Can One Have Too Much Stuff?

[W1UJR]

Ok, this might be a tad tinged with philosophy, but if a tree falls in the forest can one have too much stuff?

I've had this Collins 20V2 sitting here for nearly 5 years, and I'm just wondering if I should let it go or hold on to it? This was W3HM's old unit, then sold to a ham in Troy, MI and I've got most of the history since it was in broadcast service.

I'm really not into the high power thing any more, operate a lot of QRP and CW right now, and this beast, at 1200+ pounds is a bit much. I've plenty of room to store it, but somehow I feel that it should be on the air, not sitting at my office. And its not just the 20V either.

In fact, my interest has really moved backward to prewar gear, and I'm having the same feeling about other stuff just sitting here, at home and back in storage in Buffalo. Some gear I'm sentimentally attached to, belonged to an Elmer's or friend, and I'd not part with, but other stuff just followed me home. We're not talking really super rare gear either, sometimes its just a mint looking receiver that I've never had that I want to play around with. Somehow it finds it way into the shack, never to venture out. Kinda of the same way with parts, its that "you never know if you'll see it again" thing going on.

I've a good friend back in WNY that goes through this from time to time, he sells off, finds new gear, then sells off. Of course he made bit of an error when he sold off his KW-1 some time back, ouch!

Do we all go through these feelings from time to time?
I discuss this with another ham friend from time to time, and we both have wondered if radio would be "funner" with just a simple SW-3 and a nice old Hartley oscillator?

Guess I'm just thinking out loud? 

[W1UJR]

Yep.

[KB2WIG]

Bruce,
We all are here to help one another.  It has been said, " If You Love Something Set It Free
If It Comes Back, It Was And Always Will Be Yours.  "  How true .....  I have space. Send the 20V2 here, and if it returns in 30 years, it'll be yours forever.  

Do You Love your 'T368?  Are you sure? I can Help.  


KLC

[W2XR]

He with the most toys, wins!

And then you die.

73,

Bruce

[WA1GFZ]

I love to make FETs dance but there is something about a glowing tube...that is why I did a V2 this winter. Now to decide on the next project class e QRO or the 4CX3000A rebuild

[KA8WTK]

W1UJR said:
"Ok, this might be a tad tinged with philosophy, but if a tree falls in the forest can one have too much stuff?"

Gee, I hope not.

[WBear2GCR]

When you no longer can freely walk back and forth, you maybe have too much stuff.

When you no longer have any chance of finding that thing that you need now, and know you have at least one of, any time soon - or even this year, maybe you have too much stuff??

Other than that?

No.

              _-_-bear

[Carl WA1KPD]

Bruce,

I know what you mean. I go through that from time to time compounded by the  fact that I tend to "fall in love" with an idea or radio and have to have it. In fact most of the gear on my web site is gone- some of it long gone. Like Larry I have to redo it one of these days.

One test I use (hard to do with your rig) is to put the possible candidate for reduction in the attic for awhile. If I really miss seeing or using it then it gets to stay. If by the next Nearfest it is still up there then it takes a trip to NH and hopefully takes one home with someone else.

However I usually come home with as much poundage (excluding beer and spicy sausage) then I left with because I fall in love with new items.  I may have been the only person at the fall meet who was seriously considering taking home the Lafayette Starflite transmitter! Radio tramp that I am.

I prefer tinkering so the just SW-3 and Hartley would not do it for me. I do however admire minimalist tube radios

73

Carl /KPD

[N3DRB The Derb]

In the grand scheme of things, remember that the gear is a enabler to friendship. I have owned hundreds of rigs since before I had a ticket, starting in the late 70's. i would ask for BA's on 2 meter swapnets, and go home with a station wagon full of free tx's and rx's. I would fix em and sell them at the next fest and use that money to buy more. But I never kept anything more than a few months. I got a lot of experience this way, but I also never formed a lasting connection to the gear. it was like one night stands. After a while you start to feel empty about radio because it becomes like gambling, a never ending chase for that "perfect" [insert gear here] and it starts to not mean as much as it used to.

My answer would be you have too much stuff if you think the stuff is more important than the people using the stuff. Your gear preferences will change as you get burned out on one era of radio, and you might feel like taking a holiday from radio for a while.
I did, but I didn't go about it very well.

But forgiving friends remind you what's important.

[WA1GFZ]

you have too much stuff when there isn't any more room to build another work bench.  Never put stuff in the attic...ask k4kyv

[WD8BIL]

you have too much stuff when there isn't any more room to build another work bench.

I think it boils down to not having enuf room. Without "enuf" room the quantity of stuff is not relavent.

[W9GT]

Yes, you can have too much stuff.  However, the key is having the right stuff...then there is no limit!! 

Seriously,  I have always tried to maintain a good stock of parts for projects that I could see as possibilities on the horizon.  Problem is, I never seem to get to all those projects.   Same goes for gear in the shack....why do I need all those rigs on the shelf that I never use?

One good thing about having all that "stuff"...It gives you a good supply of trading stock to sell/trade toward the items you  really need for current projects and/or interests.  Now, I just need to cull the herd and sell off a bunch of the excess stuff that I will never be able to use.  I know my XYL would sure be happy to see that happen!!

73,  Jack, W9GT

[k4kyv]

"It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it."

-John Mohn, W5MEU (SK)

[k7yoo]

In the grand scheme of things, remember that the gear is a enabler to friendship. I have owned hundreds of rigs since before I had a ticket, starting in the late 70's. i would ask for BA's on 2 meter swapnets, and go home with a station wagon full of free tx's and rx's. I would fix em and sell them at the next fest and use that money to buy more. But I never kept anything more than a few months. I got a lot of experience this way, but I also never formed a lasting connection to the gear. it was like one night stands. After a while you start to feel empty about radio because it becomes like gambling, a never ending chase for that "perfect" [insert gear here] and it starts to not mean as much as it used to.

My answer would be you have too much stuff if you think the stuff is more important than the people using the stuff. Your gear preferences will change as you get burned out on one era of radio, and you might feel like taking a holiday from radio for a while.
I did, but I didn't go about it very well.

But forgiving friends remind you what's important.

DITTO!

[Opcom]

One can have too much stuff, especially in an emergency.

My shack was somewhat orderly until Nortex Electronics closed. There was a huge garage sale. Then the scrapper began.. I started going every weekend, putting 'save' tags on stuff and paying as I hauled it off. Silly me, I thought I'd like to have a few scope CRTs. I offered to take all. About 150 so far. I think they had the last laugh, as they'd have had to pay to dispose of them. Do I also need five 850 watt sand state shaker table amplifiers? Do I need the maybe 20 VHF/UHF 100W military wattmeters? three 618S-1's? six T-282's?  old boxes of mixed 'pull' vibrators? And the iron.. 99.9% went into the scrap heap. I saved every piece I could get my hands on, including some gear with decent iron inside.. As one of the crufty old buzzards that hung out there, (but by NO means the cruftiest or oldest, just single, with a truck, and some space), I ended up with a huge lot of stuff.

In fact, I think the deceased owner, may he rest in peace, is having the last laugh on all of us.

I have to go back this saturday and pick up some 6.6KVA motorized-variac-based automatic line voltage regulators and a bunch more CRTs. Once I have all the CRTs enumerated, I'll post a list.. they will be cheap, especially the H/P and TEK ones.

[Ed W1XAW]

I sold a bunch of my measly collection reasonable at Hosstraders to make room around here and share a lot of stuff I wasn't likely to use.   When I need that tube that I don't have I thought I'd rely on some of the real collectors among us or pay the dear prices the antique radio supply guys want.  The truth is that when my basement started filling up I looked my packrat nature in the eye and blinked.  . .  so far no regrets.   

Very best regards,

Ed

[The Slab Bacon]

"It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it."

-John Mohn, W5MEU (SK)

AMEN, BROTHER!!!! I have also said the same for many years!! This was always true also for field service repairs!!

[Ed-VA3ES]

I definitely have too much stuff.  After my bout with mortality four years ago, I decided to trim my collection  to the bone.  No kids, no family, no more wife... who would get it all, and it's too good to trash.   You will see occasional lists of stuff for sale from time to time.

[k4kyv]

After my bout with mortality four years ago, I decided to trim my collection  to the bone.  No kids, no family, no more wife... who would get it all, and it's too good to trash.

I wouldn't deprive myself of anything, just because I was worried about what will happen to it when I croak.  But lacking any heirs, I would make sure I had left a last will and testament giving specific instructions on how to dispose of my belongings, including the radio stuff.  The best route to take would be to name several individuals who would have already agreed to complete the task. Many pack-rats like myself would be glad to do the job for what they might add to their own collection.  Better to name more than one person, since one single individual might not follow through as promised, or could become incapacitated.  Maybe even name some web sites such as this one to notify other people who might be interested.

It's a real shame when someone dies, and the people handling the estate think the radio stuff is nothing but useless old junk, and haul it to the dump without notifying anyone or making any attempt to sell it or give it away to someone who might have a use for it.

I have seen cases where I honestly believe the dead  ham's wife, who probably hated radio their entire married life, called  someone the moment he died to take the radio stuff to the landfill, and once she was sure it was was all safely gone from the house, called the undertaker to come for the body.

Roger N4IBF(SK), Mike NI4N and myself brought two pickup loads and a covered U-Haul truckload from Indiana to Nashville back in the mid-80's and divided it up.  The original owner had developed alzheimer's disease and was in a nursing home, no longer able to recognise his wife and with absolutely no recollection of his 60+ years of ham radio.  We were very fortunate to save the collection, which included loads of parts and goodies that dated back to the early 30's and before.  Some of the local ham radio club types had advised the wife that they would help her sell the 75A-4, HT-37 and the new slopbucket transceiver, but that the parts collection and the old AM rig were "worthless" because "nobody uses that kind of stuff any more", that she wouldn't even be able to give it away if she tried, so they advised her to have someone haul it all to the dump.  Fortunately we found out about it before she was could locate anyone willing to do the job, and she gave it all to us. That's the place where I literally mined a dozen or so n.o.s. 211/VT4-C's out of the ground where the floor of the storage building had  rotted away, and after I cleaned up the tubes, they worked perfectly.

[WA1GFZ]

With the price of scrap metal these days I would thing it would be like leaving money laying around. Vortex Joe is sitting on a gold mine

[k4kyv]

With the price of scrap metal these days I would thing it would be like leaving money laying around. Vortex Joe is sitting on a gold mine

Just loading everything up and selling it for scrap would be no better than hauling it to the landfill. 

[WA1GFZ]

I guess you have not seen the price of scrap copper..

[W1RC]

It has been my experience that the "stuff" seems to expand so as to fill the space available to store it.

The question is can you have too much "stuff"?  Depends on your perspective. It depends on who you ask.  I'm sure that our "significant others" may see things differently.

What was "not enough" one day may be "too much" tomorrow.  I am thinking that one day you may just get tired of looking at it all and then you have too much.

I'd rather have fewer choice items than a big pile of schmeg.

Most of us have been very fortunate when it comes to acquiring the "stuff" we now possess.  We got it when no one else wanted it.  Now that it's in demand it seems everyone wants it. 

The big question is:  "What about the next generation - are they going to want it?  Who will pay $3,500.00 for that R-390A on ePay?



Perhaps it's time to divest a bit.......

73,

Michael, W1RC

[W1UJR]

The secret is to keep acquiring more storage space.

That may be true, but would you not then be enlarging your "carbon footprint"?
Especially as we all know that the "the planet has a fever".
I'd hate to think that the polar ice sheets and polar bears are disappearing just because I wanted another R-390A.

With earth's fate in the balance, I think the choice is clear. 

[WA1GFZ]

If you can get to the operating chair and XYL can make it to the washing machine you still need more stuff.