By Jinhu from ofqTJspLGREREMi on 4/9/2012 4:56:10 AM
 KEMPTON PARK (06-11-11) LEFARS BLOG REPLYOverall, I thought the Kempton Park Radio Rally was a good day out. The event has been eettbr previously, even if there were more people and we had to queue for twenty minutes or so before getting in. Certainly there were more traders here last year, so more items of interest were up for grabs. That aside, this year we didn’t have to queue and there was still a fair amount to see.On entering the hall, I immediately spotted a stand selling old valve radios, so I made a beeline for it. I must admit, I really enjoyed looking at all of those old 1940s/50s/60s radios, with their lovely old wood and polished veneers gracing the grand designs of yesteryear. One or two of the radios were switched on and working quite happily, which was great to see and a quick peek through some of the slatted vents revealed a few glowing valves too.Their yellowish tuning dial displays showed the names of countries and cities that I could only imagine when I was growing up, namely Riga', Cairo', Luxembourg' and Rome'. It also reminds me of the living room in the place I grew up in, as we had a large floor standing radio there. I was forever twiddling the tuning dial and annoying my Grandmother but I was a kid, so it was my job.The surreal thing is to hear any of these early radios receiving music such as Thrash Metal' and Rap', as it almost seems so out of place. Then again, guitar amplifiers have gone full circle, from valves to transistors and, in hugely expensive amplifiers, back to valves again. There is even a transistorised circuit called Valvestate', which emulates the old valve sound', in a non-valve guitar amplifier, so this stand at the rally really evoked lots of memories for me, both old and recent.The Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood stands were not large, but they didn't need to be. There was plenty of interest in all of the stands, and it was not surprising, given the varied equipment on display. My personal favourites were the Yaesu FT-450D and the Kenwood TS-2000X, but I am rather biased in relation to the latter.Some of the vintage equipment at the rally was really tempting, especially the Yaesu FT-690RII and the FT-101ZD I noted, while ambling around and bumping into people who didn't seem to understand the phrase, Excuse me.' Fair enough, you expect a bit of hustle and bustle at a rally, but it was not that packed in the exhibition hall, so it should have been rela |
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