[Johnson] Keep it old

[W5HTW at att.net]

Many years ago I thought a hole in a front panel had to be covered to keep its edges from rusting!   Huh?  I was going to use the radio in the sink?  But I covered holes with colored - or black -  pieces of tape, etc.  And then I got this philosophy that, "It's used.  Let it look used."   I'm not against covering holes, really.  I just wouldn't do it on my own radios unless I was bored and had a pile of 'Stick-It" hole covers to get rid of.  And probably not then.  So in your case I'd just leave it there uncovered.
What happens to the hole?  It goes on to another "new" old radio, decorating someone else's front panel with questions we can't see, answers we can't hear; a thing called character.  Like doughnut holes, they are difficult to follow, and their value hard to access.  But when you find them, as you did on your Adventurer (I wonder if that could be MY old Adventurer!) you know your radio has had adventures (how appropriate) you can't witness but to which you can and should become a contributor.  That's kind of how I see it.  My desk is just one stop on the long road this old Viking has roamed, and hopefully has yet to roam.  I am a few pages in its life, and I'm glad to be of such service.

Enjoy your Adventurer.  I had two of them, actually, one nearly new, back in about 1958.  I didn't build either of them.   I honestly can't recall how I disposed of them, though probably as I was departing for the military I put them in with other stuff for my parents to sell.  .  They both worked wonderfully, at least to a 18 year old kid.  I didn't own a SWR bridge, or even a field strength meter.  If the rig "dipped into" the wire I had strung up, then it was going to make contacts, and so it did.
73
Ed


Sherrill Watkins wrote:

> Ed: I really think your observations about gear with a worn, scratched,
> rusted or heavly used appearance is quite valid. I have a Johnson Adventurer
> that someone has drilled a hole in the front panel. I am thinking about
> covering the hole with one of those decal/stickers that looks like a bullet
> hole. I have seen these on the back of trucks, suv's and car's. That is the
> only way I know to cover the hole in the front panel? However, I could also
> just leave the hole there uncovered and not worry about it. What would you
> suggest? Question: When the equipment dies, what happens to the hole? -73-
> Sherrill W. k4own
> -----Original Message-----

>
>
--
Ed Brooks, W5HTW
http://w5htw.home.att.net/index.html
Active since June 1956 Extra since
Jan 1970