Friday, April 27, 2012 — Due to a major renovation project in the kitchen of our home that involves rewiring the room, my wife, son and I were forced to cross the Forbidden Zone and move Attic Stuff from its longtime resting place to another location. The electrician who will be here in the morning must have unfettered access to the attic floor in order to cut access to an electrical junction thingie, etc. etc.
The only really positive to this forced march into Attic-dom was the fact it was April and not August; it was stuffy and hot, but not sweltering. Much of the stuff archived in the attic was moved half a dozen years ago, and include some interesting ham gear.
For a period of time, I was trying to acquire every piece of vintage ham gear I wanted as an SWL and later Novice class ham but could not afford. The boxes in the attic included a Hallicrafters SR-150 and matching supply; a National NCX-200 transceiver with supply; a National NCX-500 transceiver and supply; a couple of MFJ antenna tuners I didn’t remember buying, and various and sundry ham accessories.
And right after we cleared the attic where the electrician will need to be, we retired to the library and caught part of an episode of “Antiques Roadshow” on public television. It made me wonder what the attic goodies might bring if I tried to sell them. None of the HF rigs mentioned have been out of the box since I bought them … well, I take that back, the NC-200 did get unboxed, but immediately repacked. After seeing the specs on the NCX-500 I’m very tempted to hook the rig up! At 50 percent efficiency, its still 250 watts on SSB, and that’s not bad.
Of course, I don’t know if any of these rigs are operational; allegedly they were, but that was back in the day when things were sold “working” that mysteriously failed en route. I have a real desire however to unbox all those rigs and give them a go before sending them on their way. At least those rigs have parts you can see without 20 x magnification.
NEW DRAKE: MAKE OR BREAK. My long awaited Drake TR-7 transceiver and matching supply arrived today in two separate massive boxes. The power supply box looked like half a dozen bobcats were fighting inside it, it had nearly lost its rectangular shape. I opened the shipping box and inside I found the power supply had been packed with foam rubber — like the kind used in seat cushions! Arrggh! There’s probably no WORSE packing material one can use to pack something an item so dense and heavy! I didn’t not completely unpack the PS-7; lets hope it works, as I had planned to sell it off.
The TR-7 weights less than the heavy supply, so its shipping box fared better. I did not take time to open the box and check on my new prize. I’m hoping it fared well and can go into service sometime this summer … just imaging running the thing mobile! Can’t imagine a dashboard manufactured in the past 25 years that could hold the Drake, much less have room for the install.
I’ve just about sworn off buying boat anchor rigs on eBay; the protection of your purchase depends on the ability of the seller to properly package your purchase, and I have had too many instances where an item arrived safely only by the grace of God — the packing job was horribly insufficient (case in point, the PS-7 that arrived today).
Enough rambling for tonight … off to bed.
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