quantum Mechanic. ;-)
Re: Electronics Flea Market
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
This year, I bought an HP 5334A universal counter for $60 at the flea market. A week later, I bought an HP 5384A frequency counter through Craigslist from a local in Los Altos. When I told him about the 5334A purchase, he replied “Oh yeah, I was the project lead for that one.” You can see the loot here: https://tomverbeure.github.io/2023/06/16/Frequency-Counting-... . I bought another HP counter today in Monterey… It…
I have a friend whose bucket list included owning an Atomic Clock. We ended up repairing several HP 5061Bs along the way. We did the X/Y axis oscilloscope comparison of two clocks, it was a diagonal line when we went to lunch, and the same diagonal line when we got back... amazing stuff. I think that makes me a qualified Quantum Mechanic . ;-)
Do my Rubidium references (yes, plural) count? They're not quite as stable as a Cesium-based 5061, but I believe they use the same principle so they’re technically also atomic clocks.
Re: Electronics Flea Market
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a friend whose bucket list included owning an Atomic Clock. We ended up repairing several HP 5061Bs along the way. We did the X/Y axis oscilloscope comparison of two clocks, it was a diagonal line when we went to lunch, and the same diagonal line when we got back... amazing stuff. I think that makes me a qualified Quantum Mechanic . ;-)
Do my Rubidium references (yes, plural) count? They're not quite as stable as a Cesium-based 5061, but I believe they use the same principle so they’re technically also atomic clocks.
Yes they count, but they use a completely different principle of operation.
The Cesium beam clock actually has a stream of atoms flowing through it, which is finite, leading to tube lifetimes of a decade or less.
The rubidium clock has a number of cells of rubidium gas, one of which is a light source, the other of which gets hit with RF, and if the frequency is just right, it absorbes about 1% of the light before it hits the detector.
A much smaller physics package, to be sure. They do drift, though, a tiny bit.