The discussion of the Technical Material Corp. price list and the GPR-90
reminds me of when I sold my GPR-90RX, as part of an interesting story you
might enjoy.
A fellow in Philadelphia had the receiver, source unknown, and it was a
hardship sale for not much money. He was a butcher by trade, and was either
laid-off or divorcing or some sort of household drama. A friend of mine at the
time who had business in Philly went and retrieved it for me, and described a
filthy apartment in a bad section of town with pieces of cardboard box on the
floor as carpeting. Ugh.
Anyway, eventually got it home and cleaned it up, mostly a re-tube and
washdown, and it worked as well as it was supposed to. But I was disappointed
that there was only one really useful selectivity setting, the LC-determined
10Kc position, which was not helpful during congested evenings before the 75m
phone band was expanded and many of us on AM migrated "down low" toward 3725Kc
here on the East Coast.
So I wanted to place the receiver in a good home, not make a potential killing
on a price markup, but rather to obtain just enough to cover the cost of a
Hammarlund SP600 JX-17 that I had already purchased as its successor. And I
listed the GPR on the TMC Reflector after feeling out the market and telling
the enthusiasts over there that I intended to be picky about the buyer.
OH, forgot to say, I had the GSB-1 adapter, that apparently allows you to use
this receiver on SSB. I don't understand why anyone would want to do that
(listen to SSB on a vintage receiver meant for AM), but I later learned it's
worth more than the GPR-90. When I got the two units, I put the adapter out in
the back shed and never plugged it in. Certainly didn't want to keep it, so I
simply wanted to throw it in with the receiver.
There was a guy in South Carolina who had a hard-on for the receiver/adapter
even before I listed it, back when I only was fishing for market value and
looking for the kind of home that did not involve a speculator, someone who
would flip this thing for commerce rather than USE it as an enthusiast. And
this guy was lurking as someone who wanted to make some money on it.
Eventually someone came along and paid me the money, and it was a local
delivery (back to the Philly area, it turns out), and I told the list I had
found a good home for it.
Well, by the torrent of emails that followed, this guy who was fishing acted as
if I had backed out of a deal with him and took his money and kept the
receiver. He said HE was the first to respond (he wasn't, and he didn't fit my
stated preference for a buyer), and that his persistence should have been
rewarded and how dare I try to select among people if they had the money and
wanted to buy.
I was tempted, but never let him have it, that HE was just the kind of person I
wanted to avoid selling to.
He's still out there, and keep him and his attitude in mind if you're ever in
the market.
Whew.
Paul/VJB
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