[Milsurplus] Using Old Radios

[mikea]

On Fri, May 13, 2005 at 09:21:27PM -0700, Hue Miller wrote:
> I was talking with Tony Grogan once many years back when he described
> a particular radio set as a "fine looking looking instrument".  Now consider
> for a moment a comparison to musical instruments. I think you will find that
> the majority of vintage instruments which CAN be played,  in other words 
> are playable still, ARE in fact played still. This goes for baroque instruments 
> much older than any Command Set radio.

Yes, _but_ ... .

If you go to any museum with a great collection of old instruments, you'll
find that many of the museum survivors have survived because they were not
particularly good instruments and so didn't get played to death. The V&A
(Victoria and Albert, in London) comes to mind very strongly here: lots of
beautiful instruments, yes. They're striking, in fact, with lots of unusual 
construction materials (an ivory lute), lots of strange inlays (a checker-
board guitar), and so on. They're great presentation pieces. But a talk 
with the curator reveals that while they're visual showpieces, as musical
instruments, they're crap.

I play classical guitar, Renaissance lute, vihuela, and lots of woodwinds.
I care a lot more about how well the instrument sounds than about how it 
looks. I also collect, and (if you will) play boatanchors. I want 'em to 
work to spec, because I work 'em. I'm not running a museum, and I'm not 
trying to preserve them as they were originally made. That's not my bag. 

It is, however, a legitimate bag: there is a good argument for preserving 
some of these radios -- but not the ones in my shack -- in amber, just as 
they came off the line at the factory. I want someone to do that with one 
of each. This lets us see the stuff in its original form. 

But _I_ want a fine-*sounding* instrument. 

> Now consider, allied with the above consideration, the question: which 
> approach increases the net sum of happiness in the universe? I think it's
> the case, where the voice of the beloved instrument is heard still. And for
> sure, even your mil-surplus radio was loved at some time: by the engineers
> who proudly regarded their working prototype, by the gal in the war plant
> at the end of the conveyer belt, who packed the shiny bright clean unit
> in a carton, even tho she understood little about its theory or operation.
> Pride in inventiveness and craft.

> Now consider also, if the radio instrument could talk, i mean talk so that
> you could understand. What would make it happier?

> So i have this radio, a Navy fellow pulled it out of a shot up Tojo
> fighter outside Pusan, in the dark, below freezing, stiff wind, and his
> buddies are telling him hurry up. It sneaks by inspection and confiscation
> by the SOB officers and MP's, and makes it all the way back to the States.
> Where eventually, one afternoon, after diligent study, voltages are 
> carefully applied. Lo and behold, a friendly crackle of noise from the
> headphone, and lo and behold, signals come crackling in from hundreds
> and thousands of miles, distant voices. I say, "welcome back to the world,
> pal", and the radio says, "It's been a darn long time".

That's a good feeling, too. 

Different folks, different purposes, different intentions. We can do it 
without fighting. 

-- 
Mike Andrews, W5EGO, instrumentalist, not preservationist.
mikea at mikea.ath.cx
Tired old sysadmin