MILITARY COLLECTOR GROUP POST, May 19/98 INDEX: GSA/DOD SALES; You Wanna to Play Too? MEMBERS WRITE; GSA Auction report, Saturday/Manuals Day, URC-35 Swap, Dayton SSTR-1, Low On Material, WHATSIT's; BB-54? Telefunken Tubes? GEORGE NEEDS A T-827 MANUAL; HUMOR; *********************************************** GSA/DOD SALES; You Wanna to Play Too? There is a big difference between a GSA(General Services Administration), and a DRMO sale. While there may be some similarities in items offered for sale/bid, and some DOD equipment may find it's way into a GSA sale this is not the norm. Military equipment does not find it's way into a GSA sale directly, it will have been made available via some other government entity, I/E there is a middle man. And it is because of this "middle man" than these older military vehicles we've been discussing show up at a GSA sale. GSA property is surplused from virtually every Federal Government Organization, except the military. How then does an M-38, or a PRC-25 show up in a GSA sale? It goes something like this, once the military has declared an item surplus, or excess property(there is a difference, but it's immaterial to our discussion) it might be offered up for use by some other government entity, at which time it can be transferred to their control. These "other government entities" might include the DEA, FBI, MARS, FDA or any other federal office which will normally have first chance at it. If no takers here, then local state government will get a shot. "Screeners" from these various offices will inspect the property to decide whether or not it might be usable by the group/groups they represent. In the case of state Screeners, they will usually represent either your local State Agency for Surplus Property, Forestry, Law Enforcement, or Schools. Once the property is transferred to any of these secondary government groups it is no longer under the control of the DRMO, but is now that of the GSA. One last avenue for military equipment to find it's way into a GSA sale, is that property associated with a major defense contractor. As this property has yet to be transferred to the DOD(Dep of Defense) it is not yet under the jurisdiction of the DRMO. Unlike GSA sales, DRMO sales include items surplused from the military alone. The human mind cannot fathom the variety of items that will be offered. But for the most part, old vehicles such as those recently discussed will not be available from the DRMO as they were weeded out of their system long ago. Vehicles of all types around the 20 year old, 80k mile mark, or severally damaged will however be available. How do you get on the GSA, and DRMO mailing list? Well you can send $15.00 to a dozen different rip off artist that advertized the "how to's" of buying surplus, and Jeeps for $5.00. Or you can contact the various federal offices directly and they'll send you the same material for free. First is the GSA, you can wright to the General Services Administration, as there are several regional offices that will handle your request, it's best to call the Federal Information Center(number in your local phone book) for the one in your area. Second is the DRMO, you can call their Watts line which I'm told is usually busy or out of service. Or you can contact the DRMO offices on your local military bases. To do this, just ask the base information for the DRMO office phone number. The later is advisable anyway as many military bases conduct their own smaller auctions, sometimes as often as once weekly. Both the GSA, and the DRMO now manage extensive WEB sights were you can apply, see sale bills, and even bid on sales. In fact, the DRMO is quickly converting to this medium for many of it's sales. As stated above, the federal surplus system is currently undergoing a major overhaul with an emphases on electronic methods. The number of sale bills sent out has been drastically cut, and I can see in the not to distant future the complete elimination of mailed sale bills. Instead two methods are taking the place of sale notices, and bid sheets. The before mentioned enternet web sights, and Fax machines. In the case of the later, the GSA, or DRMO simply send you a post card with notification of a pending sale. You then have the option to "Poll" their fax machine to receive a complete listing of items offered in the sale. Your bids are then sent back the same way. By the way, you are not limited to GSA, or DRMO auctions located in the USA alone. Both offices maintain sales staffs in every foreign country that a U.S. federal, or military body exist, and participants are not limited to U.S. citizens. I/E some of the best equipment can be found via sales in Germany and Japan, and the local citizenry is not exempt from participation. Then there's NATO surplus, but that's another story. Dennis Starks; MILITARY RADIO COLLECTOR/HISTORIAN military-radio-guy@juno.com *********************************************** MEMBERS WRITE; GSA Auction report: Enjoyed the trip report on the surplus vehicles....BTW...Glad I didnt go, I would have ended up with something that hadnt ran since Korea and had to be sent home in boxes....Maybe next time... gotta run, Ralph --------------------- Thanks again Dennis, this is a great list you have organized and put together. You are right about the DRMO auctions though. I wonder what goes through some of the folks heads that bid on some of the stuff that is t - total junk, but they seem to keep bidding higher and higher on some things. Guess they just dont want to leave without buying something. :-) take care Tom -------------------- Dennis: Now, now, no bad remarks about the M38A1 Jeeps! I paid $300 for mine, and it wasn't in too bad a shape! How do I get on that DRMO mailing list? Thanks anyway...Doug kb7rky@valley-internet.net ed) I wasn't bad mouthing Jeeps, or M-38A1's, I love the things, got a yard full of them(none of that imitation AMC shit either). I was making light of what the some dumb shit's will give for them in the worst possible condition. $300 is more like it, though admittedly on the super cheep side. This particular sale was GSA rather than DRMO, there is a difference, see above. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday/Manuals Day, Sounds like a GREAT idea! Call it the "Paper trail." Or "the things Hillary didn't shred." Lenox ed) Well, your input was the only one received on the subject, I would have preferred a less controversial title, but your suggestion does have some merit. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- URC-35 Swap, First, please let me extend my compliments to you. As you were interested yourself in the item it would have been easy to reply some days ago and arrange a deal before the Sunday listing, but instead you waited for the "public" notice giving yourself the same shot as everyone. I run into few gentlemen these days, and it is most refreshing to do so. R. Zelick ed) I walk a very narrow line here, it's often very hard to discern what is ethical or not, or what might be deemed taking unfair advantage. It is equally as hard to not just grasp the opportunity anyway. I am most delight to see that someone has noticed I try. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dayton SSTR-1, Dennis -- here is something for the group. Dayton was good this year. I found a complete WW2 spy set through a contact I made there -- the SSTR-1, with an SSR-1-G receiver, an SST-1-E transmitter, and an SSP-1-D power supply. I was sitting on the tailgate of my pickup in the flea market, selling stuff, when an older ham walked up and said that it looked like I liked old gear, so was I interested in a spy set? I asked what kind and he mumbled something, but I got his phone number. I called him that night and went to see it the next day. It is all in excellent unmodified original condition and the receiver works well. Haven't tried the transmitter yet. Later, I asked the seller (who once ran a radio gang on a destroyer) if he had offered it to anyone else. He said, just one other guy but he wasn't interested. So my luck was running right that day. If anybody has information about the SSTR-1, I'd like to get in touch with them. This set is a later model than the one pictured in Keith Melton's book and I'm trying to find out more about mine. Bill Strangfeld ed) you got my dander up now! I want it! It took us nearly a year to find an example of that radio for Jim Karlow to present to his father and the surviving members of the R & D teem that developed it. Other reports from Dayton are not as jubilant, and conflect, see tomorrows post for further input, all the reports are not in yet. If you have any, let us know. *********************************************** WHATSIT's; BB-54? Dennis, I am still unpacking and organizing my radios and parts after moving to a new home. I just run across two, new in boxes, WWII time, Signal Corps 2.0 volts rechargable batteries (BB-54-A). Do you know where they were used ? I bought them about 12-15 years ago and forgot about them. I have no need for them and make them available. Best regards, Vladimir Dvorkin KB9OLM ex. UA3ACR Your BB-54's were used to fire up many WW-II , and post WW-II radios and various other electronic gadgets including the PE-157(Pogo Stick supply), BC-728 receiver, the BC-1335(SCR-619) in it's portable mode, and a host of public address systems etc. Dennis --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Telefunken Tubes? am looking for info on telefunken type LS50 tubes. I have several new in boxes and I think they may be military. could you verify or comment please. any help will be appreciated. Thanks BOB Bob, I got no idea what you have, it's not my area of expertise. Maybe someone else can help. Please reply directly to Bob as he's not a group member, and I do not have his address on file. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Low On Material, The bellow was received from Bill Howard, Danny is an ex-member we will not discuss, "the below" Bill refers to is yesterdays(May 18) post which Bill forwarded to him. Danny, He must be getting low on material for the post. Read on Bill Howard ed) Well just what the hell did you find lacking? Was it the"ANNOUNCEMENTS"? Somethin don't agree with you here? We don't need a Manuals Day? Something wrong with the Group Want's/Trade's? Or was it "GSA AUCTION RESULTS"? I did the same thing last year, it was very well received and generated several weeks worth of discussion among our members, or is that not part of the game? Or possibly "SUCCESS, I'M FEELING MUCH BETTER NOW!" There was a moral to this story that abvious went right over your head. It was also my way of thanking people for their participation without being so obvious! Or was it the "HUMOR", shit, couldn't be that, you sent me a great deal of it. Running out of material? Maybe you'd like to set here for 5 hours EVERY day and contrive something to post, you want the job? It's open! If you have a problem with the post, anything it might contain, or this group, spell it out! I don't read minds, just printed mater, and lips, and I'm not very good at the later. Bill was sent this same message(plus a little) but declined to response. I, as always, implore group members to respond, or contribute in any way they can. I don't care what you send in, I can use about anything. One thing is definite, for this group to continue it's evolution, I must have input and support from it's members. But what to I do with Bill's above message? Dennis *********************************************** GEORGE NEEDS A T-827 MANUAL; Could you please post for me a want for a manual an or any assistance with a manual for a T827/URT transmitter. Thanks George\ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- George Your T-827 is actually part of, and the exciter to, the URT-23 transmitting set. I once was baby setter to 25 of these 24 hours a day. It's also part of the URC-35, and R-1051 family of equipment which also received a considerable amount of pampering at my hands. The combo URT-23/R-1051 was the mainstay Naval set in much the same way as the GRC-106 was to the Army. While I do have a manual for the URT-23 in my library, it's very thick, and I have no way of making copies. Perhaps a member can help out. Dennis *********************************************** HUMOR; WORLD IDEOLOGIES AS EXPLAINED BY REFERENCE TO COWS FEUDALISM You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk. PURE SOCIALISM You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you a glass of milk. FASCISM You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk. PURE COMMUNISM You share two cows with your neighbors. You and your neighbors bicker about who has the most "ability" and who has the most "need". Meanwhile, no one works, no one gets any milk and the cows die of starvation. RUSSIAN COMMUNISM You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the black market. PERESTROIKA You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the Mafia takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the "free" market. CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM You have to cows. The government takes both and drafts you. PURE DEMOCRACY You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk. REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk. BUREAUCRACY You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cow. CAPITALISM You don't have any cows. The bank will not lend you the money to buy cows because you don't have any cows to put up as collateral. PURE ANARCHY You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you. SURREALISM You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons. OLIMPICS-ISM You have two cows, one American, one Chinese. With the help of trilling violins and state of the art montage photography, John Tesh narrates the moving tale of how the Amercian cow overcame the agony of growing up in a suburb with (gasp) divorced parents, then mentions in passing that the Chinese cow was beaten every day by a tyrannical farmer and watched its parents butchered before its eyes. The American cow wins the competition, severely spraining an udder in a gritty performance, and gets a multi-million dollar contract to endorse Wheaties. The Chinese cow is led out of the arena and shot by Chinese government officials, though no one ever hears about it. McDonald's buys the meat and serves it hot and fast at its Beijing restaurant. CLINTON ADMINISTRATION-ISM Bill and Hillary Clinton have a cow. Republicans hear about it and demand a special investigator to inquire where they got the cow. Millions of tax-payer dollars are spent to find out that the Clintons got the cow from a farm that Republicans didn't already know about it. The Republicans are aghast and then try to take the cow away, so they can have the milk all for themselves.$ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With Viagra such a hit, Pfizer has announced a whole line of drugs oriented towards improving the performance of men in today's society.... DIRECTRA - a dose of this drug given to men before leaving on car trips caused 72 percent of them to stop and ask directions when they got lost, compared to a control group of 0.2 percent. PROJECTRA - Men given this experimental new drug were far more likely to actually finish a household repair project before starting a new one CHILDAGRA - Men taking this drug reported a sudden, over-whelming urge to perform more child-care tasks - especially cleaning up spills and little accidents. COMPLIMENTRA - In clinical trials, 82 percent of middle-aged men administered this drug noticed that their wives had a new hairstyle. Currently being tested to see if its effects extend to noticing new clothing, etc. BUYAGRA - Married and otherwise attached men reported a sudden urge to buy their sweeties expensive jewelry and gifts after talking this drug for only two days. Still to be seen: whether the drug can be continued for a period longer than your favorite store's return limit. NEGA-VIAGRA - Has the exact opposite effect of Viagra. Currently undergoing clinical trials on sitting U.S. presidents and former presidential wannabe's. NEGA-SPORTAGRA - This drug had the strange effect of making men want to turn off televised sports and actually converse with other family members. PRYAGRA - About to fail its clinical trial, this drug gave men in the test group an irresistible urge to dig into the personal affairs of other people. Note: Apparent over-dose turned three test subjects into special prosecutors. LIAGRA - This drug causes men to be less than truthful when being asked about their sexual affairs. Will be available Regular, Grand Jury and Presidential Strength versions. Just when you thought Viagra was the last word in new pharmaceuticals, along comes its antidote: NIAGRA (spelling intentional): One dose leads to the most spectacular falls in North America! *********************************************** (The preceding was a product of the"Military Collector Group Post", an international email magazine dedicated to the preservation of history and the equipment that made it. Unlimited circulation of this material is authorized so long as the proper credits to the original authors, and publisher are included. For more information conserning this group contact Dennis Starks at, military-radio-guy@juno.com) ***********************************************