Has anyone here ever dealt with HRO trade or consignment?

[W5BRM]

Taking a ic-7200 and a Flex 1500 down to Plano to see what I can get for them. Never have dealt with them on consignment or trade before so not sure ehat to expect.

Basically need to know if they fair or thieves.

Thanks

[KJ3N]

It's been a few years, but:

Consignment: You set the price for the item. Assuming it sells, you get paid after 30 days less HRO's commission. I don't remember the percentage they get, but somewhere around 20% sounds right.

Trade: You typically lose your shirt. Not necessarily meaning they're thieves, but you have to remember they can't sell it for more than fair market value, so you will get significantly less than fair market value.

You are always better off trying to sell gear yourself, IMO.

BTW, I don't think this is just typical for HRO. Most ham dealers will do the same.

[W5BRM]

It's been a few years, but:

Consignment: You set the price for the item. Assuming it sells, you get paid after 30 days less HRO's commission. I don't remember the percentage they get, but somewhere around 20% sounds right.

Trade: You typically lose your shirt. Not necessarily meaning they're thieves, but you have to remember they can't sell it for more than fair market value, so you will get significantly less than fair market value.

You are always better off trying to sell gear yourself, IMO.

BTW, I don't think this is just typical for HRO. Most ham dealers will do the same.

Thanks. Kinda figured that on the trade in. Makes sense. Just was more or less wondering on the "character" of HRO is all. I'm gonna give the consignment a shot. Due to work, I don't really have time to work on selling it myself.

[W5BRM]

Just got done with the consignment. Dealt with Eddie KD4RAZ. Head Sales Mgr. Nice guy. Had my stuff checked in and should be a few days til they complete inspecting. Only thing I'm not happy about is they wouldn't put my Flex 1500 up. He said they wont accept equipment that HRO doesnt sell. Kind of a strange policy but way it goes i guess.

Consignment percentage is 25%. Quite high, but I get international exposure.

Ended up walking out with a new Yeasu FTM-3200, new 2m Hustler antenna, mag mount. Had an issue with the mag mount. 1st and 2nd was MFJ mag mount that wouldnt work with the hustler antenna. Eddie worked with me on trying everything to get it to tune. Finally we both decided the mfj mags were either broken or something. Switched to a Browning nmo mag mount and 3/8 x 24 thread adaptor. First check with the 259c was almost perfect. 146.0 swr 1.4. 144.0 1.25. 148.0 1.9. Im happy.

That little rig has a loud front speaker and does analog and digital C4FM.

Gonna be a fun radio to learn and deal with the new Yeasu digitsl rpts coming out! Hope my slow brain can wrap its head around this...lol. Gonna be nice to have at least a REAL 2m rig in the truck instead of those junk chinese ht's

[WZ7U]

Is it your own truck or a company rig?

[W5BRM]

Company rig

[WZ7U]

Ah bummer. Explains a lot........

Is a visegrip mount on a mirror stanchion an option (not knowing what type truck it is, of course)?

[W5BRM]

Got a Cascadia with no west coast mirrors. Makes a BIG PITFA to put antenna's on it. Wilson makes a mount (https://www.amazon.com/Wilson-305500-Antenna-Freightliner-Cascadia/dp/B00JKOEFVW/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1493953085&sr=8-5&keywords=wilson+cb+antenna+mount) that uses the bolts from the existing mirror cab frame to add a stud that replaces the west coast mirror. I use that to mount my antennas. As to putting a radio in the truck, In the past, due to equipment limitations and company policies pretty much any radio putting out more than 5w was verboten. This was because the policies involved were that:

1: No tapping or direct connection to the batteries.
2: No tapping or direct connection to the truck wiring other than the single dedicated CB wiring harness.

The cb wire harness was made with 18ga wire and fused with a 2amp fuse. More than 5w, blows the fuse or melts the wiring so couldnt run any high power equipment.

Fast forward to this year. Company still has these policies in place. However, the new trucks coming in have a 1500w DC to AC power inverter under the bunk. Talked to the company about what the policies were concerning radio's and the power inverter. They said they didn't care what radios were put in so far as rule 1 and 2 were followed.

That got a bunch of us thinking. 1500w should power a 30amp AC to DC power supply just fine. Asked the company and they said just don't blow the 1500w inverter up and do as you want. So I just bought a Powerwerx 30a PS and a 25ft shop orange power cord. Planning on running the PS from the inverter under the bunk. The new radio is 65w so the Powerwerx supply will handle that fine.

I know it's a bit unorthodox but other drivers making it work so Im gonna do that too. Tired of being w/o my radios. Next tax season, will be getting a HF mobile unit and putting that in. Just have to figure an antenna that will be light enough the wilson mount can hold it.

[WZ7U]

So....would a 20m whip be too much for the mount? This one, right?15323Wilson 305500

My thought would be to put a quick disconnect on there and do what I used to do. Which was to put the 20m whip on during the day and the 40m or 75m whip on at night. I had a dedicated 11m antenna on the passengers mirror so it never moved off. 2m/70cm had its own dedicated antenna as well and an XM mast rounded out my compliment. But then again, I dove for an O.O. that was cool and encouraged stuff like that.

Also, I had my HF mounts at a 45* angle so I kept under 13'6", not sure if that's an option with this mount; it doesn't look like it. Keep up the good fight. Funny how you can use an inverter for a P.S. to run a rig. It makes me wonder if the corporate bean counters have ever set foot in a large car before. :scratch_head:

Carry on, I'm curious to see how this ends up working out for you.


on edit - HRO used to sell fiberglass whips made for the ham bands (I forgot the brand, sorry) that looked a lot like black CB whips. I liked them because they looked like CB antennas; no one would want to get in my rig and rip off my ICOM if they thought it was only a CB from a quick glance outside. These guys running screwdrivers are just setting themselves up for a break in, IMO.

[W5BRM]

So....would a 20m whip be too much for the mount? This one, right?15323Wilson 305500

My thought would be to put a quick disconnect on there and do what I used to do. Which was to put the 20m whip on during the day and the 40m or 75m whip on at night. I had a dedicated 11m antenna on the passengers mirror so it never moved off. 2m/70cm had its own dedicated antenna as well and an XM mast rounded out my compliment. But then again, I dove for an O.O. that was cool and encouraged stuff like that.

Thats the mount I will be using. I've acutally been through 2 of them in the past but word has it that Wilson has improved the weld on them. Mine broke right where the stud comes out of the bracket.


Also, I had my HF mounts at a 45* angle so I kept under 13'6", not sure if that's an option with this mount; it doesn't look like it. Keep up the good fight. Funny how you can use an inverter for a P.S. to run a rig. It makes me wonder if the corporate bean counters have ever set foot in a large car before. :scratch_head:

Carry on, I'm curious to see how this ends up working out for you.


on edit - HRO used to sell fiberglass whips made for the ham bands (I forgot the brand, sorry) that looked a lot like black CB whips. I liked them because they looked like CB antennas; no one would want to get in my rig and rip off my ICOM if they thought it was only a CB from a quick glance outside. These guys running screwdrivers are just setting themselves up for a break in, IMO.

MFJ makes fiberglass whips for all bands 70cm to 80m if I remember right. I think HRO sells them as they sell everything else MFJ makes...lol. Last time I had a radio in the truck (over a decade ago), I used 10, 12 and 15m whips before moving onto a high sierra screwdriver. They work but are lossy. Anything lower and there is just too much loss. I'd like to put a 17m one on as I really like 17m.

As to keeping the antenna's under 13'6', you pretty much have to put them at 45* angle. the mirror frame is still high enough that the lower band antenna's would exceed max height otherwise. I might be able to keep the current 2m 5/8 whip verticle as it's about 5ft total in height.

Looking forward to playing around with this new radio. There is a Fusion repeater over in Lawton but nobody has been on it all weekend. Think they use it primarily for skywarn and wx related activity anyway.