[Milsurplus] ARB

[k2cby]

The core of this difference of opinion is the perspective of some 66 years -
which, coincidentally is not only the anniversary if the end of WWII but
also my age.

To those of us who got our Novice licenses in the 1950s (in my case 1957),
surplus gear - especially ARC-5 stuff - was not only an economical way to
get on the air 
but also a laboratory to learn about tuned circuits, receiver design, PA
neutralization, and antenna matching circuits. It was cheap; and there
seemed to be a never-

ending supply of the stuff . In those days before solid state devices, it
was not only my introduction to ham radio but the learning tool that taught
me the fundamentals 
of electronics. (Ask your grandfather - or anyone who grew up in the '30s,
'40s or '50s - what they learned about mechanics by tearing down and
rebuilding a Model A or a '47 Ford.)

 

Am I embarrassed by what I did? Hell, no! 

 

It opened the door to a hobby that has consumed me for all of my adult life
and given me endless hours of pleasure. It has meant that retirement is
something more than

Merely  tolerable. It gave me two wonderful summers at sea as a brass
pounder in the merchant service in the late 1960s. It gave me a passport
(and a union card) to 
the last great days of radio broadcasting as a studio engineer. It let my
soldering iron build part of the audio console used to broadcast the
Metropolitan Opera 
from Lincoln Center every Sunday.

 

Would I do it again? Would I today "sacrifice" an ARB, a BC-348, an ARC-5 to
stock my junk box? Just as emphatically NO! 

 

I'm not only radio buff but also an aviation enthusiast. Everybody whose
attitude toward a WWII warbird is "Buy 'um and fly 'um" leaves me cold.
Every time I read that a 

B-17, a P-51 or a PT-22 has been reduced to a bunch of charred scrap metal
breaks my heart.

 

This isn't the 1950s. It's a new Century. Don't blame us because we knew no
better at the time. But do acknowledge us for having learned something in
the interim. 

 

Miles B. Anderson, K2CBY
16 Round Pond Lane
Sag Harbor, NY 11963
Tel.: (631) 725-4400

Fax.: (631) 725-2223
e-mail: k2cby at optonline.net