The AM Forum

Hi:

Looking at Antique Electronic Supply's web site after a long absence. Seems they are mostly electric guitar and amp parts instead of traditional radio stuff.

A while back I did not think they had moved over to the dark side that far.

Thoughts?

Dan

I have noticed the  same thing.  Also, their tubes used to be practically all n.o.s. US-made, sometimes military surplus.  Recently, I ordered a few small receiving tubes (6BA6 and 6AU6), and the ones I got were made in Korea.

I got my AES Mini Catalog yesterday.  I noted the following tube description on page 1:

"Voshkod Sunrise Tubes
...The larger bottle gives this tube (12AX7VKA) a full rich tone.  Made in Russia."

Bill

I love tube guitar amps!  Dark side?  ???

\
Half way to audiophool!

When they start using wine snob language to describe tubes, it's time to beware!

The parent company, CE distribution (wholesale) is who I order some of my parts from. Us builders and repair techs for guitar amplifiers are grateful for their existence. At least AES still carries some cool stuff but most of it is made in China and the NOS tubes are disappearing fast.
Ugh. Oh well, that why we hoard when we can.

Being local, I remember when it was Tempe Antique Radio & Tube Supply, run by old George Fathauer.  He sold it off, they moved, changed the name, and now are more musical amp guys than radio parts. :'(

You used to be able to go thru the shelves, then only in a little corral and just look, now there is no more counter service. :P

73DG

I think we should be grateful that the tube amp market is keeping the supply going.  If it weren't for them in this day and age, the place might not even still be in business.  Supply and demand economics and let's face it, the demand for our boat anchor parts is not as high as it once was.

I agree with the support angle for NOS vendors, but I don't think it is due to less demand. 

Think less stock....we've bought it all already.

73DG

Yeah, Fathauer used to answer the phone; he had a good thing running. It seemed odd when the new people came in, very depersonalized.

Same sort of shift with Fair Radio Sales in Lima, O., both regarding NOS vacuum tube stock and "counter service," both of which have been downsized.

George and Phil Sellati (George has since passed away) would gladly host the lemmings who came to Dayton and made the 90-minute road trip north to see them.  You could walk the cluttered aisles in the old location, say what you found/want, and they'd have someone retrieve it, tag it, and sell it.  They had SO much stuff that never made it to the catalog. George, my guide one time, told me if they had less than a dozen of a given item, it was counter sales or phone queries only.

When they re-located, I heard stories of all kinds of treasure being unearthed that even the company workers didn't remember having, like an ART-13 still in the wooden crate. Just one. Brand new. Would love to have been there for that, but I also felt like the writing was on the wall.

"Radio Daze" has made some huge changes as well . Radio Daze , when last looked still covered vintage radios pretty well but they have sold off their tube stock .

Many are jumping ship at the sign of the money from Asia. Ebay has changed the entire game too. Why have employees, benefits and employment insurance when you can downsize, wharehouse your stocks in a garage and post "Buy it now" in lots so the rich Koreans can hoard all of that stuff?
EVERYONE is selling out and rightfully so. We here a representative of a micro group that doesn't serve the interests of the world at large. Get used to it and enjoy what we have as long as we can because the future will slowly evaporate everything we hold dear in this hobby. As long as we can preserve our past the best we can, what we have will end up in museums so people who have no clue what radio is (was) can be entertained with a passing fancy. Sorry to be a buzz kill.
In the end, we have no one else but each other.

Welcome to the parts hoarders' club... 8)

73DG

No kidding. I have a bunch of parts and 100's of tubes for that very reason. I recycle EVERYTHING!

Dennis,
          Been a charter member in good standing for many years! !   ;D If I own it, especially if it's an older piece, you can bet the bank that I have spare parts for it! ! ! !

Also don't forget Amazon.com. They have a surprisingly large selection of vacuum tubes for sale. Also mostly targeting the audio world. Pretty good prices, also.

I didn't see many at all when I searched Amazon using "vacuum tubes". There is a "Sponsored Link" list on the bottom but you don't need Amazon to go to any of them. I went over to TubeDepot http://www.tubedepot.com/12ax7.html?gclid=CPr0s8KnhKoCFct95QodzRHo0Q and found a 12AX7 for $1295. I'm in the wrong business.  :D

Search on the specific tube number: 6L6, 5881, 6550, 7027a etc.

Most of them are listed in the "Musical Instruments" category.

at the hamfests here there are still lots of guys with pretty big assortments of tubes selling them.   You make up your shopping list and go.

Rob, you are right!  I still see a lot of tubes being sold at the hamfests but they are seasonal here in late winter and spring.  I've only been into the boat anchors and AM for a few years but stocking up on common tubes is a good idea and I see most AMers have quite an inventory for themselves.  Hamfests are probably still the cheapest way to go.  Ebay and QTH.com swap is handy when you need a certain tube you don't have and there's no hamfests around.

Don't discount our own Classifieds section when you need something.

+++1!

 I am helping the hoarders increase the value of all the parts they are stock piling. Over the past year I have trashed hundreds of pounds of old transformers, NOS tubes , coils , variable caps , etc. Just got tired of paying for storage for the stuff .   More likely as all the hoarders die off the stuff will die with them. The gen X kiddies coming up have little interest in the old boat anchor junk. Uncle Sam will make all radio digital and the old analog stuff will be about as useful as an 8mm film movie camera.

As a public service I'll be happy to let any of that stuff clutter up my garage. ;D

73 N8QPC

 In the past I have given away  a lot of good, working gear,  parts, tubes even a few broadcast transmitters.  Thanks to the bottom feeding profiteers out there, we just don't do that any more . Sorry, it is far easier to fill a dumpster and a lot more satisfying  ;)

  Pretty selective about the scrapping. Old , obscure TV tubes etc . Just stuff that no one really wants.

That's too bad you have soured on the hobby. I still will fix stuff for other hams for free. If I know someone can afford it they can pay for parts. I reserve this for people that I never hear from unless they need something. That puts them in not friends but customer heading. I have a lot of parts in stock from 35 plus years of collecting and repairing. I know I will never use them all before I check out so I help other people. I have been an electronic repairman long before I was a ham so I am not limited to working on radios and such.  I have never been a rich man so I can understand when others are strapped for cash. I still put together computer’s and give them to less fortunate folks at church. I used to fix TV's for people but they are too heavy and bulky for me now. Unless it is a flat screen I like working on them, I find it interesting to learn about new technology. One man’s trash is another’s treasure.
73 N8QPC :D
 8)

Yep, I did the same for over 20 years. Gave away a lot of Rangers, Valiants, Elmacs etc. I bought one of those Rangers back 10 years after giving it to a "needy" ham. Found out it went to a hamfest the day after I gave it to him. That was only one of many that were given away to "needy hams. Gave a real nice homebrew 813 rig to a local ham  understanding he would put it on the air. A year later and nothing at all had been done. Asked if I could get it back and get it running , nope he is going to sit on it (If not sell it). There are too many stories like this from giving the stuff away. Seeing give away stuff pop up on eBay and QTH with high prices is another issue. Not soured on the hobby, just a bit more synical rearding the "needy".  Sorry, the "needy" are not a part of the "Gimme Gang" around here any longer. I still help , just a lot more selective regarding whom and when.

I can see your point on that. Those folks are scams or bottom feeders if you prefer. I have run into my fair share of them. Especially in the repair business I will get people that expect me to warranty a repair forever. Or bring something back with a totally different problem and expect a freebie. I guess they don't get the fact that I got a family to feed.

73 N8QPC

But still, I'd rather see a bottom feeder get his grubby hands on something than to see it go to the dumpster.  It may eventually fall into good hands when the profiteer finds he can't make the mint off it he had expected after all, or someone who got ripped off and bought it for way too much decides he is never going to do anything with it and lets it go for about what it's worth. Speaking from my own experience, an item may pass through several hands before eventually going to the right person who knows exactly what it is and is able and willing to actually use it.

Looks to me like you are cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Whenever a usable anything that is no longer made goes to the dump, that means it is gone for ever, one less of that item on the planet for all the rest of eternity.

Not cutting off anything here. Dumping the stuff is by far the easiest way to deal with it . I feel a lot better afterwards as well  ;)

Getting back to the topic of the thread, Antique Electronic Supply was no way going to be able to keep their head above water by catering to hams. The looked and saw a way to carve out a little niche by selling to those who make 'boutique' audio/guitar amps.

I don't think they were catering to hams as much as the antique radio community.
It just happens that some hams run antique equipment.

73 N8QPC

I tend not to be too critical of the audio hobbyists for two reasons:

1. They help keep tube manufactures in Russia and China alive. Without the audio buyers, there would be fewer newly manufactured tubes around. Replacements for tube broadcast transmitters and other tube equipment is a gradually dying market.

2. The audio hobby keeps people interested in electronics tinkering and design. Analog EEs are in short supply and anything that keeps interest up in the non-digital part of the profession (especially among young people of college age or younger) is a good thing.

Also, the audio types are not all idiots.
diyaudio.com for example, has some smart people

Dave

I don't think they ever catered specifically to hams.  For years their customer base was primarily antique broadcast receiver restoration hobbyists. Some of their products, particularly the n.o.s. tubes, hard-to-find components and restoration products, hams found useful. Maybe their sources (largely, estate sales and "pickers") are drying up, or the general public's interest in antique/vintage radio is diminishing, probably both.

Many people who still have disposable income for hobbies, even though they are employed in secure jobs and their homes are not in danger, are so freaked out by all the propaganda and scare tactics they see and hear on TV regarding the "economy", that they have given up spending money on frivolous things like vintage radio collecting.  And of course, many others have lost their jobs, taken pay cuts or had their houses foreclosed and really are in dire straits, so all this has undoubtedly contributed to the decline.

I wouldn't put the guitar enthusiasts quite in the same category as audiophools. They are closer to real audiophiles.  Yes, they have helped drive up the prices of some vintage tubes and components like broadcast quality audio transformers, but most of them know how the stuff works and are not out to rip off people who display more money than brains by buying up the remaining usable triode transmitting tubes to build single-ended class A amplifiers that sell for $80,000 and peddling "oxygen-free" copper, $600 power cords and expensive devices for nonsense like "breaking in" speaker and power supply cables.


If it is pure useless junk, like defunct tubes, shorted out transformers, cracked ceramic insulators, stripped down and well ventilated chassis bases, rusty CB rigs and old Swans and Galaxies, that is one thing.  But if you "feel good" about dumping good, restorable vintage parts, equipment and other items now in the category of unobtanium, something is wrong; you should never have got your hands on the stuff in the first place. Most of us are trying as hard as we can to prevent this material from going to the dump.

I bought an HQ-110 from a widow of a SK.   She was comparing what she wanted for it with ebay prices and I wasn't sure I wanted to pay that much.    It came with whole set of NOS replacement tubes, that  clinched the deal.   One tube had been replaced with a NOS, but it was too hot and caused the IF to oscillate.    I found the original Hammarlund labeled tube in the NOS box and put the original back in the receiver.    Now it runs like new and someone in the next generation will get a good receiver and a complete set of spare tubes.

  Antique Electronic Supply was at first primarily a supplier for vintage entertainment radios. They found soon that there was more action with audiophiles and musical instrument folks. If they were relying on boatanchor hams they would have gone belly-up in months. The boatanchor hams  run museums sustained by donations and entitlements .

  The guitar amp people are pretty knowledgeable and very dedicated to keeping their gear up and running.

  Don,
Never bothered with clapped out xfmrs, clapped out used tubes, old chassis or CB of any kind.  Mostly spares to support the gear here and the iron and hardware for home brew..       8)

Folks:

Thanks for your interesting responses!

I never though that AES could survive on vintage entertainment or boatanchor radio support, and I am not bemoaning what they have done. to me it seems to have happened rather rapidly. To me the speed of the change was surprising.

As far as old items one wishes to discard, it does take more effort to advertise to get the old gear i other people's hands, and I have seen my fair amount of dumpserizing of good gear. I also have been burned by the "needy flipper", but in the end it is worth an effort to distribute the old stuff. If after a good effort and there are no takers, then I sometimes have to resort to tossing items (usually parts).

Reminds me of my selling a box of tubes for $20.00 at a flea that I knew had some valuable tubes. The buyer put the box on his table in the next row and taped on the box lid and advertised one valuable tube in the box for the same amount I sold the whole box for him for. I told him to at least wait until the next flea before taking full advantage of me.

As far as the audio group, I enjoyed hi fi and reading the magazines in the 70's and 80's, until the equipment reviews got to be less test-numbers and more touchy-feely adjective based. Been reading the "www.diyaudio.com' site and there are some smart folks amongst the adjective filled fools.

73,
Dan
W1DAN

IIRC, the way the story was originally told, A.E.S. got started by a father and son who went out looking for some '01As for their own collection of early battery set radios. The rest is as they say history............

Also, IIRC, the original father and son sold the business some years later after they had gotten it going very well.

If I couldn't sell it, and some flipper wanted it, I would rather see him take it than just toss it into the dump.  At least he will keep it in circulation a  little longer until maybe someone finds it who can use it. I can say the same thing about something else that pisses me off, the audiophool types who have driven up the price of transmitting tubes, often beyond the means of most hams who would use them for  their intended purpose. I have to admit that these jerks have saved a lot of tubes that would have gone to the dump back in the days when 304TLs could be found n.i.b. for $5 each.


I'm not so sure he really took advantage of you.  You knew there were some valuable tubes in the box, and you could have put a separate price tag on each of those and sold them yourself, but for whatever reason, instead sold the whole box as a lot. The guy was kind of in your face about it; that can be irritating, but it's guys like that that keep the flea markets and  second-hand businesses going. Otherwise, a lot of the stuff would never have been preserved to see the day when there was any demand for it.

As buyers, we can be just a sleazy as some of the bottom feeders. I admit I have seen stuff for sale at flea markets, knowing it had a certain value but suspecting that the vendor didn't have a clue what he had, and made a ridiculously low offer which the vendor accepted.  Like the brand new and expensive filter choke I saw lying under a table at a  hamfest in a couple of inches of water in a mud puddle.  I put on kind of dumb act and asked the vendor if he would take a dollar for "that ol' transformer looking thang under the table", which he did. Presto! I now had a second identical filter choke to make a matching pair of $109 (1970 dollars) UTC swinging chokes for my transmitter. I don't see anything wrong in that, since everyone who sells at a flea market asks whatever price he thinks he can  get for his stuff.

An example of bottom-feeders who do push things over the edge include those who find a widow trying to  dispose of her late husband's stuff, and deliberately misrepresent its value to her to get all or part of the estate for a tiny fraction of what he knows it would easily sell for, and then re-sells it elsewhere for a premium price. OTOH, I  have made ridiculously low offers on parts and other items that I knew would be considered junk and likely interest no-one else and go to the dump if I didn't take it.

Detroit47

kg8lb

Boy did your comments resonate with me! Back in '84 when I moved to my present location, a local ham "friend" expressed an interest in my Heath SB-220.  Partly out of my perceived friendship with him and just trying to make room for all the stuff that was overwhelming me, I sold it to him for a real good price.  BAD MOVE!

I found out later that he "flipped" the SB-220 and made a profit on it.  I'd give anything for the hindsight that I have now.  I'll never own a SB-220 again -- they have been priced way out of my wallet.  I've said this again and again -- NEVER AGAIN!!  I'm not selling anything.

Al

That's why I rarely sell anything that is of considerable value to me for mere cash.  I'd rather exchange it for something else of equal value to me.  If I ask what it is worth in dollars, people will probably think my price is exorbitant and that I am trying to rip them off.  If I do get the cash, one dollar looks just like any other dollar, they are expendable and easily replaceable.  Chances are, the cash will soon be spent for something trivial or just daily living expenses and a year from now it will have had close to zero effect on my overall finances, but the stuff I sold is gone for ever, and another like it may never be seen again. But if I exchange for another item, I still have something unique in my collection that may serve me for a lifetime, or at least some good trading material for something I might want or need in the future.

http://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=28239.0

 I have no radio gear of "considerable value."  Not a collector here. Don't have the real estate to hoard. Old Johnson 500s and Globe Kings are just low buck old boxes.   I do try to keep old homebrew gear as close to "as built" as possible and always try to find it a home.  I always enjoyed getting the gear, then getting it working well, and then moving along (NEVER for profit) . I got a bigger kick out of hearing a transmitter that I got up and running now talking to me from a few hundred miles away rather than just using it in my own shack.
 Aside from that ,the stuff is nothing sacred. Just obsolete .  The new breed of "AMer"  wants a "TV" screen and keyboard on his "radio". The new transmitters full of Moosefeets not vac tubes.   Welcome to the 21st Century  ;)  

   Bob,
  Back in 1993 I found 4 very nice , very rare R-725s at Fair Radio. Since I had a couple , I knew what they were and bought all four @300 ea. Two went to a very good friend who just had to have them. I only took what I had paid. In seemingly no time at all they were on their way to Japan with a $1600+ (EACH) sale price.  Similar to the BC-610 and two T-368s that I sold to the same fellow . One of them is now lanquishing at a well known rock star's QTH after earning my buddy a handsome profit.   But a couple of many ..

i have a number of pieces around here that need minor fixing. Some of the stuff is worth $$$ and they were given to me without asking for them from local hams. Since I now feel that I'll probably never get around to fixing them, I'm thinking about selling them. I'm going to ask the givers how they feel about that? I'll tell them I'm going to donate the money to a good cause while my real intentions are to blow the money on dope and booze. Is this a good thing?

"my real intentions are to blow the money on dope and booze. Is this a good thing?"

I'd go fer the booze...... you dont have QC on the drugs.


klc

  I always ask the gifter before I let something go. If they do not want it back I ask what they prefer regarding disposal.  I have a National HRO-5  and a very , very early National CAA type receiver out on "extended loan". They were given to me but since they were not getting much use I simply loaned them to a foster home. Some day I may ask for them back or some day the foster parent may inherit a nice receiver .

   

Sam will always be printing off more dollarettes but there will never be any more Meissner 150-Bs, 250-THs, <and other innumerable vintage parts and gear> so if you acquire one, hang on to it.   (Except for the Meissner 150-B  ;) ) You can always get money some other way.

I am a new AMer and the modern solid state stuff doesn't interest me at all.

  We don't need no more steenkin' 250ths !  Why legislate 50MPG autos and ban real lightbulbs while we allow people to chat with someone 10 miles away using monster tubes and using the entire AM window to do it?  ;D

  Perhaps a "Cash for clunker radios" stimulus ? We could then get the old , energy gobbling radios into the recycling system .   Along with that , the 1500W power level needs to be phased out. 100 watts is plenty of power for an "amateur".  We have 3 liter cars now that flat outrun the old 426 Hemi, on a lot less gas . Radio is no different. Time to move on !



 For those that are so willing to believe only the worst...I am of course kidding. (For the most part)

What has he been smokin? ? ?  ???  ???

Terry,
We all have different ways we feel comfortable in getting rid of stuff.  Some like to buy low and sell high and some like to buy high and sell low!  Some like to give stuff away and others wait until they become an SK and let someone else worry about what happens to the goods.  I think that last line was talked about here in recent days. 

My operating principle is if something is given to me as a gift and no money has exchanged hands and I decide to let it go, its given away with no money exchanging hands.  If I pay 100 bucks for something and I decide to sell it, then I will try to get 100 bucks for it but certainly no more.  What I really look for is to get it in the hands of someone that is going to use it.  Concerning the gifts, if the person is still alive that gave me something, I will first ask if they want it back. In my case most of my gifts are from Ham's that are now silent key. 

Joe, W3GMS


   

 What? You don't believe we have 3.0 liter cars that can outrun an old Chizzler Hemi or what ? 

GMS Joe;Regarding the disposal of gifts.. Your methods are the same as mine. 

Pretty much the same here.  However, I do take into consideration the ongoing daily devaluation of the dollar. If I bought something for $30 in 1970 and decide to sell it to-day, I'll bring up the on-line Inflation Index and calculate its value in to-day's dollarettes, plus add anything I remember paying for shipping.

It has irked me a few times when someone sold or put on ePay something I had given to  him for his own use because I thought he needed it.  However, once he gained ownership of it, it was his to do with as he pleased, so all I could do would be to not be so generous with him ever again. I would have been even more pissed off if he told me he had thrown it in the dump because he no longer had a use for it, although it had not crapped out.

At the core of the matter, this rings true:

"However, once he gained ownership of it, it was his to do with as he pleased,"

...Exactly my stance. The old radio parts are indeed mine. In the past I had no qualm about just plain giving the stuff away or selling it at a loss. I didn't have to consult an appreciation table however. Unlike you I do not take into consideration the ongoing daily devaluation of the dollar.  ;)
 I bought a brand new in the crate never been opened BC-610 modulator deck at a local hamfest 20 years ago. Still had the old H'Crafters label intact. When a fellow ham nearby landed a BC-610 that new deck was hauled up there. No $$$ needed.
 I am certain it is a pretty valuable deck,no matter.
 Don, You can rest easy. I never throw away anything that was given to me. In fact precious little has been given to me. Anything I toss out came the old fashioned way...I bought it. That is why I can feel good about throwing it out when I no longer need it.
  Exactly as Joe does, I always offer anything given to me back to the giver before I pass it along to someone else. And then I give it away .If it was "fre" to me , the next guy gets it for free.

You can only haul huge transformers and chokes, old ceramic jack bars and tube sockets etc to just so many hamfests before it becomes time to set the stuff at the curb. (Not literally, "recycle" is the actual activity) Since it is my money (means as little to me as yours does to you) I feel fine tossing the stuff . Already given away piles  of stuff to the one way bottom feeders in the past .

That's exactly how I acquired one large plate transformer. I know it weighs over 100 pounds but not over 150 because I don't think I can lift 150 anymore. The guy sold it to me for 10 bucks. I said to him, why so little money, he said he was tired of lugging the thing and was happy to see me get it!!

Be glad the guitar amp people are out there. Without them, there would be no tubes, tube parts or tube transformers still being manufactured.

If Marshall or Fender could make a solid state guitar amp that sounded worth anything, they definately would drop tubes like  a hot potato. They and many others have been trying for years. Tube amps are expensive, fragile and hard to manufacture.

The "high end audio" tube people are small potatoes compared to the guitar amp manufacturing companies.  And the guitar amp companies are pretty much small potatoes in the electronics manufacturing world.

Nothing solid state distorts quite like a vacuum tube. Anyone who has played an electric guitar will tell you that.

Electric bass players on the other hand love big MOSFET power as do the clean types of instruments like a pedal steel or a keyboard.

Actually, I was referring to the initial part of your statement about the radio stuff.

As far as the 3 liter stuff goes, it takes 30-50lbs of turbocharger boost to even think about it. Which oft times turns the engine into something short of a hand grenade with a long fuse.

Over the years, I have had my hands in just about every kind of drag racing cars from sportsman stuff to top alcohol funny cars. I occasionaly used to find myself behind the wheel of my buddy's SS/DA hemi challenger (I was the mechanic for him) which used to go 10.40s 35 years ago. If the bite was good, it would stand up right on the back bumper. If you've never been there, you wouldn't know! ! ! ! !

Or as one of my Harley-Davidson T-shirts states it so well: "If I have to explain, you wouldn't understand"

Why not just put it all in a big box, take it to a hamfest, write "free" on the box and let anyone pick through it for anything they might want?  Or collect it in a big pile, pick out an appropriate day and invite anyone interested to come pick through the stuff, or give it all away to anyone interested in hauling it away, on the condition that everything goes?  I have acquired some of my best hamfest treasures from the "free" boxes and from the boxes under the  tables marked "anything in the box, 25¢ each". A local broadcast station gave me my BC1-T on the condition that I clear the whole thing, including spare transformers and other parts, out of their transmitter building where it was all in their way.

I don't seek out complete functioning receivers, transmitters, amplifiers, and other such equipment at the flea markets, (unless it is something I find particularly valuable, unusual or something I have been specifically looking for, as for example a 75A-4, pre-WW2 HRO, mid 1930's transmitter, or certain pieces of audio equipment.) OTOH, the transformers, tube sockets, coil forms, ceramic jack bars, insulators, shaft sleeves, knobs, meters, shaft couplers, capacitors, resistors, terminal strips, blank rack panels, unused or re-usable chassis bases, etc., particularly stuff made before 1960, are precisely the things that are getting scarce and making it difficult to build from scratch, but this is exactly what most often gets tossed out as "junk" when an estate is settled or a ham decides to reduce his inventory. To me, it's just as much or more of a tragedy to see a substantial pile of this sort of stuff thrown out as to see a working DX-100, SX-99 or other mediocre "boat anchor" that never was all that great to begin with, to go to the  dump.

Like the two truckloads of stuff a couple of other AMers and myself hauled 250 miles back to Nashville from Indiana in the 1980s. The wife had already sold the 75A-4, HT-37 and slopbucket transceiver, but the local radio club types told her the rest of the collection, a homebrew plate modulated transmitter and a large collection of tubes and parts dating as far back as the late 1920s, were "old junk" that absolutely no-one would any longer be interested in, and advised her to find someone with a truck and have it all hauled to the dump. Fortunately, we found out about it in time, and she gave it all to us in exchange for hauling it away.  We saved many treasures and a lot of radio history in that haul.

Just try to build a substantial homebrew project from scratch these days and see how easy it (won't be) to find all the little odds and ends necessary for the job.

I could never "feel good" about throwing this stuff away, and feel contempt for those who do, even though it is theirs to dispose of as they wish. (But don't you dare yell at me when you see me picking through your rubbish before the garbage truck arrives or pulling stuff out of the dumpster).

Aw shucks Gary, we knew you were just joshing ;D ;D ;D

Actually, I was just kidding, but now that you mention it..
Chrysler street Hemis were hand grenades as well only the fuses were much shorter. The dragging rear bumper was from the fuel load in the tank , behind the rear axle. Remember, it had to go a full quarter mile !!!

 Harleys ? I do understand but they could never catch our Ducatis or Aprillias to explain anyhow. I didn't wrench on anybody else's drag cars , too busy running my side by side Triumph drag bike ...gobbling up, you guessed it , Harleys !  BTW in those days even high 9s on two wheels (without wheelie bars) was every bit as impressive as  mid 10s in a 4 wheeled cage.  I had cars too but  preferred the challenge of bikes.
 Besides ,putting Harleys on trailers is a lot more fun. ;D Of course most miles under todays Harleys are accumulated on a trailer . Maybe a Darwinian thing ? I've seen that shirt too. It says it so well..."I took My Harley to Trailer Week"

If you had to explain, you could not. ...Is closer to the truth.

  BTW Don, Great stories about all the stuff that was given to you.
Problem is , different needs , different resources, different people. The not a problem part is ..not everyone is DON  ;D  

 You see Don, almost all the stuff you treasure, I can make for myself. Ceramic forms, Jack bars etc, Sheet metal chassis, rack panels and cabinets,couplings, shafts,calibrated silver steel dials, etched escutcheons, knobs , gear drives in fact most all of the mechanical parts are a walk in the park.  

I will gladly however trade you my next curbside load of that type of treasure for one of those "mediocre" SX-100s you would rather see in the trash! Deal ?


 ;)

"If I had to explain, you wouldn't understand"  ;D  ;D

I have owned (and built) my share of bikes over the years, including putting over 100k miles on a '63 T-120 with a Routt kit. It was quite fast for it's day, and I could play "unicycle" with it for unlimited distances. Owned 1 Ducati, 1 BSA, 1 Norton, 2 Benellis, countless Hondas, and 2 Harleys. I have put many 1000s of miles on motorcycles and never had one come home on a trailer or in the back of a truck, excepting, maybe for the initial purchase.

The biggest failure problem with 426 Hemis were the 5/16" valve stems. If you ran excessive seat pressure with stock valves, they would pull the stems out of the heads.

 Similar background here, The fellow I built the drag bike with worked for Sonny. In fact I bought Sonny's last 833 kit for my BSA triple. Hung a set of Mikunis on , added a home ground copy of a  Megacycle cam and went out hunting Kaw Z1s ! Owned 10 Ducs , Starting with a 75 750 Sport and moving next to an 82 ,S2 900 Desmo. Over 50 bikes over the years , BSA was the first "Big Twin", a 1963 A-50 Royal Star  at age 15 .AJS ,Royal Enfields,Nortons,  Velocettes, Triumph twins and triples , even a Matchless G-85 CS  came along thru the years. Mostly basket cases, the fun way to own a bike is to build it. My favorite brand for all around riding remains the Moto Guzzis (After a total of 15 examples.  Just sold the last one , an old 1983 CalII with 198,000 miles on the clock. It was my year round every day commuter, tourer and two wheeled pick up truck. In fact my 4 wheeler only ran up 2K in the same time it took for the 2 wheelers to total 20K . Really wanted to click it over the 200K mark. The broken back however got in the way of that plan.

 BTW, 10 years after building the Triumph it was featured as the center spread in a 1988 issue of Iron Horse mag. The story erroneously hinted that it had been recently built.  It was headlined as "The World's Rudest Triumph"  BNy then, Bill had upgraded our home made slipper to a Crowerglide and added a set of "Training Wheel" Wheelie bars along with the new 10 inch slick replacing the original 8 inch.
  
 Well aware of the Hemi valve train issues.(Among other possible fuses) My Brother in law ran a race head shop for many years and I often put time in there. Drag great, Don Garlits lived right across the street from our Jr High school for a few years. He was consulting for Chrysler Corp in the mid to late 60s and even opened his own shop in Troy, MI . The fellow was very accessible and liked to talk. He really got a kick out of my Mc8 powered , alky fueled Lil Indian mini bike. Later on wound up having Gene Kurlonko at the local kart shop build him one of his own for a pit bike. Of course HIS had a beautiful new Mc75 powerplant.   8)

 Just bustin your chops on the other stuff my man. It's all good  ;) Good times , and a lot of fun.

 Guitars ? Drifting away ?.

(http://inlinethumb10.webshots.com/48969/2210830290032728487S425x425Q85.jpg) (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2210830290032728487xQFWGU)(http://inlinethumb33.webshots.com/17120/1112818235032728487S425x425Q85.jpg) (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/1112818235032728487ffQFfx)(http://inlinethumb40.webshots.com/25319/1110113015032728487S425x425Q85.jpg) (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/1110113015032728487ptjeXA)

I like the Duc, but the drag bike definately looks old school! !

It was...1978 . The frame was a reworked Alf Hagon frame (1966 vintage). The orignal owner was Bob Leppan from Triumph Detroit of Gyronaut LSR fame. He originally built the bike as a single Triumph Fuel bike. We added trussing to the sides of the frame, widened the rear and used a baby Ceriani on the front.
 The Triumph Pre-Unit engines plugged into a central primary drive case that also handled the blower drive to an itty bitty Jimmy Rootes type blower , fed by 1/2 of an old Hilborn 4 cylinder sprint car injector.  Quite a few little details that were new at the time. For example the blower bearings were in cartridges that could be pulled without removing the end plates . Also we used the parallel port single carb heads as the narrow splay angle made a lot more HP than the Bonneville heads. The whole bike was built in a one car width pole barn. We had a Brideport, TIG welder , OD grinder and build table all crammed in to the rented garage. We later added an old "Modern" brand OD grinder that had been fitted with a 10:1 Hydraulic tracer . We then were able to develop our own cam grinds. Just one heck of a lot of fun and back then it was indeed a lot easier to get in to the whole thing.  Really cool to do the tuning without needing a lap top.
  Here at work , the laptop rules. No more  mill setups with compound sine plates and rotary tables. It is all done on the "tube". The bandsaw and hand finishing has given way to wire EDM , Laser and Water Jets. Not complaining just appreciating how much fun the "old school" stuff provided . Sure made you use a bit of ingenuity too .

Old Triumphs had almost square lobes on the cams, with no clearence ramps, thats why no matter what you did the valves were noisy. They would fling the valves open and let them slam closed. The only cure was to go to aftermarket cams of which there wasn't too many manufacturers back then. Grinding your own must have been an interesting challenge. The square non-rotating lifters didnt help either. I guess you had to grind the lobes dead flat and square to get full face contact. The days of that kind of inginuity are long gone, and now thanks to this here internet, you can buy it all now and just bolt it together. With the old school flat pan seat, I hope you had some padding in the touchy of your leathers ;D  ;D

The shame of it all is that now, anyone with enough in their pocket to make a down payment can walk into a dealer and buy a bike that will make 9-second passes right off of the showroom floor. Maybe they should have a "cash for clunkers" program for old drag bikes  ;D  ;D

I never really got into dragging bikes, (other than some street racing) for bikes it was flat track racing. Back in the day when men were men and you weren't allowed to have brakes. But for 4-wheeled vehicles, it was drag racing. I used to love to mix it up with some of the bucks up guys and beat them. It was worth all of the work to see the looks on their faces.

 1/2 Mile AMA and vintage flat tracking is nearly the only racing we get near now days.  We pit a little and fabricate a lot of parts for a good friend that road races on Guzzis.   
  We restored and ex-Bart Markel XR-750 a few years ago for an old school buddy.

As Mr. Rogers said "Won't you be my neighbor?"

Most of the people with these abilities live far away from me :'( :'( :'( :'(

 If you care to move down to Kodak TN , high on a bluff overlooking the big old French Broad river near Gatlinburg , we may wind up neighbors ! There is certainly room for you .

Thatz pretty kool, but when I think of Bart Markel, I'm sorry but I think of a KR and not an
XR. I guess I'm just giving my age away. I googled him and a few or the other older heavy hitters, wondering what ever happened to them. Found a whole lot of interesting stuff! I still run into Gary Nixon occasionally. My wife was tickled to death when I got him to autograph a shirt for her.

do a google search on some of the past champs, also Sonny Routt, it's well worth the trouble, you'll find some interesting reading!

 My all time favorite all around good guy and great rider...Dick Mann ..  Called Palmdale information and got his phone number back in 1973 . Gave him a call out of the blue and the fellow talked for about 2 hours . A real gentleman to boot. He even offered to sell me his old Matchless G-50 road racer .   I got a kick out of watching him , riding a fairly new BSA Rocket3 at Daytona. He totally showed the best of the Japanese bikes and riders nuthin but his heels ! Since he won Daytona twice in a row, once on a Honda and once on a BSA I couldn't help but ask him how they compared on the track. "The BSA was a Sunday ride , the Honda was a lot of work" .

 Met Nixon at Anderson's Triumph back in the late 60s. He had his leg in a cast but was doing some mighty fine wheelies on a Triumph Daytona . Saw him a few years ago at Mid Ohio. He has not changed much.

 Dated ?  When I think KR Harleys, I think Joe Leonard, Carrol Resweber, Roger Reiman etc . This XR was one of Markel's late, personal toys. I think Bob is wanting to sell it , Genuine Lou Branch heads and all.

  A local racer and well known pin striper "Wild Bill" Betz said he was once on a track with Buggsy, knowing Dick Mann was coming up behind him he had his Yamaha stuffed into a corner as hard as he could manage. He was fighting the bucking mount for all it was worth, certain that he was making an impression on old Dick. About that time something nearly brushed his knee and swept by him smooth as silk. A clean inside pass and rocketed away.Bill said Mann was a real treat on the race track.

  Wild Bill Betz is the originator of the Triumph "Eyebrow" paint scheme. He originally started doing them for Triumph Detroit customers. The factory saw them and rolled their own copy into production. At that time, Triumph Detroit was  claimed the largest Triumph dealer in the world .
Sonny Routt hired a real wild man to ride for him after he was nearly killed in a crash. That wild man was Larry Welch. A little reading on him could never do justice to that character !  I'll save the story of him going thru the eyes on his rocket powered drag bike. 170++ MPH, one handing the bars,looking back, no helmet,pony tail flagging in the breeze and flipping his finger at the security guards that had just tried to stop him from making the run. Awesome !
  

WOW You have reactivated some dead brain cells that have laid dormant for many years!!

this has been a way kool exchange! (a little off topic) ;D  It has rekindled some serious memories! !  

Life was good back then!

Don
I too cannot bear to throw anything away. I recycle everything in the truest meaning of the word.
My collection of parts is pretty good and to keep it from taking over my life, I give some away here and there to help those in need during a repair, restoration or home brew project.
Thankfully, my wife (KF6QOG) is also an environmentalist, so she understands my need to not throw this stuff away. Just like throwing away QST and National Geographic magazines, I wouldn't be able to sleep for the guilt. I had three Conelrad receivers in a box...worthless junk except for some great parts. I gave them to a local guy for a project and saved the day for him. Back to topic.
At least CE Distribution/AES carries a decent stock of electrolytic capacitors. I am grateful for that.
Billy N6YW

I think it is the height of selfishness to hoard a large collection of stuff and then one day decide to haul it all to the dump because it has become inconvenient to continue storing it or because the owner has lost interest, without at least giving others who might be interested, the opportunity to peruse through it and possibly take some or all of it off one's hands.

I have heard that same old story over and over for decades. An old time ham dies, and the survivors haul all the radio stuff to the landfill except for the fancy ricebox station he had set up in the back bedroom to operate during his declining years after he became physically frail.

Ah, yes, back (somewhat) to the original flavor of the thread..............

I do admit to being a "partsaholic." It is nice when something dear to you craps out at an inopportune time (like 2:00AM) to be able to reach over to the shelf and grab what you need to fix it. Pretty much everything that I own, I have spares for.

Also the supreme bite in the butt is when you discard something figgering "I'll never need one of those again", sure enough something comes up where you WILL need one. I have done this and ended up having to pay top dollar (and quite a bit of searching) to get another one.

The art to it, however, is to not let it displace you out of your home and / or garage.....................

To add another perspective to this, and maybe this is the radio romantic in me speaking, but I have to believe that the SK before me, held his collection of equipment and parts in high regard, or who knows...he may have just taken it for granted. Either way, that person may have spent a lifetime collecting those pieces and to throw them away unceremoniously is a tragedy.
Many who discard these items are oftentimes ignorant of their value to others, but more importantly, may be environmentally unsafe as in the case of lead and PCB's being NEEDLESSLY introduced unto our landscape. I personally have several lifetime collections of parts and equipment and should the occasion arise that I meet an early demise, I am comforted in knowing that my wife knows what to do.

In my short time in AM I have been blessed with the opportunities and resources to acquire a halfway decent assortment of gear and parts.   I hope to grow into them and do them justice or eventually get them to someone who can use them.  I am hording admittedly because I think in five or ten years something I need won't be available unless I hang on to it.  All the items I have are sort of a non-monetary retirement fund if I don't do something with them sooner.   A lot of the stuff I did not seek out but came my way by being in the right place at the right time.  I am very fortunate to be located in one of the AM hot zones in the U.S. so the parts, gear and test equipment are easier to come by.   There is a parts store about 5 miles from my QTH that sells surplus parts, mostly passives but a pretty good assortment of caps and resistors.   I'd like to live out in the country for the room but I have to admit there are advantages to being where I am.   10 minute drive to home depot.   

Rob,
       What was especially nice was when I originally built my 4X1 rig, The only part that I had to buy was the original chunk of plate iron and 1 oil cap. All of the other parts came right out of my parts stash. That really expedited the construction process. (took only 2 1/2 months to complete it)


I also remember a certain AMer (you know who you are!) that I constantly razz because one of his main rigs was off of the air because he had a 12AX7 crap out and had to wait for a replacement to come.  ;D  ;D

Inevitably, if I toss something out, give it away, trade it off, etc., two weeks won't pass before I'll discover that I had a need for it.

Some of my stuff has resided in my collection for 30 years or more before I used it, and then I never would have found another one if I hadn't kept what I had. So much for the oft-heard but bogus advice that if you have possessed something for over a year without using it, it is time to throw it out or otherwise dispose it.

A good example is the stand-off insulators I used with my new open wire line. I had five large 6" ceramic OWL spreaders that had been in my junk box for as long as I can remember.  They would have been nice for making a heavy duty open wire line, but five weren't enough to use for anything, and the only other ones I ever saw like them were the ones Jack, W8AHB was using with his wire antenna array in Ann Arbor, MI when I visited 15-20 years ago.

I had vainly looked for suitable stand-off insulators for the open wire to no avail. Then it occurred to me that if I could cut those spreaders in half, each one would yield two perfect stand-offs if I could only figure out some way to cut them and rigidly mount each half on a cross-arm.  I finally came up with the idea I used in the actual construction. Of course, some might cringe at the fact that I "ruined" those very nice and beautiful commercial grade ceramic spreaders, but I actually am using them for their intended purpose, to hold a balanced open-wire feed line together. I'm just not using them in the exact manner originally intended by the manufacturer.

Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

<snip> "Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it." <snip>

AMEN, Brother! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I used to go to Antique Electronic Supply for the NOS tubes for my R390A but they are hiccuping more on certain tubes. And electrolytics. The CES brand is getting expensive and I have had some failures of caps only 3 yrs old.
I'm starting to get what I can for spare tubes for the tube stuff (Ham) and hoard it. My audio equipment seems to be ample supply of tubes and caps.

Right now we are in about the same predicament as hams and others were after war had broken out in Europe, before Pearl Harbor. Some of the old magazines of that era were urging hams to acquire an ample supply of spare tubes and parts while they could still get them, and to take extra precautions to make tubes and everything else last as long as they could.  The US hadn't entered the war yet, but that was expected sooner or later, and at best, material would become hard to come by, even if we had managed to stay out of the War.

Consumable items that are guaranteed to wear out like tubes and electrolytic's should be bought for storage, with the exception that these caps have a limited shelf life, still it's good to have on hand. Which brings to mind a somewhat controversial subject, the reforming of old caps.
I have yet to find anyone who has conclusive evidence that old caps can be revitalized.
An old buzzard told me to take a large wattage 1 meg ohm resistor in series with the cap, and bring
up the voltage over a long period. Another one said to bake them at a low temperature for an unspecified amount of time.
So, before electrolytic fluid becomes powder, could this be done?

Another precaution that I admittedly have been very lax about following, is rotating tube spares.  If a tube sits on the shelf for years, particularly the tantalum plate tubes like the Eimacs and Heinz-Kaufmanns, they tend to  gas up (there is no such thing as a perfect seal).  Running them from time to time allows the hot metal inside the tube, or the getter itself,  to have a "getter" effect and absorb gas molecules that have worked their way into the tube.  The old graphite plate tubes like the 211, 810, 813, etc, seem to have less of a shelf life problem than tantalum plate tubes like the 100TH, 250TH and 304TL.

  Especially when you wind up paying rent to store the stuff. At least until the would be benefactors need it ,the morning after theirs crapped out at 2 AM.
They of course have learned the fine art of letting someone else store it for you. ;)

  



BTW

 In case this was missed. From Classifieds:

"World Wide Radio

    W2INR
    Radio Parts and Iron
« on: July 13, 2011, 06:18:44 AM »  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I have all kinds of radio parts and pieces that have been collected over the last 25 years. This would include tubes, caps, resistors, inductors of all sizes and values. I also have a shelf full of iron . Mostly inductors and power transformers of the medium to small catagory but there are some audio transformers also.

If you are looking for parts to add to your shop or want to resell I am sure the value is excellent on my offer. Pick up would be the best way to deal with this but would consider shipping.

Here is the catch, If I haven't sold the stuff in two weeks I will sell the iron for scrap and toss the rest which would kill me but I am in a situation that requires me to unload quickly.

I want $300.00 for everything but I would accept offers.

TNX

G "

........Not much time left , the clock is running . ;)

the whole trick to it all is to set limits on how much stuff you want to "hoard". I have done that years ago. I DO NOT EXCEED THOSE LIMITS, PERIOD! ! ! 
When the "toybox" gets full some stuff HAS to move on to make room for new toys.

It's short, sweet, and simple, no exceptions. However, there are some that cannot comprehend that concept. I am in that mode right now until I sell of a few more pieces. (whole radios) I collect enough different stuff that I gotta be careful as it can get out of hand pretty quickly.

I have always hoarded parts for the things I planned (note "planned") to use long into the future. After getting SLAMMED with a life threatening illness and literally dying twice, this changes the whole scheem of things and your priorities as well.

But there is still a lot of stuff that they will have to pry out of my cold, dead hands after I die! !   ;D  ;D

I like to say I accumulate rather than hoard, as a means, not as an end in itself. To me, hoarding means grabbing up stuff that others might need or use and taking it out of circulation, but then just letting it gather dust on a shelf with no intention of actually using it.  Some people do just that out of compulsion, or as an "investment" hoping it will some day accrue in value and allow money to be made re-selling it.  Accumulation is simply acquiring stuff that comes one's way.  A lot of what I have here is difficult or impossible to find anywhere else, yet would have been trashed if I had not rescued it.  Other stuff, I made a positive effort to acquire because I could see an eventual use for it.  Sometimes that took more than 30 years, but eventually I have used a lot for its intended purpose. It's nice when you can build or repair something, and you already have all the necessary material on hand, and don't have to engage in a major research project to locate whatever components you need.

Something I find just as bad as "hoarding" is collecting items that could be used, and setting them up to display as museum trophies without ever actually using them.  Several KW-1 transmitters are known to have befallen that fate.

My limit is when I run out of space. My shack is 24' X 32' with a 12' high ceiling, so I still have room to expand vertically as I run out of horizontal storage space. So far I haven't had to store anything in the house under the dining room table.  I do have a bunch of antique broadcast receivers in the house, and some tubes in the  loft, since they don't weigh much.

I had to pass up a 1951-era BC1-F broadcast transmitter that was offered to me in exchange for climbing a tower to replace the beacon lights. I couldn't figure out an easy way to get the 3000 lb beast moved here, and I wouldn't have had anywhere to store it.  I would have loved to have got my hands on that xmtr, because it is full of top quality heavy duty components, much more substantial than the cheap wimpy stuff inside my 1959-era BC1-T that was given to me for moving it off the station's premises.

To me there is only one real evil in this whole business: landfill.

Great example of someone here offering to get rid of excess for a very small price. My crazy spending dayz are over, sort of.
I'm sure "G" has some great goodies that he is letting go for $300.00 and accepting offers!
Got a great deal from "G" on a beautiful mixing console from WBZ TV one year ago. (Avatar) Class A-A audio!!!

Fred

  Don,
 I hope you are not portraying my comments in that manner.
If so , please advise where I have said that I have decided to "haul it all to the dump " ? Pure hyperbolae actually a damn lie . Never said I was hauling it ALL to the dump. I said that I was setting SOME at the curb. Even at that, a figure of speech since anything that is hazardous or recylable is being handled accordingly.
 Further, almost all of it has been offered to others before being responsibly SCRAPPED.  However, yes my surving family may dispose of the gear I leave behind as they see fit.  I intend however to take care of most of the small stuff  beforehand so as not to burden them.

 I am certain however there are enough, decent local friends to see that all the worthwhile stuff has a good home.ALL of it ! We know what is worthwhile .
 No "fancy riceboxes"  here , Don. Nor is there anything that I said about losing interest. Frail ? Early stages of cancer yes, not really frail . Not even close.

Extremely sorry to hear that. Hope you are able to make a full recovery.

Gary,
        my wishes for a quick and speedy recovery! !

After winding up in the hospital a year ago december to find out I have cirrhosis and being told that my only possible hope of survival was a liver transplant. (I had bled out and was given an oil change.) And a second "episode" back in this past February. I had the same feelings about my gear. (I did sell some of it off.).

So I know what you are feeling and trying to express. I didnt want my wife to have to "dispose" of my junque. (thank God she does have a pretty good idea what it is worth) But for a good while it was meaningless and not of much importance to me.
especially when you are in the hospital fighting for your life. You dont even think (or care) about it. Survival becomes the real issue that is most important.

Well................... I'm glad that I didn't "dispose" of all of it! ! ! ! the local hospital that I was going to would just stop the bleeding and send me home telling me that I needed a liver transplant without much further explanation. They told me that my days were numbered and that was pretty much it. After the local hospital literally almost killed me twice, and "knowing" that I need a transplant, I went seeking a new liver. I ended up at Johns Hopkins where they have REAL doctors and they painted a very different picture. It looks like I am going to stay a numbers matching model for quite a while to come. Many tests determined that a massive change of diet has caused my liver to recover pretty well and is now working pretty good. They are repairing the varicose veins in my esophagus (caused by the cirrhosis) which have caused my bleed outs, and I should make pretty much a normal and full recovery.

So the bottom line is that If I would have gotten rid of all of the stuff that makes for quality of life for me, I would probably be a miserable grumpy SOB................

And, I'm kinda sorry that I sold off the pieces that I did, but it does make room for new ones  ;D  ;D

Having doctors that know what they are doing makes one hell of a difference!!

Slab

I'm working on another imaginary xmtr,  so you can't go anywhere until it's completed.

And we all know how long that will probably take.

Glad to hear your health is improving.

Fred

Phred,
          as slow as you work, I'll be too old to still be able to hear and you'll probably have Altzheimers  by the time you finish it.................. ;D  ;D

After all the 813 rig only took 27 years.  ;D  ;D

Forget the landfill. Just smash 'em. That'll show those bottom-feeders and cheap-ass hams who are only interested in coming to pick up a freebie on their terms!

Hallicrafters HT-33A Amplifier HF Destruction (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6oPuyONNVo)

Ham Radio Destruction/ Kenwood 2 Meter Radios. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g623Z1LX_B4&NR=1)

Ready for an R-390 and KW-1?

are they made in China ?

Everythings made in China (http://www.youtube.com/user/walstreetpro2#p/a/u/5/6-eJ-t_XzOE)

 ;D

What's the defect with that idiot?

 That was funny. Had me laughing my ass off  :D.

  No, not the fellow smashing his radios . That was bad enough.  The whining responses were priceless.




 Too many bottom feeders have no terms for pick up. They expect delvery and or storage on the donor's dime !
  Common bottom feeder quotes:
"Oh, you live soooo far away.... my old truck burns soooo much gas.....I have sooooo little time now that I am retired ... I have soooo little room here to keep that..  those old transformers are soooo heavy.... Did you clean it all up and put it into boxes for me ?...The tubes are NEW, in boxes  ?.. Have you tested them anyhow ?...  Why don't  you just load it all into your pickup and bring it to the  xxxxxxx hamfest ?... I might be there , if not try to get x8xxx to bring it to me...    Can you just hang on to it until I need it ?...  Just as long as it's free , those old parts aren't really worth anything you know "

"Oh , make sure you store it in a heated, dry place till then  "..
   Yessir, the cheap-ass bottom feeders share some common lines.. Still , we love them  :-*



  Yet, tell them you had to toss out / recycle a few things  and they screech like a gaggle of wounded monkies.
 
                                                                                                                                                 The "you owe me"/ entitle-mentality is hilarious !  :)

  

FWIW that fairy couldn't even swing the hammer properly.

You're right Frank. I showed this to my wife and that's the first thing she noticed.

 Wrong tool for the job. Not unusual for many ham radio ops.   Actually he should have tossed the little Kenwoods into the air and used the hammer on the HT33 !
I sure wouldn't have used a sledge hammer on either one. Already spentt oo many hours busting up concrete early on.  We have a fine hydraulc press that could sqush them back into the tinfoil they are made from. Just pull the handle  ..

Got that right, Gary!

Mossberg 12ga w/ #4 steel shot works better.
Axe me how I know!

Less talk and more action! ! ! ! ! !

We want video! ! ! ! ! !   ;)  ;D  ;D  ;D

NO NO NO
youse guys got it all wrong:
He shoulda used the HT33 as the battering ram for the kenwood riceboxes !!!
 ;D

The shame of it all is that I have an SX-101a, and an HT-32, the 33 is all I need to complete the set!   :o  ::)

  Shoulda told me. I would have never given that one to Tyler ! ;D

  BTW, Tyler can't be all that bad. He is one of those "Smug" radio operators:


Hello, My name is Tyler KE5WWX. I am a No Code Cber. I Live in New Orleans,LA and can be found most of the time  monitoring 3.810

My station consist of:

STUDIO 1A: Flex 5000A, a full audio rack, AL-1500 amplifier and a little dipole
STUDIO 1B: Flex 3000, full audio rack, AL-82 amplifier and a HEX BEAM

Another big hobby of mine, Is collecting pre-1920 Gramophones and phonographs and also collecting 1920's Jazz Records.

ESSB ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!!
Saaaay , Buddly

 I see our radio wrecker likes old Jazz records ...and grammaphones.


 Hows about you bring that Moooseberger 12 ga  up heya ? We can spare the #4 Chilled Steel. I have a lot of #9 Birdshot.   I got all of Grandma's old Flapper Jazz bakelites from the 1920s and  late teens ! Even have a couple Grammaphones and a video camera  ;)  

  We can be Youtube stars !

I can see the boy's point or belief about not being able to sell it but can not agree with his insane act. It would have been more acceptable in every way to have sold it for $100 to a cheap ham or even to have given it away and avoided the waste of energy than to have destroyed the thing.

There is a place in heck where miscreants are forced to painstakingly restore things that would have brought others joy if they had not been selfishly or pointlessly destroyed. Once restored, a demon runs over said item and said miscreant with a 5 ton truck and the process begins anew.

Not that I would ruin nice old gear for spite or sport, but I prefer a single effort solution if it has to be done.

About AES  - where's the Fender 430 bass amp OPT? Recalling one of those amps seen during my youth, It had to be a beast with six 6550's. Therein lies the issue with modern transformers and the reason why solid state must be accepted when high power is needed. The biggest I have ever seen is the 280W unit from Hammond. Is there a larger unit available? Where is Bear? He would know!

Different strokes eh !

  Even if the act had not been worthwhile it to Tyler...I sure got a giggle out of the indignant, contemptuous responses from the "give it to me" gang .  
  Energy savings ? That old Hallicrafters off line means they can probably shut down two Indonesian coal mines. ;)

  I don't go along with busting stuff up. Can't get too upset after the fact though. Might as well take something good from it. The whiners came through with that !

Far more contemptuous is the attitude "By God, I'll destroy it before I'll give it away".

Who knows, the bottom-feeder or cheap-ass Hammy Hambone would probably tire of it very quickly, especially if it craps out and he can't figure out how to replace the blown fuse. Eventually it might find its way into the hands of someone who appreciates it for its intrinsic value, would willingly pay what it was worth and who would go to the trouble to come pick it up.

  That is a blatant misrepresentation of what Tyler offered . He said he did try to give the Kenwoods away as I recall.


 Like I said, "A judgement call".  a subjective thing .I was rating the comments made by the would be bottom feeders as contemptuous. Ownership conveys certain rights and priveledges. These rights of course are weighed against responsibilities. In this case the poor soul harmed no one with his tantrum . If he had some fun , so be it. There will always be some crackpot that thinks he has a responsibility to preserve or pass on the stuff. Not so. This is not stuff that really has that much importance . Nothing that is worth the hate speech and vulgarity expressed in response.

That still doesn't change the fact that the guy is an egocentric, selfish, ignorant butt-hole.The personal profile he posted on QRZ.com pretty much says it all:
I can't imagine that anyone would actually defend such an adolescent tirade by a so-called adult. If he really had run out of options, he could have dropped the Hallicrafters and Kenwoods off "as is" at the local Salvation Army or Goodwill collection station. I'd bet someone there would have found a way to dispose of it, even if it fetched only a few bucks, and the proceeds would have gone to help a good cause. They probably would have even unloaded the heavy Hallicrafters from the vehicle for him. As far as his inability to find a taker, I suspect he didn't try very hard.

Who is defending the "act" ?  ???

 No one here to "defend" the act   , his right to do so however is a given.  Your passing judgement upon him is your right, albeit somewhat  arrogant , egocentric and grossly judgemental as well.
 The  ensuing hate speech that spewed forth from the radio sympathizers  also fit  well within that description and then some.

 "Intrinsic value" ? Does not trump owner's rights. The intrinsic vlaue rights are held by the owner.


   I have called this a sorry act all along, but the comments that followed were far worse than simply sad. Seeing all of that laughter becomes the best medicine I guess.  Obviously the kid has a problem. People like that have a way of exposing the problems of others at times. ;) They all slithered out of the low places to seek support from other souls so afflicted. Different people, different tantrum types.
 Geez, Look at all the fine old automobiles that are destroyed to make movies and  some of the attempts sorry at building "Hot Rods" . Don't care for any of that personally but I still respect the owner's rights to do so.


 Well gotta go Don, they are showing an old movie at the corner Bijou. A real classic, one of my all time favorites.
  Ever see "The Fountainhead"  ...Yes, the book is better.   Then again ,it doesn't matter what is "written" in plain English. Some folks only see what they want . ;)

Th

Yes, they have a legal right to do whatever they want with what they own.  I wouldn't want Big Brother to step in and tell me what I can and cannot do with my stuff, but I still think it is morally on the verge of criminality to wilfully destroy scarce pieces of history for no reason at all, other than one found it inconvenient to properly dispose of it so that succeeding generations could appreciate it, and I'll continue to exercise my freedom of speech to remind such people of what arse-holes they really are.

I met Tyler at the local hamfests.  He was friendly enough trying to sell his wares, but it was all too obvious that his attitude towards amateur radio was very childish as if everything was to be made fun of.   I ran into him and his essb friends having some sort of "drunken naked net" where their behavior was appalling.  They were giving awards to the one who was able to get the most OO reports.  They were obscene and making fools out of themselves at amateur radios expense.  I am ashamed that this BOY is from Louisiana.  He is a spoiled brat that needs to grow up and learn some manners.

People can and do change.  But, until that happens, I suggest avoiding the boy.

Kenwood 2 meter rigs and Hallicrafters HT-33s are hardly "Scarce pieces of history" Methinks the importance of these bits rates far below property rights.

  Yes , the kid is an arsehole. An even bigger arsehole may seek to stop him...or condemn him.
 

It's hard to know what are going to become valued pieces of history.

There was a time when Rangers, Vikings, Valiants, and DX-100's were considered pieces of junk that no one would ever want.

And 211's were old inefficient, obsolete tubes mainly good as bookends.

Not to mention big modulation transformers which were at one point good only as door stops.

Dave

 And we still have plenty of all of that.
Surely enough old Kenwood 2M rigs around  ;)  
 As well as:
 Kodak Folding cameras
 Kodak 8mm Film movie cameras
Bolex 8mm film movie cameras
8mm video cameras
VHS and Beta cameras
Analog TV sets
Stainless steel sinks
Avacado green refrigerators
Harvest Gold refrigerators
Almond refrigerators
buggy whips
...
................. Even though their historical "importance" like the radio stuff is  highly questionable.
  We quit using big mod transformers as doorstops a few years ago , when copper scrap peaked. Better transformers can be built today. By buying new transformers, we keep the sources in business thereby keeping  that art alive. Better to maintain the ability than limp along with marginal old parts. Just like reforming old capacitors .
  Thanks to the guitar people and yes , vintage audio people  manufacturers and cottage businesses are still making a lot of this stuff. Heyboer transformer does a very steady business with guitar people. Owing to that we can still get new transformers, far better than OEM transformers for our minority , low demand ham gear. Don't use those sources and we lose them.

 The "Hillarious" part is that Tyler was able to dupe a handful of haters into unwittingly propogating his video tantrum.   Patsies  ;D

If someone  scrapped a crappy 150 lb. "communications quality" modulation transformer (with 300-3000~ frequency response) at the metal recycler, they probably would get as much as it was worth. But if they scrapped a 150 lb. broadcast quality modulation transformer, made any time from the 1920s to the present and still in working condition, they are a damned fool.

Like Model Ts and Model As, almost any pre-WWII radio stuff is worth preserving for its historical value alone, due to its scarcity because so much was recycled during the materials shortages while we were fighting the war.

I have heard old timers tell of junking perfectly good working automobiles for the wartime scrap metal drives, because gas was severely rationed and new tires couldn't be had for any price (except maybe via the black market). I recall a WWII-era QST magazine with photos of panel meters all over its cover, encouraging hams to take the meters out of their then-idle transmitters and donate them to the war effort, because they couldn't manufacture enough meters fast enough to fill the need for wartime transmitter production.

Don,
 Pretty well agree with your mod transformer comments."Damn fool" judgement aside.Never been a proponent of wholesale scrapping though some people insist on painting that picture. I am a proponent of letting the owner decide. A concept perhaps that some folks refuse to grasp ?
 Nice to know we can still have brand new ones made up, those old transformers are getting tired. I like having that option .
 Cars and tires were at a premium during the war. A few "perfectly good " cars were actually scrapped during the scrap drives of WWII. For the most part, cars that were scrapped were in pretty sorry shape. The 1931 Chevrolet outsold the 1931 Ford but after the war there were far more 1931 Fords than Chevys. This was because the Fords were much simpler cars then their Chevrolet counterpart and were more readily repaired. My first 5 cars were built before WWII and I drove prewar cars as every day drivers until I was 24.
 The newer cars have a lot going for them  ;)


We still have plenty Model A and Model T cars, and the parts to keep them running.


  Even after the "Untouchables" and "Bonnie and Clyde" and all those years of Hot Rodders .

Yea, but...........................

Tons and tons and tons of viable machinery was destroyed and recycled for the "war effort". If that was not the case you would have tons and tons of it still laying around and it would have never graduated to the viable antique status, and therefore be commomplace enough to be worthless.

I hate the thought of old cars, tractors, and gas engines getting melted down for scrap, but it is a necessary evil that insures the collectors value of the ones that survive.   

 Exactly !

   I sure love those old Kearney Trecker horizontal mills and the Bullard vertical turret lathes etc . However , we had so many and clung to them so long that we managed to fall behind the newer more efficient machinery.
  The nations that "lost" got new stuff and the difference shows .

...much of it on the dime of US taxpayers.

If WWII had somehow been averted, technologically we would be decades behind where we are now. The Great Depression might have lasted all the way through the 1950s or even beyond. We might just now be achieving manned space flight if it was ever achieved at all. Absent the post-war space/arms race, computer technology would be far behind what it is to-day.

OTOH, many of the socio-politico-economic problems the world is now experiencing might never have occurred.

hey Frank, at least your rack didn't get melted down  ;D

Peter

ps. Many thanks for the donation, now that I'm back the project will progress fast.

  Yes indeed MOST of it on the back of US taxpayers and consumers. Maybe Fr Coughlin had that part right ? No telling about the socio-economic problems. Conjecture at best . Surely not the same ones, different for better or worse. It did happen and here we are .

 KC2FZA:

    Something like one of these :
(http://inlinethumb53.webshots.com/49396/2683132400032728487S500x500Q85.jpg) (http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2683132400032728487YJmlKs)
...in that rack could save those historically priceless old tubes, transformers and while doing so put out the legal AM limit+ a few . ;) (At least on 75 and 160)  All the while using about 1/5 the energy input. You could still heat the filaments from time to time in the winter in order to preserve the priceless tubes . THe transmitter would still have the Wizard of Oz effect going and the non ham Munchkins no less impressed. Win-win-win  ;)

Regardless of mode, appliance operating is still appliance operating.  If a super efficient solid state transmitter is what you want (but who says a HOBBY has to be "efficient"?), why not check out the WA1QIX website and think about building a homebrew class-E transmitter?  Those power MOSFETS are cheaper and easier to come by than large transmitting tubes.

I'm not a communist  ;D

Peter

   Exactly Don,

   It is only a hobby .

 "Appliance operators" and the plain snobby elitists..... ???

  ;D Different people engage different hobbies in many different ways.  What with those old parts becoming impossible to replace, the solid state gear is but one option. Surely the designing and building of this gear is no less an accomplishment than "Ground Hog Day" radio...operating the same old radios that were in use 60+ years ago . The excellent efficiency is just a side benefit.

 "Appliance operators" ???

 Some real craftsmen consider power tools to be "appliances". Do you still put holes in your panels with brace and bit ? Hammer and chisel ?  

Either way is just fine .

 Time marches on.

Seven three



 :-\ That's what they all say ! :D

" ...All the while using about 1/5 the energy input...


I'm not a communist  ;D

Peter


:-\ That's what they all say ! :D      "

Yeah, I bet he uses a Heil mic.... ..



klc


klc

Man, this is the best example of a thread ricocheting and flying wild! :o

Left po' old AES in the dust.....

73DG

Just like a good ol AM break-in QSO  ;)  ;D  ;D

elite [ih-leet, ey-leet]  

noun
(often used with a plural verb ) the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons.

adjective
representing the most choice or select; best: an elite group of authors.

e·lit·ism   /ɪˈlitɪzəm, eɪˈli-/ Show Spelled[ih-lee-tiz-uhm, ey-lee-]
consciousness of or pride in belonging to a select or favored group.

Why consciously be satisfied with less?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..

I'm wondering ifn this thread would be so.... interesting ifn Tyler had just destroyed the rice-burners!

His sin seems to be smashing the Hellismashers. 8)

 Especially when you are using more energy and wearing out priceless historical treasures doing it ! ;D

Let us please add:
e·lit·ist n.
1. The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.
2.
a. The sense of entitlement enjoyed by such a group or class.
b. Control, rule, or domination by such a group or class.

Sometimes being satisfied with less allows you to move on to enjoy the rest of your life or your hobby. Being trapped in a particular elitist bubble generally makes you highly critical of everything else around you. i.e. SSB'ers suck, appliance operators suck, no-code operators suck, contestors suck, QST vs. QEX, etc. etc.

" Man, this is the best example of a thread ricocheting and flying wild! :o "

Well, back to gitars.

  Swear he had no idea the song was about drugs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR7754JKdTU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR7754JKdTU)

If he could he'd kill it n' grill it!

 :o

now that's elitist ! do you also wear Birkenstocks and eat arugula ?  :D

"Birkenstocks" ? "arugula" ?

 Don't even know what they are  ???   My wife does all the shopping. I'll have to ask her  ;)

She bought me a few guitars but they don't use 'lectric . They sound real good without toobs.
Primary mode here is CW  .
 I do operate the AM  mode at times . All the transmitters here (AM and CW)are Vac tube , save for the Retro 75 , a real favorite rig .

. Antique electronic supply even has parts for acoustic guitars by the way .


 Peace and seven three

By definition if your primary mode is AM, you are already in the elite class...

Unless you fall into the "Phony Operator" category.

...and the endless P&M about other modes and operators in the hobby.