Friday, May 06, 2011

Actual eBay Happening

I bid on an interesting ham transceiver and won -- I was looking for spare parts for a nearly-identical one I own (TenTec 540, a/k/a Triton IV, for the hams reading) but it may be fixable.

Noticed the item was located here in Indy, so when I paid online, I dropped the guy a note suggesting I might be able to pick it up if he wasn't on the far side of town, and signed with my ham callsign.

Reply: "I work about two miles from your home address. I brought the transceiver with me today, to ship on my way home. Do you want to stop by or shall I?"

I motorscootered* over and picked it up a couple hours later. He refunded the shipping.
______________________
* And it conked out on me as I rounded the second-to-last last corner for home: the battery has died and with a funky battery, low rpms and the brake and turn blinker going, it ran out of juice. Started right up when I shut the extras down but I bought a new battery and it's on tomorrow's agenda. Shame on me, I knew it wasn't taking much of a charge but assumed it was because I hadn't ridden much.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a small world after all.

There, I just simultaneously left a topical remark, and gave your ears diabetes.

Jim

Keads said...

Excellent! I am truly sorry but I am not a ham. Please forgive me.

I do however revel in anyone's acquisition of something they find interesting.

I have no room for a SLC-96 rack!

Ritchie said...

Congrats on the find. You might want to make sure the scooter is putting more current into the battery than it takes out. Smaller cycles tend to have minimalist charging systems, which tend toward funky design. Typically, turning on the lights will also activate an additional alternator winding, etc.

Roberta X said...

Keads: There's no requirement one need an amateur radio license to be an alpha geek, y'know.

Ritchie: I couldn't put enough of a charge in it with a regular charger to start the engine, either.

Eck! said...

Congrats on the Tentec. Great radio and an easy one to keep going.

I have a few 1208 transverters (20m to 6)
and my mainstay VHF radio is a TT 526 for 6 and 2M, I'm primarily a phone op but for contests the key is there and the TT QSK is appreciated.

Eck! ditdit

Drang said...

I did the same, back about the time I started blogging, only with a Yaesu.

We used to tell newbies in Korea there was a law you had to douse your headlights at a stoplight. Some made up elaborate stories why. In reality, of course, it is only recently that the cars they were driving had powerful enough alternators that the batteries didn't drain while idling. I understand this is actually a common problem in, um, "second-and-a-half-world" nations.

Meanwhile, this morning I stepped on an old, stray rank pin I had no idea I still had. OUCH!!!