[Milsurplus] My rescue trip (should I play a dirge?)

[Barry Hauser]

Wow Ray.  Yeah -- I think the dirge is in order.  This kind of story gives
me the willies -- makes me want to start selling off everything so as to
keep it safe for the long run.

Hope this might be helpful.

First -- I don't know what the situation is in Hawaii, but there's some risk
of exposure to the Hanta virus (rare, but happens) and maybe some other
things from barn rummaging, when rodent investation is present.  Hopefully
not, but to be safe, wear a dust mask when handling this stuff and avoid
kicking up the dust.  Spray things down with the hose if necessary, then sun
bake dry.  Also, I hear that some metal oxides are bad news if ingested -- I
think cadmium is one of them and that was a common plating for chassis.
Keep washing your hands and keep them away from your mouth.

There's another hostile ingredient, but it's good news.  That yellow-brown
coating that looks like smoke tar is probably MFP -- moisture fungus
protection.  (I thought you would have known that though.)  So that R-389 is
probably in good shape underneath.  Don't try to remove it.  It only needs
to be scraped from any solder connections if they need to be worked.

Here are some specifics on those pieces I know something about ...

> A Hallicrafters SX-42 in sad shape.  It had what was determined to be a
> rat's nest inside the variable capacitor area.  It had no cover over the
> caps.  It appears that every possible piece of steel is badly rusted
> from probably rat urine.

Probably a goner from what you describe.  May be some parts worth salvaging.
I'm assuming you mean that the chassis is rusted.

   The worst part is that the SX-42 was on top
> of an R-390-A and the R390-A front panel bore the brunt of the urine.
> The front panel is now powdered and flaky aluminum oxide.  I tried to
> clean it off, but now the panel will most likely need to be replaced.  I
> will try and surface grind it in my shop, but I don't think there will
> be much of the panel left.  Wish I had an engraving tool!  I would make
> 4 or 5 in a very short time once it was set up.

Don't bother trying to reclaim that panel.  I have an R-391 panel someone
gave me that's pocked with corrosion spots.  As I attempted to prep it and
dug into those spots, all I came up with is more white powder.  I still
would have tried to restore it, but some of the corrosion went into the
"engravings".  As for the R-390A's, you can get serviceable panels from Fair
Radio.  Better to do that.

> There is also an R389 receiver, but it was not dripped on.  It however
> is very dirty with a film of some type of substance that soap has a hard
> time to cut.  I know nothing about this radio so will have to get a
> manual.  It as well as most of all the equipment I got is totally full
> of red volcanic dirt and some type of film.  It almost looks like
> tobacco stains, but Ed didn't smoke.  Perhaps it was on the radio before
> he got it.  All in all, the heaviest gear was, of course, on the bottom
> and that is where standing water was about 2" deep during the rain.

That's the MFP.  If it's in good shape, soap shouldn't cut it at all and
most solvents don't work on it either.  Leave it alone -- just clean down to
it, no further.  Also, MFP is said to contain some nasty ingredients, like
mercury compounds.  (The big people used to put "mercurichrome" on my cuts
and scrapes, but I'm still here, so I don't know ;-)  Just don't sand it and
eat it.
>
> There was an RAK-6 receiver set. It appears that there are 2 parts of
> this RAK, the CRV-46155 Receiver and the CFT 20131 Rectifier power
> unit.  It has a Cinch-Jones 8-pin plug on it.  I only found the
> CRV-46155 receiver so far.

If you don't find the power supply, one can be made up fairly easily.  Specs
call for filament, 90 VDC and 180 VDC, but I'm told they'll run with only
one of the DC voltages.  As primitive as they are (pre-war design) the RAK's
are still supposed to hold their own as low-fers.

I've clipped it here.  I'm not familiar with much of the rest of your list,
just a few pieces.  The TO-6 is a handy cap checker, but may need to be
recapped itself if it wasn't already done.  The TEK 475 might be nice.

Hope this helps.

Barry