[Milsurplus] "Oldtimer bitching"? Or Timely Warning? You Decide.

[George Babits]

As a fairly newcomer to this forum, I've been reading this gloom and doom 
thread and trying to keep my fingers off the keyboard.  Finally decided to 
add my 2 bits worth.

Having gotten my first license in the late 1950s, I've always had a fondness 
for vintage military surplus.  Last fall I bought 8 tons of mostly WW-II and 
Korean surplus radio gear.  As I unloaded things I kind of sorted them into 
three groups;  good stuff, sorta good stuff; and junk (rip and strip).  I 
took pictures of some of each  pile and posted them.  The mad rush was 
on - -  and it wasn't for the good stuff - - it was for what I considered 
junk.  Found new homes for about 2/3 of it which really suprized me.  The 
good and sorta good stuff  didn't move that quickly, but I haven't pushed it 
much either.

The  things that tweaked my fancy in the whole lot of gear are well worth 
the time, effort, and expense as interesting things to mess around with. 
That's the bottom line.  Buying, using, restoring, and/or selling this old 
stuff is supposed to be fun.  When it stops being fun then give it away or 
haul it to the landfill.  I've met a bunch of very interesting people on 
account of this 8 tons of "stuff."  That in itself makes it worthwhile.

With the older amateur gear,  things that don't sell at hamfests are 
generally priced too high as Hue said.  Partly that is due to lack of 
knowledge of the newer hams.  Another aspect is that most of the older HF 
gear doesn't cover the WARC bands, 160,  or 6 meters.  That is one of the 
reasons that both Drake and Collins gear seem to hold their value.  Just 
plug in the right crystal and you will have the new band.  I bought a nice 
Drake B-Line just to have a SSB capability on 160 meters.  Still trying to 
figure out how to get up to 6 without buying a ricebox.

I don't think that very many of us got into this game to make money.  like I 
said before, it is supposed to be fun.

73,
George
W7HDL