[ARC5] The value of MO and PA tank components.

[AKLDGUY .]

On 3/25/16, Tim <timsamm at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Neil - sounds like a similar story on my end - 1961 ARRL Handbook
> "Conversion" of a 5.3 - 7 mc set.
>
> Just curious how you and the VK's found the local "surplus scene" back
> then.  Was there good availability of WWII gear in your local areas?
> 73, Tim
> N6CC
>


Hi Tim
I can speak only for ZL, not VK.
In the mid-late 60s in ZL, a mix of SCR-274-N, ATA, AN/ARC-5:

Transmitters:
3.0 - 4.0, 4.0 - 5.3 Mc/s
Receivers:
190-550 Kc/s, 3.0 - 6.0, and 6.0 - 9.1 Mc/s
All were common and even today are occasionally advertised on
local auction sites. Most have been modified and are nowhere
near pristine. The 5.3 - 7.0 and 7.0 - 9.1 Mc/s transmitters seemed
less common but were available.

By common, I mean that newspaper classifieds sometimes listed
such items, so I would watch the ads.

I have never seen a transmitter or receiver of any other range than
those, but a BCB receiver in battered and modified shape turned
up on a local auction site a few months ago.

Dynamotors: rare, but nobody wanted them anyway.

Modulators: almost unheard of. I never saw a modulator or even
parts of one until visiting the Museum of Transport and Technology
(MOTAT) in Auckland in about 2000 and saw their complete demo
setup. An MD-7 complete and in very good condition turned up in a
local auction site a few months ago. I bidded up to $140 but some
other guy was prepared to go higher and won.

Antenna relay/RF ammeter: the occasional one, but again, nowhere
near as many as would be expected, considering the number of RF
units.

Mounting hardware: almost unheard of, nobody wanted it anyway.

SCR-183 / BC-230 transmitter - purchased in circa 1968 for I think
two dollars - about $33 today. I disliked the thumbwheel tuning for
rapid frequency changes and couldn't figure out how to solve the
directly heated filament circuit problem, so rebuilt it in a radical
mod for a 5W CW contest.

There was a very large US military presence here in ZL during
WW2. The policy may have been to sell milsurplus off to the NZ
government at the end of hostilities rather than ship it back to the
US.

Over the years I've seen various items, such as a great looking
Bendix RA-1B receiver, complete, undamaged, no paint chips, and
unmodified. Have kicked myself ever since for not paying the $40.

73 de Neil ZL1ANM