[MRCA] Your thoughts on acquiring a BC-611 today

[ac2eu at yahoo.com]

As far as I know, Pietro is no longer producing the inverters that used D cells to power the radio.There are some more modern designs I’ve seen, but more of DIY project than a plug n play situation. I think the power supply is the biggest problem with the BC611.


Sent from my undisclosed bunker location

On Monday, May 25, 2026, 1:42 PM, Jason WA6BBQ via MRCA <mrca at mailman.qth.net> wrote:

Said radio to me seems like the apex for us military radio collecting and operating nerds, especially after considering the “dollars per pound” and “dollars per milliwatt” calculations. (Much safer for one’s toes, however.)
But no denying the cool factor, checks a lot of my boxes: Operational history, AM, highly portable,  seems to be the origin story for why the 75M AM center of the universe landing on 3885, as someone who works in public safety communications and has revived a lot of old Motorola gear to work on the ham bands, having “Motorola’s first HT” (yeah, I know… Galvin… minor technicality)
But I want to ask those of you who have had one for a while… do you love it? Hate it? Worth it? If you could do over, would you still have bought one, or skipped it? Easy or difficult to keep running? Horror stories? Experiences with recent power supply modules?
(I do have both of Mark Francis’ books… he’s much more objective than the subjective that I’m inquiring upon)
What other thoughts and advice do you have?
Thanks and 73,Jason WA6BBQ______________________________________________________________
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