[Milsurplus] Radios, etc. in the movie business

[W2HX]

Apparently ElDim still exists...
https://www.ebay.com/itm/168025458934






73 Eugene W2HX/4
My Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@w2hx/videos





________________________________
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net <milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net> on behalf of Hubert Miller <Kargo_cult at msn.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2025 12:15 AM
To: Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net <Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Radios, etc. in the movie business

>I have a brother in law who is a Master Sgt and lives in Albuquerque. He took me on a trip of the antique/junk malls in ABQ and we ended up in a place that was absolutely full of old 40s, 50s, and 60s tech stuff.

I'm sure that a lot of it came from Los Alamos, but there was a considerable amount of commo gear as well as old test instrumentation.

The prices were ridiculous - like hundreds of dollars for an old
AN/USM-140 (HP) boatanchor scope.  I questioned the guy about the prices and he just shrugged.  Turns out, ABQ is the shoot location for a lot of old WWII movies and other period films.  The studio people come in, spend thousands upon thousands of dollars for old Army green and Navy gray boatanchors, use them for a scene or two, then either dump them in the landfill or take them back where they got them, get pennies on the dollar.  And the guy puts them on the shelf ready for the next buyer.  The studios just write it off as the cost of doing business.

Moral of the story:  Don't ever try to buy an old boatanchor in a movie town junk store!

>Mike Harmon, WB0LDJ

I have a story. I don't think either of the principals is a reader of this group. I hope not, but on the other hand, i don't interact with them, so who cares ?
The fellow told me he was browsing at this store in Tacoma, WA, 'Electronic Dimensions'. He found something he liked and took it up to the front counter.
G., who owned the store, was up there and said, "Oh, no, this is not for sale", even tho it was out on the shelves like everything else. An employee of G.'s
was also up near the front of the store. G. went to the back to attend to something else, and the employee said, "Okay, i can sell this to you now". So the
transaction was done. G. i'm sure, was none the wiser, and never missed the item. There also was a folk rumor that developed over time, that Dimensions
was just a place for G. to display his collection. There was some kind of regrade of the neigborhood and either the rent was massively raised or the building
was razed - i guess i need to nail down that part of the story - but Dimensions is no longer there. This event i chronicle was about 5 years ago.
-Hue Miller
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