Find a younger ham that will take control of all the equipment and liquidate
it when the time comes. I have been doing that for years. I sell the stuff
at hamfests or eBay and do not even charge a commission. I keep what does
not sell .

A funny true story happened to me. A few years ago I got a call from a
friend's wife. He was elderly and over a few months he had been going to
lunch and never making it, ending up in nearby towns. At one point he was
almost vegetative. His Dr's diagnosed him as Alzheimers and told his wife
he would never recover. She called me and asked that I liquidate a building
full of old radio and test equipment.

I went to work and sold some to friends, some on eBay and some at a local
swap meet. I just collected the funds until after the swap meet. There
were a few things that did not sell at the swap meet, so I figured I was
done selling. I called the woman to report my success and she said "just a
minute, here is Henry". There was my friend on the other end of the
telephone, home and alert. My heart sank. I had to report that I had sold
his entire collection of stuff. It was the lowest point of my life. I felt
like I had drained the blood from him. But, the rest of the story made for
an ok ending. After I told him I had sold all of his equipment, he told me
that even though he was home, he was not up to enjoying it and he never
would be, so that it was still fine that I had liquidated his stuff.
However, he said there were two things he wished he still had and those were
two of the three items I could not sell. He was delighted and I felt like
the luckiest guy alive.

He died about a year later, but we already had liquidated his gear.

Colin K7FM

Thanks Colin. As is so often the case, your comments make more sense than
most on this newsgroup. I should have figured that I could expect vacuous
suggestions ("Did you ever think of donating to a radio club? Duh") and
sarcasm not to mention the tedious stand-uyp comics (who should keep their
day jobs). Jeeesh...I am NOT giving the stuff away now (hopefully I've got a
lot of years left).. Nor am I interested in walking away with any money from
it. Nor am I interested in one entity getting it all. I just am interested
in the stuff being received by someone who will appreciate it. As for those
vultures who fly around widows trying to peck them clean, I am all too aware
of that situation. We as hams don't have very clean hands in that respect.
We've all seen it.My whole reason for putting this posting out is to plan
for something instead of my executor landfilling my good stuff. I think I am
going to go about this another way because, other than your comments, most
others were worthless.

Smokey

"COLIN LAMB" wrote in message
nk.net...
Find a younger ham that will take control of all the equipment and
liquidate
it when the time comes. I have been doing that for years. I sell the
stuff
at hamfests or eBay and do not even charge a commission. I keep what does
not sell .

A funny true story happened to me. A few years ago I got a call from a
friend's wife. He was elderly and over a few months he had been going to
lunch and never making it, ending up in nearby towns. At one point he was
almost vegetative. His Dr's diagnosed him as Alzheimers and told his wife
he would never recover. She called me and asked that I liquidate a
building
full of old radio and test equipment.

I went to work and sold some to friends, some on eBay and some at a local
swap meet. I just collected the funds until after the swap meet. There
were a few things that did not sell at the swap meet, so I figured I was
done selling. I called the woman to report my success and she said "just
a
minute, here is Henry". There was my friend on the other end of the
telephone, home and alert. My heart sank. I had to report that I had
sold
his entire collection of stuff. It was the lowest point of my life. I
felt
like I had drained the blood from him. But, the rest of the story made
for
an ok ending. After I told him I had sold all of his equipment, he told
me
that even though he was home, he was not up to enjoying it and he never
would be, so that it was still fine that I had liquidated his stuff.
However, he said there were two things he wished he still had and those
were
two of the three items I could not sell. He was delighted and I felt like
the luckiest guy alive.

He died about a year later, but we already had liquidated his gear.

Colin K7FM

Smokey wrote:
Thanks Colin. As is so often the case, your comments make more sense than
most on this newsgroup. I should have figured that I could expect vacuous
suggestions ("Did you ever think of donating to a radio club? Duh") and
sarcasm not to mention the tedious stand-uyp comics (who should keep their
day jobs). Jeeesh...I am NOT giving the stuff away now (hopefully I've got a
lot of years left).. Nor am I interested in walking away with any money from
it. Nor am I interested in one entity getting it all. I just am interested
in the stuff being received by someone who will appreciate it. As for those
vultures who fly around widows trying to peck them clean, I am all too aware
of that situation. We as hams don't have very clean hands in that respect.
We've all seen it.My whole reason for putting this posting out is to plan
for something instead of my executor landfilling my good stuff. I think I am
going to go about this another way because, other than your comments, most
others were worthless.

Smokey

In spite of your attitude, I would like to put in a couple of points: we are
engaged in a hobby that is rather unique. The stuff we see as valuable, most
everyone else in the world sees as trash. It's a shame, but that is the way
it is. If you are at all like me, the value you see in a piece is largely
a result of nostalgia.

In the first place, once you die, it isn't going to make any difference
to you what happens to your material possessions. It should make some
difference to you, before you die, knowing the degree of a mess you will be
leaving behind for your spouse and heirs to clean up.

About all you can do, is try and not accumulate trash, and to leave some
instructions to your executor that itemize the major pieces of your collection,
and assigns each piece a realistic value. Your instructions should
suggest how to find likely customers for your collection, and perhaps
even give the task of disposal to some willing friend.

And if all your good stuff ends up in the landfill, then perhaps, it
will join you in the afterlife. (eg. you can rot together ;-)

-Chuck (who will be leaving behind quite a mess!)

On Tue, 7 Feb 2006, Chuck Harris wrote:

Smokey wrote:
Thanks Colin. As is so often the case, your comments make more sense than
most on this newsgroup. I should have figured that I could expect vacuous
suggestions ("Did you ever think of donating to a radio club? Duh") and
sarcasm not to mention the tedious stand-uyp comics (who should keep their
day jobs). Jeeesh...I am NOT giving the stuff away now (hopefully I've got
a
lot of years left).. Nor am I interested in walking away with any money
from
it. Nor am I interested in one entity getting it all. I just am interested
in the stuff being received by someone who will appreciate it. As for those
vultures who fly around widows trying to peck them clean, I am all too
aware
of that situation. We as hams don't have very clean hands in that respect.
We've all seen it.My whole reason for putting this posting out is to plan
for something instead of my executor landfilling my good stuff. I think I
am
going to go about this another way because, other than your comments, most
others were worthless.

Smokey

In spite of your attitude, I would like to put in a couple of points: we are
engaged in a hobby that is rather unique. The stuff we see as valuable, most
everyone else in the world sees as trash. It's a shame, but that is the way
it is.

We should not single ourselves out. How many people spend tons of money on
antique-junk cars? Hunting guns, stamp collections, and all manner of
other hobbies. They all have to deal with their collections.


===== no change to below, included for reference and context =====

If you are at all like me, the value you see in a piece is largely
a result of nostalgia.

In the first place, once you die, it isn't going to make any difference
to you what happens to your material possessions. It should make some
difference to you, before you die, knowing the degree of a mess you will be
leaving behind for your spouse and heirs to clean up.

About all you can do, is try and not accumulate trash, and to leave some
instructions to your executor that itemize the major pieces of your
collection,
and assigns each piece a realistic value. Your instructions should
suggest how to find likely customers for your collection, and perhaps
even give the task of disposal to some willing friend.

And if all your good stuff ends up in the landfill, then perhaps, it
will join you in the afterlife. (eg. you can rot together ;-)

-Chuck (who will be leaving behind quite a mess!)