West St. Paul, MN Radio Swap Meet

Hello Everyone, I trust that all is well in your life as it always is in mine. I will be attending a vintage radio swap meet in West St. Paul, MN this Saturday (11/7/09) and wanted to let you all know about it in case you also wanted to attend. The event opens up to the public at 8:30am and will be held at the St. Croix Lutheran High School at 1200 Oakdale Ave. I hope to see some of you at this event, I am sure it will be jam-packed with vintage radio treasures. Have a fantastic day and I will talk to you again soon. Peace, Patrick

Carol Stream, IL & Greenfield, IN & Milwaukee, WI Radio Swap Meets

Greetings, I must start out by apologizing for not posting anything for quite some time, I have been taking a small break from my vintage electronics adventures in order to focus on another passion of mine. In any event, as you can see from the title of this post, I am certainly making up for the break. On October 4, 2009, I attended the last outdoor antique radio swap meet in Carol Stream, IL and I am happy to report that I picked up a number of nice pieces of tube hifi gear from the Fisher and Scott companies. Tomorrow (10/10/09) I will be attending the Fall Foliage Antique Radio Swap Meet in Greenfield, IN, which is probably the last outdoor swap meet that I will attend in the mid-west this year. I much prefer outdoor swap meets, compared to indoor ones, for a number of reasons. Outdoor meets typically allow for much more room for vendors to setup and, the vendor spaces are usually larger and less expense as well. I also really enjoy being out in the fresh air bright and early in the morning "digging" for electronic treasures. After the Greenfield, IN event, I will be attending and setting up at the Milwaukee Airport radio swap meet on Sunday (10/11/09), which will also be having their very first donation auction in addition to the meet. The Wisconsin Antique Radio Club (WARC) is relatively small, when compared to other mid-western radio clubs however, they are doing their best to grow membership. If you are interested in attending the Milwaukee meet, it starts around 7am this Sunday and is located at 5917 S. Howell Ave. (right across from the Milwaukee International Airport), maybe I will see you there. As always, keep an eye on my eBay listings by doing a search for my eBay user name of Spiritman68 you will always finds interesting pieces of electronic history in addition to a few other vintage items as well. Until next time, have a wonderful day. Peace, Patrick

Here are a few photos from RadioFest 2009 in Willowbrook, IL, including a couple of my gorgeous wife (one with her prized auction purchase of a vintage RCA Nipper Dog). Enjoy!

Radiofest 2009 - Willowbrook, IL

Hello Again, I hope all is well in your world, as it is in mine. I do apologize for not being able to blog for a bit of time however, rest assured, I have been very busy attending vintage radio events over the summer. The next event I will attending is Radiofest 2009 in Willowbrook, IL. My gorgeous wife Dawn will be attending this event with me, which makes it all the more special. Radiofest is a multi-day event, which includes a great auction and swap meet. Because I will be actually setting up at this event, I should have time to upload some photos from the event, for those of you who can not attend to enjoy. I will talk to you again real soon. Peace, Patrick

Plymouth, MN Radio Swap Meet: Part 2

Hello everyone, I am back from my radio adventure at the Plymouth, MN RadioFest 2009 and boy was it fun (although a bit cold at 6am Saturday morning). Surprisingly, I did not purchase anything at the auction Friday evening however, I certainly made up for it at the swap meet on Saturday morning. I ended up aquiring 3 vintage hifi vacuum tube receivers, a Sansui 1000A, a Sansui 1000 (with the original manual), and a Harman-Kardon tube receiver. In addition, I picked up a number of nice globe output tubes including 4 type 45 tubes, a nice RCA 50 tube, and a NOS Cunningham 2A3 tube. To satisfy my antique radio itch, I picked up a couple of unique book radios, which look like books until you open them up, and a gorgeous little Emerson birdseye maple Ingraham cabinet table radio. In addition, I picked up some nice vintage tube PA amps and a vintage Heathkit tube amp. I also picked up a couple of nice Zenith Trans-Oceanic radios (one tube type and one solid-state). Lastly, to round things out a bit, I picked up a Hallicrafters SX-100 HAM radio and speaker, for you HAM collctors out there. You will be able to see (and bid on) many of these items in the coming weeks. If you are interested, just check out my website at http://www.simplyspiritsales.com/ and scroll down to the bottom of the home page where you will see my eBay auctions and can also bid on them from there. Until next time, happy collecting. Peace, Patrick

2009 Plymouth, MN Radio Auction & Swap Meet

Hello everyone, it has been a while since I posted my last blog post and I apologize for that. I am currently on another radio adventure in Plymouth, MN (near St. Paul) and will be attending an antique radio auction tonight (5/15/09) and an outdoor vintage radio swap meet in the morning. I am really looking forward to these events, as always, and plan to update this blog with all of my treasured purchases. Talk to you again soon. Peace, Patrick

Tri-State Radio Fest (Monaca, PA) & Side Trip

Hello, I am currently at the Tri-State Radio Fest and Auction in Monaca, PA (near Pittsburg). I left a day early for this event in order to visit a friend and fellow radio collector. I ended practically filling my van with all kinds of great tube audio related items that I purchased from him. Be sure to check out my website at www.simplyspiritsales.com if you want to see some of the items. Just scroll down the home page and click on the link to my eBay auctions. I sould have some of the items listed some time next week. Luckily, I was able to consolidate the items in my van in order to make room for today's radio fest and auction purchases. Rich Estes will be conducting the auction, which is always a real treat for me. Rich does such an excellent job and is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Well, I got to go, it should be another exciting and event-filled day. I will talk to you again soon. Peace, Patick

Charlotte, NC Radio Swap Meet & Other Stuff

The Charlotte, NC radio swap meet and auction certainly lived up to the great expectations I put upon it. Although the swap meet had to be moved inside due to the threat of bad weather, it still turned out great and, in my opinion, it is still one of the best antique radio events of the entire year. I picked up a lot of hifi tube gear at the show such as Fisher amplifiers and receivers in addition to some H. H. Scott tube gear and a few other items. It was very difficult to pass up a McIntosh 240 tube amp, which was in excellent condition however, I had to due to the fact that it was a bit over-priced for me. However, if I owned one of those amps in that great of condition, I would probably over-price it as well so that I could keep it and enjoy it longer. Because I have not been able to update this blog for some time after the Carlotte radio event, I have already sold many of the items that I purchased from the show however, I will have additional items listed next week so keep checking out my website at www.simplyspiritsales.com and click on the eBay link near the bottom of the home page to see all the stull I have to offer. In addition to the items I purchased at the Charlotte radio event, I spoke with a person whom I conider to be one of the most knowledgable experts on the subject of vacuum tubes. If you are at all interested in vacuum tubes, you may have also heard of him. His name is Bob Dobush and you couldn't meet a nicer or more knowledgable guy. Bob showed me a couple of relatively rare Langevin tube amplifiers, which were made under license from Western Electric. I debated purchasing them at the radio show and, after I got back home, was having serious second thoughts. To make a long story short, I am currently in South Bend, IN where I am waiting to meet Bob in order to purchase the amps from him. Bob was nice enough to meet me half way between his hometown and mine. These amps are probably some of the most valuable amps I will own to date and, if I do decide to sell them, you will be able to take a look at them yourself on my website. Overall, it has been a very exciting couple of weeks, related to vintage radio adventures, and the majority of outdoor shows have not even started yet this year. The next event I am considering attending is a radio swap meet and auction in Monaca, PA on April 19th. I have never attended this particular event in the past however, it looks to be a good one featuring an Estes auction on site. That is all the news fit to print for now. I now get to watch the clock slowly creep forward as I count the minutes until Bob arrives with my amps. I will talk to you again soon. Peace, Patrick

Eau Claire, WI HamFest Auction

Due to the fact that there have not been many actual antique radio related events in the last month (at least not in in midwest US), I have been going to a number of HamFests instead. Last weekend (3/7/09), I attended a small HamFest in Sterling, IL at which I picked up a few vintage electronics including a MaCo 300, 700-watt linear amp and a B&K Dyna-Quik 500 tube tester. This coming weekend (3/14/09) I will be attending a vintage amateur equipment auction in Eau Claire, WI, which should be fun. This is the 20th annual time this auction has been held and it always seems to attract at least a few interesting items. After the auction, I will be waiting patiently for the huge, multi-day, antique radio swap meet and auction in Charlotte, NC. This particular radio event is one of my favorites of the entire year and I am very excited to be able to attend again this year. Please keep checking my website at www.simplyspiritsales.com in order to see some of the items I have aquired. Stay tuned for more antique radio related antics and have a great day. Peace, Patrick

Estes Antique Radio Auction 2/21/09

Well, I made it to another fantastic Estes radio auction this past Saturday (2/21/09) and managed to avoid the majority of the snow both to and from the auction. This auction was heavy in nice vintage hifi tube audio gear, of which I was able to aquire quite a few piece of. I currently have a couple of vintage HH Scott items, a McIntosh preamp, and a relatively rare Fisher tube preamp. If you would like to see these items, and possible get to bid on them, please take a look at my website at www.simplyspiritsales.com and scroll to near the bottom of the home page where you will find a link to my eBay listings. I plan to list more of this fine vintage hifi tube gear over the next couple weeks. Once again, I was quite pleased with the quality and quantity of the items at this particular auction. My next planned trip is not scheduled until near the end of March in Charlotte, NC. By that time, I will certainly be wanting to escape the cold weather here in Milwaukee and, the Charlotte, NC antique radio swap meet is one of the best of the entire year, in my opinion. This is one of the few multi-day radio shows, which includes a very good auction as well. So, please stay tuned for additional updates of my radio adventures. Peace, Patrick

Farmington Hills, MI Antique Radio Show: Part 2

I am now back from the Farmington Hills, MI antique radio swap meet and was it ever fun. The show consisted of two large rooms filled with vendors of antique radio related items. I spent the extra $10 to get into the show an hour early, in order to find those extra-special deals and boy was it well worth it. I did not buy many items but, the items I did purchase were relatively high quality hifi stuff including a Fisher 800C tube receiver and a pair of Dynaco Dynakit Mark III monoblock tube amplifiers. To see these items, in addition to other vintage electronic items that I purchased at this show, take a look at my website at www.simplyspiritsales.com and scroll down to near the bottom of the page to the eBay "widget", which will allow you to scroll through all of my current eBay auctions. In addition, I picked up a number of unique RCA Victor Nipper related items for my wife's and my collection. As always, my wife was just thrilled with the Nipper items although, she has no real interest in the hifi stuff. The next shows that I may be attending are next weekend in Beech Grove, IN (2/7/09) and Carol Stream, IL (2/8/09). The Indiana show will depend on the state of the ice storm issues of course. Until next time, have a great week. Peace, Patrick

Farmington Hills, MI Antique Radio Swap Meet

It looks like I will be attending the Farmington Hills, MI radio show this Saturday (1/31/09) and the weather appears to be cooperating with my plans. It should take me approximately 6-hours to drive to this event and I plan to stay nearby in Southfield, MI the night before. This particular vintage radio event is held indoors, obviously due to the weather in Michigan this time of year however, although many indoor antique radio events are relatively small, the ones in Michigan seem to be fairly large in size. I am looking forward to going to a good-sized radio swap meet since most of the recent events I have attended so far this winter have been either smaller indoor radio shows or Estes radio auctions. It will be nice to roam around all the wonderful treasures at my leisure on Saturday without having to sit for up to 6-hours, as is the case at many radio auctions. I look forward to hopefully purchasing some vintage tube hifi gear in addition to possibly finding some old Western Electric vacuum tubes. All-in-all this should be a great trip and I will be sure to update this blog after the event in order to let you all know what treasures I ended up finding. I find that it is best if I do not get too attached to any particular outcome, regarding items I really want to purchase, but rather to have a more general idea as to what I may be interested in purchasing and letting things unfold naturally. Anyway, have a wonderful day and I will be back sooner rather than later to update this blog. Peace, Patrick

Estes Radio Museum Auction

It has been almost a month since my last vintage radio related trip and I was starting to get a bit anxious so I have braved the cold weather and decided to attend the Estes antique radio auction tomorrow (1/17/09). This particular auction consists of items from an antique radio museum in Indiana, in addition to many other items. I arrived in Burbank, OH this afternoon (1/16/09) in order to take a look at all of the items and, I have to say, the selection of quality vintage electronics is simply amazing. From vintage ribbon microphones, to old HAM gear, to gorgeous wood table and console radios, to tube hifi gear, to high end vacuum tubes themselves, this particular auction will be one to remember. One of these trips, I will take some photos of the event and publish them online as well however, for this auction, be sure to take a look at my website next week, in order to see some of the items I was able to aquire. If you have forgotten, my website can be found at http://www.simplyspiritsales.com/. Once you get to my website, just scroll down to near the bottom of the home page and then scroll through the items I have have listed online. I am sure it will be hard for me to ge to sleep tonight knowing what treasures await me in the morning. This is almost as exciting as Christmas morning use to be when "Santa" would magically arrive with wonderful presants for all. Anyway, after this auction, I will be attending a local radio swap meet in Milwaukee, WI on January 25. I will talk to you again soon. Peace, Patrick