[Milsurplus] MRCA event

[Ray Fantini]

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who was involved with the very successful MRCA event this year at Gilbert.  Having the opportunity to bring out radios, operate them in along with other sets of the same type or age and most importantly to talk and spend time with others of similar interest has and will continue to make the September event at Gilbert a highlight of my year.
A first for me this year was not just having a QSO between my Russian R-107 and a couple “Cold War” era tactical sets on 51.0 but for a first time I was able to work between my URC-110 to a soviet copy of a SCR-522 on 144.425, if your one of those people who work lots of HF its no big deal working one military set to another but for the VHF sets there are only a couple events a year where you can do this and the MRCA event is one of them. In respect to the rest of the event at Gilbert, yes the same couple dealers who specialize in radio equipment where there selling the same items at a premium price, but that’s what they do and I do not fault them for that just don’t want to spend any time on describing what they are selling being it’s the same every sale, lets talk about what’s else was for sale out in the swap meet. VRC-12 radios and accessories were there in good numbers with the average price being around $200 for a radio, shelves, speakers, handsets and cables being anywhere from $5.00 to $25.00, PRC-25 and 77 sets without accessories for around $250.00 to $350.00, lots of the dual radio adapters and amplifiers for the newer SINCGARS stuff like the RT-1439 in the $200.00 to $350.00 range with the older VRC series and newer automatic vehicle antennas for around $50.00, no PRC-119 radios (RT-1439) although there were at least two being used over at MRCA but did see a very clean RT-1523 that sold for $2,000.00 and a URC-101 with vehicle tray, satellite antenna transit bag sell for $700.00, GRC-106 stuff was there but saw maybe two or three sets in the $400.00 to $600.00 rang, last year the place was full of them at around the same cost. In terms of the old stuff, did see a exceptionally clean BC-342 with mount all original for $250.00, a TBY set by itself that sold for $50 and another complete TBY package that included the red headsets, wet cell batteries, every other accessory all in a huge wooden transit case all with matching serial numbers, unused for $1,000.00 that also included the battery charger for the wet cells, the same person had a alignment jig or test set for the MAB or DAV series radios that was unused, with spare tubes and adapters for $200.00, in the building I saw a ASB radar system that included display, hood, interconnect box, transmitter and dynamotor for $150.00, some command sets and other items also saw a BC-653 transmitter that’s part of the SCR-506 outside with the twelve volt inverter for $180.00, the SCR-506 appears to be such a primitive and underpowered set it was very appealing to me and gave a lot of thought to buying it but better senses prevailed. Did end up buying an antique Homelite generator with the idea that it would look good after being disassembled, sand blasted and maybe painted John Deer green.
Something that I have began to notice is that almost everything from the WW2 generation is now entering into a point where if its original and unmodified it is being kept that way and also being priced appropriate for its age, starting to see items coming out from estate sales or private collections but due to the rarity and value of these items now most of this stuff is being bought by people wanting to flip it to collectors, things that I never thought would have a value like EE-8 field phones are now pushing $50.00 or higher depending on condition. If you wanted to identify the lowest value radios on the surplus market I would propose that the Vietnam era stuff is currently at the bottom of the curve. VRC-12 sets were selling for $400.00 to $600.00 couple years ago and now you can buy them for half that much all day long, the PRC-47 sets are running about the same price. The WW2 stuff is just going up in value, the Iraq and Afghan stuff is still high value but looks like the Vietnam stuff is on the bottom of the curve.

Ray Fantini KA3EKH