[Milsurplus] R-390

[John Flood]

Hi Kids,

Perhaps some of you missed an earlier post I made about this guy.  This 
"polished panel" thing came about as he was restoring a unit and had stripped 
the paint for refinishing.  He was wet sanding it down and noticed the surface 
getting shiny and said.... "WHAT IF?!?"....  polished it up some more and then 
filled in the lettering black.  Someone paid him crazy money IMHO for it, I'm 
sure the audiophile / RadioMart description helped.  So after another one sold 
for similar crazy money he kept going.  He's selling them to the 'have money, 
want it all fixed up and running' crowd.  If he can keep getting that money, 
fair play to him I say.  I looked and his customers all left good feedback for 
him and I haven't heard any "radiomart" stories from any of his customers.

Now the required disclaimers  I have known him for years, am largely responsible 
for him getting bitten by the R-390A bug, and he is only a couple of miles from 
my house.  As much as it sounds like, I am not defending him or promoting him.  
When you figure in time and materials I don't think he is making minimum wage!  
But he appears to be coming up with a few of his own tricks in rebuilding these 
toys.   However now that he is opening and fixing up the meters, next time I'm 
going over there, I'm bringing my survey meter with fresh batteries to look for 
radium!.  Feel free to flame away I'll get out the asbestos ....(oops) Nomex 
suit.

John Flood
KB1FQG



----- Original Message ----
> From: John Hutchins <jphutch60bj at gmail.com>
> To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
> Sent: Thu, July 28, 2011 7:32:09 AM
> Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] R-390
> 
> Rich , all
> 
> Yes 4 so fare this is #5 from the same dude,  must be X-NSA CIA?  I can 
> see landing 1 of these but 5 he had dome connections! Had his own 
> listening post.  Must have been quite a set up.
> Hutch
> 
> On 7/27/2011 2:11 PM, Rich Yost 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 .
> >
> > Rich
> > n2ry
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ________________________________
> > From: Ray Fantini<RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu>
> > To: "milsurplus at mailman.qth.net"<milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
> > Sent: Wed, July 27, 2011 2:35:46 PM
> > Subject: [Milsurplus] R-390
> >
> > Saw the note about what to look for in an R-390 the other day and just ran
> > across this on that place:
> > 
>http://cgi.ebay.com/polished-aluminum-R-390A-R390A-r-390-HF-receiver-/280713229562?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415bcff4fa
>
> >
> >
> > Is this for real? Have a hard time believing all this about how the 390 is 
>the
> > greatest receiver ever built and how the NSA is still using them today! And 
I
> > cannot think of any application where the government bought polished 
aluminum
> > front receivers. The 390 a good receiver but this is almost to the point 
>where I
> > am surprised they are not offering it with oxygen free copper wire power 
plug
> > for the significant improvement that only the most sophisticated operators 
>will
> > understand.
> > KA3EKH
> >
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