[Boatanchors] Technical help - What are the requirements?

[telegrapher at att.net]

Frequency accuracy per se was not the issue Bob.  The issue was that i 
wanted to know how close or how far off the calibration was on the 
receiver itself.  As i explained in my other posting to you, i hate the 
thought of paying big money for a supposedly great receiver only to find 
that the PTO is way out of calibration and requires a major disassembly 
to fix the problem of which i'm not equipped to handle.  It was a 
harmless question and yes i was poking fun at the fellow, If it applies 
to you fine, if not, laugh at it.  To much ham gear on Ebay is sold with 
the statement "i don't know anything about this" or "i'm not qualified 
to plug this in to see if it works or lights up" or other lines as such. 
  Especially when you can see a bench with test equipment setting behind 
the radio.

By the ham fellow telling me that he didn't have the equipment to check 
the calibration was a slap to a lot of hams out there, myself included. 
  This radio being a boatanchor (51J-4) does have a crystal calibrator. 
But it did tell me that the fellow must not have known much about the 
receiver or it was possibly a non worker no matter what he said.  In 
other words his credibility was shot at that time.

I talk with some other hams around the SW that have been shot it the 
butt when buying radio stuff from Ebay that the owner said " excellent 
condition, works fine, complete.  Great radio etc. and got a piece of 
junk thrown into a box with no packing and shipped out.  How many of you 
on the list have had that happen to you?  The thing about it is that we 
can't think of all the things that can be wrong with a piece of gear we 
want to buy.  We are either not worried about it or concerned with one 
particular item that we want to make sure is right for whatever reason. 
  That was what i was looking for when i sent him the question about how 
accurate the calibration was.

You read way to much into that simple posting.

Larry
W0OGH


rbethman wrote:

> I understand EXACTLY *what* Larry was saying.
> 
> My issue was with:
> 
> 1:  Receivers do NOT need to be that accurate - transmitters do.  (Yes - 
> I know us old goats with boatanchors and split Rcvr/Tx MUST be more 
> careful!  I started within months of getting my license going down THAT 
> path with an HT-37 and an SX-101A.)
> 
> 2: The LAST comment of the post:
> 
>> Wonder what box of cereal he got his license out of.
> 
> This, to me, hits a broad brush approach, and slaps Hams in general!  
> *IF* that piece HAD been left off - NO beef at all!
> 
> This Mail List is INTERNATIONAL.  We, the base members of the list, MUST 
> be careful with what we own and how we put it forward!
> 
> I've been a member for five to seven years.  If we aren't careful, we 
> can trigger a lashback that *WILL* bite back.
> 
> Bob - N0DGN
> 
> 
>> I think everyone missed the point. 
>> No where did he imply that it was a requirement to know where it
>> was, just simply wondering if was tracking or not.
> 
> I believe *EXACTLY OPPOSITE*, based on:
> 
>>> Wonder what box of cereal he got his license out of.
> 
> THAT implies the opposite of what you are saying.
> 
>> Makes BIG difference in price if has to be worked on or has been 
>> dinkered with.
>>   
> 
> If it is either an R-388, R-390, or R-390A, and you base your value on 
> the PTO accuracy, then I'd say you have personal issues.  It should 
> *NOT* affect value!
> 
>> Just as Hollingsworth said, "lighten up" and use the big knob if you have
>> problems, but stay in the band.
>>
>>   
> 
> I agree with Hollingsworth!  We used to have Angelo Dundee come visit 
> and have coffee with us in FOUR Land.  Very nice gentleman!
> 
> Anyone not remembering Angelo, do not despair!  He was the Enforcement 
> arm of the FCC based out of the Atlanta Office.
> 
> My first reply mistakenly used a transmitter for reference.  My *very* 
> bad error!  I was trying to make the point that ALL of us can suffer the 
> issue of *NOT* knowing how far out of calibration a VFO/PTO may be!
> 
> This can be additive factors making it happen.  Calibrator NOT in sync 
> with WWV or other equivalent standard, Dial zero point off the zero 
> because we changed band segment, and/or system crystal gently goes 
> drifting off and *WE* didn't catch it.  Lord only knows - R-388s, 
> R-390s, and R-390As have enough of them, and their associated trimmers.
> 
> End of transmission
> 
> NNNN
> BT
> 
> <With enough OLD Boatanchors in the shack to KNOW it could happen to me!>
> Bob - N0DGN
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