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