[Milsurplus] finally, that BA success story (long)

[third Eric]

de N4TGC Eric

	In compiling this long-awaited? missive, I found that the
"radioactive" could be divided into at least four (overlapping) categories:
1. antique radio Collectors and/or Restorers (often SWL'ers); 2. BA
(vintage) C/R's (usually Hams); 3. appliance operators (ragchewers,
ex-CB'ers, etc.); and 4. military surplus C/R's.  I'm a 2 and 4, BTW.  A
fifth category might be military posers and wanna-be's, but let's not go
there ... any others?
	The "success story" I was involved in, to mis-appropriate a term,
was a "close encounter of the first kind".  I became acquainted with this
friend of my late father's, when the friend came by a yard sale I was
having, which included a Halli Sky Buddy, which he bought.  He invited me
over to see his shop, so I visited several times, and talked shop and "old
times", and even helped him fix a small table radio once: he'd apparently
had it on the kitchen table for an hour or more, working on it, and hadn't
noticed the 35W4 rectifier wasn't lit - bad filament, easy fix.  I
subsequently did some minor plumbing for he and his wife, and charged them
minimal fees.
	Point: if you want access to a person's collection, make friends
with he AND his family first.  (I didn't have this in mind at the time, but
that's how it worked out.)
	Having retired some years earlier, he'd built a smallish (8 by 12)
workshop out in the back yard, which is Point 2: keep your hobby from
unduly interfering with the family's activities, such as TV - or sleep!
	He bought cheap rigs from yard sales and flea markets, which is
Point 3: don't spend money the family needs for something else.
	AFAIK, he never let his hobby keep him from church, away from his
children when they visited, etc., which is Point 4.
	Even tho he was elderly, I don't think he gave much thought to
Point 5: advance arrangements for his collection's disposal.  He'd left it
up to his wife and son - so about two years after I (re)met him, I chanced
across his obituary in the newspaper!
	I waited for about a week after the funeral (I wasn't able to
attend), then called his widow and expressed my condolences, and then
broached the subject of disposing of his collection.  I said that I knew
she didn't want to think about it right now, and that I could call back
about a month or two later, when she was more able to think about such
things.  She readily agreed, and revealed that "circling vultures"
(erstwhile "friends" of her late husband's) had been pressuring her to let
them ransack the goodies.  She was more than a little disturbed at this -
apparently they were telling her the "pile" was worth little or nothing,
and she suspected they were lying.
	I waited about 1-1/2 months, then called again.  She invited me
over, and I went thru his "pile".  I freely admitted I had little idea what
many of the vintage table radios and such were worth (this was 10 years
before internet access was common), but since I would "set up to vend" at a
large Hamfest nearby soon, I could take whatever her son didn't want, on
consignment, and sell it for her.  She declined - she wanted me to just
make her a price for the "rejects".
	I took a huge chance, and gave her $200 for a couple of
pickup-truck loads, having no idea whether it would all sell or not.  I
figured the NC-183D would, but it was sloppily re-painted and didn't work,
so it wasn't cherry; and the still-extant and collectible Sky Buddy had
been claimed by the son.
	A month or so later at the Hamfest, the stuff sold like proverbial
hotcakes - as best I could calculate, I got about $600 for what I'd gotten
from the widow.  I went back the following week, and gave her another $100,
plus ~$75 for some leftover detritus for myself.  She seemed quite pleased
with a 50% take, and complimented me on my honesty - the vultures must have
been unusually rapacious!
	Before anyone says it, I will point out that I am NOT a charity: I
cannot afford to rent $30 tables and spend two solid days vending goods,
just for the therapeutic value of having something to do.  I'm sure some of
ya'll, at least, know exactly of what I speak ...
	Maybe because he wasn't a Ham, the deceased had a better handle on
just how important his hobby really was.  I sensed no resentment on the
wife's part (some condescension, perhaps, but wives do that anyway!), nor
from the children, whom I'd met before his demise.
	I do get some odd looks from family when I visit Ham-guys: I think
they're trying to decide if I'm as demented as their "loved one" - i.e., am
I going to lead him even further astray?!   When I was doing the interviews
for the Club newsletter, I had little success involving the family: they
wanted nothing to do with the hobby, at best.  One guy, whose familial
relationship I have never fully evaluated, spent three hours detailing his
WW2 experiences, and had to be forced to admit (so's to speak) that he'd
subsequently married and had three children!  At age 17, his war-time
service had defined the rest of his life - I gather this is not unusual,
unfortunately.
	I thank ya'll for your attention and kind words of encouragement.   e