[Milsurplus] A new high?

[Mike Morrow]

Robert wrote:

>I think a lot of people here tend to remember what mil radios cost half a
>century ago

You're right about that.  IIRC, used BC-348s went for about $70 in Fair
Radio's catalogs in the late 1960s.  Apply the CPI and that equates to more
than $400 in today's dollars.  It is not uncommon today to find complete and
unmodified BC-348s on ebay for well under that, so that you're actually
getting it for less today than 40 years ago.

Find radio surplus adds in old post-WWII ham magazines, apply the correction
factor for the value of money then vs. now, and it's surprising that much of
the surplus could have been purchased by average hams.  A $5 command set
receiver isn't so cheap if you're on a common $35 a week post-war salery.
To spend $50 for a BC-375 complete with accessories, $60 for AN/ARR-5 or -7
or BC-312 receivers, $100 for AN/ART-13s, etc. would be near impossible to
justify.

>Military radios are solidly at the bottom of the food chain in terms of
price
>appreciation over the past century.

I just wish they didn't take up so much room!

>Collecting mil radios is still the second cheapest hobby on the planet.

And ebay, much maligned for the prices obtained, has been the greatest aid
to that hobby.  I looked around for more than 25 years for all the items
needed to complete some of my sets.  Only ebay has made it possible to
assemble and complete collections in a reasonable time.  And best of all,
most of that stuff would otherwise have wound up in a landfill, gone
forever.

This IS a great time to be collecting!

73,
Mike / KK5F