[ARC5] Can yoiu say...

Tue Jun 13 17:27:28 EDT 2017

Mike,

I agree that Electronics value is unusual.

Collectors pay in the thousands for vintage TVs, one of many examples is the RCA TRKs and TTs.

You see, the value of a piece electronics goes down over time toward some sunk cost until there becomes a vintage collectors market then the price turns and goes way up.

Audiophiles have driven up prices for almost every tube guitar amplifier or tube power amplifier  and many tube receivers. Brands like McIntosh, Pioneer, Kenwood are catching hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Audiophiles have likewise driven up the prices of certain vacuum tubes almost to the point that many Hams can not afford them.

Collectible Ham gear has doubled or tripled above their original List price over time. The Hallicrafters SR-2000 is one of many examples.

My point about the escalation factor was what $79 paid back in the day meant to the typical Ham. Dollars were scarce to come buy and hard earned. The escalation shows what those hard earned dollars represent today.

Also, there is the issue of comparison of technologies. The state of the art radio in 1950, as to pricing, should compare to the state of the art radio of today. Through escalation we see a reasonable relationship.

There are obviously a lot of variables to consider. I was only making a generic statement about what $79 dollars in the past represented in dollars today. Being a former Cost Engineer dragged me into this discussion.

Oh well...

Phillip

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 13, 2017, at 4:58 PM, Michael Clarson <wv2zow at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Phillip: CPI and other price indicators are used to indicate what things would cost today, but we are speaking of electronics which does not track with these indicators. For example, a 21" table top color TV in 1959 was about $500, and, when the last of the CRT sets were being sold, a 19" Table Top (WITH UHF) typically sold for $49. 
> The $500 TV would cost almost $3000 in year 2000 dollars, but, working backwards, the $49 TV from year 2000 would cost $8.42 in 1959 dollars. Electronics is an exception. The calculator I used is at https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl . ---Mike, WV2ZOW
> 
>> On Tue, Jun 13, 2017 at 12:51 PM, Phillip Carpenter <carpenterpa at tds.net> wrote:
>> It is interesting to note that $79 in 1950 escalates to $801.55 in 2017 using inflation escalation factors.
>> 
>> Phillip W4RTX 
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Jun 13, 2017, at 12:38 PM, J Mcvey via ARC5 <arc5 at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
>>> 
>>> The thing is, the command set transmitters worked fine in their original state.
>>> So the question is WHY did they go so crazy on the thing.
>>> 
>>> I suspect it was a lack of information and those "converting surplus" books. 
>>> Did people know that they were designed for low Z capacitive loads back in the day? 
>>> Maybe they got frustrated trying to load into their 300 or 600 ohm ladder line, so they started hacking it up without really knowing what they were doing.
>>> However this guy went above and beyond the point of absurdity. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Tuesday, June 13, 2017 11:23 AM, Kenneth G. Gordon <kgordon2006 at frontier.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 13 Jun 2017 at 7:22, DSP3 wrote:
>>> 
>>> > have to agree with Robert, in part.  If one does a value of money 
>>> > comparison, the $79 BC-348 in 1950 could cost over $500 dollars in 
>>> > today's environment.  Exceptions, of course... the new 50-cent J-38 
>>> > would be about $10 today.  I wish.....  So, things weren't as cheap as 
>>> > they appear.
>>> 
>>> Absolutely correct. When we "correct for inflation", the cost of everything works out to be far 
>>> above what a 13 year old kid could afford.
>>> 
>>> I know I sure couldn't.
>>> 
>>> Thinking back on it, it amazes me that we did so much with what we had.
>>> 
>>> Like my first "good" receiver was a Hallicrafters S-41G which a sub-contractor for my 
>>> step-father's construction company found abandoned in the basement of the home he moved 
>>> into.
>>> 
>>> I worked the world with that thing,(after fixing it) and a DX-35 I bought after working all one 
>>> summer as a water-boy on one of my step-father's jobs.
>>> 
>>> I have an S-41G now and cannot understand how I did it. The thing is unstable, insensitive, 
>>> uncalibrated (the entire 20 meter band covers something like 1/8" on the dial) and essentially 
>>> a real piece of junk.
>>> 
>>> I would have been in ham heaven if I had had a BC-454 or BC-455.
>>> 
>>> Finally, my Mother took pity on me and managed to buy a very lightly modified (added power 
>>> supply) BC-348 very cheaply from one of my Elmers to which he had added a BC-946B 
>>> "Q-5er". Then I really WAS in ham heaven.
>>> 
>>> I eventually traded that back to my Elmer for a brand-new RAL-7 because I wanted to be able 
>>> to work 15 meters. I came to love that receiver.
>>> 
>>> I have at least 50 "ARC-5" receivers now, all of which have been "hacked" mostly to ribbons. 
>>> Yet every one of those I have "attacked" can be made to work at least as well as they 
>>> originally did, although none are, in my opinion, restorable to original condition.
>>> 
>>> The only transmitters I have, with one exception, have also been hacked to ribbons and I 
>>> cannot see how even one ever was used on the air.
>>> 
>>> The single exception is one of those ARC-5 transmitters which cover 2.1 - 3.0 MHz. I have no 
>>> idea where I got it. That one hasn't been touched, and it won't be touched by me.
>>> 
>>> Ken W7EKB
>>> 
>>> ---
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>>> 
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