[Milsurplus] Taxes, TRW, Teletypes and R-392s

[Mark J. Blair]

On Mar 11, 2010, at 3:08 PM, Dennis Kidder wrote:
> Here in the LA area we have had the infamous "TRW Swap Meet" for a long time.  I started going back in the mid 70's when it was first come first serve for sellers - no fees.  I used to buy and sell regularly back then.  

This mention of the TRW swap meet brings back fond memories of my first R-392. I had considered getting one for a while, but was concerned that it would be too complex for me to repair and tune up (this was quite early in my collecting career... nothing much scares me any more!). I got all of the manuals, studied them carefully, decided I should be able to handle working on one, and then decided it was time to get one. I went to the next TRW swap meet with the express intention of looking for one, and found one a few tables down the first row I walked down. My friends say I red-shifted a bit when I laid eyes on it and sprinted towards it. I put hands on it in order to call dibs while waiting for the seller's attention, and happily paid the asking price (a mere $110, as I recall). A non-ham friend chided me for not haggling, but he didn't understand the going rates and scarcity of the R-392 at the time, or that they're usually very clean inside due to the sealed case, so that there wasn't much risk at all in paying that price without haggling after the most cursory examination of the outside of the case.

That may have been the same swap meet where I arranged to meet a couple of hams visiting from Canada, in order to sell (or  simply gift?) my old pair of ASR-33 TTYs, which they planned to use for a PDP-8 restoration.

Ah, good times. I haven't been there in many years, and I should head over there again sometime to see if anything catches my eye.


-- 
Mark J. Blair, NF6X <nf6x at nf6x.net>
Web page: http://www.nf6x.net/
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