[Milsurplus] NAVCOMMSTA Adak Alaska

[David Stinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Hue Miller" <kargo_cult at msn.com>
Subject: [Milsurplus] NAVCOMMSTA Adak Alaska

> How did it come to be, that an item of obvious value was just abandoned?
> Was the place destroyed by fire, accident or purposefully?
> Who found the bug and what condition is it?
> Tnx -Hue

Thanks for writing, Hue.
No idea why the stuff was abandoned, but having spent
many years working around government installations,
I would say it was abandoned for the same reasons
they destroyed so much were I used to work:
government is short-sighted and stupid.

I'm digging back a lot of years, now; hope the old
"rememberer" gets this right ;-).

I went to technical school in Natchitoches, LA back in 1976
with a gentleman named Hilton Fox,
who was a retired Air Force vet and a ham going to school
on his G.I. bennies.  I just looked for him in QRZ, but didn't find him.
Perhaps he's "joined the choir invisible" by now- all the other vets
in that class, include a  that I knew well have "gone on,"
including one of my dearest friends.  I remember Hilton
as a big man with a ready smile and a sharp wit.
We did not keep in touch after school so don't know
what became of him.

I don't remember how we got on the subject,
but he brought in some photos of time he spent on Amchitka.
One photo was a tumble-down building that he said was the
old radio station.  From the look of it, it fell down from
time and weathering.   Hilton and some buddies rummaged-around and
found lots of stuff including this key.  He had photos of them holding
tubes, bits of other misc. radio parts and etc. (not the key, but I didn't
and don't doubt him).  I bought it from him.
Don't remember now what I paid; couldn't have been much as I was
19 years old :-).  It was in pretty ratty shape and I've been working on it
ever since.  Latest thing was replacing the through-the-base insulators.
Most of the original wrinkle on the base is intact, but the exposed surfaces
were very rusty. which I cleaned and painted-over to protect them.
Several parts had corroded and lost most of their chrome.
I ordered those replacements available from Vibroplex
and replaced some others from "parter" keys over the years.
Most of the works are original.
The Vibroplex nomen plate was brown, with only about 40%
of its black finish left.  The nickle coating was entirely gone.
I was never able to replicate nomen plate finish,
so I (recently) polished it bright, gave it a clear-coat and called that 
"good."
The serial number is either "12" or "12x," the "x" being a number
that, if it's really there, can no longer be read.  Never been able to tell 
which.
It's currently in my shop in Wylie; I'll post a picture later.

73 Dave AB5S