[Hallicrafters] Just a thought

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Why would anyone want to 'restore' a piece of vintage gear using original
capacitors and resistors instead of 'modern' ones? 	
	
Let's be frank about this restoration business: The majority of collectors have
no idea what original truly was or is. A small percentage do know precisely what
was there, how it functioned, how to repair it and so forth. These are the vast
minority, not the majority. Most collectors jus tlike the equipment and enjoy
using it or decorating their shelves with it. They are more concerned about it
working, than whether or not the BFO knob has precisely the correct factory
original shade of gray on it.	
	
Old equipment is still old, no matter what you do to it cosmetically or
electrically. Unless, of course, you do a chassis off total restoration. Which
is anything but cost effective! Most people are not going to pay for a piece of
gear that is restored to the precise factory original specifications
electrically. It is way the heck too much money to spend. If you are capable of
doing the work yourself, and let us be honest here, most of us are not!, then
you could invest the many many hours of time into a rig to get it back to
precise factory specifications. You could afford to locate original parts, if
you did not have to pay $30+ per hour for electrical work to somebody else.	
	
This is a circular argument, they go nowhere. People would rather have a nice
set at a affordable price, than a factory original set at an outrageous price.
If you have what you want, who gives a Rat's rump hairs what somebody else
thinks? As long as you are happy with it, that is all that matters. For the most
part, don't waste the money restoring a set to factory original condition,
unless you intend to keep it forever, you are not likely to ever get out of it
what you have invested if you try to sell it.    	
	
Duane W8DBF 

----------
From: Mark Bell <bell at blazenet.net>
To: Glen Zook <gzook at yahoo.com>; ATanner283 at aol.com;
hallicrafters at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Hallicrafters] Just a thought
Date: Sunday, January 27, 2002 6:04 PM

> Are you going to actually restore the equipment (that
> means using ORIGINAL type parts, taking the unit back
> to what it was when it shipped from the factory) or
> are you going to repair / update the unit with modern,
> more reliable, parts?

> Many amateurs think that
> repairing the unit with modern parts is restoring,
> but, that is definitely not the case!  A restored set
> often does not perform as well as one that has been
> modified/repaired with modern components.  But, a
> restored set is worth more money to a collector.

It depends on your definition of restoration, and the intent of
your restoration.   If your intent is to have a radio to maximize
the monetary value of the radio to a collector, then your "original"
restoration makes sense.

Most hams do what I call "operational" restoration.  They want
the radio on the air, safe, and dependable.   I believe the dependability
requirements for ham radios is much more stringent than for BC
radios.

I know of very few (if any) hams that would care if the Mallory caps
in my HT-32 bias circuit were original,  original case stuffed with new
caps,
or just new capacitors.  From a dependability point of view,  I'd definitely
rather NOT have original Mallory's,  and since I'm not interested in my
radios from a collector value point of view,  taking the extra time to
stuff the cases with new parts isn't worth the time, especially since
no one is ever going to look under the chassis.

Now, doing work on the top of the chassis which is visible is another
story, and I'd be more inclined to do an "original" restoration in those
areas.

So, I submit, the rational for doing "original" or "operational" resorations
depends on why you're doing the work.   As I pointed out in a previous
post on this issue,  I would not personally do something to a radio that
would upgrade it with modern parts that could not be reversed to do
a future "original" restoration.

While most of the BC guys I know do "original" restorations, and their work
is to be admired,  both "original" and "operational" restorations are in
fact restorations in their on light.

73 Mark K3ZX





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