[MRCA] problems owning/buying rare radios

Mon Mar 12 23:39:30 EDT 2012

Thanks to everyone who replied. Seems most folks would stay away from the
unobtainium radio like kryptonite!  

Now a little story.  I began life as a collector (only) of boatanchors, not
a ham. I loved radios like Hammarlund and anything else large and heavy and
frequently naval gray in color.  I had been a collector only of receivers.
Then one day on ebay, I came across a beautiful, restored, central
electronics 100V transmitter.  I had never owned a transmitter before and
most of them never really "floated my boat." As a collector, I was mostly
interested in the aesthetics, engineering and construction quality.  And
many transmitters just didn't do it for me aesthetically.  Then along came
this 100V. I was really smitten.  The ham who sold it to me was shocked to
hear I wasn't a ham and he was skeptical about selling to me until I
explained that I was really a collector of boatanchors.  He said to me,
"well, you should really get your ticket now that you own a transmitter -
you have no excuses!" And a year later (2005) I had my ticket.

But the purpose of this little story is... At the time I bought the 100V, if
it didn't work at all, I would still have wanted it in my collection.  Just
as I have a Hughes printing telegraph machine from 1865, and a 1890's stock
ticker - who cares if they worked, I wasn't going to use it anyway, but they
are things of beauty - technological marvels of their time.  Now I am sure
many of us have old military equipment that is on our shelves inoperable.
But we enjoy them nonetheless, albeit in a different way than if we were
able to operate them.  

The real question is, what will our grandchildren and great-grandchildren
collect for military radios? Will they only want to acquire equipment that
is working or easily repairable? Will they only collect radios from Vietnam
and earlier because radios with an unobtainium 8080 CPU could never be
replaced if it let out the smoke (tongue in cheek)?  Could a rare BCC39D
that someday becomes inoperable, still have an appeal to a milradio
collector 20 years in the future? 

Of course, we're not talking about buying a dead BCC39D but a working one.
The question is -- if it dies, does it really become the proverbial wheel
chock? Or does it still retain some value as a very unique specimen of
1980's portable military communications? All rhetorical questions, of
course. 

Thanks again to everyone for offering their thoughts on the subject. Always
good to judge one's own mania by mania of his friends!

73 Eugene W2HX

-----Original Message-----
From: Ray Fantini [mailto:RAFANTINI at salisbury.edu] 
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2012 11:05 AM
To: Eugene Hertz; mrca at mailman.qth.net
Subject: RE: [MRCA] problems owning/buying rare radios

I have never had any issues working with newer equipment. When you get into
the WW2 stuff unless you want to operate CW or AM that's about it, also the
value of unmodified equipment of that age is such that it's unwise to modify
or change anything that old for convenient operation. Equipment from the
fifties like the R-390, T-368 or my favorite the ARC-38 are far superior to
anything built in the war period but still limited to AM and CW. By the
sixties radios like the PRC-47, PRC-70 and PRC-74 allowed you to operate SSB
although in some cases USB only and they were first generation hybrid sets
and can have tubes and components that are hard to find. Once better solid
state devices were available radios like the PRC-104 and GRC-106
demonstrated what could be done with solid state, yes I know the 106 has a
tube in the PA. In the seventies and eighties Cmos and MPU started appearing
in control systems and radios capabilities jumped way ahead. Another of my
favorite radios is the Motorola URC- 100 family of radios and I have owned
several and repaired them for others for some time now. 
Synthesizers, preset memories and programmable offsets beat crystal control
or one channel simplex every time.
By the late forties all manufacturers moved to a modular approach in
construction for military radios. Think of a R-390 or a ARR-41 and
everything you can say about not being able to get to the underside of the
chaise or work on the radio while in operation applies to them just as well
as it applies to a PRC-104 and as far as obtaining parts with the internet
and eBay I have had no issues getting components. Buying an integrated
circuit on eBay is just as easy as buying a tube. And with the internet it's
easier now more than ever to research and find others who may have the same
radio or can provide assistance.
My only issue with buying anything built by Racal is that there a British
company and may use different component numbering systems then the Motorola
or General Dynamics stuff I have worked on.

Ray F

-----Original Message-----
From: mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:mrca-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of W2HX
Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2012 9:55 PM
To: mrca at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [MRCA] problems owning/buying rare radios

Hi friends.  I am recently acquired a really nice Racal BCC-39B which is now
my favorite HF manpack.  While there is some *very* basic documentation
available, if the thing goes south I am likely SOL.  Now I may have an
opportunity to purchase a BCC-39"D". This thing is significantly different
than the B. For example, it has an internal ATU (vs the external BCC565 of
the "B"), has some kind of hopping capability, uses LED instead of LCD
display, etc.  For this radio, there is literally ZERO information on.  This
thing makes hens teeth look common!

After thinking about which list to send this inquiry to, I decided the "C"
in MRCA might provide the most sympathetic ears.  What do you folks think
about acquiring and owning very rare (and expensive) radios that may be
unfixable? The practical ham in me thinks, "stay far away, save your money."
But the collector in me says "rare opportunity, only kid on the block with
one, bragging rights galore!"  Now of course, this is a personal decision
that no one can make other than me.  But.what do you other collectors think
and how do you guys make these kinds of decisions?

Many thanks

73 Eugene W2HX

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