Frank D.: Other radios are more practical, but few are so cool.

My late wife, Ruby, N5GIN, was more interested in ham radio when the radios
looked like real radios instead of kitchen appliances. She would have
appreciated that say, "Real radios glow in the dark."

I always wanted a JRC shipboard station. It was neat. It was clean looking yet
it looked business like. And it had everything. Retuning the HF transmitter for
the ham bands would have been no problem.

The European made 400 watt ssb stations were really super. Those were nice
little packages.

I know that people like Fair Radio would come along and buy a complete
inventory of surplus stuff at pennies a pound. I guess that was more efficient
for the Government.

73,
Bill, K5BY

WShoots1 wrote:
I know that people like Fair Radio would come along and buy a complete
inventory of surplus stuff at pennies a pound. I guess that was more
efficient for the Government.

On balance, we should probably be very thankful that they (people like Fair
Radio) did.

--
John Miller
Email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm

A straw vote only shows which way the hot air blows.
-O'Henry

"WShoots1" wrote in message
...
Frank D.: Other radios are more practical, but few are so cool.

My late wife, Ruby, N5GIN, was more interested in ham radio when the
radios
looked like real radios instead of kitchen appliances. She would have
appreciated that say, "Real radios glow in the dark."

Alot of Hallicrafters radios just looked impressive. The SX 99 isn't a
great radio, but it has two big semi-circular dials, sort of like a mid
50s Chevrolet, and thirteen knobs and switches on the front panel and
everyone of them does something. And behind the facade, it seems like
each of these radios has at least one example of "ten cent engineering".
I'm not using the term "ten cent engineering" in a disparaging way.
There's another saying:

"A good engineer can do for a dime what any damn fool can do for a
dollar"


I always wanted a JRC shipboard station. It was neat. It was clean
looking yet
it looked business like. And it had everything. Retuning the HF
transmitter for
the ham bands would have been no problem.

The European made 400 watt ssb stations were really super. Those were
nice
little packages.

I know that people like Fair Radio would come along and buy a complete
inventory of surplus stuff at pennies a pound. I guess that was more
efficient
for the Government.

73,
Bill, K5BY

Yeah, the government auctions off it's surplus, so I suppose we all had
the same chance to get a pallet of weatherbeaten radios. I have no idea
what percentage of the radios were salvageable. It's a good thing for
everybody there's somebody like Fair to take the chance. Besides, I
like dealing with Fair, even though I've never bought a big ticket item
from them.

It looks like the government now has a contractor to handle some
auctions on the internet:

http://www.govliquidation.com/

There's some trucks, like a few Kaiser Jeeps and a Studebaker Packard:

http://www.govliquidation.com/list/e1020?tid=GLSPPR0175

Frank Dresser

John: On balance, we should probably be very thankful that they (people like
Fair
Radio) did.

You're right about that.In the past, I'd had stations of all military surplus,
stations of a caliber that I couldn't have afforded otherwise.

Bill, K5BY

WShoots1 wrote in message
...
Frank D.: Other radios are more practical, but few are so cool.

My late wife, Ruby, N5GIN, was more interested in ham radio when the
radios
looked like real radios instead of kitchen appliances. She would have
appreciated that say, "Real radios glow in the dark."

I always wanted a JRC shipboard station. It was neat. It was clean looking
yet
it looked business like. And it had everything. Retuning the HF
transmitter for
the ham bands would have been no problem.

The European made 400 watt ssb stations were really super. Those were nice
little packages.

I know that people like Fair Radio would come along and buy a complete
inventory of surplus stuff at pennies a pound. I guess that was more
efficient
for the Government.

73,
Bill, K5BY

That raises a question I've been asking for awhile...

As the Telecommunications Act of 1996 ended the 500 kHz distress and safety
watch what has happened to all the shipboard radio gear? I would assume
there would be hundreds of Mackay consoles dumped onto the surplus market
yet I have only seen one MRU-35A and a couple of receivers in civilian
hands. Besides... I would like to get my hands on one of those Chelsea
radioroom clocks---even though they kept bad time.

RG