Here’s a ton of pictures from the local group SPARC, the Society of Preservation of Antique Radios in Canada. They are located at the old Riverview Hospital site in Port Coquitlam, BC. SPARC in B.C. is not to be confused with the SPARK museum in Bellingham, Washington, which is also well worth visiting.
SPARC here in BC is only open from 10-3PM on Sundays, as it’s done by aging volunteers, and by donation, so their budget is tiny.
Here’s over 100 pictures of their facility, including some shots of their warehouse area (the long rows of shelves) that are also completely stacked with parts and radios.
Their collection (presented here in a random order), includes Atwater Kent radios from the 1920s, to a mock-up of a radio station booth from the 1950s to late 1960s, a million other radios from the 1920s to the 1980s, a military radio display of everything from Russian to US made to Japanese WWII units. There’s also test equipment, some reel to reel decks, radio transmitters, and lots of tubes, magazines, etc from various decades gone by, and televisions from the 1940s to the 1970s.
They have a repair shop on site, that apparently has one tech in his 70s working there, plus a couple of volunteers that are happy to discuss radios and electronics.
As you can see from the pictures, they are absolutely packed to the rafters with equipment and memorabilia. Only a fraction of what you see is set up and running, but it’s an incredible collection of old technology. Well worth taking a look at if you are on the East side of Vancouver (Port Coquitlam is about 40 minutes east from downtown Vancouver) on a Sunday.
