[time-nuts] LORAN-C at MIT

[Jim Lux]

On 4/15/12 3:09 PM, lists at lazygranch.com wrote:
> It is all over in the bay area. When manufacturing got outsourced, so did the surplus.
>
> A lot of my lab is made up of Foothill and Livermore flea market purchases. (The local Metro PCS tech had the surplus Symetricomm and similar gear.) Foothiil begat the Lockheed parking lot which begat DeAnza. It is mostly junk.
>
> Livermore did good until the community college decided not to allow it to be hosted there. It was moved to a park and ultimately shut down.
>
> The TRW swapmeet is on my bucket list.


hmm.. it's not all that wonderful either..

Several problems

1) different processes at large companies that used to buy lots of 
equipment, and then keep it for a while.. now they contract it out to 
equipment rental places, so they don't have the gear on the books.  To 
the ultimate customer, it makes no difference.

2) a much more diverse and rich environment for used gear to flow into. 
  the internet has made it easier to put buyers and sellers together

3) different "surplus equipment" policies. along with #1, there's not as 
much company owned gear to be surplused, and the processes don't lend 
themselves to "Bob loading up the truck and taking it down to the 
swapmeet"  Various and sundry ethics rules prevent surplus sales to 
employees (to prevent declaring that brand new VNA as "surplus"). 
These days, often they will contract with somone to haul away scrap and 
surplus, and that contractor counts on a good mix of valuable and not so 
valuable.  (At JPL, dumpster diving is a definite no-no)

4) less "user serviceable" stuff in general.  If it breaks, it's scrap, 
not repairable.