[Milsurplus] R-390

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 3:11 PM, Rich Yost <n2ry at yahoo.com> wrote:
> There has been at least 3 or 4 of these over the last year, same type, same
> seller.
> and surprising consistently all  have sold over $1200+ if i remember .

Reminds me of the black paneled repaints offered as being from the
'black agencies' a few years back. They were the all rage and do look
good if not over-pimped, but there was no truth to the story behind
them. IIRC, the last batch of R-390As from NSA went to Columbia
Electronics some years back and all had the standard gray panels. Not
that some agencies didn't use particular paint colors over the years
(the light green NASA gear comes to mind), but it would be difficult
to see any gov't agency having a custom paint job done, only to have
them stripped and repainted gray before heading to surplus so that no
one would know.

As far as the NSA still using them, they're not capable of much of
what they now require. That's not to say that some employee doesn't
still have one in his office or at home. Chalk it up to typical ebay
'LQQK! R at RE' hype. Something the receiver doesn't need as it's still
one of the best rigs out there for casual HF listening. Clearly the
seller puts some effort into rebuilding the rigs.

It's been a while, but hope to work you again on AM sometime soon,
Rich. Conditions down here aren't too favorable now with all the
static crashes, but eventually it will quiet down enough to carry on.
And the temps in the radio building will drop below 100F!

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4