[ARC5] Attitudes toward the value of old military radios

[Robert Eleazer]

I think the 1980's was something of the Golden Age for collecting the old treasures.  The stuff was considered to be pretty much useless junk by sane people and only a few of us certifiable lunatics were interested in it.  One ham friend introduced me to another ham at a swap meet by chuckling and saying "Wayne loves boatanchors." as if it was some kind of humorous affliction.  

A friend of mine gave me a mint condition BC-453, BC-454, BC-455, and three of the Navy 520-1.5 sets, one of which was pretty much unhacked.  I bought a 1.5-3 set missing covers and one tube at a ham swap meet for $1.50 (it worked fine when I replaced the tube) and a mint but somewhat corroded BC-453 for maybe $1.00.  I got a working LM freq meter for 50 cents, a gutted 5.3-7 transmitter and gutted BC-455 for maybe $2.00 total.  I bought an APR-4 tuning unit for $4.00 and was offered a complete set of such units for $10 - and turned it down (I was moving in the near future).

We were indeed lunatics back in the 80's - crazy for not getting more of such treasures.

Of course in the 90's I got an unhacked BC-453 and working PRC-25 for free as well as some old aircraft radios and a bunch of NIB tubes when a friend of mine cleaned out one of his deadbeat renter's storage unit.  In the 00's I got a free APR-4 with CV-253 when a friend cleaned out his aircraft hangar and I found a BC-620 sitting on the side of the road a block from my house with a "Free Take it" sign on it.

Yep, lunatics, all of us!

Wayne