[Milsurplus] Surprise at Shreveport Hamfest 2025

[Ray Fantini]

Not to beat a thread to death but it interesting to have a conversation. Two things, what do you consider to be a give away price for a BC-348? Or a 19 set?  Don’t know if the modern Ham Fest is the best place to sell military radios these days, the modern Ham has little use for vintage. Military Vehicle shows, On Line sales and private collectors are your best option. Only the largest Fest have enough traffic to be worth the trouble but I rarely sell but tend to do deliveries of radios at larger events that are already sold. Delivered a truck load of stuff that was sold in advance at Hamvention this year.
And what’s it all for anyway?
True that a hacked or modified example of a radio or just about anything else has no value but to that person who built it but at the end of the day I do this work because it’s what I do. Use to buy , clean up and sell radios but just not doing that game anymore. Somehow if you approach it as a business it wont work out, least not for me. My business model was buy high and sell low. But I have been doing lots of work for others and that gives me opportunity  to play around with  the radios and then they are gone. But other times like with this batch of BC-348 receivers just the process of doing the work, getting them working and giving them away has its own satisfaction.
And as far as long term what happens when I am gone and all that stuff well it wont matter because I wont be there anyway. Worked in education and production for decades now, you never know what students or projects will be around and prosper and what will fail. Sometimes what you think will be a big deal is totally gone in three years, other things that you think won’t go anywhere come back to surprise you as a big success. So rebuilding, modifying and playing around with this stuff is what I do. As far as the long term, value and all that sort of stuff who knows. But, at least its better then people who spend countless hours doing cross words and sudoku. I may be wrong but think a completed book of Sudoku has no value the minute you finish it.

Ray F/KA3EKH


From: milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net <milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of Hubert Miller
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2025 3:46 PM
To: milsurplus at mailman <milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] Surprise at Shreveport Hamfest 2025


The market in this northwest corner of the USA is different. No.19 and BC-348 are a hard sell except at givewaway prices.
My feeling, feel free to hack the sets. Enough were built that this helps thin out the stock and increase the collecibility of
unhacked ones remaining.
I seem to have luck finding whatever tangent i set out on. I have a BC-224-A and an R-849. I have seen a couple ‘conversions’
i thought were really good. One was a BC-348 that it took me several minutes to recognize as a BC-348. Also those SSB
transceiver conversions of BC-453, some are really magnificent.
I recall an article, was it in ER, about how to build a ham transceiver out of an ‘All American Five’ plastic table radio. I thought,
? why ?  Why spend precious time on it ? There are art projects and there are art projects, and you want to pick them well.
Unless you have unlimited time. I’m not the one to say that’s the case or not.
Just be aware –  once you exit this world, unless it’s really well done, it is instant garbage, and will  be dissolved along with
the builder.
-Hue
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