Every year the East Coast has a Military Vehicle meet in the Aberdeen Maryland area Sponsored by the Military Vehicle Preservation Association (MVPA).   Historically the meet was always held on the Aberdeen proving ground but for the last couple of years due to US Army security reasons it has been held at the Ripken Stadium.

   At first I was skeptical of the location , I preferred mud and grass which is more suited to the vehicles but as it turned out this OL had asphalt and plenty of room. And the good news if you attended last years wash out, you can stay a lot dryer on the asphalt and the wheels don't sink down into the asphalt! When you arrived it looked just like another hamfest except for the hundreds of military vehicles. There was plenty of room but spaces were sold out this year. The set up was typical and like I said it looks like an "Army" hamfest. The next Aberdeen meet is scheduled for May 10,11 and 12 of this year(2007). See   http://www.wacbgmvt.org/ecr/

    My reason for attending the Aberdeen Rally is simple I wanted to look over the flea market and
display my M151A1 with some operational radio equipment and meet up with the other military radio collectors.  The flea market is one of the secrets of collectors here on the East Coast, you can find everything from WW II radio equipment to present day at bargain prices.

                              
                                                Convoy!

  BUT this year I decided to Join the East Coast Convoy for a few hours and arrive at the Stadium with the convey. It was a Brain Fart that developed over the preceding weeks prior to the event, you know how you get an idea and it won't let go. Anyway I decided to join the Convey by attaching my M151A1 to the RED Route. Easy enough but required a lot of coordination. My thanks to the Red Convoy Coordinator Mike Popovitch and the Communications Officer Louis KA2PFL who did a tremendous job of linking everyone together. It was an amazing event and when all the convoys made their rendezvous point   in a  parking area several miles from Aberdeen it was a real demonstration of coordination and communication. 




  Red convoy waiting at the IP Rendezvous Point
prior to proceeding to the Rally.

    However the use of I-95 as a route was interesting as I was tucked in between several Duce and a Half's. After arrival at the rendezvous point then of course the party started.

       Here is a picture of my M151A1 taken in front of
       the truck that protected my rear on I-95.

   Click to enlarge

    Here are additional photos taken of the convey and of vehicles that were in the "judging area" . Photos by Fred Schlesinger. Its a large file PDF file around 9 megs.
After the first picture loads if you do not see your normal Adobe Reader tools than hit ESC.

Download convey photos     LARGE FILE     Hit the BACK button to return to this page.

Additional photos of the meet, unusual vehicles, and radio related items will be shown on the next pages.

    Important Note: The East Coast collectors group the Military Radio Collectors Association (MRCA) which is having its annual meet in conjunction with the the MVPA at Gilbert, PA this September 21st and 22nd, 2007. More information can be found at http://www.mrca.ar88.net/   when it becomes available.The groups activities include field exercises, displays, lectures, and of course a flea market and access to the MVPA's flea market, so you actually you get two shows in one.
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