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As hams tend to be notoriously cheap, I thought it might be interesting to start a thread where we can post when we find a deal or buy something at a good price.
I just picked up a battery box from Cabela's. I plan to use it with the battery backup for my shack. Check it out at http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templ ... =cat601233
Autek Research QF-1A filter: $38. Ebay snaggage, was listed in the wrong area.
$6 shipping. Fine business, 100%.
I'd be a little wary of buying anything from Autek. I picked up a RF-1 and it had all sorts of unsoldered joints. http://galesvillefiredepartment.org/...autek_RF_1.JPG
I soldered the ones that needed it, fluxed and reflowed the solder on a few others and now it works as it should have to begin with. It will make a nice addition to the backpack when I'm out camping this summer.
No issues here. Fine business :)
Just acquired today:
IC-910H 2m/70cm All Mode with 2 DSP units, voice synthesizer, and high stability crystal. $775
Now all I have to do is hope the UX-910 1.2Ghz module I got 2 years ago as part of an estate sale will work once I install it.
This weekend I got a complete R-8 vertical for $10 at a garage sale. It has all the parts and plays great. The ham radio vultures missed the R-8.
I got 32oz. of King Cobra for $1.25! Tastes just like Wonder Loaf!
I picked up a high/mid serial number Icom 765 for $650.00.
It's doing duty as my straight key rig.
Mike
Got a Daiwa 620 dual-needle SWR meter for $30 at the hamfest, while dealers nearby were selling no-name knockoffs of same for $90.
I got a great deal on a dress I can wear to the Celtic Festival this year :spin:
[attachment=0:1cgbkc3z]dress.jpg[/attachment:1cgbkc3z]
:mrgreen:
Nice.Quote:
Originally Posted by nx6d
There kind of a bear to tune. But good Deal.Quote:
Originally Posted by W3WN
Has anyone ever gotten an Autek that didnt reek of cigarettes or have to be re-worked in some way? I got one in a desk drawer that is waiting for the second coming.
That would be me. That doesn't mean that someone else didn't already do the work.Quote:
Originally Posted by w3bny
Lucky bastridge...
I heard when...WHEN they work they are pretty neat-o-things.
Unfreakin' believable! Literally pulls signals out of the noise. If I was a big CW fan I wouldn't operate without it but, I do monitor LW aircraft beacons and it does help with hearing clearly. I'll report back in a couple of months when trans Atlantic LWBCB starts rolling again and I'll tell you how BBC4 sounds.Quote:
Originally Posted by w3bny
How about a FREE course in audio engineering?
Woot!
http://www.audiosonica.com/en/course/post/2/Index
I just got hold of a Timewave DSP-599zx for about 2/3 of "list price".
A friend found a Drake R7 - excellent shape but would not operate on AC power - $25 at a garage sale. Worked on DC... two 400v, 3A barrel diodes later and he was back in business on AC power. :agree:
Another friend walked out of my place last night with an entire box of AEA and Heathkit stuff - FREE. Not worth much these days but when he was first getting into ham radio he kept bugging the sh!t out of me to sell the gear to him.
Patience pays off at times.
Anybody else shop garage sales and estate sales? Many of my best purchases come from these sales, it's surprising how many radio items are in those.
Many moons ago I purchased a NOS NIB Collins R-390A at a garage sale for something like $20. I opened the outer box to verify it was actually NOS NIB via all the proper documents being inside the outer box, never opened the inner box. Sold to a collector in FL a few days later.
Went to one estate sale and the only radio related item there was an open rack home brew AM/CW xmitter and some spare tubes for it. Strange but nothing else radio related was found in the whole house??? Bought it for about $20 but had to recruit a couple of helpers to load it. 304TLs in push-pull for the RF deck, modulated by 152THs.
A local ham friend does the storage area auctions and he purchased a 10X20 foot storage area full of NOS NIB tubes for a few dollars, sold them at hamfests for 2 years afterwards.
Ham radio gear and parts are available and very cheap at these types sales, check a few out in your area. Ya just never know what you'll find.
You sold a new R-390A? You should be shot.Quote:
Originally Posted by N4VGB
Hello.
I look for the stuff nobody else wants, fried FT-101, super modded KWM-2(a), that type of thing.
Estate sales are the way to go.
George I already owned a whole stack of perfectly good R-390s and R-390As at the time, still have about 4-6 of each, that "museum quality" and/or NOS NIB gear is much sought after by the deep pockets collectors and I gladly take their money for the pretty stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by w2amr
That old stuff seldom comes out of the box looking brand new and actually works like it would have if purchased while it was newly manufactured. I took a local ham friend over to an elderly gents home who had owned a radio shop for many moons. My friend purchased a NOS NIB Hallicrafters HT-37 and matching SX-111 from the old gent. Both pieces were as pristine as the day they left the Hallicrafters factory, both had multiple problems and stayed on his workbench for weeks. By the time he finished them he had become completely sick of them also and shortly thereafter sold them for a small profit.
I noticed an unbuilt Heathkit SB-220 linear amp kit sell on eBay a few days ago for a small fortune. Granted it would be a hoot to build that kit, immediately after completion you've lost a lot of money because now you have only a very nice SB-220! :rofl:
Years ago a buddy gave me an unbuilt Heath Sixer. I'm sorry now that I put it together. I could have put it on E- Pay and some fool would have given me $500 for it.
Easily. :yes:Quote:
Originally Posted by w2amr
The old question of what to do with an unbuilt heathkit is simple for me, I'd have to build the sucker and then be mad at myself for doing so. :rofl:
Kath's uncle built a 21" Heath color TV back in the 70's . It took him over a year to build it and it never did work right.Quote:
Originally Posted by N4VGB
I heard those Heath color TVs weren't much when they did work right! :rofl:Quote:
Originally Posted by w2amr
But I never actually met anyone who owned one.
The people were always blue .Quote:
Originally Posted by N4VGB
Hello.
We Have a Heath/Zenith TV.
It worked fine until digital came along.
99% of the trouble was in how the thing was put together.
The one we got was first assembled by the chief of communications for San Antonio.
I read the manual, and with a solder sucker and about 6 months of nights got it to work correctly.
I was 14 at the time. :mrgreen:
I knew nothing of electronics to the point to where I could possibly assemble a TV, I just read the manual.
Kind of like paint by numbers, just follow what the manual says, right down to how to solder. :snicker:
Just snagged a Minicircuits 8-port, 50-ohm BNC-connector 10-1000 MHz power splitter for $29.00.
List price on that puppy is $140. :dance
Permanent Smurf Vision!?Quote:
Originally Posted by w2amr
Or residents of Avalon... I think that was the name of the "planet" in AvatarQuote:
Originally Posted by N4VGB
And I sure hope Ben Stiller got well compensated for making a schmuck out of himself last night... ok, that's redundant, but you know what I mean...
I don't think the smurfs were born back then.Quote:
Originally Posted by N4VGB
Well, maybe Heathkit TVs were the sorce of their birth? :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by w2amr
:rofl:Quote:
Originally Posted by N4VGB
I just tossed $47 to China for a Puxing PX-2R HT. 70CM HT, for a bit more I could have gotten a dual band, but I figured I'd try this one first and see how it goes. It uses a cell phone battery so I like that I can recharge it from the USB port on my laptop, or in a pinch a small hand cranked generator or solar panel when I'm camping For $47 if it's a POS I won't feel too bad.
Pierre Culliford, a Belgian cartoonist, created The Smurfs
Dutch singer Pierre Kartman made a song that propelled them worldwide in the interest of the people.
Source wikipedia.Quote:
In May 1977, Kartner was asked to make a promotional song for an animated movie, which turned out to be about The Smurfs. The record company pressed 1,000 copies, since they were unsure about the success of the single. However, they were all sold within one day at a Schlager festival. After a repress, 400,000 singles were quickly sold. A full Smurfs album was then created, which also climbed the charts, with 500,000 copies sold. It was released in several dozen countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Japan, all sung by Kartner. He scored a number one hit in 16 countries. His Smurf works have sold around 25 million copies.[2]
:neener: ;)
Quote:
Originally Posted by N4VGB
But was Pierre watching a Heathkit TV when the idea emerged??? :rofl:Quote:
Originally Posted by PA5COR
Most of my audio equipment came from "catalogue returns" shops. I still wonder why, I suspect things like the minidisc recorder and the HDD/CDR recorder were just too complicated for the average home catalogue buyer so they sent them back.
My old TS130 transceiver was very cheap and came from a heavy smoker in South Wales. He even delivered it so after a good clean up it's as good as new.
It just sort of followed me home. I swear. I think I'll keep it. Gonna make for a dandy ham shack during Field Day.
http://www.galesvillefiredepartment....ci/99jayco.jpg
Anytime I see one of those, I think exactly the same thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by KC9ECI
Except, I would make it THE shack out back. :)