[Milsurplus] Re: : History of ham mods; opinions?

[Michael Tauson]

> Michael, the idea was more like a pseudo-catalog, close enuff to real that a
> non-oldtimer wouldn't immediately guess for sure that it was (partly) a joke.

*chuckling* ... That's even better than I originally thought you
meant.  The ironic part is that this is also a piece of history but in
a format that the OTs will recognize and the late comers (hopefully)
will appreciate once they're let in on the format.

> So instead of 200+ pages, more like about 15.

With the amount of information that was (is) available, it could wind
up an irregular series of "catalogs".

> Mabye an ad or two for gear you never will encounter, too.

Allison engines were being sold in the crate for $25 after the war.  A
lot of them went to the bottom of Lake Erie for use as dead anchors.
One of my neighbors was driving a surplus MB around into the 60s that
he'd bought for cheap.  Sadly, it escaped when he died and I didn't
get to buy it from the estate.  Boats, airplanes and everything else
were available from one source or another.  And a lot of oil got
shipped around with T-4 tankers - especially after their keels got
reinforced since they tended to break in half after a while as  built.
 I wonder if the old "Jeeps for $47" ads that used to populate the
backs of magazines would qualify as well.

> Maybe the cover photo would be stolen from the Feb. 44 Radio News.

If it goes into volumes or supplements, it could become a "trademark".  :-)

> I like my idea a lot.

Then go with it!  As one interested in history, I love it and believe
it has a place with a broader audience than just hams.

> I also really dig the old Columbia Electronics surplus catalog. What a classic. Maybe a
> combination of the best features of both.

Sounds like a plan.  What kind of paper did you plan on using?  If I
remember right, Columbia used a glossy paper where Fair used a flat
and more coarse (read as: inexpensive) paper with a light cardstock
cover.  I'd tend toward the paper Fair used since it's more classic in
my mind but that's just me.

> Who would pay $49.95 for an ARB back then???? On the other hand, $75 for a BC-474,
> altho big bucks for the time, did include legs, handcrank gen, antenna, whole kit.

What were a BC-342, a BC-610 and an ART-13 going for?

> Here's something i could use a suggestion on: how best to grab photos from a
> large book?

The only hand scanners I've seen of late are barcode scanners which
certainly are of no help.  On the other hand, flatbed scanners with
decent resolution have become inexpensive which helps a lot.

Best regards,

Michael, WH7HG