[Milsurplus] "Oldtimer bitching"? Or Timely Warning? What to do now?

[Kmec at aol.com]

Hello All!
 
I guess I have taken a different tack with all this: My wife worries about  
what she will do with all my stuff when I kick off. I say sell it for what 
you  can or give it away or throw it out, because I wont care at that point. 
This is  what I like to do and my widgets make me happy. So what if I cant 
get the last  nickel out of something? 
I have been going to hamfests and selling stuff since 1972, (mostly  
buying...). These days, when I see a kid there I try to engage him or her and  end 
up giving them something. Recently, at Milford OH H/F, gave a kid a 20 MHz  
dual channel Gould DSO that worked. No one needed it, no one asked about  
it, but you should have seen his eyes bug out. I asked him if he knew what  a 
scope was, he said he did, I then asked did he have one, no he didnt, so I  
told him what this one was, and god bless him, he said "How much do you 
want for  it?" I looked at him and said "Because you are tinkering with this 
stuff, and  that is a good thing, you can have it, its free!"  That felt 
better than  any other alternative, and, while money is nice, its not everything 
(unless you  dont have any)! Plus he and his (apparently single) mom didn't 
look particularly  flush, so all the better.
 
I like the idea of giving stuff to kids, have been doing it at the college  
for years, now have expanded it to H/Fs.
 
My first "real" radio was an ARC-5, BC 455 receiver. I was in a park  and a 
guy saw me tinkering with a 2 tube super-regen I built from a Pop  Elec 
article (like 1968), wire over a tree limb, and he said "What are you  doing?". 
 When I told him, he said "Follow me" and he and his son (my age  or so) 
walked a few blocks to his house and they went into the garage and  brought 
out the ARC-5 set, which he gave me and told me how to make it work. It  did 
and I fell in love. I still have it....
 
Now, I think all of us can do a better job of just what that guy did for  
me, pass it on. Wont work with everything, and you may have to work a bit to 
get  them to put their phone down. Even if there are no takers that what 
scrap yards  are for (recycle, dont fill up the dump!).
 
I have thought of museums, etc., even wanted to start one for surveillance  
gear at one point. Used to work with the NEM at BWI airport, the old HEM we 
 started at Westinghouse in the mid '80's. Used to give them lots of stuff, 
most  of which they do not have anymore, as I recently checked the back 
room. They  sell a lot of their donations. I would rather give to someone who 
would treasure  it.
 
YMMV, but my 2 cents worth. Best regards to all.
73
 
Jeff Kruth
WA3ZKR
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