[R-390] ebay NOS r-390A

[Barry Williams]

Good point. My PH-56 has an Army Security Agency sticker on the back and 
a peace sign scratched into the mc change knob. It makes me think of all 
the things it has received over the years.


Barry


> I find it incredible that by attaching an N.O.S. "new" label on a 40 year
> old radio could make so many people wet their pants to buy it. I would not
> pay >$5000 for an R-390A today.
>
> No matter how long it has sat in a box those components are going to age. We
> know that caps deteriorate over time and that even buying a NOS capacitor
> from those days is not the same thing as buying a capacitor right off of the
> assembly line. Just with time the lubrication dries out and turns gummy,
> foam rubber deteriorates and tubes gradually lose their vacuum.
>
> I would rather buy a radio that was in great shape before it went in for a
> professional restoration by someone like Chuck or Rich.
>
> One thing I would have liked is a set of the original ceramic filters
> instead of the mechanical ones that are in 99.9% of what is out there.
>
> There is a difference between a collector who is going to park something on
> a shelf and hope it's value increases with time and someone who would put a
> radio to a darned good use and twist the knobs every night digging for a
> weak signal. I like to think that most people on this list are users and not
> just antique collectors.
>
> Picking up one of these radios I am filled with a sense of history. These
> were on the front lines of the cold war, listening for the Russians, Chinese
> and Vietnamese. I do not think that there would be the same sense of history
> in a NOS radio that was stored in a warehouse since it rolled off the
> factory line.
>
> Ms. Tisha Hayes/ AA4HA
>