[ARC5] [Milsurplus] Boonton

[J. Forster]

Hi David,

As you know, I'm on a lot of lists. As far as I can recall, there has been
little to no discussions of Boonton gear on ARC-5 or any other list.

> Here I am "a voice in the wilderness" again... sigh.
>
> I'm sorry, John, but this is just another fragmentation
> and splintering of what little is left of our community.
> You will get a few people at first.
> But there is no "cross-pollination" of ideas or
> generation of new interest.
> Through attrition, the group will eventually become a ghost-town.
> That's because few people discover an interest in the group's subject,
> because they aren't exposed to it.
> There are several mil-radio splinter groups that now languish
> and are good examples
> I might have developed an interest over the years if I had seen
> several posts about these sets. Since I never see any,  I never think
> of it.
> Since I don't think of it, I see no reason to go subscribe to it.
> Others do the same and the topic eventually "peters-out."
>
> In the end, this splintering is counterproductive and ultimately
> self-destructive.  The "delete" key works just as well in
> a large community as it does in a small one, so "high noise"
> is not a reason to splinter into yet another small group
> destined to die out due to attrition.
> I know- No one will listen.  I've wasted my breath for years on
> this point but by God I'll just waste it again;
> It's like WS-19.  When's the last time you saw a discussion thread
> on WS-19 on milsurplus?

Not lately, but there have been on ArmyRadios w/in the last two weeks.

The WS 19 Groups split for very good reasons:

The "Original" Canadian Group started censoring posts. I split off from
that along with two others who were incensed with that policy. That group
has languished in the decade following the split.

I was co-founder of the UK based WS 19 Group, and conceived the manual
archive, first known as Trackpads and which later became RoyalSignals, as
a honey pot to attract members. However my objections to Keith and
Alister's fetish with longer and evermore complex passwords and other
protection schemes, got me thrown out.

I absolutely believed, and still do, that when a manual was offered "free"
it means free. No strings, no memberships, no physical ISP email
addresses...  no nonsense. And, I do not accept that a person who scans a
manual acquires any proprietary interest in it. That is quite clear from
copyright law.

> You don't, because the same handfull of people are over
> on their own splinter-group, hashing and re-hashing with few new
> ideas because they've isolated themselves.

My various Test Equipment Groups are pockets of intertest in AILtech, EIP
Microwave, General Radio, and others. A question about the repair of an
EIP Counter will likely go unanswered on Tekscopes or HP-Agilent.

Somebody interested in Boonton "Q" meters is probably not interested in
ART-13s or ARC-5s.

> Heck- even that splinter has been splintered and re-splintered.
> There are people here on Milsurplus reading this
> right now who would have developed an interest, added new ideas
> and done new work had they seen a few threads.
> But they didn't, so they go on to other things.
>
> I don't want to offend, John, but every new "yahoo group" someone
> makes to splinter-off members from the more general lists is yet
> another nail in our hobby's coffin.  One of these days,
> someone will write the last post on the
> "Hallicrafters Radios That Were Used in March When It Was Raining."
> yahoo group and wonder where everyone went.
> Clue: The two that are left are on the yahoo group about the radios
> that were used with it wasn't raining.
>
> 73 Dave AB5S

The generalized Test Equipment Groups are really not all that useful for
the less common instruments. Ask a question about HP LASER Interferometers
on almost any Group, save one, and the silence is complete.

YMMV,

-John

================

=======================