The AM Forum

I received the latest Fair Radio Sales catalog today and thumbed through it - YIKES!!! I know Fair has always been expensive, but I guess this time I paid more attention.

A BC-610E for almost 1000$, with no mod transformer and "some" coils??????

An HP 275 mHz scope for more than $800 - where these can be had at flea markets and on Ebay for about 1/4 that price????  And hundreds and hundreds of other examples.

I wonder WHO buys this stuff????

He s expensive. I guess collectors buy the big $ stuff.

I would explain that to mean that some items are much rarer than they were before, either from attrition or collector possession. Someone who does not want at least $500 for a BC-610 in the same shape does not know what it is, or, is being very generous as happens with the best people from time to time. I'm not cheering for high prices, but stores are always higher than individuals.

I used to own four GRC-106A's. A working one cost $400-750 depending on condition. One that was incomplete or deemed unrepairable was more like $200. In the last 10 years, double those prices at least. An individual sold a CARC one for $1500 to a friend last year. It would have been $3K or more in a store.

 I've done business with them a few times this year. If they have what you need they ship it same day. I don't mind paying for something I need. What I refuse to tolerate is Rudeness. Please phone the guy at Autek "Customer Support" for a nice dose..

I guess prices for their smaller items like components are okay.  they have this one pretty high current bandswitch that some eBay scammers have been buying and reselling on eBay at a markup.  They had a pretty big roller inductor, looked like at least 25A, on eBay for $250 BIN.  That price isn't a giveaway but it is also not completely out of line if you need one like that.  The prices are probably set by volume and demand:  something rare and marketable high, something small cheap and plentiful, low.   Those 4D32s they had last year weren't that bad a deal.

They used to sell T-195 PTOs for $8.  These are identical to the ones in the T-368, except for some external wiring, which could be adapted for use as a replacement. I have always found some stuff overpriced with others sold as bargains.

I haven't received a catalogue from them in a long time, but the past few ones I have seen included more and more non-surplus, "consumer electronics" and other new retail items. I think their prices on surplus items are still more reasonable than those of Ripoff Sales of Nebraska.

I've done business with Fair Radio for a lot of years.  At least they are decent people that mostly know what they have in stock.  Also, everything I have purchased has been exactly as advertised; more than you can say for some other places.  

Have not dealt with Fair for a few years,  But,  have thought that generally they were quite honest,  and had reasonable prices on most of the stuff that I was interested in.

For a while they were selling the complete T-195 Exciter assy.   Basically it is the same as the T-3 Exciter,  minus the Readout assy,  and with a 5763 IPA in place of the 6000.  And these were take outs,  in unknown condition,  but an interesting starting point for an HF Exciter.

One time bought one of the Tuning unit thingies -- the green plastic end pieces,  which had the Vac Variable removed,  but still had the nice Roller Inductor and another L,  couple of DC motors etc.  All for $35.00.  A deal.  Got one and it was fine.  Later ordered another,  but that one had been sitting in water for months or more,  and was quite corroded on the bottom few inches.  Called Fair,  mentioned it to them,  and said that I'd be willing to pay something for it,  but was not worth $35.  The guy on the phone said that they'd send out another gratis,  and I did not need to return previous one.  Was happy that they trusted me,  and did more than I expected them to do.

So am generally happy with Fair.   Vic

The last paper catalog I received from them was somewhere around 1989. I didn't know they were still sending them out.

By making sufficient profit.

Fair Radio WAS usually much cheaper than Surplus Sales of Nebraska. But the condition of the goodies would not be as good as Surplus.

Prices did take a jump at Fair Radio.............times are a changin.

when I visited Murphy Surplus last year I asked the owner Mike the same thing. His prices are kind of high but parts are cheap. He pointed to a Shelf of surplus XCVRS and told me how many he had sold in a short time. He said business was quite good. I know the whole store layout had changed in a year
Then the phone rang and the guy on the line wanted to buy a couple of the rigs on the shelf.
These surplus guys have to store all this stuff in a building and make payroll then pay taxes.

Fair is Fair...There has always been outrageously priced surplus listed right along with very low cost items.

Some of it is coolness and collectability like old Watkins Johnson stuff.. But many old radios like KWM-2's and PRC-25's and GR-106's etc... Vietnam era stuff are still valuable. We just had a RFI at work for a system that included sourcing PRC-77 transceivers, a set that entered service in Vietnam in 1968. So the complete radios have commercial value beyond collectors.

I was talking with one of the owners (George Selllati? or Phil, whichever of the brothers is still with us) a few years ago about finding a clean exciter deck from a T-368.  He said they don't put items in the catalog if they only have a few left, and that was one of the items. He picked the cleanest one and sent it along.

The flow of military stuff, even old military stuff, was significantly curtailed post-9/11. Over-reaction as to whether the bad guys might make use of anything military. Whatever.  So that caution started restricting certain items that previously had been offered to the wholesale market, through surplus agencies like the federal DRMO (Defense Reutilization Marketing Office, now part of Defense Logistics Agency).

In more recent years, DRMO and other agencies have built websites for direct, retail sales to the public, raising the number of potential buyers and further narrowing what's left for Fair Radio at a price they can re-sell it for.

Example:
http://www.govliquidation.com/

For those willing to pick around on a somewhat unfocused government website, sure, the deals are there.  But the pricing seen today at Fair Radio and others represent, in part, the time they take to get radio-related stuff.

Probably 20 years ago now, I got onto a situation involving more than 100 R390A at a place called Cheatham Annex, on the York River.  Different again than the St. Julien's Creek Massacre not far away from there. I registered with DRMO, max'd out my credit card, and would have paid about $50 a receiver, had I won.  Instead Canada's Marchand Sales was high bidder, around $70 a receiver, and there they went. 

I don't know what I would have done with three pallets' worth in my garage to sell off all but a couple of nice ones, which was the idea. But I also can't imagine trying to participate in such an auction now, with the visibility so much higher for government surplus items.

Trivia- Why was Fair Radio started in Lima, Ohio?

A: Because of the surplus sales available at nearby Wright-Patterson AFB.

I'm sure there's a sealed Indiana Jones-like warehouse building on the base full of BC-610s, ART-13s and WWII Jeeps still wrapped in Cosmolene.

more trivia: What was Fair also known for in its earliest days?

I have not received a catalog in years, though i recently picked up a TCS Dynamotor from their Ebay listing. Price seemed reasonable enough. Ahh but to look through the catalogs of the 70's-80's and drool now.

...  and they'll sell you their old catalogs too.


klc

The store, even though the 'legendary basement' no longer exists in the new location, is a great place to explore. I really enjoyed it in 2007 and hope to visit again. There are so many excellent items in the store that are not in the catalog. Phil is a real decent person.

This picture documentary is from 2007 and outdated but it might be enjoyable to look at:
http://www.bunkerofdoom.com/travel/steelsoldiers2/20071002a/index.html

Folks who aren't interested in the $20 and a handful of FETs approach?  ;D

It's probably my New England frugality kicking up  ;D  It just seems that many items are VERY expensive.  Now, I have certainly bought a lot of stuff from Fair over the past 40 years, and often the prices are VERY good on individual parts, transformers, etc.  No so good with equipment...

Oh, Todd may be interested in this..... to get on 10 meters QUICKLY (the band has been just incredible!), I actually built a vacuum tube, transformer coupled modulator for an old modulator-less Valiant I had kicking around the basement  :D   There is only one transformer in the modulator - the modulation transformer.  It's a direct coupled solid state audio driver driving the mod tubes - class B.  The class E RF amp is probably going to take me several weeks to complete (assuming a reasonable motivation factor continues!) and I just had to get on 10 meters right away.   Todd, there may be hope for me yet  ;) :D ;D  The modulator will properly reproduce the so-called class E "Shark Fin" modulation pattern, and I guess it sounds good on the air..... Beats the heck out of the Radio Shack 10 meter 5 watt transceiver I was using!  Man, was that BAD!

Nah, you're hopeless Steve. Just like the rest of us.  ;D

It's no secret that the Class E transmitters don't interest me, true enough. But I sure do like working them on the air! You, Bob/KBW, Blaine and a couple others put BIG signals down this way with plenty of clean audio. You could be running BC transmitters for all anyone knows, we can't see from here.

As far as the prices at Fair Radio, I'm sure the collector market drives some of it along with an ever-decreasing supply. $995 for a BC-610E in today's world probably isn't too far off the mark. Adjusted for inflation, those $25 DX-100s, R-390As, and $100 BC-610s (that no one wanted since they were TVI generators) have all gone up in price like everything else through the years. They also have one ART-13 listed for $350, which sounds more than reasonable.

And no one can ever say that you can't take a little ribbing about the 'handful of FETS' comment. Just for clarity (since I know that's not really what you originally said), here's where I got it from. I'm sure the author of the post made the statement equally tongue-in-cheek.

http://classe.monkeypuppet.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=644

We'll await the arrival of your latest tube-based creation. You might need to use heavier clip leads, just to be safe.   ;)

I like the hand full of FETs approach and appreciate all of the great work the guys did in the 90's and the 55 Gal drum of burned out ones that it took to get there.

I've been burning up the airways on 10 meters with the [tube] transmitter - at least until the class E RF amp for 10 is ready!  I got a recording sent to me today by WZ5Q, who I worked on 10 meters this afternoon.  HIS audio is incredible!!!  I didn't record it, but I will next time.

Gee Mike I think I've blown only a dozen FETs since the '80s trying to jam RF through them. Most were TO3 case parts. The predriver in the 160 meter rig is still TO3 case totem poles running square wave drive.

I didn't burn out very many FETs at all, but what I have is a fairly good collection of prototypes (or should I say, parts of prototypes).  These were - as one might say - the rungs up the ladder it took to get to where we are today, class E/D wise.  There are probably a hundred FETs - maybe more - as part of these prototypes, not including the one transmitter that, in and of itself, used 100 small devices.

The most early success I had at high power was an 80/160 meter class D rig that used 100 IRF610s, a floating driver and a very good pulse width modulator.  I believe Frank actually saw that rig in operation.  I still have the prototype, albeit, mostly dismantled.

The wonder of some of it, looking back, is the amount of time that went into designing and then building all of that stuff  :o  All fun!  :D

Regards,

Steve

Fair Radio has for a long time been a neat place. As to the pricing, be selective. There is always some nugget that can be had for a reasonable price.

Steve, Tonight on 29015 Khz, right as you were describing that Valiant 811 modulator, 10m propagation died, and did so in about 10 seconds. Went from 20 over 9 to my S3 noise level from my "half square" antenna. That was about 7 pm EST. Weird.

Jim
WD5JKO

When my wife was doing her residency in Kentucky and we were visiting for xmas (I was posted overseas then), I took a trip from Louisville to Lima to Fair Radio thru a blinding snowstorm.  What a great place.  There's tons of stuff that's not in the catalog, and friendly folks there too.

I ended up scoring an extremely rare Sylvania R-1414 receiver for a hunnert clams.  Anyway, it's well worth a trip.

I'm now doing the manual for that receiver. Takes two hands to carry the manual.  ;D

Anything with a nixie tube readout has a high coolness factor in my book.  ;D

Doesn't surprise me that you found one at Fair, Johnny. I've heard similar stories from other folks about discovering gems hidden in amongst the other items. Would love to get there for a visit. There are numerous odds and ends I need that I'm sure are waiting there.

I know, and expect an order from me  ;D

I figured the manual was absolutely unobtainium.  A forum member here scored one on eBay for a sawbuck; he;s the one that submitted it to Pete for reproduction as it was beyond him to do it himself. 

The power transformer is crapped out, but it does work (needs +5, +/-8, +24, and +180V as I recall).

Someone on Premium RX just put in a good word for Pete on that manual

It's an extremely cool little receiver, and I'm looking forward to getting it in some semblance of permanent functionality.

It has a tag from Vint Hill, VA which was a classified ASA facility.  Oh the stories that RXer could tell if it could...

Ah yes, the "FARMS"...  I did some TDY there once upon a time...

Speak of the devil, I got home and what did I find in the mail, the 64th Anniversary FRS catalog no. WS-11, "many new items; check every page!"  48 pages long.  If I had the money to blow, I'd think about a weekend trip to Lima OH and have an eyeball QSO with the place.

The sign is still on US 29. But it's a development/business park now.

I ought to call them up and ask for a catalog. It has been a while.

Now there's a name I haven't heard in years.  Now an industrial park.  Interesting.