[GreenKeys] GreenKeys Digest, Vol 93, Issue 16

[John Nagle]

On 10/11/2011 9:02 AM, greenkeys-request at mailman.qth.net wrote:
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:08:54 -0400 (EDT)
> From:WA5CAB at cs.com
> Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] The answers you get over a simple request! !
> To:greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
> Message-ID:<125c9.2a1e2e6c.3bc51b56 at cs.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> That's only partially true.  It's also true that the fewer people who know
> that certain items are worth saving, the more who just send it to to the
> landfiill or to scrap metal dealers.
>
> Also, it is a well known truism (dating back at least half a century) among
> people who have equipment to sell and at least know what it is that the
> market value (and therefore the probability of anyone bothering to try to offer
> it for sale) depends upon who's looking for it.  And unfortunately, in the
> hierarchy of people who collect or are interested in collecting vintage
> communications hardware, TTY collectors are at the bottom of the list.
>
> Not to put too fine a point on it, but it is a well known fact that TTY
> collectors are the cheapest of the cheap.  I have been trying (usually)
> politely (except tonight) to point this out for three decades.  You are your own
> worst enemies when it comes to preserving gear.

    A lot of this about size and weight.  Moving a Model 19 is a 
headache.  Try to find a home for a Linotype machine, hot lead and all.

    What amazes me about these machines, at least the older ones, is how
easy they are to fix.  All the documentation is available, the metal
parts don't deteriorate with age, and the designs are very good.

    Restoring old computers is much tougher.  Some guys at the Computer
Museum in Mountain View spent five years getting an IBM 1620 to work.
They also have a working IBM 1401, but only because some of the
original designers are still alive and local.  The phenolic PC
boards dry out and crack, the capacitors age, the germanium transistors
fail, and the connectors become intermittent.

    By the way, if anyone has a Model 12 they'd like to get rid of,
let me know.  I've refurbished a 15 and a 14.  I need a winter project.

						John Nagle