[Hallicrafters] Re: Investing nonsense

[kiyoinc at attglobal.net]

Todd KA1KAQ wrote:

> Oh? Tell that to the folks who have paid $22-$27K in the recent past
> for a Collins KW-1, $6-$9K for a 30K, or $7-$10K for a Halli SX-88.

OK

youse guys, Bob Sullivan and the others, the prices of your treasures 
should go even higher.

> Wanna bet that the folks paying big bucks for this other dumb
> collectible stuff would shake their heads and say "That's nuts, paying
> $5000 for an old microwave oven-looking thing"? Because I can assure
> you from experience, to people who have no knowledge of or interest in
> radio, that's exactly what our treasures are: old appliances, broken
> toasters, ugly gray dishwashers or black refrigerators.

They can say that and they would be wrong.  Those people are all around 
me here, dumb yup-boomers, I call them. Their stainless steel appliances 
and granite counter tops are tomorrow's Avocado refrigerators and orange 
shag carpets.  They have no taste, not even in their mouths.

They buy what others tell them to buy, whether it's a ceramic pig or a 
Fada Catalin radio.  Neither interests me.

75S-1 serial number 55, on the other hand, is one of the 1st run of the 
1st S-Line product.  Before the 75S-1, radios looked as they did in the 
30's, 40's, and 50's.  After the 75S-1, radio's look different.

Not in my lifetime but in the next 50 or so years, these will be 
priceless.  I think the 100 year point will tell the tale.

> Actually, it was a consumer product that was used for Military
> service. Not that Art's crew wasn't considering the possibilities to
> start with. But if you research the earliest information, manuals,
> etc, it's clearly an amateur product from the start. The styling seems
> to have been copied more by Heathkit, Yaesu and others moreso than by
> the military. But it's certainly a pivotal point in size, weight, and
> functionality.

I said, "MILITARY-STYLE communications equipment"

Every S-Line was all frequency ready from the get-go.  My SX-101A is a 
ham band receiver.  My SX-100 is a consumer product.

Anyway, valuation.  A KWM-1 rode on Francis Gary Powers U-2, crystaled 
for "spy frequencies".  The U.S. Military, the State Department, and the 
CIA all used Collins S-Lines, KWM-2s during Vietnam and the Cold War.

> And there's no shortage of them, either. Besides the overseas market,
> I think a lot of demand was created by newbies who felt left behind
> and had to get *something* by Collins or Drake to be part of the
> scene. A lot of that has died down as buyers have become educated,
> fulfilled their quota, or left the market. But radios made in the many
> thousands still survive in pretty good numbers for the overall
> interest in them today. A renewed interest in real radio created the
> demand, the internet and ebay helped fill it more rapidly than ever
> before. Stuff is still surfacing.

No shortage = the prices have yet to peak.

> If you figure the price of the SX-115 at $650 in 1964, it converts to
> just over $3923 in 2005 dollars. The KW-1 sold for $3850 in 1952,
> which is equal to $27,385 and change. Not so much a direct
> translation, but more of what you could expect to pay for such a thing
> if it was being manufactured today. When viewed in that light, today's
> "high prices" aren't so high. They're just tough to swallow for those
> of us who used to haul this stuff away for free or next to nothing
> back in the 70s-80s. And everyone thought we were crazy.

I wish I had been there but during the 70's and 80's, I was too busy 
writing software for computers.   I missed a chance to buy low.  I hope 
the rest of you loaded up.

> Yes, but does it work any better than the pig?

Fantastic Four #1 is what it is.  A semester at college, a down payment 
on a car, 2 or 3 months rent, an ICOM Pro III,  not bad for 10¢ in 1961.

> 
> ~ Todd,  KA1KAQ

de ah6gi/4