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Vintage Radio “MegaFest” N early twenty years ago, the first National Vintage RadioFest was held in suburban Canberra. It was a modest affair. In subsequent years, under the banner of the Historic Radio Society of Australia (HRSA), the event has ballooned into Australia’s largest historical radio display and sales event. It alternates every two years with a similar large HRSA event in Melbourne. This year, it will be a significant event, held on September 20-22nd, in the national capital’s vast Exhibition Park (EPIC) at Mitchell, on Canberra’s north side. Highlights include dedicated activities for HRSA members on Saturday 21st, and a giant Sunday market on the 22nd, with a display and workshop open to the public. Those who like to collect vintage radios, related posters and magazines, do repairs and restorations, plus anyone who likes to re-live the ‘Golden Days’ of radio, will gather for the biggest Vintage Radio show Australia has to offer. One visitor referred to the last Radio-Fest as being like “a combination of Harvey Norman and Bunnings, circa 1937”! Sunday’s public open day will feature many displays of early radios, from very early broadcast receivers (includ- 42 Silicon Chip ing crystal sets), through to the beautiful and valuable high Art Deco period of Bakelite radios in the 1930s and 40s, plus the familiar timber cabinets of mantel and floor-style console radios, and early phonographs and telephones. Many of the radios have been painstakingly restored to full working order, with cabinets in show-room condition. These displays will be far outnumbered by for-sale tables which will feature all of the above, plus countless parts, literature, advertising material and ephemera of every kind. Free workshops running throughout the morning will include a furniture maker, with tips on the restoration and finishing of timber cabinets, and our own experts speaking about and demonstrating seemingly impossible restorations. There will also be a comprehensive introduction to understanding and repairing transistor radios. A giant raffle will offer patrons the opportunity to bag one of three fully-restored radios from the golden age. Parking at EPIC is excellent, and for interstate visitors, there are motels aplenty nearby, with EPIC’s own caravan park offering another accommodation option. Saturday’s program for Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au in Canberra next month members offers further delights. The morning sees a high-class auction of some of the rarest and most soughtafter antique radio equipment. This is a highly selective catalog, filled with top-quality lots. Already entered in the earliest category for this year’s auction are two exceptional and beautiful Atwater Kent breadboard radios, other rare early sets, AWA “Empire States”, and a host of other desirables. There will be plenty of highly-collectable Bakelite radios, early literature, in-store advertising material and other bits and pieces on offer. In the afternoon, members and partners are offered a free bus tour of selected Canberra sites of interest, and in the evening we join in a festive dinner. Once again, our friendly bus driver will pick up and drop off prospective siliconchip.com.au By Richard Begbie and Kevin Poulter diners from the selected accommodation. Members can expect great food and entertainment, with ABC local radio host Alex Sloane as the speaker. Her many years in radio promise a wealth of quirky tales and nostalgia. If you would like to “access all areas”, especially Saturday’s events and on Sunday, joining the society is easy. For just $40, membership also confers benefits beyond admission to the show. This includes a subscription to Radio Waves, the superb colour quarterly journal of the society – a high-quality magazine packed with articles of technical, historical, and social interest, news from groups around the country, plus sixteen full pages of classifieds. Members also gain access to the 50,000 valves in the Valve Bank, various other spares like high voltage capacitors and can participate in our exclusive auctions. The HRSA also has a range of technical journals and a circuit service. For details on how to join and more information about the RadioFest, go to the HRSA website at: www.hrsa1.com Australia’s electronics magazine August 2019 2019     43 43