Electronics Flea Market @ DeAnza College

I went to the Silicon Valley electronics flea market on Saturday March 10^th with a bunch of friends. They only hold the flea market in the summer this was the first one of the year. This is one of those deals where smart shoppers show up at 6:00 AM or earlier. The whole shebang closes at noon. We usually see even more friends once we get to the eFlea. Alan Martin and Joe Curcio, both FAEs from National Semiconductor were there and you can always count on Fran Hoffart from Linear Technology to be there. Jim Williams goes a lot and Dennis Monticelli, the National Fellow was there. I bought this high voltage probe from him. I figure I can measure spark plug discharges in my Harleys with it, if I don’t kill myself first.

I met an old-timer that worked at Fairchild there Saturday and I hope he will drop me a line since he was he was there when Hoerni and the others were inventing the integrated circuit. I also met a vacuum tube fanatic named Norm Wilson, call sign N6JV. Since two of my friends and fellow flea market travelers are tube-nuts as well we had a great conversation about transmitting tubes and verifying the authenticity of old collectable vacuum tubes. For that, Norm hauled us over a few aisles to see Will Jensby. Will was chairman of the Perham foundation for awhile and they had a lot of nice antique gear that got donated to the San Jose history museum. Will’s business card expresses interest in pre-1922 radios, parts and documentation. I am sure I will be spending more time with these guys in the future and maybe I can work up an interview with them.

Now most of my EE friends go looking for test equipment but there is always a chance you can find some nice old stereo gear or some computer stuff. There are always some booths full of tools and power tools so that is another big draw. When I lost the wall wart for my USB hard drive I found a replacement here. The next one is April 14^th and we will see you there. There are a ton of people that come to this, just as we were leaving to go to Bobby’s for breakfast the NBC News truck pulled up. As usual, the TV was late to the real event, which is at 6:00 in the morning.

The Silicon Valley eFlea is a great summer event.

Norm Wilson, vacuum tube fanatic, call sign N6JV.

Will Jensby, old radio and electronics collector and dealer.

This is what happens to a Coke can if you discharge a capacitor around the coil. The fellow in the booth said you need about 1000 volts per turn.

This booth is there every month. She has every kind of RF connector adapter you can imagine as well as that great stack of shrink tubing in the lower left. Lots of hand tools and a place in the shade if you are getting sunstroke.

This is an antique Western Electric audio amplifier model 7A. This fellow also had this Atwater Kent breadboard and this Sonora unit as well.

Test equipment is why I come here and here, but there are also plenty of tools and even the odd-ball item like these scooters.