[R-390] Blackface 390A on the e-place - BEWARE
Bob Camp
ham at cq.nu
Sat Mar 26 14:47:19 EST 2005
Hi
The amazing point to me never is that somebody is willing to over state
the significance of what they are selling. That's so common these days
in all areas of sales that it should be taken for granted.
The question is - who would pay this much for a radio that they know
nothing about? Obviously there are people in the world with a lot of
spare change in their pockets. I'm not quite clear as to exactly why
they would want to empty out their cookie jars on over priced radios
with poorly documented histories ...
Take Care
Bob Camp
KB8TQ
On Mar 26, 2005, at 2:24 PM, Roy Morgan wrote:
> R-390 folks,
>
> This is a followup to the thread:
> "Big bucks blackface 390A on the e-place"
> about Item 5761820560, and is the story as I know it.
>
>
> I got a call this morning from Howard Mills. He's the person I
> referred to in my post to the R-390 list:
>
> " ... A well known restorer of "black Collins" radios did a batch of
> black R-390A panels not too long ago. I wonder if this is one from
> that batch. ... "
>
> In fact, it is. Howard shared with me some of the background on the
> situation and suggested that I post the information here. This is the
> story as I know it.
>
> About a month ago Gary Baker, W3OG, had an R-390 and sold it to the
> seller of Item 5761820560, Dr. Jan C. Robbins, N0JR. Dr. Robbins
> wanted a black faced radio, apparently because he had a black cabinet,
> so Gary took the radio to Howard. Howard noticed the following:
>
> 1) The front panel was bent in the upper right corner.
> 2) The radio played well.
> 3) The nomenclature tag on the panel was a reproducton Collins tag of
> the more common short size.
> 4) The PTO was a COSMOS unit, and the name tag on it had scuff marks
> and scrapes.
> 5) The radio interior was moderately clean but by no means pristine.
> 6) The meters were of the type that do not have separate front covers.
> 7) He did not determing what the manufacturer of the radio was. He
> did not remove any modules although it appeard to him that the modules
> in the radio were from various manufacturers, as is typical of many
> R-390A's that have seen service and periodic depot maintenance.
> 8) He did not do extensive electrical or mechanical restoration of the
> radio, alignment, or cleaning, other than replacing the panel, knobs
> and frequency readout escutcheon.
>
> There was a discussion between Howard and Gary about Dr. Robbins'
> desire to have the radio sent to another well known restorer of
> R-390A's and keeper of an extensive web site on the subject. It was
> Howard's opinion that the radio performed well and since it was
> moderately clean to start with, the value added would not be worth the
> cost. The well-known restorer was offered the job but delined it.
>
> Howard accepted the job of installing a refinished black front panel,
> knobs and frquency readout escutcheon. The panel he installed was of
> the type that uses a longer nomenclature tag. The tag on the replaced
> panel was from Motorola. The panel, knobs, and frequency readout
> escutcheon had been refinished with black satin powercoat paint. The
> charge for the panel was adjusted upwards to account for the need for
> metal restoration work on the exchange panel.
>
> He re-installed the original meters without refinishing them. The
> powder coating process he uses involves baking at over 500 degrees F
> and only meter fronts that are separate from the meters can be
> refinished this way. The heat would ruin the whole meter.
>
> The now-blackfaced radio was shipped by Gary to Dr. Robbins within the
> last few weeks. Dr. Robbins posted Item 5761820560 on Ebay on March
> 20, 2005.
>
> A background note on black faced R-390A's: Howard bought an R-390A
> with a black panel at a hamfest about five years ago, and still has
> it. The panel is black *anodized* aluminum, not painted, and appears
> to be the original panel. Visitors to Howard's shop commented on the
> black radio and so Howard refinished a batch of panels in black satin
> powder coat paint. He now offers these panels on an exchange basis
> for $150.00. Meter covers, knobs, and frequency readout escutcheons
> are available also. Reports have been heard from time to time about
> black faced R-390A's and the government agency that is supposed to
> have used them. I don't have any good information from people who
> were "there at the time". It appears that at least one batch of
> R-390A'a was built with black anodized aluminum panels. The panels,
> knobs, etc., that Howard offers are black satin power coated.
>
> I summarize the situation.
> The quotes are from Ebay's auction Item 5761820560.
>
> 1) "This is my carefully collected, thoroughly restored,
> intelligence-agency-black R-390A."
> - Gary shipped a black-faced R-390A to Dr. Robbins within the last
> few weeks. That radio had not been recently restored except for newly
> refinished panel, knobs, and frequency readout escutcheon. The finish
> used was black satin powder coat.
>
> 2) "...the radio has been perfectly aligned."
> - No alignment was done recently to the radio shipped to Dr. Robbins.
> That radio was working well and apparently not in need of alignment.
> No thourough testing for such things as sensitivity, IF alignment, BFO
> calibration, PTO endpoint errors, HF crystal oscillator peaking, or
> the like had been done on it.
>
> 3) "I have compared this receiver on CW, SSB, and AM in hundreds of
> A/B tests with my Icom IC-775DSP."
> - Comparisons with the radio Gary sent to Dr. Robbins would have been
> done in the last week or two.
>
> 4) "It is mechanically, electronically, operationally and cosmetically
> as close to perfect as any R-390A you'll ever find anywhere, and
> absolutely beautiful. When you first take it out of the box YOU'LL
> THINK IT JUST CAME FROM THE FACTORY--NO EXAGGERATION (only the rear
> panel reveals this receiver has ever been used)."
> - The radio recently shipped to Dr. Robbins by Gary had a moderately
> clean but not pristine interior, the meters had been removed
> (unsoldered) and replaced in the refinished panel, the COSMOS PTO has
> scratched and damaged label, and the modules in the radio appeared to
> have been a collection of various modules from normal depot overhaul
> and maintenance.
>
> 5) "( ... this is the best by far). I have had great pleasure
> restoring it to that highest level, and I do not like to see it go,
> but I am ageing and near retirement ... "
> - The radio shipped to Dr Robbins by Gary was not pristine inside and
> had not been completely restored in the manner expected from Howard or
> the well known restorer of R-390A's who declined to work on it.
> - It appears that Dr. Robbins is 61 years old.
>
> 6) "Third, the receiver comes with a NEW-STYLE SSB CONVERTER that
> simply attaches to "line," "AGC" and ground connections on rear of
> radio; no internal mods. "
> - In the past a sealed module was offered that attaches to the R-390
> in the same manner that creates audio-derived AGC voltage. An article
> appeared in Hollow State News about the module, and reported poor
> performance compared to the radio's normal AGC system. The module was
> taken apart and found to consist of one diode, one capacitor and one
> resistor, the values of which were reported. The author may have been
> Dallas Lankford. The module reported on was supposed to help in AGC
> action while receiving SSB signals, *not* convert IF signals to audio
> as other SSB adapters or internal receiver modifications do.
>
> 7) " METERS ARE ALL ORIGINAL(!), a rarity. I wanted to keep them that
> way, so didn't powder coat."
> " ...the inside is as clean and neat as the outside, ...."
> - It is the sellers opinion that original meters on an R-390A are
> rare. Other workers familiar with the radio find that meter-less
> radios or radios with substitute meters are the less common.
> - The meters on the radio shipped recently to Dr. Robbins had no
> removable front bezel and so could not be powder coated.
> - The front panel of the radio shipped recently to Dr. Robbins had
> been recently refinished in powder coat paint. The interior was clean
> but not pristine.
>
> 8) "Cabinet is FACTORY NEW (yes, BRAND NEW!!), a shiny
> intelligence-agency-black milspec CY-979A, the only new black one I
> have ever seen."
> - In the last couple of years, a number of new CY-979A cabinets were
> available from Mac McCullough. It is not clear if any of those were
> black. It has been reported that those cabinets came from a military
> source. The three at this location appear to be genuine military
> equipment and arrived in new condition.
> - The front panel of the radio recently shipped to Dr. Robbins is
> black satin powder coat and would not match a shiny finished cabinet.
>
> 9) "NOTE: NOTE: I should have mentioned that Bidder ID is kept private
> in this auction to protect the privacy of honest bidders. A growing
> number of dishonest individuals make it a practice to contact and even
> harass those who bid on someone else's listed items, and I don't
> intend to help them. "
> - A (possibly growing) number of Ebay sellers make Bidders ID's
> private to allow them to cooperate with someone who dishonestly bids
> the item up in price with no intention of actually buying it. This
> may entice bidders from such places as Germany and Japan to become
> interested in the item, and bid more for it than they would if they
> knew its true condition. The world of gambling uses the words "shill"
> "mark" and "patsy" to describe this activity.
> - Reports have been seen of extreme dissatisfaction among auction
> winners when they asked Ebay to help resolve issues with sellers.
> - It is unclear whether a seller of an item with private Bidders ID's
> has access to the bidding information, but a noble step would be to
> ask all bidders if they mind revealing that information later and make
> it available.
>
> 10) "... dishonest individuals make it a practice to contact and even
> harass those who bid on someone else's listed items, and I don't
> intend to help them. "
> - I belive I am an honest individual, and I certainly would send a
> copy of this to bidders of Item 5761820560 if I could. My intention
> would be to help them understand clearly the nature of what appears to
> be offered.
>
> That is the situation as I know it.
> Roy
>
> Roy Morgan
> K1LKY since 1959
> 7130 Panorama Drive, Derwood MD 20855
> 301-330-8828 home .... 301-975-3254 work
> roy.morgan at nist.gov
>
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