[Boatanchors] Boatanchor Ennui: Is He Wrong?

[Donald Chester]

We all have that syndrome to a certain extent.  So many parts and pieces of hardware that were once common, everyday items that you thought would always be available are increasingly being "discontinued" and no longer available, turning into unobtanium, even things like 2-watt carbon composition resistors, 10-volt filament transformers, panel meters and even certain types of nuts and bolts.  The only hedge against this trend is to hoard and stock up on everything you think you might ever need.  I have been accumulating radio stuff since the 1960s, and I remember back in the early 70s when the cheap "sideband for the masses" transceivers like Swans, Galaxies and Heathkit Hotwater rigs had come on the scene, kilowatt plate and modulation transformers could be found at hamfests for $10 and large transmitting triodes n.i.b. for $5, I was loading up on all the stuff I could afford and carry home, at every hamfest I went to. I could hear other guys at those events snigger at me as they saw me walk by lugging a piece of heavy iron or large component to the car.  Now that that sort of stuff is getting hard to find and prices have been driven sky-high on ePay, I think I'm the one who got in the  last laugh, as I have essentially accumulated my own private radio warehouse.  I can build almost anything I want of the vintage variety, having to scrounge around for few, if any parts I don't already have on hand.  But for this to work, you have to accumulate probably 10X what you will ever use, just to expect to have the specific item you might need for a project. The main disadvantage is that you have to find room in a dry place to safely store all the stuff.

One of the greatest problems is when someone with a collection like that goes SK, his survivors often don't have a clue what anything is, or what is valuable and what is junk, and sometimes it all gets tossed in the dump.  It can be a challenge to beat the metal recycler when you  hear about the passing of an old timer, or that a BC station is replacing their old transmitter.  I  recently had a Gates BC1-F 1-kw BC transmitter slip through my hands; it was located at a BC station about 40 miles from here, and they needed to get  rid of it after they acquired a new solid state  replacement transmitter.  Unfortunately, the people at the station advertised that anyone come pick it up for free, it on FACEBOOK, of all places.  Now, how likely is it that someone will peruse Facebook to look for a discarded broadcast transmitter? They got only one reply, from some local yokel who wanted to convert the large transmitter cabinet to a tool closet for his workshop!  I happened across the Facebook page by accident about two years after the fact, but by then the big iron and the rest of the guts of the transmitter had been hauled to scrap metal dealer.  A ham I knew was adamant about people leaving wills and instructions for their radio gear in case something happened to them, but when he unexpectedly came down with a terminal illness at a young age, he never took such precautions with his own stuff.  It didn't go  to the scrap yard, but sat several years in a damp basement before his daughter and ex-wife finally decided  to try to sell it, and by then, much of the collection was ruined from corrosion and moisture damage, plus someone had managed to rip off the couple of dozen n.i.b. 2A3s he had  collected to use as spares in his BC-610.

Then there was the guy named Mack in Chattanooga, who collected and hoarded broadcast stuff.  He had three separate houses crammed full, including a fair amount of ham stuff like a half dozen Viking II's and a couple GK-500s.  He was a Techncian licensee and couldn't legally use any of it, but kept on telling everyone that "in a few months" he would upgrade and use some of the stuff to get a station on the air. He was a retired Bell Telephone engineer and part-time broadcast engineer, and I'm sure he wouldn't have had any trouble whatever passing the General, particularly after the code test was discontinued, but he was more a "cyber-ham", spending his time on his computer and the internet instead of upgrading his ticket and getting on the air. This "few months" dragged on and on for several years, until he  came down with lung cancer (he was a two-pack-a-day man).  After that, he lost interest in upgrading and when he passed away, some  local hams went through and made a list and helped his wife out by having a couple of huge garage sales, getting rid of a lot of it.  I had mentioned to a ham in Ohio what was still there and he came down and got the  rest, making two trips I think.  Some of the stuff included at  least two Collins 20-V transmitters.  This guy must have been a radio version of the hoarders you see on those TV shows like "American Pickers".

But if a few of us hadn't collected and hoarded all this stuff over the years, it would practically all be gone by now and there wouldn't be anything left for anyone to use for building and for repairing the vintage stuff we are already using.  The challenge is to somehow make sure the word gets around when someone with a radio collection dies, both to the people handling the estate and other hams and collectors, before it gets thrown away.


Don k4kyv



________________________________________
From: "David Stinson" <arc5 at ix.netcom.com>

I was talking with a "grumble buddy" the other day
concerning our "boatanchor radio" hobby and its future.

"Dave, for every twenty guys with a garage or storage
locker full of crap, there's maybe *one* who has heated
a soldering iron and actually finished a project and got it
on the air in the last 10 years.
They all have the "' 'round-Tuit" disease
and it's going to stay that way until their stuff goes to
the dump."