[Milsurplus] Purity

[Nick England]

Well Mike, I strongly believe that, in the majority of cases, the collecting
motive is not speculation - it is primarily a desire/compulsion to preserve
something that was important in some way and that can't be replicated. 

My name is Nick and I'm an unbuilt kit nut - I have a dozen shelves full of
unbuilt Heathkits, some of which I believe are the only surviving examples.
I'll hang onto them as long as I can and hope they eventually go to someone
who feels like I do - Heathkit was an important force in the development of
America's electronics and technology industry and these are original
artifacts reflecting that time. If I had to sell them I might make money or
not, but that really doesn't matter (to me anyway, maybe more to my wife
after I'm dead). I can understand feeling the same way about preserving
original military gear because of its intrinsic importance in the past and
its rarity today. (And intrinsic importance is not just whether a piece of
gear was used by lots of people or in famous situations - it also includes
the engineering effort that went into its development.)

So maybe that mint military gear (and my unbuilt Heathkits) ought to be a
museum - but who can you trust to feel as you do about preserving them and
not "de-accessioning" them at a yard sale to someone who'll ebay the tubes
and toss the rest? Last year the current Heath company owners ebayed
everything that had been saved for a museum - the entire company history
scattered to the winds (FWIW, I got the very last kit shipped from Benton
Harbor).

I fully agree with you about the fun/fascination/practicality of modifying
surplus gear back in the day when it was commonly available or today after
it has already been modified by a previous owner. In those cases, the
"invisible link" with past importance is already broken.

None of this is rational I suppose - but "normal" people buy disposable
cellphones and wouldn't care about any old gear no matter what shape. I have
read an interesting article about the relationship between very mild forms
of autism and engineering. Probably that's operating in my case - the same
systemetizing, organizing, & completeness "compulsions" that enabled me to
design computer graphics systems with 1000's of chips or a chip with a
million transistors probably led to filling up the basement with a complete
collection of 1950's Navy radio gear or Heathkits or whatever. So be it.

All in all, this hobby is relatively harmless, lots of fun, and probably
socially beneficial.
cheers,
Nick  
-----------------
Nick England K4NYW
www.navy-radio.com   

-----Original Message-----
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
mstangelo at comcast.net
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Purity

I've been following this thread and I don't understand this fascination with
"mint" condition equipment. Let me explain.

I've been an Engineer in the Telecommunications industry for over 30 years,.
In the begining, we designed our built much of our equipment ; these days we
purchase it from vendors. I've rarely seen equipment which did not have to
be modified or improved. We had many instances where the operators who used
the equipment or the technicians who fix it recomended mods which improved
the functionality or reliability.

I initially got my surplus from uncles who purchased it after te Second
World War. Some of them used the equipment during the war and were not
parrticularly impressed with the perfomance. They encouraged me to
experiment with it. However, I don't know if the deficiencies were because
of peformance or reliability issues or because of the battlefield
conditions. I was was a cash-starved kid then and never asked them to
explain; I was just glad to get my hands on some radios.

Would I "experiment" with that equipment today? Times have changed; what was
surplus then is rare now. I wouldn't hack an unmodified piece of equipment
but I would modify or repair an already hacked unit of use the parts and
chassis form a gutted unit for some project.

I guess the fascination with mint equipment is it's value in today's
speculative society. You can pick up a Heathkit VTVM for 5 bucks; the same
unbuilt unit in an unopened box goes for much more. 

Mike N2MS