[Milsurplus] August J.Link archive ???????

[D C Macdonald]

Well put, Tom.  It's just like gasoline.
You either pay the going price or stay home.

I remember having bought an APS-13 for
$5 (I think) as a Novice in 1954 to strip for
parts to start building a junkbox.

BTW, there's a National NC-33 on eBay
right now (3 hrs to go) that has reached
$281!!!  I bought one used for my first
superhet receiver for $35 in 1956 or so.
Sold it for $30 and that's what it went
for to the next two Novices after that.

73  ---  Mac, K2GKK/5

p.s.  Use of cast iron jockey shorts not deserved.


----Original Message Follows----
From: Tom Norris <r390a at bellsouth.net>
To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] August J.Link archive ???????
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 17:27:57 -0500

This discussion came up a few months ago on one of
the other lists. It boiled down to the fact that most
of the items that are out there have been converted
by hams, even the good stuff has mostly been tossed
as "junk" over the past nearly 60 years or cannibalized.
Back in the mid 80's I offered hundreds of pieces of
ARC-5 gear and similar for free at hamfests and
through the Yellow Sheets with  only a couple of
takers. Did this for several months when I knew
my storage was no longer going to be available.
In the end, I filled a skiff/dumpster with no
telling how many pieces of gear and cables and
control boxes and other accessories. 20 years
ago no one wanted it even for free, it was considered
junk. You could not pay folks to take it.

Now there is very little of this left that is in good
condition, the scraps that remain are usually butchered.
This fellow apparently has a warehouse full of this type
of gear - quite a bit new in the box - and is thinning
his collection.

The consensus as to the "outrage" over the prices
is that the stuff *used* to be able to be picked
up for just a couple dollars per piece. Well, soda
was once a nickle and loaves of bread a dime, a
gallon of gas in the US was 20 cents and a good
week's wages was $50. Automobiles used to
cost just a few thousand dollars. Most of these
things cheap radios, soda, gas, lower wages, were
going on at the same time. Many of us remember
the low prices we once paid, but we tend to put it
in the perspective of today's salaries and wages.

Plus.... no one has to buy it at the high prices if
they don't want.


Tom NU4G

donning asbestos suit now....