[Milsurplus] (no subject)

[Barry Hauser]

George wrote:

>A while back, Dave bemoaned the decline of Ham Radio and lack of future 
>thereof.

Well, part of it's because everybody and his kid brother (and sister) 
carries a two-way radio and uses repeaters with nationwide and worldwide 
reach - yup, cell phones.  And for that, they brought back the term 
"wireless".  Works better than CB.  In other words, the average young person 
has all that, so no novelty/attraction to roll one's own station -- or more 
generally inundated with high-tech gizmos, computers, internet, etc. from 
the get-go.  Well, that's one theory.  And with some of the cell plans --  
not to mention VOIP -- voice over internet -- they can rag chew 
indefinitely.  Not like a toll call anymore.

>Well, I can amplify that a bit.  I just spent some time looking at some of 
>the offerings on that awful auction place, and apparently most hams are not 
>planning ahead, and when they pass on, letting their estates fall into the 
>hands of idiots, morons and fools.

Yup, some of the newly dead have no consideration at all.  But, you can rest 
assured, those guys are pacing back and forth in Heck saying "Ya gotta 
please let me go back for a few months to unload my gear.  My relatives 
don't know a thing about it and couldn't care less!"

But the stuff on auction is the good news.  It's the 10 cents a pound and 
off to the scrap yard dispositions you DON'T see that are really 
demoralizing.

>Reading many of the descriptions is just painful.

Yeah, they'd be hilarious if it weren't for ".... the horror ... the 
horror".  Such as "Seems to power up OK -- the lights come on.  Unable to 
test etc."  "Unable to test as the line 'chord' is cracked."  Actually, it's 
better when they don't power up the stuff.  If you think that's painful, 
contemplate how they might go about packing the gear.

>What the devil is going on here?

You may be onto something there, George .. ];-()

>Why is so much of the desirable equipment falling into the hands of 
>technically illiterate sellers?

I think you explained that -- big accumulation, concentration of gear.  No 
ham friends nearby with "power of attorney" or executor of that part of the 
estate, etc.  Very rare that a family member is involved in radio, etc.

>And don't argue that it is a smokescreen.  No one is intelligent enough to 
>pretend to be that stupid.  It has to come naturally.  AAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!!

Well, we've seen some that are crafty enough to apply "selective 
intelligence".  However, overall, the auction place and the internet in 
general has served to save a lot of gear that would go to the scrapyard or 
landfill.  That's true of a lot of different things -- not just mil surplus 
and ham gear.  For example, some time back I stumbled on an auction for a 
very old electric fan -- ancient junque to most of us.  Sold for about 
$3,800.  Apparently some are prized collectibles, I guess.  Now if I ever 
come across an old fan ....

People at large -- don't have to know much about stuff they come across up 
front.  If it has a label with manufacturer and model name or number, all 
they have to do is be able to read and type accurately and the buyers will 
find it.  Before the auction site, people were much less aware of what old 
stuff was potentially worth - whether it be original Barbie Dolls, anything 
"catalin", whatever.  They can first look it up either on current or 
completed auctions.  The popularity of epay, with millions of items of all 
sorts in one place has greased the skids for that.  So it makes it possible 
for the otherwise uniformed to sell just about anything.

Hopefully it might make us feel a bit better that the morons, idiots, etc. 
are now motivated to save the gear and sell it, rather than throw it in a 
dumpster.  That's where they used to put it to clean up after the newly 
departed SK.

So, on balance, it's better to grin and bear it when you read "Don't know 
much about these things, but everything seems to work.  All the knobs turn 
freely and it lights up, but I got no sound." ( due to no speaker or antenna 
connected -- or it's a power supply.)

My 2 cents -- 
Barry





Rant mode off.

73,
George
W5VPQ


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