[GreenKeys] When hobbies cross over...

[Doug Alderdice]

I bought some stuff from Meshna in the early- to mid-80s, as I recall. 
I don't think they were around much after that.  Couldn't tell you now 
what cra///  er, fascinating stuff I got from them.  Something about 
bulk 5.25" floppy disks is sticking in my mind, but I may be confusing 
them with another outfit I was dealing with at the time.  I don't have 
any bad memories of Meshna.  Maybe they cleaned up their order 
processing by the time I was buying from them.

I loved those surplus houses; it gave a budding HS electronics 
enthusiast with only a meager allowance and grass cutting money to 
indulge in flights of fancy to create the next greatest widget.  One of 
the other surplus places I bought a fair bit from was ETCO in 
Plattsburg.  I even went to their store there when we visited family who 
lived in the area.

73,

Doug, KA2WFT


On 11/28/2019 8:56 AM, Ralph Irish wrote:
> Meant this for the group, and it initially just went to John, W9DDD.
> 
> Ralph - W8ROI
> 
> -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -
> 
> *From: *"Ralph Irish" <w8roi at wowway.com>
> *To: *"W9DDD John" <w9ddd at tapr.org>
> *Sent: *Thursday, November 28, 2019 8:48:47 AM
> *Subject: *Re: [GreenKeys] When hobbies cross over...
> 
> Does anyone remember a company known as the Railroad Express Agency, or 
> REA?  They shipped 'goods' from one
> point to another, often using various railroads that were still 
> operating.  One unique thing about them was that they
> charged you based on  WHAT  was being shipped in addition to the weight 
> and size.  A 25 pound box of screws and
> washers would cost one amount, but if those screws and washers were 
> fastened to something, then the price went up.
> 
> The John Meshna company, I think it was, back in the 60s, 70s and 
> probably into the 80s, used to advertise most
> interesting things.  I saw their ads in mostly ham radio magazines.  73 
> Magazine, later Ham Radio Magazine, CQ
> and maybe also QST, aka 'the big four'.
> 
> One thing that hooked me was a large box of electronics and relays which 
> connected to a typewriter of some sort.
> It is quite vague at this time.  55 years or so may have passed since 
> that transaction.  I might have to go through my
> surviving issues of 73 to find a reference to this.  Sadly, my ADD 
> (short attention span!) will divert my attention to
> most anything that catches my fancy.
> 
> Anyway, it was shipped to me by them via the Railroad Express Agency.  
> It came on a wooden pallet, as I recall
> and a separate, smaller box for the typewriter.  REA wanted some kind 
> of  'surcharge' on top of weight and volume,
> since it contained electronics.  I got into a 'pissing contest' with 
> them, when I saw the shipping bill.  That was another
> thing about Meshna, (and shame on me for getting caught!) they often 
> 'glossed over' what it might cost to ship something
> to you, and you never knew, until the smoke cleared away,  how much.
> 
> REA went out of business not long after that.  They had some kind of 
> Depot in the Metro Detroit area, and that is where
> my packages were 'held ransom' until I paid that 'surcharge'.
> 
> One time Meshna had some illuminated push buttons in an ad.  The ad 
> photos were of products made by  DIALCO  a well-
> known manufacturer.  The price was right so I ordered 20 of them.  The 
> ad showed four contacts on the bottom, and a 'milk-
> white' pushbutton on the top, with a star-washer and locknut to hold 
> them to a panel.
> 
> When the package arrived I ended up with similar looking/lamp holders/.  
> Each held a #327 or #328 lamp.  The two contacts
> on the bottom of each of them  were identical to those in the ad photo.  
> When I called them to cancel the order and return it,
> I got a lot of crap from Mr. Meshna, himself.  He figured what I really 
> wanted was panel lights, so he just shipped what was
> available, not what showed in his ads. When I pointed out the large 
> difference, he became a bit defensive.  "I can't take the
> time to look /everything/ over!"
> 
> Wonder if any other G/K people had 'less than satisfactory' business  
> dealings with Meshna?  It couldn't have been just me!
> But, let me also say that there were a few instances where I got what 
> what was advertised, and sometimes at a reasonable
> cost.  Many times, over the years, I wished I'd kept a Log, Journal or 
> some kind of diary aboout my purchases.  What great
> reading it might have made, 50-some years later!  (And an eye-opener for 
> my widow!)
> 
> Happy Thanksgiving to all!  Not yet certain how we will be celebrating 
> today.  Somehow, though, food will be involved!
> 
> Ralph - W8ROI
> 
> -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -
> 
> *From: *"W9DDD John" <w9ddd at tapr.org>
> *To: *greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
> *Sent: *Wednesday, November 27, 2019 3:51:36 PM
> *Subject: *Re: [GreenKeys] When hobbies cross over...
> 
> Friden Flexowriter became popular for punching tapes for early NC
> machines.  At least where I worked way back when.
> 
> John, W9DDD
> 
> On 11/27/2019 2:32 PM, Ralph Irish wrote:
>  > Jeff
>  >
>  > Friden made a typewriter with tape gear that could do what you
>  > described.  A friend of mine found one and put it to
>  > use making Resumes for his job hunting.  Someone made a machine called
>  > a, "Flex-I-Writer" or maybe  "Flex-O-Writer",
>  > It might have been Frieden, not sure.
>  >
>  > I think that it had "STOP"codes one could punch into the tape so that
>  > manual entry of a name or company name could
>  > be inserted, making each letter appear to be unique, when it might have
>  > been one of fifty, going out for business purposes.
>  >
>  > These had their own unique codes.  My friend's was an 8-Level thing, but
>  > I never had a chance to play with it or make a
>  > test tape to run on a 33ASR, for comparison, etc.
>  >
>  > Ralph - W8ROI
>  >
>  > -   -   -   -   -   -   -   -
>  >
>  > *From: *"Jeff G" <jeffg at junknet.net>
>  > *To: *greenkeys at mailman.qth.net
>  > *Sent: *Wednesday, November 27, 2019 3:21:32 PM
>  > *Subject: *[GreenKeys] When hobbies cross over...
>  >
>  > Figured you guys and gals would enjoy this - this is an excerpt of an
>  > email from a long-time vendor in my car hobby who often tells stories in
>  > his emails, and I thought it was ironic that one hobby would mention
>  > another:
>  >
>  > "In the 1960s and 1970s my Dad did a lot of marketing for major
>  > insurance companies. Most people would call this “junk mail.” I would
>  > agree with that assumption. At one time, my Dad had 3 automatic
>  > typewriters that would auto-type full-page letters for mailings. They
>  > looked like they were personally typed letters to individuals. These
>  > typewriters worked similar to a player piano working off a roll with
>  > holes it. One person could run 3 machines at once. He also had a machine
>  > (not sure what it was called) that using a fountain pen and could
>  > duplicate a hand-signed signature of a person. This was pretty advanced
>  > stuff for the 1970s. I worked with this equipment as well as ran
>  > inserting machines back in the day."
>  >
>  > While I'm sure there were a bunch non-teletype typewriters that fed on
>  > paper tape, you never know.
>  >
>  > Jeff aka "Bags"
>  > KC3GJX
>  >