W0ZUS (SK) auction results in South Dakota today

[WD8BIL]

No Buddly , In this case is is not at all "sour grapes".

And I believe you, Gary. I know where YOU"RE coming from, man.

But I said USUALLY not ALL and have been around long enuf and witnessed enuf to know it IS usually soar grapes. Your example of witnessed flipper in action, albeit anecdotal, is evidence.

[kg8lb]

Bud , the anecdote was more rule than exception from what I have seen. We have a local that brags about how well he works Ex-XYLs .

   We had a local ham right here in MI, Art/ W8TMS . Mike, N8SDD, Sam AA8WL and I worked with him for years after he had a stroke . He was very insecure about operating on 75 AM afterwards so we set him up with 2M and made a point of having some "Art nets" during the week. As time went on , Art got a little more senile. Spent less time on the air and more time taking the gear apart. At some point his as well as his wife's health got so bad they no longer took company. The three of us all had gear at Art's house. Art had a very clean VikII , a complete ,loaded Omni5, Centurion, PS, Speaker along with a Drake R8B and loads of tubes recording gear and stuff from his broadcast days at WWJ.   A fellow was later telling me how he went to a house in Troy to buy tubes for someone else and found all this ham gear. He was to pay $500 for the tubes. When he saw the gear he offered the unkowing son another $500 to toss in the radio stuff. As he was telling me the story I immediately knew this was the estate of our friend Art.
  I did not mind so much this time since it was only the son involved and he was quite content. I didn't really mind that some of the gear actually belonged to Mike , Sam and I. We all miss Art a lot more than the "stuff".

[W8ACR]

I had a feeling that this thread might morph into a discusion of the propriety of such low prices for such highly prized radio equipment and accessories. If I may, I'd like to point out several things.
1. Ruth (Dewey's XYL) is not ignorant of the value of the radio gear that was in her possesion.
2. She chose the auction format fully understanding that such large items in such a remote location might well result in low bids.
3. The men in charge of the auction were hams who were above reproach, and who were honorable in their dealings with Ruth and with the bidders. It was a very well organized auction.
4. I have had several communications with Ruth since the auction. She is, in general, pleased with the outcome. She said that while some items brought less than she expected, others brought more. She was pleased that much of the gear went to hams who knew Dewey well, if only by talking to him on the air. Her disappointment, if any, was that the radio gear that Dewey spent so much time laboring over, and caring for, may not be appreciated as much by its new owners. Nevertheless, she was pleased that at least it was not necessary for her to send it to a junkyard, which was the likely alternative fate. She told me that she and Dewey had several conversations about what to do with his gear after he was gone. He apparently wasn't concerned about what would happen to it. It gave him great joy as a hobby, and he found immense satisfaction in creating a highly crafted piece of radio gear and using it on the air. He was proud of his craftmanship. He simply loved ham radio and that alone justified it. If his beloved radio gear were passed to new owners who also enjoyed it, that would be icing on the cake.

If I am successful in my quest to obtain the remnant of his radio estate, my plan is to sell off the items that I don't want and forward the proceeds to Ruth. I think Dewey would be happy with that.

Ron W8ACR

[kg8lb]

 Sure, did not mean to send it in that direction. My comment was more generic and meant to wish people in this situation well. Like the comment about Art, his son knew what he was doing and was quite fine with that. It sounds like this is a quite similar situation. Good on all.

[Jim, W5JO]

I had a feeling that this thread might morph into a discusion of the propriety of such low prices for such highly prized radio equipment and accessories. If I may, I'd like to point out several things.

Ron W8ACR

The thing you failed to mention is that auction like this is the favored format for that part of the country.  Those guys always try to pass things on to others at reasonable rates.  That is how they do things, and will go out of their way to help others.  Remember it is a long way between some of those cities and towns.

[kg8lb]

They do it here as well much the same. (When there is an open sale of this type) Just that there are usually more people turning out. The percentages of types are probably similar.

[John K5PRO]

Patrick
There were no 5 or 10 kW rigs, only 1 kW and under. The largest transformer was the 329 lb Moloney plate transformer in the garage, which is 4430-0-4430 and 6.7 kVA. It would take major strength to load it up so I couldn't touch it - no bids. I told Ruth that it  had a lot of iron and copper and that a scrap yard might pick it up, since it was not oil filled. I thought of you, though, when I saw it.

[Opcom]

John,

That would be better than what has turned up but I agree about the weight it being a major hassle. Like the 3.5H 3A RCA choke I got from the Black Hole. Took two people to move it and is still where we put it..

4430-0-4430 and 6.7 kVA what a beast. 4000V out..
It could possibly do what I want with a variac if not pushed.

5600VAC is the target. (4800VDC from full wave rectifier and LC filter)

more likely 4900VAC from it (+11%) to avoid overexciting, 4200VDC out.

I appreciate you looking though. The issue would be making an offer and then getting there in a reasonable time for Ruth's timetable. Hey can't have everything. Is it in the pictures?

[W2PFY]

Looking at the 450TL transmitter I see the tubes are 450T types which are very early tubes. Pre 1940. On the internal filament stem Eimac wrote, hi or lo to let you know if it's a TH or TL type as that was the only way to visually know what it was. Nice workmanship!

[K1JJ]

Wow....  Dewy was a ham's ham! Great pictures.  Nice homebrew gear and lots of valuable parts and rigs.

It made me a little sad to think of all the time and effort he put into that FB station but now it's over for him forever. But glad to see the stuff went to people in the know who will make use of it.  

As we go on I think this stuff will continue to go down in price as the demand diminishes and auctions like this will pull in even less. That's just how it goes.

For some reason the call W0ZUS  stands out to me, as if I worked him on 75M AM coast to coast a few times over the years.

RIP, Dewy.  Thanks to all who helped to distribute his precious treasures.


T    (Still on generator power until MAYBE next week)

[W1UJR]

I'm sorry I never talked to this fellow over the air. I often believed that some of an SK's greatest assets are the ones he/she takes to the grave. Judging by the workmanship of how these rigs were built, there was a great technical void created with his passing.

Great minds think alike Mike, man, when I think of all that lost knowledge, it makes me very sad.
I've made a point to try and interview and "download" that from every OT I know, just wish I did
it with my elmer. When it's gone, its gone forever. Sure you can read it in books, but its the stuff
that's not in the books, experiences, that has the greatest value.

[Opcom]

That is why it is important to publish the results of any tedious experiments, meaning when you have a weird troubleshooting task and have to characterize something fully over a range of conditions. This is a good place to publish them.

[k0vvx]

Hey all
read all the post about the auction. I am the moron that bought the 20vs for a buddy of mine 3 of the so far made it safly to il. All of the transmitter are sold. I ended up with thee total un known what i am going to do with them besides get them on the air the remainder are going to IL to be put on the air. If any one knows a good way to pu a gates bc1t on 80 meters.

[K5UJ]

With all due respect I suggest you work on upgrading your ticket before fooling around with the rigs you got.

p.s. Welcome to amfone.net.  There are a few AM ops out your way in SD.  Maybe when you get one of the rigs going I'll work you on 75 m.

[k0vvx]

I will be upgraded before they are on air it will take me a year or so to get set up

[w3jn]

Outstanding!  Always great to have another tall ship on from the midwest, particularly SD.

And welcome to AMFone.net!

[k0vvx]

Thanks need to be loud to be heard from western sd. Any advice on audio chains would be appriated i am new as you get it comes am trans mitters.

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Thanks need to be loud to be heard from western sd. Any advice on audio chains would be appriated i am new as you get it comes am trans mitters.

Then I'd strongly suggest you put a lot of time and study into high voltage supplies and familiarize yourself well with the equipment you have before ever putting power to it, or considering any audio chain. It would be a shame to lose a new AMer to electrocution before he got his HV feet under him.

Once you're comfortable (in a 'Respecting High Voltage' kind of way), check out the Audio section of the AM Handbook on here. There is a lot of excellent info there. Read through the applicable posts, familiarize yourself with your specific needs, then post whatever questions you have. You'll be hard-pressed to find a more knowledgeable group than the AMers here and on the AMRadio list.

[k0vvx]

Thanks for the advice.
 I am comfortable as one can or should be with hv i like my orangs un cooked

[Jim, W5JO]

If you want any help, look up Arne, K0AS.  He is in Deadwood and a dedicated AM operator.  He and Dewey were good friends.  You can find his email on QRZ.  If you have trouble, let me know.

[W8ACR]

Just got back from SD with my second load of W0ZUS stuff. This time I brought back the RCA BTA-1R and the homebrew 160 meter rig - 450TL's modulated by 833's as well as the remaining tubes and some large transformers and some small miscellaneous parts. There are four braodcast transmitters still there, but they have all been sold and are awaiting pickup.

I was successful in my quest to obtain the remaining loose parts and will be returning to SD in a few weeks to hopefully get everything that's left. But there is so much stuff it may take two more trips. Once I get it all here and semi organized, I'll pick the stuff I want to keep, and put the rest up for sale. I told Ruth that I would like to recoup my expenses, but anything over and above that will go back to her. My objective here was to keep this stuff from going to the junkyard, and it appears that I have at least achieved that. Will keep you all posted......................

Ron W8ACR

[WA3VJB]

Thanks for the update Ron, especially that the BC transmitters have found new homes.

Also, kudos for the noble effort you're putting in, seeing to it the components and other "loose parts" are rounded up and eventually distributed among those interested.

South Dakota is not a simple trip across town for you ...

As a reward it sounds like you'll have many hours of enjoyment this coming radio season with a couple of very nice Big Rigs.

Best to you ...

[W8ACR]

Thanks for the kind words Paul. Yeah, I put 1200 miles on the Suburban and the horse trailer this past weekend. There is still a mountain of parts that needs to be moved. Looks like there is some really cool stuff in the pile. It will be fun to sift through it all and see what kind of treasure I can find. I'd say there is enough stuff to build ten or more large transmitters from scratch, and there would still be lotsa stuff left over. Start making a list of parts that you might need! Don't know when I'm gonna get the new rigs on the air. They were all so big I basically had to dismantle them to haul them away. It may take some time to get them back together properly. Dewey's homebrew schematics are not the best.

BTW it has been forever since you and I spoke on the air. I think I was living in Plattsburgh NY the last time we had an actual QSO. Moved away from Plattsburgh in 1997. Maybe it's time for a 40 or 75 meter SKED.

Ron