[Milsurplus] Re: Surplus stores, then and now

[Dick]

There is (or was) a place called Marine Specialties in Provincetown, MA, at
the end of Cape Cod.  It was a paradise for boat stuff and all sorts of
handy gadgets one couldn't live without.  I wonder if it's still there.

Dick
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hue Miller" <kargo_cult at msn.com>
To: "Wireless-Set-No19 @ yahoogroups.com"
<Wireless-Set-No19 at yahoogroups.com>
Cc: "Milsurplus" <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: 05 September, 2004 18:35
Subject: [Milsurplus] Re: Surplus stores, then and now


> John, most of the replies to my previous note have come from the
Milsurplus
> list. I'll look at the addressee list and if they've not been sent to you
also, i'll
> see to that.
>
> "TENT SURPLUS"
>
> I think i'll add to this little project. The same fellow,  Bob Williams,
also told me
> about another surplus operation in Spokane, Washington state. This was a
> "store" operated by a college student. During  the summer college
intermission
> he would sell surplus electronics from a large army tent. Probably his
source was
> the government's auction list. I don't believe this "store" had a name,
any more than
> any street vendor in the big city nowadays has a  name for his cart.
Apparently this
> young entrepeneur paid for his university education by this means. The
time frame
> for both "Tent Surplus" and "Surplus Motel" was early 1960s.
>
> "SALT LAKE INSTRUMENT"
>
> After i moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1995, i didn't waste much time
before looking
> thru the phone book for any kind of surplus electronics place. I was
thinking of a
> scanty lead from maybe 10-15 years before, when a fellow enthusiast had
given me
> a connector cable, i believe for the No.19 set, and told me he had picked
it from a heap
> of them on that ground at some surplus operation in or near SLC. Driving
down to SLC,
> along the highway north of the city i did see some kind of surplus
military vehicle sales
> lot - but i never did check out that place. I did see a listing for Salt
Lake Instrument and
> one day i drove over there. This was on 17th South and about 100 West. It
turned out to
> be a moderate sized industrial building in an industrial services block,
with about a half
> acre fenced storage lot out back. This lot was crammed with electronic
equipment to almost
> my height, with a narrow  S-shaped pathway that went from a gate in the
fence to the back
> door of his business and continued on thru the metal jungle. I do not
exagerate, hills of
> electronic material, both old military communications and old test
equipment of every kind,
> 5 foot high and higher. The stacks all looked inviting, with tantalizing
glimpses of treasures
> buried  within, but the stuff was so precariously stacked, and there was
no place really to set
> the things as you excavated  items off the top of the stack. I was
thinking, i need to get on
> some old clothes, so i don't mind if it gets torn, and do some serious
excavating here.
> The stuff had been out there in the open for god  knows how many years.
But with the area's
> arid climate, even in winter there was little humidity, and when it did
rain, or the snow melted,
> it was very rapidly evaporated. Most of the gear, especially military
equipment in total metal
> enclosures, for example the ASA radar units and the Navy MQ,  was in quite
good shape, and
> wouldn't look out of place at any hamfest. On the other hand, on the
perimeter i found a Leeds
> & Northrup Wheatstone bridge, one of those fine antique looking
instruments, where the wood
> cabinet had come completely unglued and was lying there in pieces. This
storage yard did not
> seem to make particularly good logic. I went there once and the owner
fellow was out in the yard,
> taking standard-cells out of old test equipment. He seemed to indicate
that these could be sold
> for some money, but i suspected this was more a relaxing pastime for him,
same way i enjoy taking
> apart old junk electronics at home. On another visit he was inside, just
getting started on taking
> something apart on the workbench. I looked closer and saw it was a US
Navy - Marine Corps
> TBX transceiver from WW2. He explained that he was recovering the relays
for their precious
> metal. Anyway he determined, i don't know how, that $35 would adequately
recompense him
> for the value of the relays. Inside the building were tall storage racks
for boxes of vacuum
> tubes. He said that every year a Japanese gentleman came by to buy vacuum
tubes. When
> i heard this, i reckoned Japan prices had to be higher than the swapmeet
prices i was
> accustomed to, so i never looked at the tubes. Oh, yes, the TBX front
cover was missing.
> He told me it was  already gone, hopeless, but i knew it HAD to be out
back. Sure enough,
> like dowsing, after maybe 40 minutes i had sensed it and dug it out from
under a heap.
> One time i found a plug-in loop unit for a super-super rare US military HF
direction finding
> unit, i think this was the AS-81. But, no main unit, that could find, so i
left the loop. ( There's
> a lesson in that.) The next time i visited, i found the DF adaptor's base
unit, but the plug-in
> loop was gone! I looked for hours, but it was gone.  I think he had kinda
missed the optimum
> era to sell off this equipment, and since then it was just gradually
disintegrating there in the
> yard, and in effect becoming less electronics surplus and more plain scrap
metal. But the stacks
> were so tall and the boxes and cables  and cords so interlinked, it was
really difficult to get to
> anything except the units on the very top.
> Inside,  i did see one fairly modern item of interest: these were
thermoelectric generators used
> for emergency powering of radios of some state agency. He was selling
these for $75. Perhaps
> i should have bought one of those.
> I had to move away from Utah a couple years later. Probably if my time
there would have been
> more stable, i would have excavated some of those piles more, and dragged
home some of the
> military equipment, but it seemed i never quite had the time. Anyway i
understand that business
> is gone now. I am certain it was never a money-maker for the owner, at
least in the years i saw
> it; more of a diversion for the otherwise retired owner.