[Milsurplus] BC-348 Value?

[Michael Hanz]

While I hear you on the wealth of BC-348s in the US, you're not looking 
at this from a larger viewpoint, Ray.  Here are a couple of other things 
to think about:

1) Ralph, VE3BBM, is in Canada, where surplus American equipment is less 
common, and costs a bundle for customs brokerage from the US unless you 
can somehow squeeze it into a postal service category.

2) Canada, and a number of other UK countries have seen a smaller 
collapse of home machine shop work than we have experienced in this 
country in the past 40 years.  I judge that by the number of 
publications I still see that cater to the hobby - I can't recall any 
left in the USA these days.  Ralph doesn't mention the machinist he 
used, but it may be one of those low volume shops that keep going simply 
because they enjoy the work.  It might even be another hobbiest who is a 
ham - like me and a number of other hams on this list.  Gear cutting has 
its own fascination, for some reason.  Under those conditions, making a 
new gear may well come under the category of recreational satisfaction - 
sorta like our restoration of old radios...

Just sayin,

Mike - KC4TOS

On 3/31/2021 10:17 AM, Ray Fantini wrote:
>
> Have to wonder why anyone would go thru the expense of having new 
> gears manufactured for a BC-348? At any time, there are at least a 
> half dozen or so receivers for sale on eBay, and hacked examples are 
> not that hard to come by.  I have been doing this stuff for a while 
> now and don’t think I ever came across a BC-348 that had the drive for 
> the band switch or tuning worn out, found them  dirty and in need of 
> cleaning and lubrication but being worn out would be a new one to me.
>
> Maybe if the receiver was used continuously for years its possible but 
> what Ham would have just that one receiver and use that one radio for 
> decades?
>
> Many of us have several in storage that are so hacked they are only 
> useful for parts sets would think that just by asking here you can get 
> the parts you need; Fair Radio has a stack of parts sets and they 
> would be happy to sell bits from them.
>
> Couple years back I came into a collection of about five or six BC-348 
> receivers that I dragged out to Frost Fest, they had all been hacked 
> to different degrees and I was willing to sell for $40 to $60 each 
> being they were all fairly complete. I sold one and ended up selling 
> the rest to a friend that resells this sort of stuff on eBay for 
> $20.00 each.
>
> Back in Dayton in 2018 saw unmodified BC-348 for $75.00 and in 2019 
> picked up a BC-348R all original with dynamotor for $20.00 but that’s 
> the exception and not the case being they are usually in the $100 to 
> $200 range for all original but I have not noticed a shortage of these 
> radios.
>
> No, they are not as common as they once were but what is? Think maybe 
> the most common military radios out on the market today may be the 
> R-390 receivers and many of the AN/GRC family of field radios with the 
> WW2 stuff starting to become hard to find examples that were not 
> modified or hacked over the past seventy years but we are starting to 
> see more estate sales where many have bought these sets years ago with 
> some plan to one day modify and use them but they got put in attics or 
> on shelfs and now that the estates are being sold they are trickling 
> onto the market.
>
> But at this point just cannot imagine that the BC-348 is so scares 
> that we have to resort to custom manufacturing of its components.
>
> The last time I was selling R-390A receivers at Dayton I was getting 
> around $250 to $325 each depending on condition, never sold any BC-348 
> receivers at Dayton but would assume that I would not be able to get 
> more then $200 for a clean original example and would have a hard time 
> getting more than $100 for a modified one in good condition. And that 
> may be a stretch.
>
> All the craziness with the prices on eBay is something completely 
> different, just remember that just because someone asks $500.00 that 
> don’t make the radio worth that much.
>
> So ok, let’s see what everyone else thinks and what evidence they have 
> to prove me wrong.
>
> An Addendum:
>
> Do not take this as any sort of criticism or disparaging remark as to 
> someone doing something like custom manufacturing or spending serious 
> money on a project. I routinely piss away buckets of money, time and 
> resources on projects of questionable value. I am just trying to get 
> an idea of value and availability of BC-348 receivers.
>
> My first real receiver was a BC-348 back in the seventies and have 
> always had one around the shack from that time on. Back ten or so 
> years ago I picked up a hacked BC-348Q for $20 at the old Timonium Ham 
> Fest and rebuilt a copy of that first receiver. Did a YouTube video of 
> that project that’s been watched almost fifty thousand times so 
> obviously that’s a popular receiver, you can see it at:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKRez8euQU4
>
> Ray F/KA3EKH
>
>
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