[Milsurplus] on the subject of prices & TU's

[Robert W. Downs]

Barry & Tino,

I concur in general with Tino's price ranges.  However, one caveat.  To
someone (like me) more interested in the BC-191 or BC-375 for what it is
than for rag chewing on 160 or 75 meters, whether the TU covers a ham ban=
d
or not has little bearing on perceived value.  What things go for on eBay=

varies widely.  Very seldom do any of the eBay haters get on here and
report some item that went real cheap.  :-)  But they of course do, just =
as
in any other auction.  I have quite a few of the TU's picked up over the
years, and recently decided to try to find new homes for the excess (I ha=
ve
a near mint BC-191-F but it really doesn't need five TU-5-B's).  I pegged=

the price of most of the decent unhacked condition ones at $45.00 each, n=
ot
including the CS-48.  Just my opinion of course.

Incidentally, there are aluminum CS-48's (with nameplates) and steel ones=

with the nomenclature stamped into the tops.  The steel ones are much mor=
e
plentiful, as they were made through almost the entire war.  The aluminum=

ones are mostly pre-war.

I think that the discussion about the LF TU's that you recall had to do
mostly with (a) were there any (several thought no) and about the TU-3-A
and TU-4-A that (except for the lucky Mr. Dave) no one else admitted to
having ever actually seen.  I hope that the one that you left him with
wasn't a TU-3 or TU-4!  The TU-22 and TU-26, which are somewhat scarcer
that the higher frequency ones, would mainly interest the collector or
collector/user rather than the user.  Other than for parts, of course.

While we're on the subject of TU's and TU parts, I removed the verniers
from three TU's for someone building an antenna tuner.  All three TU's ha=
d
already had wire cutters at work in them (not by me) but I did salvage th=
e
tuning capacitors (had to remove them to get at the verniers).  If anyone=

has any need for any of these capacitors, contact me direct.  I hate to
throw them away, but I have no use for them myself.

73
Robert & Susan Downs
<RWDowns_WA5CAB@compuserve.com>
Houston