KU4YP wrote:

first,

i always have to laugh at the "open forum" here. it's kinda like
christmas as a kid, for me. you expect something new, but as always, same
****, different box. save the breath on free speech, i am
done...............

i can understand joe's reaction. 'most" people who frequent this group
look at a junker radio and see what can be raised from the ashes. if you
don't, you probably don't like boatanchors. yes, we scalp "junk" to keep the
others living, however most take no pleasure in it. i, for one, am not proud
of scalping old rigs. i'd like to save them all. truth is, we can't. and if
i wish to continue to use and enjoy my heathkits, swans,
hammarlunds..................i will have to do this from time to time.

however, to take a perfectly working rig and dice it up for parts, is
absurd. i can relate with joe's comments, i love old radios. any brand. for
me, the monitary value does not matter. (flamers note: i said ME) i would
venture to say "most" hams have one piece of equipment in the station that
money simply can not buy.

yes, it is his stuff. yes, he can do whatever he wants. yes, we will not
stop it. blah blah blah.

yes, it is sad to see.

Just because it is a persons "right" to do something - and make no
mistake about it, if he wants to crap in the radio, then run over it
with his car - it is his to do it with. But that really doesn't make it
right.

A person that loves old radios would almost never tear apart a mint rig.

But of course, we are talking about Ebay here. A person would do well
to take any claims as to "mintness" with a big bag of salt!

- Mike KB3EIA -

Uncle Peter wrote:
It would be far better to scrap out the dozen Heathkits destined for the
scrap heap, rather than part out what was described as being a
"pristine" unit earlier. It don't make any sense to part out
pristine examples, since few have survived in that condition.

I believe I understand both sides of this argument pretty well, and I don't
have a dog in this fight, anyway, but just for the sake of thinking things
through, rather than succumbing to assumptions...

....suppose you had one pristine radio and a dozen clunkers (total of 13, one
working), and you whipped out your spreadsheet and found that you could end
up with a total of six good working rigs if you left the pristine rig
alone, but eight good working rigs if you parted it out. What then?

--
John "hey, just asking" Miller
Email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm

"A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on."
-Samuel Goldwyn

The following is really not true. There are a lot of very nice radios on
eBay. Think of the guy that steals new cars and parts them out. Old
radios have no real value to most of the population so does it really
matter in 40 years or so they will all end up in the scrap yard anyway
because there will be nobody around to use them and nowhere to use them
. Ham radio is a dying Hobby period. I have determined there are a
lot of people on this group that really do need a get a life.

Robin Hood




Mike Coslo wrote:
FWIW, we are talking about Ebay here! Does anyone actually believe
that a person is parting out a mint unit in the first place?

Ebay is the home of " I can't find a power cord, and don't know how
to hook up an antenna, so the unit is as-is" or I turned it on and the
tubes light up, but don't know how to ...yada yada.

Think about it.

- Mike KB3EIA -

Steve wrote:

I'm not a big fan of this behavior myself, BUT....

I've tried selling off my Heath HW-101 station. Works fine and decent
cosmetics. I've been unable to sell it for $225, yet I see the speaker
alone sell for about $100 and the power supply sell for $150.

If I was like this guy, I'd sell the speaker and PS, yank out the tubes
from the rig and junk it. Can't bring myself to do this so I'll keep
dragging it to junkfests.

Steve

JOE wrote in message
news.com...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=30957996 51



This is like his 4th or 5th complete stripping out of Heathkit rigs.


"Ready

to install
part - removed from mint condition fully working rig" - words to that
effect.
I mean what the HELL? What next - buy up Collins and strip them
out?? So
you
can make $40 more than the radio is worth.... it's like this guy
thinks
he's clever
and come up with a 'new idea' - strip mint radios for a 25% extra
profit.

Go to the link above, then click 'view sellers other auctions' - you'll


see

what I mean.

Just irritates me and I wanted to rant. I know the argument - it's his
radio and
he can sell it / chop it up as he sees fit. Yeah yeah. Still hate it.

JOE

user posted:
" . Ham radio is a dying Hobby period. I have determined there are a
lot of people on this group that really do need a get a life.
------

And I have decided you should be at the head of the line for a new life.
Period!

Don

I am already there and it is great.

Dbowey wrote:

user posted:
" . Ham radio is a dying Hobby period. I have determined there are a
lot of people on this group that really do need a get a life.
------

And I have decided you should be at the head of the line for a new life.
Period!

Don

Why not looks like someone else is there already.



Dbowey wrote:

user posted:
" . Ham radio is a dying Hobby period. I have determined there are a
lot of people on this group that really do need a get a life.
------

And I have decided you should be at the head of the line for a new life.
Period!

Don

Is that directed at me? If so, I apologize for hitting 'reply' instead of
'reply group.' I must have been having a premature 'senior moment.' I
expect they will become more common as I get more senior.

jak

Lou wrote:
And the next time you write to my personal E-MAIL, leave a valid
address for my reply. Share your comments with the group. Yes, maybe
he is trying to put food on his table. No one would knock him for
that. Just seems a bit odd to tear apart "working" units. That is all
I think anyone is trying to say. There are reasons, I've had them as
I've alluded to... It just seems to by pass common sense though - in
many cases.

KU4YP wrote:
snip
however, to take a perfectly working rig and dice it up for
parts, is absurd. i can relate with joe's comments, i love old
radios. any brand. for me, the monitary value does not matter.
(flamers note: i said ME) i would venture to say "most" hams have one
piece of equipment in the station that money simply can not buy.

For me, it's the Heath GR-54 mentioned just today in the thread about the
AT-1. My brother and I built it while in high school...around 1966. When
he passed away in 1993, I just happened to have possession...we had passed
it back & forth over the years. I probably wouldn't have been able to bring
it back on the airplane from Phoenix (where I went to arrange shipping of
the body back to Missouri) had it been in his hands at the time.

OTOH, the faceplate is cracked, and there's a knob missing...so, if anyone
were parting out one--even a 'pristine, perfectly working example'--I'd be
interested in those parts, and glad to have them.

I guess this example represents both sides of the argument....

jak


yes, it is his stuff. yes, he can do whatever he wants. yes, we
will not stop it. blah blah blah.

yes, it is sad to see.

your milage may, and probably will vary.


"John Miller" wrote in message
...
JOE wrote:
This is like his 4th or 5th complete stripping out of Heathkit
rigs.

Etc.

Joe, let me ask you this: if by sacrificing one rig he can enable
the resurrection of a dozen Heathkits which otherwise would have
been consigned to the scrap heap, wouldn't you think that would be
a *good* thing?

That was not a rhetorical question. I'd be interested in your
answser.


It would be far better to scrap out the dozen Heathkits destined for
the scrap heap, rather than part out what was described as being a
"pristine" unit earlier. It don't make any sense to part out
pristine examples, since few have survived in that condition.

BTW, 465s are a dime a dozen, not rare, and there are already
hundreds of parts units available from dealers... I doubt you would
gain financially from that venture...

Pete

No, it was directed to the one who uses the e-mail address of
or some such address. He e-mailed me direct with his
comments, and didn't have the courage to leave a "valid" return address for
me to reply. Therefore, I ask that he keep his "group" comments TO the
group. If ya haven't got the balls to accept criticism or a general reply in
return, then don't clutter up my mail box. With the comment as was made, I
must take to the thought that it is HIM this thread was discussing for him
to be so "embarrassed" so as not to supply a "valid" address. I may be
wrong, but so be it. Wouldn't be the first time and damned sure won't be the
last. Quite frankly, if it is him, I really don't give a damned what he does
with his radios. They're his.

Lou

"jakdedert" wrote in message
...
Is that directed at me? If so, I apologize for hitting 'reply' instead of
'reply group.' I must have been having a premature 'senior moment.' I
expect they will become more common as I get more senior.

jak

Lou wrote:
And the next time you write to my personal E-MAIL, leave a valid
address for my reply. Share your comments with the group. Yes, maybe
he is trying to put food on his table. No one would knock him for
that. Just seems a bit odd to tear apart "working" units. That is all
I think anyone is trying to say. There are reasons, I've had them as
I've alluded to... It just seems to by pass common sense though - in
many cases.

On Sun, 23 May 2004 17:20:27 UTC, "JOE"
wrote:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=30957996 51


This is like his 4th or 5th complete stripping out of Heathkit rigs. "Ready
to install
part - removed from mint condition fully working rig" - words to that
effect.
I mean what the HELL? What next - buy up Collins and strip them out?? So
you
can make $40 more than the radio is worth.... it's like this guy thinks
he's clever
and come up with a 'new idea' - strip mint radios for a 25% extra profit.

Go to the link above, then click 'view sellers other auctions' - you'll see
what I mean.

Just irritates me and I wanted to rant. I know the argument - it's his
radio and
he can sell it / chop it up as he sees fit. Yeah yeah. Still hate it.

JOE

Let it go. He's kidding himself.

The market is self regulating. The first time he breaks down a
radio, folk who desperately need that one board, switch wafer,
bezel, or knob will bid the prices of the parts way up.

Last year I was in that situation for a Heath part.

The second time he does it, a few bottom feeders will bid up the
choice parts.

That time or the third, he will saturate the market and most parts
will go for less than the sum of the whole.

By the time you factor in the eBay commissions, the time to break
down the radio, manage the auction, and divide that into the
"profit", he'd do far better to deliver pizzas or clerk at the 7-11.

On the other hand, the winners are the restorers. If I need a knob
or wafer switch (something hard to fabricate) I might pay ten
or twenty dollars. That'd take my incomplete radio to "works great,
looks great" and might double its value from say, $250 to $500.

If he buys it and breaks it down, the first choice parts might go
for big bucks, $10 for a knob, $20 for a wafer switch. That fools
him into thinking that he has found a money machine. Pretty soon,
he'll be left with a basket case, a "first fifty bucks takes it
all".

And so the cycle continues.

But, he is providing a valuable service. It might seem like a
ghoul who's grabbing young people off the street and selling
their kidneys and heart to transplant surgeons but it's not.

Every radio that he breaks down gives new life to perhaps a dozen
others and at some point, he'll be stuck with an incomplete chassis
and will lose money. He's speculating, gambling that there will be
a buyer for the parts.

Realize too that we are in an unusual situation. At least that's
what I believe.

Boat anchor radios are rising in price but the appreciation has just
started. They were way undervalued. Some folk know this and are
buying and restoring to preserve the history.

At some point, there will be no more "I don't know what this is, but
I'll take $20" deals. It will take *one* appearance of a 75A-4 or
HQ-180 on an "Antiques-greed show" and overnight, every boat anchor
will triple in value.

This might not happen for 10 or 20 years, it might never happen but
that is the nightmare that faces us.

I've heard that already, there are circles of "known collectors" who
will not sell radios to someone who will mistreat them. I've
noticed that interesting workhorse radios have vanished from the
hamfests.

In the last 2 years, attending a dozen regional hamfests, I have not
seen *any* Drake 2-B's, SX-101s, HT-37s, Thunderbolts,
HW-monobanders, SBE-33s, Early Swans, SR-160, NCX-3, SB-200s,
HQ-180s', NC-300s, NC-303s, Gonsets.

The radios that have vanished are the mid-range, the ones that the
average ham owned or aspired to; the radios that used to go for a
hundred or a couple hundred bucks, take it.

These are all locked away on the retro-shelf of private radio rooms.
"Sell my SX-101? A lousy $300? That's 4 fill ups of the truck.
I'm keeping it."

You can still find high end stuff but not the mid-range or the low
end. I've never seen an S-120, R-55, T-60, at a hamfest. "$60,
that's two steak dinners? I'll take the radio and eat mac and
cheese."

check out my boatanchor page www.kiyoinc.com/heathstuff.html

thanks and keep fixin' those anchors!