The AM Forum

Has anybody else had this problem. I have a collection of old tube boxes and tubes that will probably go to the dump. When I become a silent key.

John N8QPC

I'm in the same boat.  Many tubes, parts, misc boat anchors.

I think that most of us have more projects and parts than we will ever get to.  ;D

I started out in amateur radio when I was 12, and was thrilled to get anything to add to the junk box.  Trouble is, I still think I'm 12.

Wow, old tubes sealed in wax to preserve the vacuum from 1944.


I've been busy trying to build most of my parts into radios. The last search of the cellar today shows I have enough major parts left for just one 100 watt class transmitter as planned - and then I am out.... except for precious maintenance junk to keep it all running.

This will make six homebrew rigs on-the-air-capable with the flip of a few switches.    Lots of rigs makes it fun to circulate around and run a different one each time I get on. I notice Tron does it to break up "same-old-rig-boredom-syndrome."

But sadly, like most hobby "stuff" it will probably end up at the landfill, whether in the form of parts or assembled homebrew rigs.

Yes, what a thrill it was when we were twelve and got something new to add to the junk box!


T

The  XYL keeps asking me what she should do if I drop.  Have it hauled to the dump is my answer.  Though, before my demise, I might have a give away party if it can be pulled off.   Hate to see it go to waste but if I'm on my death bed,; I won't care.  Might have to call in HAZMAT and the EPA though.   Not gonna tell anyone about that. 

Man you all are depressing! Twenty years ago the landfill was the answer but today we have the internet and people who specialize is selling estates. I know a couple and like most Hams today have low opinions of people who come in and swoop up things for pennies on the dollar but the other side of it is they are the ones who by doing this make the stuff available to others and keep it from going to waste.
Having seen what goes on with estates and seeing things like the Vertex Joe Liquidation have to say that the majority of that stuff found good homes and that was a direct result of the internet and improved communications today. Some of the bigger problems I have seen are the two issues where the family gets the idea that everything is worth a fortune and wont let a third party sell it off or where the original owner gets the idea that its all gold and wants unrealistic expectations.
I have seen where we also get hacks who list this stuff for sale at crazy prices but you would be surprised sometimes what happens when you make them an offer, after all they are not in love with this stuff and just want as much money they can make from it.
If you are really concerned with sticking your estate then start listing the stuff you don’t think you will ever get to or he parts that you have twenty of on EBay and accept the fact that things are not necessarily worth what you may think but what they are selling for.
Too many get the attitude that if I cant get what I think its worth “The hell with it and I will keep it” but it’s a fact that non of us are going to live forever and at some point something will have to be done with our collections. Take those tubes, list them on EBay for less then what everyone else is selling them for under Buy it Now and see what happens.

  That was my thought too. Then I remembered the glass to metal seal on each pin at the bottom of the glass envelope is in the socket. Therefore I believe the wax coating is to prevent oxidation on the plate cap, and socket pins.

Jim
Wd5JKO

The point is that we should make and articulate a plan so that those left behind, typically XYLs, YLs, kids etc aren't stuck with a burden of "stuff" that they don't know how to deal with efficiently.  Can you just imagine your XYL, wonderful girl that she is, having to go through your collections of goodies and be expected to know what is worth dough and what is dumpster fodder?  The three of us who ran Hosstraders Joe K1RQG (sk), Bob W1GWU and I made a pact many years ago that we would clean up after each other, at least the first two to go.  The women all knew and liked each other and trusted us so it was good to go.  When Joe died, Bob and I had a big project, but Pearl didn't have the worries,  she didn't have to deal with con men, and we converted a lot of "stuff" to dollars for Pearl.  But at  the end of the work when she had a closing date on the house, we just had to hire a dumpster to clean the place of all the little diddly stuff.  I never thought I'd see it, but we left Joe's basement broom clean.  Back when ham flea markets were well attended it was possible to move stuff, but now many of us are in the divestiture mode as we get up in years, and things are harder to move at anything above bottom-feeder prices.  The last two Deerfields, I haven't got my gas money back.  I can't imagine having to list and ship hundreds of items on Ebay.  For most of our junk boxes, it would be a full time job.  And many of the "flippers" just want to take the cherries off the top and still leave you with a cleanout job.
Some of you know that Steve -QIX recently sold his house and moved and has had to give away stuff free of charge, just to get rid of it.  I think this is typical of how the used parts/equipment market has developed over the last few years.  Potential buyers are drying up.  Our treasured treasure troves are not gold, and we are all headed for the last roundup sooner than we want.  In consideration of those left behind, make a plan and follow through with it.  For now, Bob W1GWU and I occasionally threaten each other that we will take up hard drinking and fast cars so that the other guy will have "the duty".
73 de Norm W1ITT

I have so much here.......  I had to buy a 48 foot container to hold it all.... And that didn't do it.  I still have a pair of Tokyo Hi Power 2x3-500Z amps, a Henry 2K-3 and a B&W 2500 Linear sitting in the living room.  Not to mention a big amplifier in the closet. 

I think I might have a problem.

Oh, that doesn't cover the Harris RF103 and old 4-1000 amp in the 'barn'.

After my getting hit with 6KV DC, I decided to let my wife and kids know that if something happens to me, a friend they all know is the guy to get a hold of.  I've told him to liquidate everything.  There is quite a bit of money, amplifiers, big xmitter tubes, etc. sitting here.

Oh yeah, and my wifes house in Bakersfield still has a couple Harris commercial transmitters, a 10A at 8KV transformer, a rotary phase converter (big commercial job, came out of a 25kw carrier radio station).


Yeah, I have a problem.  A 25 year collection of radios and amplifiers.  Do they have a Radio Anonymous? 


--Shane
KD6VXI

There is a place in Sparks (Reno) Nevada that does this.  Ham and Hi Fi.

They are active on Ebay and Craigslist.  I bought a pallet of parts from them.  They sell a LOT of stuff, both parts as well as some really cool amateur radios and old school hi fi stuff (fischer, McIntrash, etc)

That's another idea.

--Shane
KD6VXI

You guys give me hope. There are people out there worse off than me. I have my other hobby antique broadcast radios. Luckily I unloaded all the floor radios except for five. I have been restoring them and giving them as gifts. You should see how excited people get over an old radio that plays like new. Unfortunately I still have about a hundred table radios and thousands of tubes. The tubes are the sticking point they aren't TV junk. Mostly 2 digit stuff as well as loctal and octal. I would let it go for a fair price. Epay sucks.

John N8QPC

Look, at lest for a while I still have the crazy idea that you should just send all ur "stuff" to me, and
my friend Steve W2TRH probably thinks the same thing. (that he should get it)

But on a serious note, there is at least one honest auction house that will take it all and sell it. David Schulman is
one. The people at AAR who did up Hal's Land Air stash sold it all, although they had no clue what any of it was.
I think there is at least one more out there that specializes in this stuff. Probably, short of a known friend or group
of friends to divest the "stuff" that might be the best way to go.

            _-_-

We're all going to some sort of "landfill." Or an urn. :D

Pretty funny Steve!  "Fill that beaker kid,  right now! - the ship's leaving and winds are fair."
The vast miasma of the sea awaits you.   

In North Texas, Sargent Auction Service has for over 20 years been doing electronics workshops, collections, and old radios. They do it in person and 'live' internet based with online bidding and handle everything. I know him to be honest. He's a member of the Vintage Radio & Phonograph Society & has a lot of experience with radio equipment and parts.


We can do things in the normal course of our hobby work to make it much easier for our those to whom we have willed our posessions to deal with our stuff - and for the sales or auction people to make the best of it.

The condition any worthwhile part or piece of equipment is identified so that it's clear what someone is getting or bidding on.

A tag on the item giving the date, working or not, or what was wrong or if it's for parts, and initialed. Alternately a sharpie on the back or bottom seems OK, it wipes off pretty easy with alcohol.

Every single part found defective is immediately thrown away, except for "display tubes" which are so marked. Special transformers which have burned out but worth rewinding are marked 'core'.

On parts like transformers for which there is no useful info I always test them and write the secondary voltage and resistance. Chokes get treated similarly. Tubes get tested and the result, Gm or 0-100 depending on the tester, is written on it.

Anyone else ever bought a caddy of tubes only to find nearly all to be dead/unusable? Why oh why does any technician ever keep dead tubes? Maybe as a posthumous practical joke on the poor schmuck who pays $50 for it at an auction? Not nice.


In addition to these things and the will, I have a set of suggestions as to whom to call, in what order. Those people are the ones welcome to take whatever they want from a particular type of property (electronics, sporting goods, etc., subject to the executor's guidance.
Then the auction, or maybe a sale to someone like ham and hifi, but I didn't even know they existed until today.

Because my hobby shop is large and there are 2 other buildings, and the home is full, there's a crude drawing in microsoft paint showing where certain things are stacked or racked and what they are or what they go with.

K2EE just passed and he requested his wife to contact me if anything ever happened to him. He had some real jems. I had two local radio clubs send out an e-mail to their members. We are doing a "social distancing" hamfest in my yard, two people at a time, scheduled visits. The pile is down by 50% in just two weeks! We only asked for reasonable offers. I'm really shocked how many people actually paid slightly more than some of the stuff was worth, knowing his wife is using the money to pay off remaining expenses.

I've decided that if friends need some parts I have, I'm giving it to them so it will be of use and avoid the dumpsters!

We all have to accept the fact that most of us are likely closer to the expiration date than to the "born on date" !!

I have been giving stuff away for some time now. I turned 81 in February and for the last 20 years I have been telling my wife that every new adventure is my last great adventure.
My wife says that when I go west she is going to call my son and tell him to take care of the problem.  When we lived on the farm in Missouri she was going to hire the guy down the road with the back hoe to dig a big hole.  She promised to put me on top.
I just sold my 1929 Fleet biplane project to a relative.  That made a lot of room in the barn.  I still have a 1936 John Deere B orchard to get rid of and a bunch of Ham gear.
I wrecked the Fleet in 1975 and had been working at it ever since=:-)

The only reason we have so much of this JUNK is because NOBODY else wants it.  Simple, and, its sad!!!

too cool to pitch! Not very practical to use. Came from the recent estate. No one wanted it!

PL-185 / Eimac 527

Fil:                  5.5V @ 135A
Plate diss:           300W
Grid diss:             60W
Peak fil. emission:   100A
Max plate V:           20KV
Length:                 13"
Cooling: base pin:      2CFM
-------------------------------
As pulsed ring oscillator (4 tubes):
Average Power Out:  900W
Peak Power Out:      1 megawatt


http://www.tubecollectors.org/eimac/archives/527.pdf

OK what's a ring oscillator?

UHF/microwave pulsed transmitter = RADAR, before magnetrons were well developed.
WWII tech.

Ed

Cool bottle! I would try listing on EBay as Big Vacuum Tube for $100 and see what happens. They have people trying to sell TH-450 for like $200 and that tube is way cooler.

I had one of those tubes when I wuz a kid. I couldn't lite it up with any of my transformers and not knowing what it's filaments requirement were, I strapped it across a six volt car battery and it lit up. I read that four were used in a ring modulator whatever that is? They must have had a big honking blower on them to keep them from melting?