[TowerTalk] Towable towers available from the government

[Crownhaven]

During my time as a federal government employee, I have seen plenty of 
valuable electronic gear destroyed because those responsible didn't want 
to deal with completing the paperwork to DRMO or surplus the stuff.  
Disgusting.  I was able to donate several virtually new Motorola 
repeaters to amateur radio organizations by doing a little extra work to 
make sure THEY didn't get the sledge hammer.

Steve, N4JQQ


On 8/15/2013 10:22 AM, Jim Lux wrote:
> On 8/15/13 8:02 AM, k3mm at verizon.net wrote:
>> At least the tool cabinets can stay intact. Those are worth a few
>> dollars, but doesnt change the fact that this acquisition was a huge
>> waste of taxpayer dollars on both ends. I'm sure there are lots of
>> public service entities or other government agencies that would be
>> quite happy to have them for emergency communications.
>>
>
>
> Except there's visible rust on those tool cabinets.
>
> I would guess that a speculative public service entity would spend 
> more in labor costs assessing the condition and making repairs than it 
> would cost to buy a new one with manufacturer's warranty and all new 
> parts. It's different when it's a ham spending their own time, and 
> assessing their own risk. A very different situation than an agency 
> with legitimate safety and liability concerns.
>
> Not to mention the whole additional cost of "parting out" the lot into 
> separate lots.  Preparing the lot probably takes an hour or two per 
> lot, then the actual transfer paperwork probably takes a few hours per 
> lot. It's not like it's a 15 minute job to have someone come down, 
> verify the serial number, hook it up to tow vehicle and drag it out of 
> there. More like 2 or 3 hours..
>
> Then there's the transportation cost.  Say you're an agency in New 
> Jersey and you get one of those surplus towers from Alabama.  How much 
> does it cost to ship it? You're going to have to put it on a flatbed 
> and haul it, or if you got lucky and its roadworthy (and licensed!) 
> you pay someone to drag it 1000 miles.
>
> There is a non-insignificant amount of paperwork associated with these 
> surplus deals to make sure that there isn't fraud (Bob at the site 
> marks those gold bars as "scrap iron", and tells his friend Dave to 
> bid on it).  That's why the "destruction/demil" requirement in many 
> cases.  If you're shredding it, there's no incentive to "throw away 
> perfectly good equipment in the dumpster for a cohort to retrieve" 
> (something that has occurred more than once).
>
> It wouldn't surprise me to find that the labor time per transaction is 
> in the 20-40 hour range.
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