[TenTec] Looking for "cheap" rig or honest and patient ham

[Jim Brown K9YC]

On Thu, 2 Sep 2010 10:03:12 -0700 (PDT), Art Trampler wrote:

>When my XYL and I were selling my stepson's old saxophone we asked $300, I
> think, which was fair.  The girl who bought it had $75 to put down.  We 
>were so taken by her enthusiasm toward playing that after she handed my XYL 
>the $$, my XYL said, "Here, you better take the sax home tonight, and by 
>the way, it's paid in full."

When I was a teenager starting out, someone GAVE me a 40M Command Set and a 
power supply for it. I had already saved to buy a used S38D. That got me on 
the air. I saved from summer work to by a second Command Set for 80M, and 
another summer for a BC348. A year later, a local ham, K8CYW, made a long 
term loan of the SX101 he had bought but couldn't use -- because he just 
couldn't get past the 13WPM exam. I don't think he ever did. 

MANY of us started out that way, with help from other hams in one way or 
another. NOW, it's our turn to do that for new hams. About six years ago, 
before I left Chicago, K9OR and I told a young ham that we would make sure he 
had a rig when he passed his General ticket. I ended up giving him my Omni D, 
which I had replaced with an Omni V. 

A year ago, I was helping a widow sell her husband's estate. There were some 
vintage rigs. With her blessing, one of them went to a new ham, a teenager, 
at a fraction of what we could have gotten on EBay. Another went to another 
new ham, also at a bargain price. 

THAT'S the real ham spirit. 

73, Jim K9YC