[Milsurplus] Re: [ARC5] Rebecca - Eureka list ??

[WA5CAB@cs.com]

Dave, John & Groups,

I concur with Dave's comments.  I'm interested in almost any of the military 
radios, radars, countermeasures sets, navigation sets, etc from WW-I through 
Vietnam but I only collect a relatively narrow range of them. And that range 
has gotten narrower as the decades have passed, my collection has grown, and 
I've come to realize more and more that you can only play with so many toys.  I'm 
also interested in many of the civilian sets over the period even though I 
don't collect any of them.  But that doesn't mean that I never come across items 
outside my collecting interest area.  I may recognize them for what they are 
or I may not but I usually spot the vintage and don't let them go to the 
landfill.  And if the only people who ever look for them are off in some splinter 
group, my heirs will have to send them to the landfill, because I'll never know 
that someone was looking for them.

A good case in point turned up today.  Someone cross-posted an inquiry about 
the conversion kit that turns an R-388/URR into an R-388A/URR.  I've had the 
conversion instructions for years but no one on the general lists ever asked 
about it before.  

And most of you who haven't needed them probably don't know that I have the 
bulk of the remaining BC-611 repair parts on the planet, outside of a guy in 
Sicily who has a few.  And the largest TM collection outside of Surplus Al and 
another collector whose name I won't mention since he doesn't generally sell.  
But if you ever post an inquiry here for a part or a TM and I have it, you'll 
get a response that won't disturb the rest of the list.

Next to final comment.  Two or three of us on this list are also dealers 
(involuntarily at least in my case thanks to corporate karate).  Between us I 
think that we probably have more stuff than Fair.  Certainly we all have lot's of 
stuff that Fair doesn't.  We all follow the list rules and don't run regular 
ads.  But whatever anyone else might claim, the name of the game in collecting 
is to find what you are looking for.  And if none of the people who might have 
what you are looking for are where they can hear your request, you aren't 
going to get it.

Final comment.  Most of the preceding was explicitly hardware oriented.  But 
it applies equally to information.  Most of us are interested in much more 
than what we have the time, space or funds to actually collect.  In my opinion, 
splinter groups are as bad for information dissemination as they are for 
hardware distribution.  So let's stick together here and have a good time doing it.

In a message dated 8/13/2003 10:07:37 PM Central Daylight Time, 
arc5@ix.netcom.com writes: 
> I have limited my activity to two mil-radio reflectors.
> I tried joining a few of the "single issue" lists,
> but find it cost more in time to mess with them 
> than information I can get from them.  
> I do miss hearing from all the people
> who have isolated themselves 
> from the rest of the community on these lists.

Robert & Susan Downs - Houston
<http://www.wa5cab.com>
<wa5cab@cs.com>


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