[Milsurplus] [ARC5] Boatanchor Ennui: Is He Wrong?

[Bob Camp]

Hi

The way the world moves on, I’d be surprised if Amateur Radio is still around in a recognizable form 50 years from now. It certainly is not the same hobby it was 50 years ago. 

Not sure how many of you spend time working with school kids. If you don’t, you might want to take a shot at it. In a lot of cases, there *is* interest in a wide variety of things. The issue is hooking up interested kids with the means to dig into it. The days of every high school having a radio club are long gone. You likely will find that their interests do not lie in rag chewing on 80M with a bunch of guys my age. That wasn’t what got me started 50 years ago either :) You probably have a TON of stuff you really don’t need. That’s exactly the sort of stuff that they will have a hard time digging up and learning how to work on. There is a common ground ….the magic words in education speak are “STEM experience …” 

Bob



> On Jul 23, 2016, at 11:06 AM, Peter Gottlieb <kb2vtl at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The world moves on.  Soon there will no longer be people alive who experienced first hand ARC-5 sets and the part they played in history.  It won't be long after that when there won't be any more hams still alive who tinkered with these kinds of sets growing up. The appeal is dissipating and will be limited to very few pieces at very few museums.  This won't happen in 5 years, but I can guarantee it will be the reality in 50.
> 
> As for the sterling, who uses it any more?  I, too, have an entire large set and it's beautiful, but go find any dealer who specializes in it and you will find literally TONS of it in their shops, stores and warehouses.  No matter how beautiful, unless particular pieces have specific historic value they are worth essentially the scrap value of the silver and that is all you can expect to get if you want to sell, and if you do sell, most likely that is what will happen to your items.  Fewer and fewer people using them, even fewer buying, so it does resemble the old boatanchor gear we have in that it is approaching, or has already reached, scrap value.
> 
> WWII and the radio gear were an essential part of history and brought us to where we are but the world is moving on.  By all means enjoy what's out there, collect if it makes you happy, even try the more outrageous projects, just don't collect expecting it's going to be worth anything to your family when you leave the planet.
> 
> Peter
> 
> 
> On 7/23/2016 9:15 AM, gordon white wrote:
>> 
>> All:
>> 
>> 
>>    If you care about what you collect, figure out where it can go after you can no longer care for it. There are museums for spark plugs, types of barbed wire, etc. etc. (If no one care for something enough to preserve it long-time, I suppose there is no hope, though 100 years from now someone will realize what was missed)
>> 
>> 
>>    I gave 12,468 blueprints of racing cars and engines, 1919-1976, to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI. Best place I could find. I gave 4,000 + pieces of Command set gear to the National Air & Space Museum, back in the 1980s.
>> 
>> 
>>    Find some place that cares - maybe the Eight Air Force Museum in Savannah? The Air Force Museum? Navy Museum in Pensacola? Aircraft museums, etc. etc.
>> 
>> 
>>    My kids could hardly care less about what I collect, including a sterling silver service for 12 that has been in the family since 1898. But I care. Someone cares, somewhere.
>> 
>> 
>> - Gordon Eliot White
>> 
> 
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