[ARC5] Re: [Milsurplus] Note Epay item 250188239984 (T-16/ARC-5)

[Mike Morrow]

> Check this out gang Epay item 250188239984
> Holy cow.

Why the "holy cow" surprise?

The T-15, T-16, and T-17/ARC-5 MF transmitters have in the past brought as much as $2600 each on ebay.  They are rather rare, and not much is documented about their intended purpose.  The maintenance manual for the AN/ARC-5 simply states that they are "not ordinarily supplied."  

A T-17 went for about $400 on ebay a couple of years ago, but that was unusually low.  I think that typical ebay prices are somewhat excessive, but Max's starting bid for this unit is *very* reasonable.

I have a T-16 in my collection purchased for $10 at the Warren, Ohio, hamfest 25 years ago.  I had never seen one of this series before that.  All that I've seen have been in new, never used, condition, which is an indication that this series likely saw little or no service use.  That greatly reduces the interest level for me.

We can complain and smirk and guffaw about ebay prices, but ebay has been the best resource ever invented for those trying to assemble in detail complete equipments of this sort.  I made more progress in five years of ebay toward completing AN/ARC-1, -2, -3, -4, -5, -8, -25, -27, -38, SCR-183, -269-G, -274-N, -284, -287-A, -288, -508, -522-A, ABK, ARB, ATD, RA-10/TA-12, and other sets than I'd made in the 30 years previous, even with yearly visits to the Dayton fleamarket.  Ebay has saved a lot of this gear from the landfills.

It helps if postings about ebay items contain the name of the item, which I've added to the subject line.

Mike / KK5F