[Milsurplus] Economic realities and modification

[Ray Fantini]

With the increasingly higher price and rarity of unmodified or “Ham Hacked” equipment out their I would speculate that no one in their right mind would pay huge amounts for a Command set or unmodified BC-348 and than proceed to hack it. They can buy way less expensive “Hacked” sets for a fraction of the cost and if like me you’re looking to build up a copy of your first receiver, or what your first receiver should have been your going to buy the hacked set for less money to start with. This last year I have helped several people who have started playing around with military surplus equipment, and for the new user they start with the cheapest radios and want to see them work. After they get hooked into the mill radios stuff they can strive for museum or show quality radios. I just helped someone last Friday with the pin out on a modified ARC-5 receiver for using it and this is the way people come into this, not by building up a pristine GP-7 or ARB system with every correct accessory but by starting with the junk first. In reality no one would consider using this old stuff in the crowded digital filled ham bands of today when there are so many good used radios out their.  If we chouse to collect original versions with out modifications and all correct parts that’s good, If like me you chouse to collect examples of what was going on in the fifties and sixties that works too, if your just interested in chasing DX, QRP or paper go out and get a SDR. The only reason anyone will collect this stuff is because they want to and in order bring new people into collecting their needs to be cheap radios, and that’s the hacked ones, and in order to understand how to make the radio work, a radio that was more than likely modified decades ago the “Evil” CQ Surplus Conversion manuals have their place. How many members of our group started out this same way?

A working economic example of my ongoing rant is my ARR-41 Unlike most in the group I find no joy in listening to a dynamotor whining. While I can easily pull the dyno deck from the receiver and build a quiet AC power supply in the radio I have not. Instead I have spent the last five years searching for a junk dyno deck for a 41 to build a solid state 28 to 250 volt inverter and keep the original dynamotor deck for the eventuality of selling the radio and knowing the radio is worth more with the original dynamotor deck, incidentally if anyone has the power supply deck they want to sell still looking for one.

Ray Fantini KA3EKH