Finningley ARS Rally

Sorry, another post with no photos!

Today was the 1st Finningley ARS Rally at Sandtoft, near Doncaster. Myself, Sam and Mike arrived not too early with our selections of bargains (ok - junk) and were directed to an outdoor pitch.

Once we had our stall set up, the other vendors were beginning to make use of 'trader privilege' to seek out bargains before the punters arrived, and I was already taking money before i'd finished unloading!

The target of the day was to raise enough money to cover the insurance costs and some running expenses for the CHOTA station. This was more than achieved! Oddly, the vintage stuff i'd expected to sell easily didnt, and the RF PCBs I thought might be hard to shift went well!

My own wanted items I couldnt find! So I will have to order the dipole center and the 6-pin MiniDIN (unless the old mouse one does work) online. Most of my days purchases were to feed and water my eldest son, who happily had the price of a can of pepsi and a tray of chips from me. But, one bargain I couldnt resist was a small 2-stroke petrol generator for £25! I didnt actually pay that, I paid £20, and the stallholders wife (he was away at the time - it turns out looking at MY stall!) said ok, as she didnt want to cart the bloody thing home! I think the fella might have been a bit disgruntled at this, as she told me later he came back and said "you sold that genny for £20! I know, 'cos the fella that bought its bragging about what he paid!" I have yet to see if it actually works (no two-stroke oil!) but if I have bagged a bargain, i'll be very well pleased.

But, the potential to have a small genny available gives me a bit of a problem - Its regulation might not be great, so I would prefer any sensitive kit - such as HF transceivers, to be run from it via a PSU AND a parallel battery. However, to do this I need a blocking diode capable of taking the full, peak, forward current! This is about 22A! As luck would have it, one of the PCBs I didnt manage to sell today has a pair of suitable diodes on it!

Rather than charge Mike his share of the booking fee (I took the pitch booking fee of £5, so Mike's fee was just £2 for an additional trader pass) I just made him brew bitch for the day!