[ARC5] Can yoiu say...

Tue Jun 13 17:36:01 EDT 2017

Phillip: Collectibles -- we are shifting categories. You are correct, as
there are many factors in play -- 1959 electronics was built using labor
intensive point to point wiring, while modern stuff is made almost entirely
automated including alignment! I guess the best way to sum it up is "that
as then, and  this is now". --73, Mike, WV2ZOW

On Tue, Jun 13, 2017 at 5:27 PM, Phillip Carpenter <carpenterpa at tds.net>
wrote:

> 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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