FPR1981
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2021
- Messages
- 597
As I perused the Facebook Marketplace listings yesterday, I came across a pair 40-pound rubber coated hex dumbbells priced at 30 bucks for the pair. Pre-covid they would be about 60 bucks each. Now they'd probably fetch $80 apiece.
I made the agreement to buy, and away I went.
The guy was in an area of town that I'm not sure I have ever been to. I found myself in this alley, tucked way back by an old, rarely-used city park. As I loaded the weights in my old rusty Chevy truck, I look up and see an old Avanti Astro Plane antenna on a tower. It's complete, and not wind damaged. The tower also looked fabulous.
I haven't seen a complete Astro plane in town in years. I decided then to stop and knock.
Long story short, it's an 87-year-old man and his wife, and it was apparent he was so happy to have someone visiting him. He has been depressed after a stroke took out his left side seven years ago.
He used to sell those antennas, and as it turns out, his radio room that he hasn't used for probably 30 years at least, was fully intact! His stuff was still hooked up to that antenna.
He walked me into a mud room at the rear of the house and I see a shelf-mounted Cobra 139 XLR with a digital VFO permanently mounted to the top of it. Hooked to it was a Cobra Dynamike Plus desk mic.
Surely the battery had to be bad.
Nope! Pushed the key and it lit up.
He tells me to fire it up. First two attempts to power on were not successful. I messed with the on/off switch and got it to comply. These radios are notorious for this, and bad transformers.
It powers on, and I hear my buddies on channel 22, a movement I resurrected on the channel led everyone to. I hollered for a break, and told them where I was and what i was doing.
They said the radio was loud and clear. The man was amazed to hear people on the radio. He rattled off a list of CB players, then dropped his head and said, "They're all dead and gone now."
I have to be honest, I choked up.
He then led me to a nicely-kept workshop in the garage, where 10 to 15 mobile antennas adorned a shelf. On his workbench sat a Cobra 32 XLR that came from a state patrol cruiser, hooked to a power supply that looked like a base station hub of sorts.
The old guy is something of a local celebrity in his day. His CB handle was "Clipper," and he was a barber in town for 48 years.
He cut my hair when i was a little kid.
The CB stuff was scratchy from sitting, but it all worked. He asked me to make him an offer on all of it. I think I'm going to. I might even overpay for it, because this stuff has a great story, and this guy deserves it. Stay tuned.
I made the agreement to buy, and away I went.
The guy was in an area of town that I'm not sure I have ever been to. I found myself in this alley, tucked way back by an old, rarely-used city park. As I loaded the weights in my old rusty Chevy truck, I look up and see an old Avanti Astro Plane antenna on a tower. It's complete, and not wind damaged. The tower also looked fabulous.
I haven't seen a complete Astro plane in town in years. I decided then to stop and knock.
Long story short, it's an 87-year-old man and his wife, and it was apparent he was so happy to have someone visiting him. He has been depressed after a stroke took out his left side seven years ago.
He used to sell those antennas, and as it turns out, his radio room that he hasn't used for probably 30 years at least, was fully intact! His stuff was still hooked up to that antenna.
He walked me into a mud room at the rear of the house and I see a shelf-mounted Cobra 139 XLR with a digital VFO permanently mounted to the top of it. Hooked to it was a Cobra Dynamike Plus desk mic.
Surely the battery had to be bad.
Nope! Pushed the key and it lit up.
He tells me to fire it up. First two attempts to power on were not successful. I messed with the on/off switch and got it to comply. These radios are notorious for this, and bad transformers.
It powers on, and I hear my buddies on channel 22, a movement I resurrected on the channel led everyone to. I hollered for a break, and told them where I was and what i was doing.
They said the radio was loud and clear. The man was amazed to hear people on the radio. He rattled off a list of CB players, then dropped his head and said, "They're all dead and gone now."
I have to be honest, I choked up.
He then led me to a nicely-kept workshop in the garage, where 10 to 15 mobile antennas adorned a shelf. On his workbench sat a Cobra 32 XLR that came from a state patrol cruiser, hooked to a power supply that looked like a base station hub of sorts.
The old guy is something of a local celebrity in his day. His CB handle was "Clipper," and he was a barber in town for 48 years.
He cut my hair when i was a little kid.
The CB stuff was scratchy from sitting, but it all worked. He asked me to make him an offer on all of it. I think I'm going to. I might even overpay for it, because this stuff has a great story, and this guy deserves it. Stay tuned.
