[ICOM] Worth of radios..

Mon Sep 14 08:24:36 EDT 2009

That might be close - except for V/UHF FM gear.  In which case 2/3 retail is
still okay, but the time limit is more like 10 years.

Also, watch the exchange rate.  Back in 2002 or 03, I was shopping for an HF
rig, and seeing a lot of ICOM 718s for $600 used.  I inquired about several,
and frequently got back "but I PAID $750 for it!".  Few of the sellers
seemed to understand that between 2001 and 2003 the dollar to yen exchange
rate took a huge reversal - but they understood when I sent them ads from
QST with NEW 718 listed at $479.  Of course, by about 2005, they back over
$600 new.

That usually won't come into play on a 10 year old (or older) HF rig, but
can really burn someone if they buy new, then try to sell as "nearly new" -
they can possibly win big, or get burned, depending on which way the
exchange rate is moving.

73,
Jay 

-----Original Message-----
From: icom-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:icom-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of Paul Gates
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 05:57
To: ICOM Reflector
Subject: Re: [ICOM] Worth of radios..

Talking about price. I always thought as long as radio is not 30 years old
the price should figure out to be 2/3 the original price.

On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 12:50 PM, AD5PE <ad5pe at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Good summary, John.
>
> My experience tracks with yours, with a couple of exceptions.
>
> Along the lines of "no direct replacement" radios (FT-847 example) 
> there are some "collectibles" radios that fall into the same category 
> - certain Collins, Hallicrafters, etc.  Kind of like old classic cars 
> - they never truly "bottom out" like the run of the mill ones.
>
> A second point is radios that are old enough to not have all the
"features"
> we've come to expect.  I had an old Ten-Tec Omni D - it's pre-WARC, so 
> no
> 12
> or 17 meters.  Prices on that one are truly closer to 10-15% rather 
> than 1/3.  I think that's because while it's a fine radio with a 
> healthy new price, there were many slightly newer (but much cheaper) 
> radios that have those "new" (at the time it was made) bands.  Why buy 
> a 30 year old Omni with no WARC when you can buy a 20 year old Yaesu, 
> Kenwood or Icom for the same price.  Sure, most of those radios 
> (except the top of the line models) don't have the "ears" of the 
> Ten-Tec, but they have the new bands and are easier to maintain (to a 
> point).  When you're talking sub-$500 HF rigs, you're not talking 
> about people looking for top performance.  You're talking bargain 
> hunters and new hams on tight budgets.  When you can get used Yaesu 
> 840 and Icom 718's for $400, who's going to pay more than about $300 
> (15%) for an Omni D unless it's in mint condition with all the 
> options.  Of course, multiple filters and the matching power supply 
> and remote VFO can run that up considerably.
>
> That's what happens to the HTs, too.  With the exception of 
> band-scopes, DSP and maybe remote control (on the really old rigs) - 
> an HF rig is an HF rig.
> Many hams will swear that a 50 year old Collins S-line with good 
> filters is better digging out the weak ones than all but the newest 
> contester grade stuff - and they may be right.  On the other hand, 
> your $400 HT from 20+ years ago may be missing MANY key features that 
> are virtually required to work the repeaters today.  I've seen a 
> number of 2m only HTs, 440 only HTs, and 2m only mobiles from the 70s 
> and 80s - most were dirty, scratched, missing knobs or had broken 
> buttons, and they invariably didn't have tone boards.  Sure, you can 
> home-brew or kit build an outboard tone board, but original 
> replacements for some of those radios are like finding hen's teeth, 
> and cost as much as the radio without one!  When you compare that to a 
> NEW FT-60 (dual-band, tone send AND receive and under $200) or FT-7800 
> (same but mobile, and typically around $250 if you shop around) and 
> you can see why no one wants to pay even $100 for a used one.  1/3 to 
> even 1/2 of new "equivalent" is a pretty good starting point for V/UHF 
> FM mobiles and HTs - the caveat being "equivalent" - if it's old 
> enough to not support PL tones, then that goes WAY down.  The only 
> ones that go "up" from that point are current models with dual-receive 
> capability.
>
> 73,
> Jay
> AD5PE
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: icom-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> [mailto:icom-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
> On
> Behalf Of John Geiger
> Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 14:06
> To: ICOM Reflector
> Subject: Re: [ICOM] Worth of radios..
>
> For HF radios the bottoming out seems to be around 33% or 1/3 of its 
> original value.  For example,
>
> The 756PRO sold for $3000 originally, now going for $1000 or so The 
> 756 original sold for $2100, and $700 seems the going used price The 
> 706 original went for $1200, now around $400 or so.
>
> You also have to figure in the replacement factor, though.  The Yaesu 
> FT847 has held its value really well because there is only on other 
> HF/VHF/UHF/SAT on the market right now (the TS2000) and many satellite 
> ops don't like the TS2000 because of the birdie in the middle of the 
> AO27/SP50 downlink.
>
> There is no direct replacement for the Icom 375A.  The closest you can 
> get is a Yaesu FT736R with the 222mhz module and that is also a used
radio.
>
> HT used prices have really bottomed out because you can get a new one 
> so inexpensively.
>
> 73s John AA5JG
>
> --- On Fri, 9/11/09, Dick Flanagan <dick at k7vc.com> wrote:
>
> > From: Dick Flanagan <dick at k7vc.com>
> > Subject: Re: [ICOM] Worth of radios..
> > To: "ICOM Reflector" <icom at mailman.qth.net>
> > Date: Friday, September 11, 2009, 12:13 AM At 09:59 PM 9/10/2009, 
> > John Geiger
> > wrote:
> >  >And the Icom 375A should be selling for $80 as they were closed 
> > out for $799.
> >
> > The rarity of an item will always affect its price. When you 
> > consider how many 375A's were sold you are lucky to find one even 
> > close to the old retail price.  Supply and demand will always sway 
> > the price of any item.  Just try to find a KWM-2A in working 
> > condition these days for anything close to what it sold for new.
> >
> > While Kurt's 10% rule-of-thumb might be a bit on the low side, I 
> > doubt it is far from the mark on routine radios that were sold in 
> > large numbers.
> >
> > Dick
> > --
> > Dick Flanagan K7VC
> > dick at k7vc.com
> >
> >
> > ----
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>
>
>
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--
Paul, KD3JF
Glen Burnie, MD
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