[rescue] Commodore and other kit

[Nadine Miller]

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 14, 2008 at 06:07:50PM -0800, Nadine Miller wrote:
>> All right guys, I have a bunch of my dad's computer and electronic stuff 
>> to put up for sale since he passed away last month and my mom and 
>> brothers just aren't interested in these things.
> 
> I'm sorry to hear that, my condolences.

Thanks for your thoughts, Geoff, and everyone else who has offered their 
condolences.  He passed away in his sleep after a struggle with 
Parkinson's disease and progressive super nuclear cerebral palsy.  It 
was a bit unexpected, but after talking with my mom, I think he'd 
declined further in the last 6 months than she had let on.

> What a haul, almost enough stuff to start a museum. :-)

Yeah, he kept a lot of things.  Fortunately at least half of it is 
well-inventoried.

> This stuff is worth a fortune. Not only are there Heathkit collectors,
> lots of people still use and love these things. I think you would be
> best off locating a Heathkit user's mailing list and posting it there.
> The worst place to sell it would be eBay, they would be stripped for
> parts. :-(

Pointers to such a mailing list?  Someone on list has spoken for the 
Grid Dip Meter--he wants it for his business--which says something about 
it's reliability.

> I recently was given one for free. Still usefull. There was problem
> with them if you left them in the cradle and it was connected to the
> computer. In 24 hours it would drain your batteries. There is a 
> simple mod to fix it, and the next owner would probably want to
> do it. 
> 
> The latest version of Palm Desktop will work with it,
> and it's a free download. It works fine with Windows XP/SP2,
> if you turn on serial port hotsyncing, which is off by default.
> That one perplexed me for hours. :-)

Yep.  I actually gave this to him some years ago when I switched to a 
color Handspring.  He upgraded to the Tungsten early last year, and used 
it when he was in the hospital after cracking some ribs from a fall 
(both diseases are hell on your balance).

>> I think that's all the major stuff, though I'm still doing research on a 
>> couple of pieces as far as pricing (like a pristine TI calculator that 
>> has programming *cards* and a National NC109 shortwave receiver).
> 
> The 109 is another hot item. DO NOT try to use it, if it has not
> been used recently or "restored", it will be damaged.
> 
> If the receiver looks new or very close to it, Joe Walsh (yes,
> that Joe Walsh) might be interested in it. He buys mint condition
> National ham gear for top dollar. He has an assistant who travels
> the country looking at it, so in effect, he would come to you, if
> there was real interest.

It's pristine, and still in the bank of radios he kept on his desk 
(while his big console CB+sideband radio had been relegated to the 
basement).  I don't know if it has been turned on recently, though.  I 
know it's not restored.  There's a Bearcat scanner and Realistic DX-300 
in there with it.  I'm actually interested in possibly keeping the 109 
myself, but that'll be up to Mom when we find out the value.  My big 
thing is that I don't want this good stuff just to be trashed.  My mom 
really doesn't understand why anyone would collect it so she just 
doesn't relate to my wanting to spend the time sorting the wheat from 
the chaff.

He tried to learn Morse code several times that I remember, but never 
got his ham license.  After reading a lot of his writing, and looking at 
his report cards (yeah, a lot of stuff!), I think he had dyslexia, which 
probably hampered him learning Morse even further.

I'll search around on the ham Usenet feeds, I appreciate the pointer.

I'll take some pictures of his set up in the computer room and post them 
up in my gallery later.

Oh, there's also Hammond organ parts, and a functioning organ too 
(haven't gotten it moved to check the model number yet), if any of you 
are interested in that kind of thing or know someone who is.

=Nadine=