[Milsurplus] "Mint" vs. whatever -- another angle

[Mark]

I saw this and couldn't resist stirring the pot some more.  There are a zillion reasons and ways to collect this stuff, and I'll be the last to say one is better than another.  All I can do is describe the personal philosophy I follow and let you guys mull it over.

When I started out in 1976 I went through my "mint condition" phase.  Even then, when there was a LOT more NIB/NOS stuff it was still tough to find equipment in perfecto condx.  Turns out I got a lesson on my very first purchase.  It was a NIB RT-70 from Fair Radio.  I got the box myself off the shelves, down in the dim depths of the old converted dairy that Fair used to operate out of.

Got the thing home, hooked it up, and it was dead as a stump.  It wasn't the ol' J-to-H jumper either.  At that time I didn't know a capacitor from a cucumber, so the prospect of having to troubleshoot anything was pretty daunting.  But on pulling it out of the case, I found one of the audio amps had the little nubbin broken off the top.  Even *I* knew then that a tube wasn't gonna do anything with "all the vacuum let out".  Replaced the tube and the radios worked for 30+ years.

Then someone gave me an AM-598 24V vibrator supply/audio amp for the PRC-8/9/10 series that he'd given up on.  It looked brand new (had one of those mints taped to it) but blew fuses instantly on power up.  I was a little better at troubleshooting at that point and started from the 24V power connector and worked inward.  Didn't get very far.  There was a hash filter consisting of a couple of toroids located in a small box with a lid held on with four machine screws.  When I lifted the lid the problem became obvious.  Three of the four screws were maybe 1/4" long.  The fourth was obviously a screw-up (so to speak).  It extended all the way into the filter, contacting a toroid winding and shorting the 24V input directly to ground!  The AM-598 had obviously been shoved out the factory door with the defect.  The MFP coating was still on the screw head.

A pattern emerged here that's persisted all through my experiences since, as well as with the experiences of the rest of my immediate surplus group: new or new-appearing gear often has problems, which is *why* it's new-appearing.  Nobody's used it 'cause it's BUSTED.  :)

Since my focus has always been on actually using the stuff, I've learned to disregard the physical condition (within limits of course) and put more emphasis on completeness (or prospect of returning to something resembling completeness).  Sure enough, some of my best-performing radios look they got dragged through every rice paddy in SE Asia.

Doesn't mean you'll never have to work on rough looking equipment; I've just found by experience that it generally has the highest probability of working initially OR demands the least amount of initial troubleshooting.  The stuff is beat up because it got used a lot...it got used a lot because it worked.

Beater/modded/well-used equip is also cheaper because so many others are out chasing the "mint" stuff.

One last observation: if I start with well-used sets I won't have to commit seppaku after putting a scratch on my mint BC-whatever-de-hail.  :)

--Mark Francis
  KI0PF

Author of "Mil Spec Radio Gear Volume 2"
Available direct from the author, Universal Radio, and a 
"surprise" source to be named later.  
$29 cash/check/M.O. or $30.17 via Paypal, when ordered direct 
& shipped to the U.S. (Foreign buyers please contact me). 
See: www.mmfrancis.com/MSRG2/MSRG2.jpg

Volume 1 is still available from CQ, Universal Radio, and 
Amazon.