[Hallicrafters] Another valuation thought...

[Clayton L. Nicolsen]

I'm not sure whether or not the current boatanchor values have peaked, or 
whether or not they're going to continue higher or go lower.  All the 
comments about supply and demand, and the fact that there really isn't a 
huge group of potential buyers out there are both spot on.

I've been an swl for 50 years, and a bit of a collector now, thanks to eBay. 
  Like everybody else, I finally have the opportunity to play with some of 
the toys I drooled over for so many years when I was young.

Hammarlund HQ-145, 145X, 170, 180, 180A.  National NC-46, 77X, (Christmas 
present-1964), 105, 121, HRO-500.  Hallicrafters S-20R, SX-100, SX-110.  
BC-348 (Like the one I started with in 1959!).  Yaesu FRG-7 (that I bought 
brand new).  And, a Kenwood R-300 and R-5000 I picked up from my dad when he 
passed.

I think the main reason vintage shortwave receivers' values have begun to 
drop is due to the fact that all of the most famous international shortwave 
broadcasters that we grew up listening to have started to dramatically 
reduce or eliminate their english broadcasts to north America.  BBC, Radio 
Japan, Deutsche Welle, Radio Moscow, etc., are disappearing from the dial.  
So much of what's still there are religious broadcasters transmitting from 
sites in the US.  Plus, we're at the bottom of the current 13 year sunspot 
cycle, so conditions are not good.  Over the next 3-4 years, as sunspot 
conditions significantly improve, more and more stations will have 
disappeared.  These issues are combining to render general communications 
receivers closer and closer to being collectable items that simply sit on a 
shelf.  A heavy shelf, to be sure!  Something that's both collectable and 
useable is going to have more value to the collector than something that's 
only collectable.  As more and more broadcasters cease operations and move 
to the internet, I'm afraid this death spiral will continue.

As far as ham gear, while there is a larger and larger percentage of hams 
moving into what I'll generically categorize as PC-based modes of operation, 
and new hams starting out in the HT/repeater world, there definitely seems 
to be a resurgence of interest in AM operations.  Because the use of AM gear 
in the ham world isn't dependent on the outside availability of something 
like international broadcasting, this segment of the boatanchor world may 
have a bit more life in it.  The downside here is that most of the AM 
operators aren't 25 years old.

It's an interesting question, and one that's not really answerable, I'm 
afraid.  We'll know more in 10 years or so!!

Clay