[Hallicrafters] Re: [Boatanchors] Re Old "WPE" SWCallsFromPopular Electronics

[Peter Markavage]

I still have several 3 cent stamps (I think they had the Statue of
Liberty on them) that I've never used. Plus, I still have a bunch of
unused 5 cent Amateur Radio stamps that they issued "back in the good old
days". 

I also have a refund check for 10 cents issued by the U. S. Government to
some Private in the Army back in 1951 or 52. It's amazing the things you
find stuck in the pages of old manuals.

Pete, wa2cwa
http://www.manualman.com

On Wed, 28 May 2008 19:02:43 -0400 "Duane Fischer, W8DBF"
<dfischer at usol.com> writes:
> Hi Pete,
> 
> Back in 1961 the United States mints in Philadelphia (no mint mark), 
> Denver 
> (D) and proof coins from San Francisco (S) were still stamping out 
> dimes, 
> quarters and half dollars in .90% Silver. Right now those dimes, 
> even though 
> heavily worn from being in a lot of pocketbooks, change purses, 
> piggy banks 
> and pants pockets are worth about $.55 for their Silver content!
> 
> A four cent stamp? Wow! I had a friend look at the postage stamps on 
> my 
> international SW QSL cards from 1961-1965 and even par avon was 
> cheap, by 
> todays bloated standards.
> 
> What is even more surprising is that the postal rates did not change 
> often 
> or by very much! It was after the government deregulated everything, 
> 
> including the postal system about 1972+/-1, that the postal pigeon 
> got a 
> hernia from carrying his paycheck back to the nest! Especially after 
> the 
> United States finally joined the rest of the countries on this 
> planet and 
> allowed its previously "fixed" price for a Troy ounce of Gold to 
> rise to the 
> world value. I think it was about $44 per Troy ounce in the USA in 
> 1974, but 
> much higher everywhere else. So we bid good-bye to the Gold and 
> Silver 
> standard.
> 
> The what? The Gold and Silver standard meant that the United States 
> Treasury 
> had to have Gold and Silver in reserve equal to the value of the 
> coins 
> struck for any year. You may recall the paper money that siad 
> "silver 
> Certificate"? We had to have an equal amount of Silver on deposit to 
> the 
> value of the paper money the Treasury could print. Once our 
> government 
> abandoned the Gold and Silver standard we went to the GNP and other 
> such 
> 'non-tangible entities" And the rest is known as the national debt!
> 
> If any of you have QSL cards from the seventies and back, get them 
> out and 
> take a look at the postal rates. It is a real rush.
> 
> What is even more incredible, is how many of those SW QSL cards we 
> sent 
> reception reports for with addresses like Radio Station JJY, Tokyo, 
> Japan 
> actually got there! I never had a single one returned for an 
> insufficient 
> address and not a single one ever came back as undeliverable! I just 
> got one 
> back from Canada last week with a sticker right over the address I 
> had a 
> friend write on the envelope. I had missed one number in the street 
> address! 
> The name was right, the street was correct, the city, province, 
> country and 
> mail code was right. Just one digit was missing and the Canadian 
> postal 
> system could not deliver it.
> 
> However, I am 'not' picking on the Canadian postal system, as ours 
> is worse! 
> The people who made the bold claim several years ago, that as long 
> as the 
> zip code was there, the mial would get delivered! Yea, right! I sent 
> two QSL 
> cards to a friend in TX who changed his address and niether card 
> reached him 
> and niether were returned to me either!
> 
> I still believe that the best value in America was, and is, the pay 
> toilet! 
> Now where else can you feel so good for so little?
>