[ARC5] Prices in "ye goode olde dayes"

[Mike Morrow]

Even in relatively "modern" (from my perspective) times, new equipment prices
for even modest gear were always high.  The first new commercial ham rig I could
afford came well after college, following promotion to LTJG in the USN.  This
gave me the wealth to buy a HW-101 kit at a Heath store for $440.  That's almost
$1800 in 2012, and does not include the 400 Hz crystal filter, the HP-23 AC power
supply, the microphone, the speaker, and taxes.  (Heath stores generally charged
about ten percent more than the mail catalog.)

I still have it all today.  I need to break it out of storage...I love the
glow and warmth of the tubes.  My old HW-101 kit remains the most expensive
radio set that I ever bought or will ever buy, in terms of dollar buying power.

>> To put it bluntly, amateur radio today is CONSIDERABLY cheaper than in the 
>> "goode olde dayes"!

The same applies to most of the military surplus gear that was being sold 
"at such cheap prices" for 30 years after WWII.  That "cheap" used $80 BC-348-*
sold by Fair Radio in 1965 equates to more than $585 today.

Of course, one thing missing today is the massive and little-controlled freebie
program run by Army and Air Force MARS in the 1950s and 1960s.  :-)

Mike / KK5F
ex-Navy/Marine Corps MARS N0LTD, ex-Army MARS AAT6UI