[Milsurplus] "Rare" Gear

[George Babits]

Geeze;  is the GO-6 "rare?"   Thinking that it was of no value, I was going 
to gut out the one I have.  But, with today's shipping costs, "rare" may not 
equate to "valuable."    I think the Canadian army  R.P.A.-3 Receiving Set 
may be in that category.  One collector in Canada told me that the one I 
have is only the third one in existance that he knew of.  But, with a serial 
number of 16x, they must have made over 160 of them.  At over 100 pounds, 
"rare" may not be "valuable."

73,
George
W7HDL


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Morrow" <kk5f at earthlink.net>
To: "'MilSurplus'" <Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2016 11:01 PM
Subject: [Milsurplus] "Rare" Gear


> Hue wrote:
>
>> The AN/TRC-2, i think i saw the production numbers at 124. Who would have
>> thought it would be so low?
>
> The RT-12/TRC-2 that I have is serial 91.  It's the only RT-12 that I've 
> ever come across.  I too would not have considered the AN/TRC-2 to be 
> "rare".  But if, in fact, only 124 units were made, it would definitely 
> deserve that description...maybe even "very rare".  I suspect some of the 
> the legendary "spy" sets like the AN/PRC-1, AN/PRC-5, and AN/TRC-10 would 
> likely have been made in numbers similar, or even greater.
>
> The greatest of rarities, IMHO, are things for which not even manuals or 
> instruction books seem to have survived...like the GE-made GO-4, -5, 
> and -6 (1937 to 1938) transmitters.
>
> Not only the component designation, but in particular the system 
> assignments make a huge difference.
>
> The 1938 RAT-1 (50 production units made) used receivers:
> CBY-46108 (13.5 to 20.0 MHz)
> CBY-46109 (20.0 to 27.0 MHz)
>
> The 1940 RAV (46 production units made) also used those two and other 
> receivers:
> CBY-46108 (13.5 to 20.0 MHz)
> CBY-46109 (20.0 to 27.0 MHz)
>
> I believe that either of the two receivers above with RAV on the 
> nomenclature plate would be considered far far far rarer than one with 
> RAT-1 marking, itself a very rare unit.
>
> In fact, everything RAV-marked is very rare to non-existent:
> CBY-46102 (.19 to .55 MHz)
> CBY-46103 (.52 to 1.5 MHz)
> CBY-46104 (1.5 to 3.0 MHz)
> CBY-46105 (3.0 to 6.0 MHz)
> CBY-46106 (6.0 to 9.1 MHz)
> CBY-46107 (9.0 to 13.5 MHz)
> CBY-46108 (13.5 to 20.0 MHz)
> CBY-46109 (20.0 to 27.0 MHz)
>
> The CBY-46107 (9.0 to 13.5 MHz) is the greatest rarity in all "command 
> set" history of production equipment.  There is no other similar receiver 
> covering that range, and none are known to exist intact, post-WWII.
>
> OTOH, three of the above super-rare RAV receivers were also used as 1940 
> ARA-marked command set receivers:
> CBY-46104 (1.5 to 3.0 MHz)
> CBY-46105 (3.0 to 6.0 MHz)
> CBY-46106 (6.0 to 9.1 MHz)
>
> As such, these receivers, otherwise identical to the RAV-marked units, are 
> extremely common.
>
> At least the RAT/RAT-1 and RAV manuals have survived.  Robert/WA5CAB has 
> provided a great service to those interested in the technical details of 
> these systems by publishing excellent reproductions of the full 
> instruction manuals for these systems.
>
> Personally, I'd love to obtain even a modern copy of the instruction 
> manual for the GO-6 or AN/ARN-9.
>
> For a more modern set of some rarity, look at the 1970-era solid-state 
> U.S. TAR-224A portable HF set:
>  http://www.cryptomuseum.com/spy/tar224
> For some reason, it appears that the only ones that have made it to the 
> collectors' market were released by governments in Europe.  I bought one 
> off ebay a few years ago from the Netherlands for more money than I have 
> ever spent for radio gear, new or old.  Three more were put on ebay in the 
> following couple of months, all going for up to twice what I paid.
>
> Mike / KK5F
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