Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 — Early morning post with the lastest eBay updates.
RTL SDR (for FT-2000). This dongle-thingie will give me a rocking replacement spectrum display that the Yaesu DMU fails to provide. It also will give me point-and-click rig control … not exactly SDR, but hey, its an improvement!
Last last night I emailed the seller (after seeing the tracking number appear and for a week now there’s been nothing showing) and asked if the item had been shipped. I wasn’t trying to be a pain, just following my son’s advice: “Daddy, why don’t you ask him if he’s mailed it?”
Turns out he was hospitalized for eight days. He gave me the option of canceling the order, which if I only briefly considered. I still want the RTL and am ready to make the upgrade — soon. But it was nice of him to offer that. No, I want the product worse than I feel the need to punish him for any slights, real or imagined.
100th ANNIVERSARY VIBROPLEX PART 6 (I THINK). Go ahead and shoot me, but I must confess — I was one of the winning bidders in the auctions for the two 100th Anniversary keys that sold over the weekend.
The key arrived yesterday, and kudos to the seller for knowing how to actually pack something so it arrives intact and unmolested! The key was wrapped in what appeared to be nine feet of large-bubble bubble wrap. the seller removed the weight, and the finger and thumb pieces. And as you might expect, the key arrived in perfect condition.
And kudos (again) to the seller for placing the finger, thumb piece and weight on a separate padded envelope to protect the key from damage in transit. The key was the one that was sold as a “second” but its very, very nice.
One little issue that was not as it should have been — the dash contact post is missing the contact point. Yeah, I had to look at it a couple of times before I realized what was going on. I checked the photo in the original listing, and the contact point is missing there two. Not sure where it went or when, but its missing. I’m not going to raise a lot of hell about it, though I do plan to replace it.
Of course, did I need another 100th anniversary bug? Of course not! I still will keep my eyes peeled for a “Knoxville” era 100th Anniversary key … I know they exist, I saw one at the company’s display at Dayton a couple years ago.
RANDOM PURCHASE. I just sat back down at my computer when I opened a second browser window to check the latest eBay listings. A partly disassembled 1979 Vibroplex Original DeLuxe had just been posted with a ridiculously low Buy It Now price so I snagged it. The chrome is in great shape, needs new finger and thumb pieces. This is one of the Maine-era bugs when the nameplates were glued on. Yeah, I got lucky, big time.
73 es CUL de KY4Z SK SK …. dit dit …