[Milsurplus] Re: [ARC5] A new high?

Sat, 31 Jan 2004 18:54:36 EST

Yeah, but...  50 years ago, some were still in active service, there were 
several hundred of them around, and the minimum wage was much less than two bucks 
an hour.  Actually, I don't know what it was in the mid-fifties.  In the 
early sixties, it was $1.25 per hour.  

I think a lot of people here tend to remember what mil radios cost half a 
century ago (or more likely have read about them in old magazines, handbooks and 
catalogs, as a fair percentage of the list membership wasn't alive half a 
century ago) and forget or don't know what pay was then.  My first job out of 
college paid $750 per month, which was pretty good starting pay for an engineer 
then.  Especially since the year before I had been getting by on what an E4 
made.  The last year I was on Active Duty a shop in Long Beach had a triple 
Command Set receiver rack with three nice receivers in it for sale - all with 
original tuning knobs, local control plug-ins, all of the connectors, etc.  I 
couldn't afford it - I think they were asking $45.00.

Military radios are solidly at the bottom of the food chain in terms of price 
appreciation over the past century.  Watch Antiques Roadshow for a few weeks. 
 $1400 is chickenfeed compared to items of similar age, condition and 
availability.  Flyable aircraft aside, militaria in general is cheap compared to 
almost any other collecting area you care to mention.  And radios are cheap 
compared to all other militaria.  Collecting mil radios is still the second cheapest 
hobby on the planet.  It just isn't as cheap as it once was.  :-)

In a message dated 1/31/2004 4:57:52 PM Central Standard Time, 
[email protected] writes: 
> Yeah, but...  just think of all the.. uuhh.. great DX they can... uuhhh...
> have from 500 to 800 kc!!??  Or maybe they have always wanted their very own
> low power broadcast station!  I wonder if art13a will step in at the last
> minute.  It'll be fun to watch...  50 years ago this would have probably
> brought a couple of bucks.  Times change!

73
Robert Downs - Houston
<http://www.wa5cab.com> (Web Store)
<[email protected]> (Primary email)
<[email protected]> (Backup email)

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