[Milsurplus] Fresh topic on military surplus I HOPE !!??

[Ray Fantini]

Yea, the nineties are gone and have to wonder if any of us will ever see that again.  I remember the local sales at Dover where they not only sold off local surplus but lots of what was being brought back from overseas, but that all came to a end. Then for a while was buying lots from NASA local auctions at Wallops and Goddard but now that's thru being they are all selling on line only and for reasons that I cannot explain everything sells on line for three or four times what I would have been able to sell it for. Still review there auctions along with the Government Liquidators online sales but no bargains anywhere. Best deals still at Hamfest, Aberdeen or Gilbert, have seen the prices keep falling on the GRC-106 and saw a pair that I could have picked up for $250 at Gilbert and can buy them all day long in the $400 to $500 range. Dayton also a good source for equipment but you have to be willing to pay and as much as I hate to say it EBay is where I have done the bulk of my purchases in the last ten years. Just bought an AM-7239 dual mount with the AM-7238 amplifier on EBay for my RT-1439 (PRC-119) for $100 and that's about half of what they were selling for at Gilbert. Surplus dealers like Fair Radio and Murphy Surplus that have everything are always there but they are businesses and expect to be paying a market price, although I have noticed that Fair appears to be moving more in more into parts and less complete radios. Recall overhearing something about biggest source for equipment for them today is estate sales.  But then again myself always have to think that no matter what always got to keep looking for new sources or new deals, for so many projects it's not having the completed system but all the work that's involved in collecting all the parts, fabricating what not available and getting everything to work that's more fun than using the completed radio itself. I am currently at the gathering stage of my ARC-94 (618T2), have the radio, head, connector for the head and most of the parts I need to fabricate the rack and start on connecting it together.
RF

-----Original Message-----
From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of MillerKE6F at aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2011 10:41 PM
To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Milsurplus] Fresh topic on military surplus I HOPE !!??

Some years back I found out that Uncle Sam was shredding perfectly good  
AN/GRC-102 HF rigs.  Since I've been a big fan of surplus radio stuff for  
well over 50 years and the owner of a complete AN/GRC-142 Ratt Van bought  
through the now  privatized DMRS system, I was somewhat taken back by this  
decision.  Many tons of crunched units from the Viet Nam era were turning  up at 
a local metal scrap yard.  And I mean demilled to the point that  there was 
nothing left to use.
 
    I wrote a letter to my Senator (Bob Matsui at that  time) who punched 
my ticket by passing the letter to some minion in the  government.  That 
person referred me to a CFR number saying that the  GRC-102 and allied equipment 
had been newly categorized as part of a weapons  system and therefore could 
not be sold to the civilian market.  In other  words these 30 year old 
relics were too valuable to a foreign power to be sold  off to we hams who would 
love to put them to good use.  I corresponded with  the fellow hoping to 
see if there was some way a ham could get some kind of  waiver, but no chance 
even though less than a year before they were selling  these radios in 
complete tty systems at public auction for under 300  dollars,  GRC-142 systems 
complete with everything but the KW7 Crypto Box.  They even had the three 
GRA-50 antenna pole systems and an office chair.
 
    A year after the first Gulf War  the now  defunct Sacramento Army Depot 
sold in excess of 500 GRC-142 Ratt vans with  everything in the hootch but 
the radios.  I would hope the RF stuff  was transplanted to Humvvees or 
APCs.  The driving force to get rid of the  RATT vans was point to point TTY 
comm was no longer a vital part of  the Army communications picture (too big an 
RF target in a combat zone and too  slow for modern record traffic I was 
told).  As a retired Commo  Chief in an Army National Guard Engineering Bn, I 
missed the convenience our  RATT vans afforded our National Guard units 
during peace time training.   Even the MOSs for the TTY stuff fell out of the 
equation.  Go  figure.  The gist of this missive is to see how folks on the 
list are  acquiring their more current military surplus radio gear.  I know 
the  military vehicle nuts love this stuff for their MUTTS and other wheeled 
military  toys. 
 
    73
 
    Bob, KE6F