[Milsurplus] Boonton

[C.Whitaker]

On 10/5/2011 7:47 PM, J. Forster wrote:
> Hi David,
>
> As you know, I'm on a lot of lists. As far as I can recall, there has been
> little to no discussions of Boonton gear on ARC-5 or any other list.
>
>> Here I am "a voice in the wilderness" again... sigh.
>>
>> I'm sorry, John, but this is just another fragmentation
>> and splintering of what little is left of our community.
>> You will get a few people at first.
>> But there is no "cross-pollination" of ideas or
>> generation of new interest.
>> Through attrition, the group will eventually become a ghost-town.
>> That's because few people discover an interest in the group's subject,
>> because they aren't exposed to it.
>> There are several mil-radio splinter groups that now languish
>> and are good examples
>> I might have developed an interest over the years if I had seen
>> several posts about these sets. Since I never see any,  I never think
>> of it.
>> Since I don't think of it, I see no reason to go subscribe to it.
>> Others do the same and the topic eventually "peters-out."
>>
>> In the end, this splintering is counterproductive and ultimately
>> self-destructive.  The "delete" key works just as well in
>> a large community as it does in a small one, so "high noise"
>> is not a reason to splinter into yet another small group
>> destined to die out due to attrition.
>> I know- No one will listen.  I've wasted my breath for years on
>> this point but by God I'll just waste it again;
>> It's like WS-19.  When's the last time you saw a discussion thread
>> on WS-19 on milsurplus?
> Not lately, but there have been on ArmyRadios w/in the last two weeks.
>
> The WS 19 Groups split for very good reasons:
>
> The "Original" Canadian Group started censoring posts. I split off from
> that along with two others who were incensed with that policy. That group
> has languished in the decade following the split.
>
> I was co-founder of the UK based WS 19 Group, and conceived the manual
> archive, first known as Trackpads and which later became RoyalSignals, as
> a honey pot to attract members. However my objections to Keith and
> Alister's fetish with longer and evermore complex passwords and other
> protection schemes, got me thrown out.
>
> I absolutely believed, and still do, that when a manual was offered "free"
> it means free. No strings, no memberships, no physical ISP email
> addresses...  no nonsense. And, I do not accept that a person who scans a
> manual acquires any proprietary interest in it. That is quite clear from
> copyright law.
>
>> You don't, because the same handfull of people are over
>> on their own splinter-group, hashing and re-hashing with few new
>> ideas because they've isolated themselves.
> My various Test Equipment Groups are pockets of intertest in AILtech, EIP
> Microwave, General Radio, and others. A question about the repair of an
> EIP Counter will likely go unanswered on Tekscopes or HP-Agilent.
>
> Somebody interested in Boonton "Q" meters is probably not interested in
> ART-13s or ARC-5s.
>
>> Heck- even that splinter has been splintered and re-splintered.
>> There are people here on Milsurplus reading this
>> right now who would have developed an interest, added new ideas
>> and done new work had they seen a few threads.
>> But they didn't, so they go on to other things.
>>
>> I don't want to offend, John, but every new "yahoo group" someone
>> makes to splinter-off members from the more general lists is yet
>> another nail in our hobby's coffin.  One of these days,
>> someone will write the last post on the
>> "Hallicrafters Radios That Were Used in March When It Was Raining."
>> yahoo group and wonder where everyone went.
>> Clue: The two that are left are on the yahoo group about the radios
>> that were used with it wasn't raining.
>>
>> 73 Dave AB5S
> The generalized Test Equipment Groups are really not all that useful for
> the less common instruments. Ask a question about HP LASER Interferometers
> on almost any Group, save one, and the silence is complete.
>
> YMMV,
>
> -John
>
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de WB2CPN
Wasn't General Radio up there at Boonton?
I've used an AC voltmeter in a previous job that
could be where I learned that.
73  Clete