[GreenKeys] RTTY and other gear in Rockford, IL

[Robert Nickels]

On 1/19/2020 5:24 PM, tony.podrasky wrote:
>
> Basically once they have their website up, it really doesn't cost them 
> much to have ads listed forever.

Yeah, and we're gonna get sick of seeing the ads for that stuff ;-)  I 
was at the estate sale on two days and found a bunch of really nice 
stuff, but the only TTY related piece is an Electrocom 402DL FSK 
converter, which has thumbwheel switch selectable mark and space 
frequencies and a tuning CRT built in.  It looks like a nice TU and I'd 
love to find a manual for it.

I ran into only one hamfest buddy from the Chicago area at the sale,  
many had no clue what they were looking at and more were more interested 
in buying the shelves the radio/electronic gear was sitting on than the 
gear itself.   There were some who were just buying "inventory" to 
resell on eBay who had no clue as to what the value or potential market 
for  what they were buying. But since the stuff from the main floor and 
basement had already been up for sale back in late December,  the sale 
people had reduced all prices to 50% of marked price.   That encouraged 
a lot of speculative buying, as I heard comments like "I dunno what it 
is but I bet I can double my money on it, easy".    All of which defies 
logic, but there you have it.

The TTY stuff was mostly in the attic which was being offered for the 
first time so it was still full price as marked on the Jan 10-11 sale 
announcement when I was there on the 10th.   However there was an 
ice/snow storm on the 11th and I think because that impacted the turnout 
they started selling the attic stuff for 50% off too.    In any case by 
Tuesday all the TTY stuff was either gone or marked sold, and that's 
what you're seeing on eBay. It's clear that the owner had bid on 
government surplus lots, which is why he ended up with so many oddball 
bits and pieces and multiples thereof..."whatever was on the pallet".

But it was a lot of fun and maybe not such a bad way to redistribute an 
estate like this -  those who knew what stuff was could find bargains 
and the eBay flippers may learn a lesson.

73, Bob W9RAN