[ForSale-Swap] VARIOUS RADIOS

[Jim DiMauro]

I had a bit of fun with one of my eBay sales from
about a month ago.  Here's an actual excerpt from the
item description that I had posted (it was for an old,
1950s Regency Monitoradio):

"Don't you just love it when someone offers a piece of
electronics for sale and says they know nothing about
it, yet they go on for three pages with detailed
techincal specifications?  How about sellers who say
they have no way of testing the item?  I presume that
these people live in areas of the country where
there's no electric service, or maybe they just
haven't paid their electric bills for the past ten
years or so (which makes me wonder how they got their
computers to work in order to place their eBay ads). 
Or how about when they say that the gizmo hadn't been
turned on for years and that they don't want to damage
it by turning it on (like they're afraid it's going to
blow up in their face.  Real nice.  Make me pay for
the privilege of having it blow up in MY face!).  How
about "I turned it on and it powers up, but I don't
know if it's supposed to actually DO anything."  And I
particularly like the typical guarantee: "As with all
vintage electronics, it worked the last time it did." 
Humbug.

Well, I can proudly say that prior to today (February
17, 2005), this radio hadn't been turned on since
1983, when my uncle passed away.  It's been in my
dad's basement since then.  I turned it on about an
hour ago.  It didn't blow up.  It didn't take down the
local JCP&L power substation.  It didn't snap,
crackle, pop, or catch fire.  It did, however, WORK! 
In fact, it received the local NOAA weather station on
162.550 mHz WITHOUT AN ANTENNA (no, their tower isn't
located at my house).  I also checked the 30-50 mHz
range by listening to a 41 mHz signal from my signal
generator.

A couple of qualifiers.  First, there's a slight,
low-level 60 Hz hum on the audio, most likely the
power supply capacitor(s) needs replacement.  Second,
although this thing worked the last time it did (about
an hour ago), the only guarantee I'll make is that it
worked the last time it did.  This radio is offered
as-is (meaning as-is when you get it, not "as-was"
when I had it).  This could work for another forty
years or forty seconds; maybe the shock of the journey
will be too much for it, who knows?

All meaningful questions will be answered.  I post all
questions and answers so as to publicly humiliate
people who ask stupid questions (like, "Does it
work?"), and to avoid my having to answer the same
question repeatedly.

Own a piece of history: an eBay vintage electronics
offering that was actually tested!"

The product sold, the buyer was delighted with it, and
we all had a chuckle.

Jim
w2bvm

--- fkamp at comcast.net wrote:
> 
> 
> Philip Atchley wrote:
> > 
> > Hi,
> > 
> > Probably because it's working but has problems and
> the owner doesn't want to
> > see it again 8^)
> 
> That is probably the case with 90 percent of all
> used equipment offered,
> but it is still no excuse not to be up front with a
> good description.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Frank Kamp
> K5DKZ
>
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