[Milsurplus] Poly Paks

[Mark]

Even with rock bottom prices Poly Paks had amazing customer service. I wrote to them in the late 1960s about a clock kit that didn't work. They sent a letter reply inviting me to return it. Two weeks later it was returned to me working with a note saying that it had some defective parts and apologizing for the inconvenience. 

Sometimes they sold pretty spotty QC rejects. I bought a bag of PNP power transistors in TO 55 cases that were about 50% defective. At 10 for .99 it was still a good deal. Still have a 400 Hz selsyn inverter running that has a pair of those transistors. 

A great buy (at the time) was a huge bag of assorted 7400 series TTL chips for $2.99.  All had reject defacing, usually a partially drilled hole that didn't go down to the silicon. All the chips worked. Not one dud. Had many 7447 7490 74121 74123 and other useful chips. Must have been at least 200 in the bag. At the time (early 70s) it was a steal. Markings were all legible. 

Our local ham swap meet has lots of bagged components from individual sellers. There are some great deals on MOSFETs, small caps. etc.  I too often buy a cheap bag of 50 when I only need 2. The lure of the bargain overwhelms common sense. 

Got a Q5er command set with a manual for $2 there last month. Some marginal rcvr in my collection is gonna get an extra IF stage. Maybe my Hallicrafters S 20?

Mark