[Heathkit] Reflections

[Norm Lee]

Hi to all on this list.
We've recently seen some horrendous acts of terrorism and malice on our tv screens.   Like millions of others, I have been sickened by the cowardice and evil shown.     To counter this, trust me, there are also a lot of good folks in the world and this list proves just that.   About a month ago, right here I enquired if anyone had an HW-8 for sale.   My idea was to get my cw speed up to where it was fifty-odd years ago when I first sat for my license, make some contacts and to "down-size" now that I'm living in a retirement home.   
For the first couple of days I had no replies, but then I had a remarkable reply from a ham in Florida.  I'm not mentioning name here but this gentleman represents the best of human nature.   He said that he had two HW-8s, that he would not split them, and did I want them?    After a to and fro of emails, and me mistakenly thinking that this was some sort of a scam, he posted them to me, super-fast delivery!  Only six days after out first email, they arrived on my doorstep in rural South Australia.  The pair are in beautiful condition and made by someone who obviously knew which end of the soldering iron was hot.   The foil side of the pcb is likewise in pristine condition.  I have asked him on a few occasions for his PayPal address so that I can at least reimurse him the $108 he spent on postage but to date no answer.
I've not tried the rigs yet - been visiting my daughter and family in another part of Australia - but I'm looking forward to trying them out.
This one act of random kindness has affected me very much.  When the time comes for me to pop my clogs, I shall pass these rigs on to some deserving youngster (or oldster!) in a similar fashion.  Makes you think that there is a lot of good will in the world, doesn't it?
Norm vk5gi
McLaren Vale
South Australia

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