Repair, Recycle -- Reuse

     Both of my parents were Depression babies.  I grew up conserving, re-using, repairing, and when "recycling" came along, it fit right in: don't trash what can become raw material all over again!  Use that stuff  'til it wears out, and then see what it can become next.

     In practice, it can be a little tricky, and while I sort and save fastening hardware at home, my work can't afford to be paying me to sift through old nuts and bolts (and so on) when there's actual stuff that needs to get done.  (I do maintain a semi-sorted "junk pile" at the transmitter, in as good order as can be managed in a hurry.  Old habits die hard, and it's been useful many times.)

     One of the more difficult items to dispose of properly are well-used TV microwave trucks.  By the time we're done with them, they're full of holes (mostly specialized access hatches), with generators too big for an RV and a distinct lack of beds and kitchens.  They're also high-mileage; okay for knocking around town, maybe not so great for traveling across the continent.

     But thanks to a blog-reader, I've found one group that can use them: volunteer ham radio emergency communications organizations.  In addition to the generator, the trucks have a pneumatic mast, and old ones become a maintenance issue that most TV stations no longer have the staff or spare time to mess with.  But hams do -- and many of them like to tinker.  One such organization in Colorado is making good use of old TV vans.