Cost (value) of Transmitters... then and now

[Steve - K4HX]

You were probably being paid $2-3 an hour back then, maybe even less. Hard to tell but it's likely you paid less in taxes, so your take home pay was higher.

The cost of everything is out of whack! Now if I take a part time job at Home Despot for $9.00 per hour that would equal $1.15 in 1958 dollars. I forget what I was paid by the hour back then? The job I had was at a cement block factory they were  paying me about $80.00 per week clear. I bought a two year old Ford for $300.00 and traveled all over the place with that. Then I got the bright idea to join the Army for $77.00 per month starting pay.

By comparison of the T-368 transmitter mentioned above, My westinghouse must have cost the government more than $100,000. I think I would be hard pressed to find anyone who would give me a $1000.00 for it  If I tore it apart I would be lucky to get $500.00 for the parts! Well anyhow I am not going to part it out and would like to get it back on the air this summer.  Get out your S meter oil

[KD6VXI]

A friend consigned a big rig to be built last year.   It was a slow build,  he was building a house in another state,  life going on,  etc.   But,  I include it for reference:

It's a pair of 4-1000s modulated by a pair.   It includes a restored Ranger as an exciter / speech amp and a r388,  also restored.  Transmitter will work on all bands the Ranger includes,  high to low.   (ie,  no 80/40 only rf deck,  will cover to ten).   He purchased everything as a package.... 

5.5 grand,  pick up only.  Guaranteed,  and turn key.

Wess Coast prices.

--Shane
KD6VXI

[Steve - K4HX]

Interesting but homebrew prices are irrelevant in a discussion about commercially made rig prices.

[WU2D]

Actually as the BC375's VT-4C tubes continue to gain value, the rig may climb back to the 1941 price! 

[Opcom]

Commercial sets are those that were paid for. Having it built for oneself as mentioned in the first post makes it a commercial set. Within reason professional builders/consultants often build at home in their workshops or garages as do noncommercial home builders, making most of what does not come from a mass production factory 'home brewed'. The minority of commercial home brewed sets is relevant, as are some non-contracted home brewed sets. It can be argued that there are standards for engineering. performance, and appearance but home brews as a class are not so easily dismissed, and what can be said about the projects in the handbooks, other than one was built in a lab by a paid person, and all the 'copies' were built at home by people who still had to buy parts and consume labor time. The relevant question of the topic is what did a transmitter cost and its value, and what would the same or similar transmitter cost or be valued at today.

[W3RSW]

You guys forget that you could take that 1958 dollar bill to any bank and trade it for a silver dollar consisting of about, what, 90% of pure silver alloyed as coin silver with copper, otherwise too soft.

Said so right on the dollar. "Payable to the bearer on demand" etc.
Sure gold and silver are now commodities, but your dollar per hour back then ranged in today's value around $15 to $20 based on silver, short range and gold for absolute standard.  Won't delve in to gold now except to say that U.S. Treasury pegged it at  $35/oz. but you weren't allowed to own, buy or sell it (legally.)
the minute that policy was recinded, it soared to $135/oz. ...and you see where it is now per oz.

So your $80/week, old, was really instantly tradable for 72 Troy oz. of silver.  No one Wanted to carry around that much easily ripped-off weight , believe it or not! Worth $1600 now.  P&M, p&m, we never had it so good, those of us that had a job.  There just wasn't much money floating around back then since it had real value, had to be mined, had to be worked for with real labor and what metal there was backed the value of much more paper money, promises and drafts.

If you want to deflate my argument, promise me the modern value of silver will again be tradable at $1.00/0.9 Troy oz. without a typical govt. trick of calling it a new dollar, thereby revaluing every savings, stock and bond account in the country by 15 to 20 times less if done now.  Typically this is done be calling in all existing notes by a certain date after which they are not only devalued but totally worthless.

The other just as painful in the long run but frog boilable in the short run trick for valuable coin metal is to gradually decrease the metal value, e.g., Kennedy laminated dollars, etc. 
For the younger crowds information, the last phase of the U.S. trick several years ago was to make the penny mostly zink since the value of copper in a penny exceeded the value of the penny.

That is why all govt's love inflation. They sell you treasuries and pay you back in twenty years with confetti. The American stock market has floated the world for a century and even with the sad state of our economic  'recovery' is still the most stable in the world.  That's why the dollar has risen compared to other currencies in the last few months. Everyone else's is approaching junque, because of having economic policies even worse than ours.

Too bad real economics isn't taught honestly, beginning in the grades.

[KD6VXI]

Interesting but homebrew prices are irrelevant in a discussion about commercially made rig prices.

1.  He didn't build it.   He had it built,  professionally.   That was clear from me stating he consigned it.

2.  Nowhere did it state commercial.   

"The question is: Would someone pay $10,000 (accounting for inflation) for a _NEW_ 500 watt (carrier power) AM transmitter today? 

What would a _NEW_ equivalent (or better) transmitter with similar capabilities to the Globe King 500 actually cost today? 

If you did it with a linear, it would have to be a pretty good one - one that could dissipate a cool 1000 watts of heat over a reasonably long term, and of course a good exciter would be needed.  I have no idea what linears such as this would cost...you could use a Flex or an an Apache Labs transmitter as the RF source.  They produce very good AM.

If you had such a thing actually built for you - and this is done from time to time, it would approach the $10,000 figure - considering it would probably take most of a month to build such a thing (assuming full-time work on just that project, and actually charging a fairly modest labor rate) along with the cost of the parts, of course.

Anyway... just a question.."

Granted,  this transmitter is a lot bigger than 500 Watt carrier,  but it did answer the question posed.

--Shane
KD6VXI

[KA2DZT]

On the "For Sale" board someone just listed a restored Johnson 500 for $6,500. Take a look.

[Steve - K4HX]

Sorry about that. I got focused on all the talk about various commercial rigs and their pricing. All things being equal, production (or commercial) transmitters should be less expensive than a one-off or custom built. I'm guessing the labor charges and/or profit on most customs is very low.

Interesting but homebrew prices are irrelevant in a discussion about commercially made rig prices.

1.  He didn't build it.   He had it built,  professionally.   That was clear from me stating he consigned it.

2.  Nowhere did it state commercial.   

"The question is: Would someone pay $10,000 (accounting for inflation) for a _NEW_ 500 watt (carrier power) AM transmitter today? 

What would a _NEW_ equivalent (or better) transmitter with similar capabilities to the Globe King 500 actually cost today? 

If you did it with a linear, it would have to be a pretty good one - one that could dissipate a cool 1000 watts of heat over a reasonably long term, and of course a good exciter would be needed.  I have no idea what linears such as this would cost...you could use a Flex or an an Apache Labs transmitter as the RF source.  They produce very good AM.

If you had such a thing actually built for you - and this is done from time to time, it would approach the $10,000 figure - considering it would probably take most of a month to build such a thing (assuming full-time work on just that project, and actually charging a fairly modest labor rate) along with the cost of the parts, of course.

Anyway... just a question.."

Granted,  this transmitter is a lot bigger than 500 Watt carrier,  but it did answer the question posed.

--Shane
KD6VXI

[W3RSW]

Remember that outfit a few years ago that was going to duplicate and sell replica  Globe Kings for around 4.5 to 5 k $?
I think they built a prototype or two.  Wonder whatever happened to them, ...the rigs too.?

[W6TOM]

  My Elmer, W6THD, bought a Collins KWM-380 around 1980, I was astounded by the price, he paid around $4,000 for it, the price of a modest new car. I go to Ham Radio Outlet every once is awhile and I see the top of the line Kenwood, Yaesu or Icom for around twice that price.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Remember that outfit a few years ago that was going to duplicate and sell replica  Globe Kings for around 4.5 to 5 k $?
I think they built a prototype or two.  Wonder whatever happened to them, ...the rigs too.?

There was one in New England; I believe Tim might have worked on it; another one was delivered to someone on Long Island; one out in CA (maybe more). I guess no one likes to admit that they paid "big money" for a piece of crap. I remember meeting the designers/owners years ago at a CQ Saturday night party at Dayton. Don't remember where they faded to after everything fell apart. I believe they had a store/outlet somewhere in Texas.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

  My Elmer, W6THD, bought a Collins KWM-380 around 1980, I was astounded by the price, he paid around $4,000 for it, the price of a modest new car. I go to Ham Radio Outlet every once is awhile and I see the top of the line Kenwood, Yaesu or Icom for around twice that price.

The new Icom IC-7851 transceiver lists for a modest $17K.



The Yaesu FTDX-9000MP rolls for a cool $10K or 11K depending on the additional options.

[W2PFY]

That was Dana WA1HUM that had that. He is now a SK and I don't know what happened to that rig? I know that Tim HLR got some of his ham gear but I never heard anything about what happened to the clone Globe King?  I really loved talking to Dana but he dropped out of ham radio not too long after 9-11..

According to my notes, Dana became a SK 11-25-2012.

[W6TOM]

"The new Icom IC-7851 transceiver lists for a modest $17K."

 Guess that shows how out of touch I am on prices!!! GOOD GRIEF!!!!! 

 I go to HRO in Oakland every once in awhile to buy parts for projects at work or just look and when I'm down in the south bay I like to hit HRO in Sunnyvale, mainly to look at what they might have in on consignment although it irks me to pay PRK Sales Tax on used equipment.

[KD6VXI]

Steve,  ain't nuttin,  as the bubba may say.  I know I've done it enough times.   On this board lol.

--Shane
KD6VXI

[nq5t]

On the "For Sale" board someone just listed a restored Johnson 500 for $6,500. Take a look.

This one has been listed in the ER classifieds for quite some time.

[Steve - K4HX]

Poor memory and reading skills on my part. 

Steve,  ain't nuttin,  as the bubba may say.  I know I've done it enough times.   On this board lol.

--Shane
KD6VXI