This really is an interesting topic...I regret that I have not seen it before now.
My explanation has to start with "why I am doing what I am doing NOW!"
Many of you may have heard me say this before... so I am going to shorten it.
Being schooled in electronics back in the mid-70s, working in DIGITAL electronics for about 8 years then switching over to operating system software for the rest of my career... I desperately want to get back into my old electronics now that I am approaching retirement. I am really working to understand radio repair and alignment and become good at it.
To that end, I am (for one thing) collecting bench test equipment. Typically I stick to used things that I find on the market. Nothing really expensive or fancy BUT... things that will help me do the work right. (100 Mhz scope, 500 Mhz spectrum analyzer, 1.3 Ghz Freq Counter, VTVM, 500 Mhz AM/FM modulating RF signal generator, Sinaddr meter, a few power supplies, signal tracer, cap checker, audio signal generator).
At the same time I am collecting ANY radio that I can find that is reasonably priced without A TON of regard for it's condition. Meaning... if it works... fine. If it works poorly... fine. If it lights up but no RX and/or TX.... fine. Turn the switch and literally nothing happens... fine.
As I get into retirement... I will have something to do. Go through them all and put them in as goo a shape as I can get them. If I had to state a goal... it would be to make every radio I have work to the best of it's capability then document it, catalog it, box it up and "go to the next one".
I will of course... have what I CAN have at the time for a station set up.
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So now, to the question, what to do with all of that?
Well I have ONE son (three sons altogether but the other two are not interested in radios, electronics, electronic repair... or anything like it!) that is into radio. He is not technically trained. He IS an electrician by trade... but no electronics training. He is currently an amateur radio geek.... "General Class"... so he has had to study enough to pass the tests.
If I am lucky I'd like to have this son spend some time with me on a few repair jobs (One... is indeed... his OWN President Washington... 858 chassis) and just kind of use HIM as a sounding board. Mostly.... just to feed him what I know about radios.... and just give him a little better understanding.
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So I would imagine that, when my time comes to "kick the bucket through the uprights"... I will be leaving a) a pile of test equipment that is so old that it won't be worth a tremendous lot, and b) a pile of radios .... as many working as I can manage... but I only have a couple that anyone would consider "desirable". I further imagine though... that the hobby will (for the most part) decline a little further... to where very few if any of the radios are worth anything to anyone.
That said, I will probably leave all of this stuff to Tim to do with as he wishes. But...in honesty.... I don't really have a strong attachment to "things" beyond my life. As far as any of my sons go... I don't "tie" their thoughts on me.... to how they manage my belongings once I am gone. They can keep them, they can sell them.... I HAD my fun with them. And as I say.... the pile I leave... isn't going to be worth a lot in the monetary sense....so... dead honest... I don't care what they do with it.