[Premium-Rx] Strange W-J and Fred's Book

[Bob Betts]

Hello John and All:
 
<snip>
<<So I was forced to watch the new owner walk away with one of the better deals to be had that weekend.
 
Yes John, he sure did. The free market can be cruel sometimes - trust me, I know!!!.
To keep this on topic, let me tell you about the W-J8716 that a customer brought in to my shop. It was some kind of special order (7" panel - 4U) W-J8716 without rack handles or covers that came from some Swedish Steamship Co. in NYC. My customer collected antique home-type radios (catalins and AK's, etc), and knew nothing about commercial or maritime equipment -- he saw this thing at the auction and bought it for me. He paid $0.50 per pound for it -- about $20.00. In those days I needed to turn things into cash (fast), so I listed it in the "Ham Trader Yellow Sheets." This was the mid-1980's and there was no Internet. The short story is that a guy drove about 4 hrs from NJ to see it and paid me something like $275.00 for it. It broke my heart, but I had a home, family and business to look after. So I guess that's what "free trade" is all about - supply and demand.
 
I have been a product design engineer (comms equ.) for more than 40 years. Over that time I have built a sizable technical library. Last year I put a duplicate copy of Fred's excellent book on ebay for $9.99 (something like that), plus a few bucks for shipping. The auction ended at almost $100.00. This was not my doing -- and had nothing to do with me -- it was solely the response of the marketplace at work. I never would have dreamed it would fetch more that $15.00 for some poor soul who actually needed it.
But as you can see, it's another lesson of the free market at work.
 
I love Fred's excellent book, and reference it often in my business, but I sure do wish I had that W-J back here again! Heck, I'd give the guy 4-times the sale price for it!
 
Good signals to all,
Bob, N1KPR
 
htttp://www.bobsamerica.com
Music, Audio, Radio
"It's all good."