Many of the things I own have been owned by someone before me. It seems to be how my life works now.
At one time, I would not consider something that was not new. But as I’m aging, I’m noticing something-I seem to be gravitating toward older things-furniture, guns, radios, vehicles-that have been owned by someone before me. I suppose it could be I want things that have stood the test of time, but I don’t think that’s it, at least for the most part.
I seem to be, in more than a few cases, rescuing these things. From old .22 rifles that have went through many hands in their lives, to old radios that were the obviously treasured possessions of someone back in the 1930s and 40s and to old furniture that you might remember from your teenage years (if you were a teenager in the 70s) these things are showing up in my life at just the right time for a subtle whisper of “Please save me” to coincide with a need for, say, replacement den furniture.
Today, however, “Please save me” turned into buying someone else’s dream. Slightly over a decade ago, one of the club’s early members passed on. Now, his son has finally decided to turn loose of Dad’s radios.
I’m not sure what has motivated him to do so, but as someone who has been in that position, I can make a guess. You can’t keep it all. No matter how far back in your memory something exists, like the candy dish on my Mom’s butler’s table, you simply don’t have room for everything you inherit. But you try, and you pack up box after box, only to discover as years pass and you never open those boxes, the things were never that important. What was important was the memories. But it can take years for that realization to occur.
So today, for the sum of $200, I bought another man’s dream, or at least a part of it. When his Dad had retired, he had bought a sailboat with the intention of going sailing on the ocean. Unfortunately, while still outfitting the boat, his Dad died, leaving the unfinished project. The sailboat is long gone. But part of the outfitting was a number of radios, and because he, his Dad and his Mom were all hams, he kept those sitting on a shelf until now.
I have Dad’s transceiver, an Alinco DX-70TH and the matching automatic antenna tuner, the EDX-2. Yes, the radio is old enough that it doesn’t have a built-in tuner. Neither have ever been installed. I’m not exactly sure what I’m planning for them, but visions of an HF “go box” are moving through my mind.
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| The dream survives |
In the due course of time, I fully expect my children, who do not share my interest in ham radio, will sell off “Dad’s old radio crap”. I hope some of it whispers to someone.
