[ARC5] dying hobby?

[Hubert Miller]

I went to an auction last March, 2023, and there was a table with military radios. I only attended because of that and mainly,
truthfully, to obstruct a possible clean sweep by a military vehicle collector with a "buy low - sell high retail" modus. As it turns
out, said person did not attend. There were several of the old FM rigs, not much else. But the prices were dirt cheap, like $5 a 
"unit". A couple of the BC-640 ?? FM tank transmitters went for $5 each, maybe less. Only one person and I were bidding, and
i simply did not want to deal with those transmitters, deal with weight and the hassle of turning them over. I did buy a couple
of the BC-659 transceivers with the vibe PS attached below. These looked pretty good to me but after winning them i had more
time to inspect, and they looked less pretty than a photo quality. There was some light rust on surfaces and, this surprised me,
old CB license numbers done on Dymo tape. So both had been converted to AM for 11 meters. OH but worst the original 
antenna mount for the AN-29-C had been removed and a Motorola ( i think it's called ) antenna socket installed. This is 
practically non reversible. I do plan or at least hope to try them on CB or at least see how the work was done, what kind of
crystal was installed and so on. If you have these WBFM sets and like them, you *can* convert them to AM, but....of course
it is a bunch of work, i think mainly in the receiver where you have to de-load the IF cans. But it can and has been done. I 
suppose i'll have to try to find some buyer interested in vintage CB after i've done with them. Too much other stuff on my  
plate and anyway, limited channel crystal control equipment doesn't appeal to me that much. The only WBFM equipment 
that gets my eye is the SCR-808 is it? the one with the receiver with like 4 tuning dials for the different channels. At the same
auction i got a BC-1206 receiver with 2 additional tubes added very neatly to the rear of the compartment, BUT a hot chassis
wonder, which i will give away; an APS-13 which feels like it has been emptied out; and about 3 Command Sets transmitters
in various states of hacked. Otherwise i bought a signal generator and a Sprague cap checker, so i did have a good time without
spending big money.
But back to the message: yes, you can get the old 9 meter band WBFM equipment to work today.

There is another auction in Portland this August 26 of ex military equipment, like RBS RBM RCH SLR-H SP-200 LP-5, nothing 
lighter. I don't know if this is an open to nonmembers auction but if someone else wants to go, i can ask. I am interested in the
outcome, the closing prices but i think, not enough to actually attend, as i cannot and do not want to acquire anything in that
category. I still need to drop a lot before i get to my ideal "weight". 

OH i just remembered one more FM set that i think is interesting, or thought it was interesting...the BC-500 FM transceiver, 
an all-in-one cabinet, for MP vehicles and such. But you never see these. I think is was a predecessor of the multichannel 
separates. 
-Hue Miller