STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES!!!!

[N9LCD]

I was checking an eBay ad for a used Cunningham CX-300A.

The seller's comments were "I think the grid may be shorted and the fiament lit awfully bright at 7.5 Volts.

ANY 5 VOLT FILAMENT WILL BE "AWFULLY BRIGHT" at 7.5 VOLTS!

BUT NOT FOR LONG!

And he isn't even a Chickan-Bander. Just an antique "reseller"!!!

JERRY

N9LCD

[ke4jp]

Ever notice everything is VINTAGE and gotten from the the estate of a HAM who used it regularly. And I have no way to test the equipment but the HAM took very good care of his equipment. blah blah blah. Please visit my on line store!

[N9LCD]

Yeah.

My favorite is the guy selling an old, untested R-220/URR with manual and cord.

BUT HE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO TEST IT!

MAYBE HE COULDN'T READ!!!!

JERRY

N9LCD

[KA4DPO]

My guess is that UNTESTED is a code word for smoked.

[VO1GXG]

I saw a piece of hallicrafters equipment on eBay . The seller said that he plugged it in a turned it on but could not hear anything from the speaker. When i had a closer look at the photos , turns out it was a Transmitter !

[ko0m]

Quote[/b] (KA4DPO @ Sep. 02 2007,22:18)]My guess is that UNTESTED is a code word for smoked.
It means "Caveat Emptor", eBay sellers with good reputations try to keep them that way. #He honestly may not know what's going on with it and is saying so up front.

EVERYTIME I make a sale on eBay, I hold my breath and put the money in "Escrow".....(not really, I just don't count it as mine until the buyer is happy)....this is because the purchaser never had a real chance to physically examine the item. #PayPal will reverse the sale if the consumer says the item was SNAD (the customer is always right!).

Mel

[WA6MHZ]

People are quite stupid if they take a 50 year old piece of equipment and just "PLUG IT IN"! The Electrolytics in it will act as a dead short to the rectifier tube and cook it out. I should know, I just resurrected a Hallicrafters S-107 that had that symptom. The seller said he plugged it in and ran it for FIVE HOURS, and never heard anything come out of the speaker. Well of COURSE he didn't, the plate voltage was at about 10 Volts!!! So I disconnected the Electrolytic, and slowly reformed each section on my Heathkit IT-11 capacitor tester, running up the voltage slowly until it worked at the rated voltage, 350 Volts. Then the cooked 5Y3 was replaced and VOILA!!! the radio functioned perfectly!!! Just because it worked 50 years ago doesn't mean it will work the same today unless these kind of precautions are taken. But stupid buyers at garage sales do these stupid things and wonder why the radio doesn't work. GOOD!!!! IT DOESN"T WORK!!!! Sell it to me for a nice price, as I know how to fix it. Unless, of course, the CLOWN ran it so long the Power Transformer melted down. Then all the radio is good for is the knobs and a few parts.

[WA6MHZ]

I search for radios that have been smoked and molested. Radios trashed into oblivion, tubes robbed, case smashed and burnt to a crisp. The worse the seller has to say about it, the better I like it. That is because it scares off most of the buyers. Many purchasers of Ebay equipment expect to take the radio out of the box and have it in perfect shape/operation. If that is the case, they did pay dearly for it. VERY DEARLY!!! I have seen the same radio in Showroom condition go for 3 or 4 times what a "trashed" radio will go for. But with special restoration skills, the wasted radio can be brought back to life and look/function just a good as that "MINT CONDX" radio. It might take more than one radio to do it though. Might take a whole bunch of them. I especially like Heathkits, and have made many SB-301s, 401s, SB-101, HW-100s, 101s, etc. out of scrap parts and wasted radios. In fact, that is what I have on my desk right now (OH, I moved it aside to type on the keyboard!) A Heathkit HW-101 that is well back on its way to recovery and after I get a few more parts, will be in MINT CONDITION. Other makes of radios are considerably tougher, but with skill, patience and determination, a working radio can be made out of a derelict. So, you will see me bidding on the worst shape radios there are. And I hope I get them cheap. For in a short while they will be just as nice as any around. That is one of the funnest parts of Ham Radio.