[ARC5] Attitudes toward the value of old military radios

[Don Merz via ARC5]

No more--or at least rarely. eBay has made "value" a publicly-known bit of knowledge for everything. 
It used to be the rule was that a thing was worth what someone will pay for it. It's still true. But thanks to eBay, now everyone KNOWS what someone will pay for it. That part used to be private information between the buyer and the seller. Now it is public knowledge. 

Yes, those days are gone.
73 de N3RHT



________________________________
 From: Robert Eleazer <releazer at earthlink.net>
To: arc5 at mailman.qth.net 
Sent: Tuesday, September 30, 2014 5:22 PM
Subject: Re: [ARC5] Attitudes toward the value of old military radios
 

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          
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