[Milsurplus] Of BC-611 Interest, maybe

[B. Smith]

I had a couple of  those empty display cases and could not resist 
filling one with OTS components  and creating a solid state BC-611.
K4CHE
http://k4che.com/BC-611%20Knockoff/BC-611%20Knockoff.htm

On 8/27/2026 10:56 PM, Hubert Miller via Milsurplus wrote:
>
> I wanted to briefly see what SCR-536 radios are going for, and i see 
> it’s enough that i’m thinking about
>
> hoarding mine a bit longer, being more cautious. But i discovered this 
> interesting site, which  compares
>
> the real thing with a ‘What Price Glory’ replica. Which does not see 
> to be overpriced at all.
>
> http://www.90thidpg.us/Equipment/Reviews/WPGBC611/index.html
>
> Also there’s a page-2 which recounts the author’s effort to make the 
> WPG talkie more realistic, compared
>
> to the original.
>
> http://www.90thidpg.us/Equipment/Reviews/WPGBC611/DeFarb.html
>
> I wish now i had stocked up on more spare parts. I think Robert Downs 
> is out of the businesss.
>
> I have 2 of an earlier talkie which emulates a BC-611 but is plastic, 
> CB channel, and ¾ size. I wanted to
>
> draw the schematic and maybe convert freq but i must have run into 
> something more pressing, cuz i set it
>
> aside.
>
> I recall maybe less than a decade ago a fellow was selling 2 BC-611 on 
> Ebay, that he had “converted to solid
>
> state”. The receiver part, which i think i may have the plan docs for, 
> was a piece of cake, using FETs. I somehow
>
> missed getting the trans part of the process, either i was too late or 
> the guy didn’t release that. I suspect the trans
>
> work was not the smartest conversion, i suspect it lowered output 
> power by a magnitude maybe, i seem to
>
> recollect 400 foot range, altho i would not bet money on this memory.  
> I wrote the fellow – a ham – to try to get
>
> any insight on how he handled the trans conversion. No answer. I think 
> you have to preserve the high resistance
>
> high voltage basic circuit to keep the transmit power. If you have 
> ideas on this, i would love to know your approach.
>
> Tube purists: i have way too many families of tubes for my radios. Way 
> too many, and they’re continually suspect,
>
> as far was wearing out. “ T U B E “ = “Temporarily Useful Bulbous 
> Expedient”.
>
> OH yeah: a fellow with gradeschool years in Nederlands showed me once 
> a BC-611 he had picked up out of a
>
> roadside ditch after Arnhem. It had the antenna broken off – no quick 
> change possible with this rig – and it had
>
> a hand applied different shade of brown paint spiraling up around the 
> thing. He had replaced the antenna and the thing looked perfect. I 
> should have maybe stayed in touch with him.
>
> -Hue Miller
>
>
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