[Milsurplus] [Boatanchors] Something Refreshing

[Peter Gottlieb]

Last week I was in LA and was able to take some time to hit a few places.  I 
went to Apex, Norton and Luky's Hardware on one day and then got to the TRW 
swapmeet the next morning.

Apex is chock full of impossible to find items.  I mean that in two ways ;-)  If 
you are anywhere near there you must spend some time searching, there is always 
something you just must have and you cannot escape without getting a pile (my 
pile was under 10 pounds, I exercised great restraint).  I was told business is 
way off and there are fewer and fewer real experimenters, just movie prop people.

Norton has rocketry hardware and lots of hydraulics.  Carlos the owner, a great 
guy, says he is going to get rid of most of the parts for sale and just go on 
with renting props to the movie people. That's a shame but who still plays with 
aviation hydraulics anymore?

Luky's Hardware is unique, she (also a delightful lady) sells mostly aerospace 
hardware out of bins.  Like an old fashioned hardware store with nails in bins 
you buy by the pound, she sells super high end hardware.  I bought as much 
weight-wise as I dared to add to my luggage of beautiful precision hardware like 
silver plated nuts. When I build something I like it to look nice.  She will 
ship so if you need something give her a call.

I had always wanted to go to the TRW swapmeet.  It is held in a big parking lot, 
free entry to buyers.  Not too much radio or military gear but some test 
equipment, special tools, a lot of standard low end swapmeet stuff like computer 
stuff and Chinese bins of small tools.  There was various surplus from local 
companies but not a lot.  One guy had some Cubic receivers but they looked like 
prototypes or engineering use, had some visible internal mods and looked like 
they never had any ID tags on them.  Tempting, cheap, but I'd have to get to a 
pack and ship place and that would add a lot to the cost and I would have no 
idea if what I bought could be resurrected.  The seller didn't even know if they 
were HF or VHF or what.  He did say the dual receiver works, thought it was HF, 
but he has the power supply modules at home.  I passed.  I did get a cool little 
mystery box from him for $5.  I bought it for the micro-D connectors and cables 
but when I got it home and opened it I found it to be extremely complex with two 
PCBs with tons of memory and gate arrays and RF in/out via 4 SMA connectors.  I 
have no idea what this thing is but it's modern.  I'm going to refrain from 
scavenging any parts until I can give it a try to find info.  I also picked up a 
mil connector special crimp tool, the type which makes two sets of 4 
indentations in the pin and has a turret for the different pin sizes.  That was 
my best bargain at $15 (we bought a used one at work for $500).  I should have 
bought the AN/PRM-10 grid dip meter kit for $40, I really should have.  I regret 
not getting that but shipping was on my mind and oh well.  Now I want one; I 
guess I'll have to keep an eye out at Xenia this summer.  Overall it was a 
decent swapmeet, not as big or radio as NEARfest and nowhere near the class of 
Xenia but I'm glad I went and if I'm in the area another time it's on I'll go.

Peter
kb2vtl


On 3/3/2018 8:51 PM, David Stinson wrote:
> We have a place here in Dallas/Ft. Worth like that, Joe.  Tanner Electronics in Carrolton, Texas run by Jim Tanner and his family.  They are terrific people and it's really the only electronic surplus house of any consequence left in this whole giant metro area.  When he's open, the place is full of nerds like me.  I've told Jim that the Texas Legislature has passed a law that he has to live forever and never close his business.
> https://www.google.com/search?q=tanner+electronic+carrolton&oq=tanner+electronic+carrolton
>
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