Attention, geek shoppers
This monthly market at MIT is no ordinary yard sale.
The Flea at MIT isn't a mutant insect created in a Cambridge laboratory, though someone's probably working on that. It's a flea market founded about a quarter-century ago by amateur radio operators and electronics enthusiasts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and still as popular as ever among the geek elite. Show up at the MIT parking lot at Albany and Main on any third Sunday from April to October (admission is $5, but you can get a $1 discount by bringing a flier available online at http://swapfest.us), and you'll have plenty of company -- hundreds of technology addicts picking over heaps of electronics gear in search of something rare, unusual, or just plain cheap. Here are a few curious finds that turned up last month.
Visidyne portable microfiche reader, circa 1970s
Selling for: $10 or best offer
Tech trivia: Before the electronic book, there were microfiche -- plastic slides that each hold hundreds of printed pages in super-small type. Microfiche let traveling engineers carry huge technical manuals in a shirt pocket. But they'd need this briefcase-sized device to read them.
Geek treasure rating (on a scale of 1 to 10): 2. These days, those technical manuals come on CDs or flash drives. Get a real laptop.
EICO Model 315 signal generator, circa 1950s
Selling for: $65
Tech trivia: Hardly anyone fixes radios anymore. But those who do need clear, accurate test signals that simulate what would come from a radio transmitter. That's why they still buy signal generators.
Geek treasure rating: 8. Just the thing for the serious ham radio buff. And this one, fully restored, is gorgeous.
Firestone TV, circa 1950s
Selling for: $20 or best offer
Tech trivia: That's right. Firestone TV. The company actually made electronics gear for the US military in the '50s and '60s, so this isn't as odd as it sounds. Maybe you got one free with a new set of whitewall tires.
Geek treasure rating: 2. It's black-and-white, and missing several parts, though it could be restored. But now that Battlestar Galactica is off the air, why would a geek watch TV?
Roller inductor, maker unknown, circa 1960s
Selling for: $160
Tech trivia: This device helps control the transmission of a radio signal. Ham radio operators can turn the built-in crank to make their signals more efficient. And when you're transmitting to the far side of the planet, a little help comes in handy.
Geek treasure rating: 6. Man does not communicate by text message alone.
Selling for: Best offer
Tech trivia: By the time these leather-clad beasts hit the market, you could get a phone that fit in your pocket -- for $500 to $1,200. But fans of hefty bag phones say their mighty 3-watt transmitters delivered better reception than their feebler cousins. Alas, the early bag phones worked on analog cell networks that have since shut down.
Geek treasure rating: 5. Today, it's a doorstop with push buttons. But the buttery leather pouch has room for car keys, a tuna sandwich, and a real phone.
Radio set analyzer, maker unknown, circa late 1920s, early 1930s
Selling for: $35
Tech trivia: Collector and restorer Charles Ochs says this trouble-shooting device was considered a cutting-edge piece of test equipment before changes in radio circuitry rendered it obsolete.
Geek treasure rating: 3. Darn near useless unless you repair antique radios. But you've got to admire the look -- kind of like Dr. Frankenstein's defibrillator.
Hiawatha Bray covers technology for the Globe. E-mail him at h_bray@globe.com.
