FYI....

As a general opinion, I, too, would shudder to think about shipping a
Valiant by commercial methods. However, let me also hasten to add my
personal experience with having a EFJ Thunderbolt (even heavier than a
Valiant by maybe 30 lbs?) shipped from the NE to me in North Carolina a
couple decades ago. The guy shipped the two 4-400s in a separate box, left
all the other tubes be in their sockets. How done? Greyhound bus! I never
thought about that until the guy brought it up. He had the Thunderbolt
very well surrounded by a bubble wrap and inside a tripple layer
corrugated cardboard box (like commercial grade), and it arrived just
fine. No tinkle from broken parts. Played very well (after I put the
finals back in). It was a bear to drag it up 3 flights of stairs, though,
and the box was like a full cubic yard in size!

But, commercial buses have large cargo space in a compartment under the
seats, accessible from the outside. Shipper takes box to bus terminal, box
gets ride (maybe a transfer? or no transfer if non-stop, but no football
stuff) and they call you to pick it up when it arives, you drive down and
look at the package before you accept it.

Again, FWIW. And, I think even UPS plays a little football with stuff. Bus
might be much better. Unless you want to hire a courier.

===== no change to below, included for reference and context =====

On Thu, 17 Nov 2005, K3HVG wrote:

If you decide to ship this puppy, remember that EFJ crated it for shipment.
I speak with some unfortunate experience that Valiants don't take the ride
well... at all! The VFO reduction drive and coupling will be ruined and the
iron will rip loose. Double boxing does not seem to do the job... it really
does require a stout crate. Maybe one of those industrial-strength,
multi-layer boxes with hard-foam corner panels might work??? Too bad no more
"Railway Express"... if anyone remembers!!!

Tony Sokol wrote:
Well folks,
The original buyer for the Valiant had to back out. This is a nice
clean unit with the exception of some scratches under the meter which
should be relatively easy to touch up. I did fire it up and it puts out a
little over 100 watts so a set of finals is probably in order as well as
some recapping. The cabinet looks like a good repaint. The underside
looks good with no mods that I can detect at first glance. I am asking
$425 with a copy of the manual. Since it is so heavy I think local pick or
meeting within a reasonable distance of the NW Chicago suburbs is in order.
I will also be going to the Ft. Wayne hamfest this weekend. I do have
pictures and there is one on QTH.com.

73
Tony - W9JXN