[Milsurplus] BA's going begging Big Heavy Radios

[Jeff Kruth]

On the subject of big heavy radios:  I see a lot of them for a lot of money at hamfests around here. No one seems to be buying and I think the reasons come in several flavors.


1.    Had that, used it, done with it OR still have three in the garage I havent touched yet (Old timers, usually thin on money around here).  There is a LOT of stuff that SHOULD go to the metal recycler at local hamfests!
 
2.    Youngsters, no sense of history, no appreciation of WWII, no memories of youth with "valves" and their warm friendly glow & relatively uncomplicated circuits, easy to get going.
 
The second one is the one that gets me: history, it seems, is for old farts. How can young people appreciate the object if they have no sense whatsoever of what it does, what it meant, its contribution, the underlying effort to create it in the midst of a world war, etc.  The modern world sprang into being as whole cloth as far as my college students are concerned. WWII is a few words in their high school history class (if they even had one). WWII as the first technology war, and really the birth of modern electrotechnology, is quite remarkable. We appreciate that and preach to the choir. Unfortunately, we have been overtaken by events. History, even the amazing, remarkable events of WWII, is of little interest to most of the current crop.
I keep a pile of things (APQ-2, APS-13, several radars, APR-5, among others) in my teaching laboratory and show them to my classes when we do my Microwave Systems course. How much sticks, or prompts further interest, who knows. I am happy when I can see the spark develop in one out of ten students.  It is sad but real. Enjoy what we have, we will probably die with most or all of it! Then off to the trash!  As the product of depression era parents, I cannot abide waste, and I guess it is this upbringing that makes it hard to see useful, interesting things discarded.
 
73
Jeff Kruth
WA3ZKR
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