About the
Fair Radio Auction: I have read some of the posts regarding
this and they paint a very different picture of what I
witnessed. I know Phil personally and went to see the
auction after he asked me. I did not feel like staying over,
but I wanted to see Phil, so I only watched the first day.
It was the same weekend as the Huntsville.AL hamfest, which
is a big deal around here ("Dayton of the South"), so lots
of people made a choice to be there instead. Phil told me he
did not realize this and would have changed the date. Kept a
lot of people away. I purposely did NOT take my truck and
trailer. I was bidder number 6. I watched the lots sell for
FAR less that Phil would have sold each item for 2 months
previously. He was DONE with it. Time to go! The
auctioneers were very nice people (Mennonites?), knew their
business, if not the stuff, and I saw a lot of guys I knew,
and some that knew only me. Baranowsky from Eastern PA
(Tobyhanna area) is a guy I have known for 35 years from
hamfests and he was one of the so-called scrappers there. He
bought over 50 lots from just the first outdoor building,
where they started! He bought way more than he set out to
because it was cheap. He actually sells equipment but does
scrap too. All surplus guys do, I did. You can buy from him,
he is ham friendly. And there was a group of real junk men
there for metal, cant really buy from them. I made some
purchases from people after they bought a big lot of
whatever. I took some pics and may get them uploaded. What
surprised me was a lot of Collins stuff like 618T radios, 32
on a pallet, went for 300.00. Thats about 9.00 each. I have
projects till I die so I restrained myself. The mil
version, ARC-102, same kinda money. I pulled one item (5J32
jammer maggie) out of a lot and bought it for $2, so the
auctioneer would sell one if you want it! And the big boys
didnt care! There was plenty to go around. For those of you
who didnt go, dont beef now, you had your chance, once in a
lifetime! Stuff was CHEAP, which is why I didnt bring my
truck, I am pretty much done with bulk collecting. I saw a
lot of the Microdyne, Watkins Johnson, CEI, and NSA stuff
that I had sold to Phil go super cheap, not many who know
what it is. Big lots of radios- $40. These were what was
left from the big trailer loads I had taken him, I got pics
of a lot of my stuff that was left.
Stuff that
I was looking at, like big wooden boxes full of variable
capacitors, all types, 20-50 bucks for literally hundreds of
parts! About ten lots like that (1000'sof caps). I
considered them for hamfests, but knew I wouldnt live long
enough to sell them all (I LIKE going to hamfests).
It was
probably traumatic for Phil, I have seen these kind of
things before, owners selling off their surplus business
(Saw a few in Baltimore, anyone remember CADISCO?) but he
also kinda of looked like a weight was being lifted off him,
he was right there with the auctioneer telling what things
were. I wish him the best, he did what he could to get it
out there. The place inside was CLEAN! Kim, his secretary of
35 years and Girl Friday, cleaned all the aisles! WHAT A
JOB! She did great. When I was there end of June, it was
still clogged up! Bill Perry, the connector guy, wasnt
there, he was at Huntsville. HE would have bought a ton of
stuff as well. Lots of things caught my eye: whole big
triwall of antenna masts, $10.00 for all! Skid of BC-375
tuning units, 44 ea, some looked like new, $75.00, IIRC.
This is a
much preferable ending than the one that occurred to Radio
Research Labs in Danbury, Conn, where the dude held on till
he got dementia, ended up in a home. The kids sold all the
inventory for scrap metal to the chinese, so they could get
the land cleared for a big Real Estate sale! Talk a a crime
concerning the inventory! Wow.
The end of
an era, boys! I could go on, but thats enough for now!
When I dig out my notes I may send an update. 73, Jeff Kruth