On 8/15/2013 11:09 AM, Jim Lux wrote:
On 8/14/13 8:00 PM, Roger (K8RI) wrote:
On 8/14/2013 1:41 PM, Doug Ronald wrote:
One small hitch (pun noted), they need to be destroyed before you can
haul
them away.
I wonder why the de mil portable towers? They aren't a threat and could
be put to good use by some EOCs around the country.
Our EOC has a ham station right in the 911 call center which is part of
the law enforcement center.
Could be that they are of uncertain quality/condition, and they want
to make sure that they don't get resold as "almost new condition" by a
less than reputable dealer.
Maybe they were exposed to something that might cause internal damage
(e.g. they were flooded in Katrina or Sandy or something, and they've
been immersed in salt water) or even just sitting outside in the rain
and elements for a few years.
Maybe the steel is in ok shape, but the cables/sheaves/moving
mechanical parts are sketchy?
It might cost more to evaluate them than to just sell as scrap metal.
After all, they're being sold as a single 100 ton lot, rather than
individual, and that's almost certainly because there's no budget to
separately inventory and sell them. They're probably in a big heap,
and the word went out: "we want to use that land under the pile" or
it's "Let's get rid of that pile of junk, put it on the excess list"
I used to bid on govt surplus, but they were much more liberal in those
days. I don't know if its changed, but the bidder took full
responsibility from getting it off site to what ever it was used for.
Back in the late 60's they had a lot of 6 P-51s that were all airworthy
and mostly full gas tanks. If capable you could fly 'em home. They
went for $7500 each and the only demil was to remove any armament which
was usually six 50's.. Hard points and drop tanks were yours. However
the FAA insisted that the "drop" as in drop tanks be disabled before
flight. Of course you could remove them and truck 'em home. Before
surplus planes became desirable some companies would purchase some
models for parts and the fuel in them. Can you imagine cililians
removing the six 50's and dropping them off on the way out? They may
have had a mechanic there, but security was minimal.
Back then I made $600 a month which was well above average wage, but
that means each P-51 would have cost me a bit over a year's wages and
probably a property settlement. Just think, each one that's airworthy
now would be worth about a million dollars. "Spit shined" and in really
good shape would add about 50%. Unfortunately keeping one airworthy
would likely cost more than purchasing most single engine, high
performance private planes per year.
Back in the early 80's or 90's I had a tour of Willow Grove Naval Air
Station. After the tour they stuck my clearance in my shirt pocket with
the admonition to always keep it in sight, Then turned me loose with my
cameras with instructions of you can shoot anything except XXX
http://www.rogerhalstead.com/p3s.htm
At JPL, we get rid of a lot of old stuff that is potentially useful,
but it's not like we have funding to go through and pick out the good
slotted lines from the ones that are broken. Nor do we have the
funding or space to just keep the stuff in storage cabinets on the off
chance that someone might use it in the future.
When I was an instrument tech, excess "stuff" went into a pile and
they'd auction it off a couple times a year to employees only. Potential
liability became an issue some time back and I believe they finally quit
the excess auction. but private corporation's liability and the
government's are quite different.
73,
Roger (K8RI)
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|