General > General Technical Chat
What happens to my test and measurement devices if something happens to me?
luudee:
--- Quote from: RK_aus_S on November 09, 2023, 12:48:30 pm ---
Sure, a last will.
But my question would be, how do I find institutions in need - worldwide?
I can't pass the whole thing on to my son or any friends and relatives, they can't do anything with it.
I'm pretty sure that there would probably be many, many schools, educational institutions, etc. that would be grateful for an oscilloscope, power supplies, etc....
--- End quote ---
Roman,
Why do you want to look world-wide ? Look at your equipment, specially the older items.
Think about how much they weight, and what a logistical nightmare it would be to ship
those items all over the world. And remember the recipients (possibly poor) still have to
pay import duties on those items.
Find a local school or college, and tell your wife to donate everything to that place.
Perhaps you have local friends who are in this field as well, you could ask them to
distribute your stuff as you want to !
I'm donating it all to my best friend, he'll decide what to do, lol
Good Luck, and don't worry too much !
rudi
Stray Electron:
--- Quote from: RK_aus_S on November 09, 2023, 12:48:30 pm ---
Sure, a last will.
But my question would be, how do I find institutions in need - worldwide?
--- End quote ---
Institutions??? You'll be fortunate to find an individual that will take your old TE. Institutions (other than perhaps a museum) don't want old TE, particularly that from an untested and uncertified source.
I just picked up an entire carful of old TE from an estate a few weeks ago, everything that I got was very high end HP, Fluke and Tektronix gear but no one else locally wanted it. We literally filled a 28 foot truck with the rest of it and we took that to a large local hamfest but almost none of that sold. We literally paid more to rent the truck and rest the parking spot at the HF than we earned from the sales.
If you want your TE to go to new homes world wide or even country wide, then you need to put it on E-bay or list it on one of the TE specific forums and you need to be willing and able to pack and ship it. Not something that most estate administrators are willing to do or that they have the time and ability to do, so unless someone is willing to sell it locally for what-ever you can get for it or just give it away locally then most old TE ends up in the trash.
There was a thread on here a few months ago from someone in Virginia that was trying to dispose of some very nice TE but it didn't sound like he was having much luck. No one was willing to drive 800 or 900 miles or more to get it and he didn't want to deal with shipping.
Arguably the best way to dispose of old TE is for the owner to rehome it while he is still able to. But I for one, don't intend to part with any of mine until I'm dead and gone. My children have no interest in my TE so unless they can give it away locally and someone will come and get it immediately, most of it will probably go into a dumpster.
tom66:
Look for local hacker/makerspaces with electronics divisions, put a clause in your will that any test equipment (you may want to define exactly what, like model numbers) is to be donated free of charge to this institution.
You don't need a lawyer to draft a will in most countries, as long as it's straighforward. There's the famous case of the farmer who was crushed under his own tractor, who died as a result of the accident whilst pinned down for hours. Before he passed, he scraped into the metal of the tractor "In case I die in this mess I leave all to the wife. Cecil Geo Harris". The will was upheld in court. https://romanosumner.com/blog/holographic-will/
madires:
After an old friend died I helped the widow to clean out his ICT collection and to clean up a few internet related things (he did run a few servers). We sorted his collection into differents piles: stuff for family members, e-waste, things to sell, stuff for me and things too good to throw away. The latter pile was given to a local repair cafe which happily took everyhing.
Dan N:
With old tube based equipment there's 100x more people that will pay a few bucks for the tubes and leave the now worthless equipment behind. I can't blame relatives for taking the first cash offer.
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