Price paid for SW tube Receiver 2023

[n8fvj]

Here at AMfone we will pay a lot for the right vintage tube SW receiver. We are AM enthusiasts. However, what will the average Ham pay? I did a survey of sold tube receivers on eBay. Although a few sell for over $200 and some higher, the average price is about $150. A clean Hallicrafters SX-100 did not fetch $219 lately.

[Pete, WA2CWA]

Here at AMfone we will pay a lot for the right vintage tube SW receiver. We are AM enthusiasts.

How do you know "Here at AMfone we will pay a lot for the right vintage tube SW receiver"
Where is your data to support this?

However, what will the average Ham pay? I did a survey of sold tube receivers on eBay. Although a few sell for over $200 and some higher, the average price is about $150. A clean Hallicrafters SX-100 did not fetch $219 lately.

I'll ask you the same thing I asked you on QRZ back on 7/22/23:
Is this a documented survey or one that you pulled out of your mind cloud? What were the parameters for setting up the survey and obtaining the data?
We would like to be enlightened!   

[n8fvj]

Pete, ebay completed sales are published. Numbers are numbers, now you are enlightened. As for forum members their receivers for the most part are better than the Ham who only uses to SWL, not transmitting AM like on this forum. They are not $150 average receivers like sold on eBay and are a lot of 5 tube receivers are sold on eBay.

[Opcom]

Possibly compare to this 2013 'sold' post for reference:

https://amfone.net/Amforum/index.php?topic=33595.msg259954#msg259954


It was a matter of going through 'sold' listings used each major brand as the term, then creating a file.

[n8fvj]

As for 2011 receiver prices, present prices of Heathkit, Hallicrafters and National have gone up Hammarlund about same price as now and rest have gone down in price with Collins that can vary higher or lower. Cannot buy a Collins 75A-4 for under $1K.

I paid $460 for a SX-100 a few months ago. The radio was rebuilt by the Hallicrafters Guy in 2007 with documentation of work performed. He replaced every capacitor including the silver micas and 97% of the resistors with higher power rated metal film resistors. The radio has about 120 resistors in it. Then aligned the radio. He also polished all of the chassis then applied a preservative. Contacts and potentiometers were treated and then on the contacts applied a special coating that supposedly lasts forever. The radio is about mint and with the rebuild I thought worth the extra $200.
Nowadays, I am not willing to rebuild a receiver to that extent. The Hallicrafters is likely my last tube radio. I am willing to rebuild a Ranger transmitter as it has far less parts and looking for a nice example. The Ranger will receive the Heyboer 6 Lb mod transformer vs 2 Lb stock mod iron, Zener regulated 1614 mod tube screens plus new electrolytic capacitors and poly type caps in the audio chain. 100Hz at 100% modulation guaranteed. D-104 with 5 meg resistor changed to 3 meg for 100Hz low response too.

[WA5VGO]

Cannot buy a Collins 75A-4 for under $1K.

Those are eBay prices. Most eBay prices are ridiculous and don’t reflect what the average guy is willing to pay. I just picked up a very nice one for $300. That may be on the low end of the spectrum, but $1000 is crazy.

[WB6NVH]

At least on the west coast, prices are dropping (excluding eBay.)  For example, last summer I bought a clean Globe King 500C for $ 70 at an estate sale near San Jose with no other bidders, and a Globe King 275 along with a clean NC-300, Hammarlund HQ-100 and 150 and Hallicrafters S38 all for $ 300 and they had been on QRZ classifieds for over a week before I went to get them.  Really nice 75A-4's show up at hamfests in the $ 400 range and don't sell.

At the ARRL Pacificon 2 years ago I bought a Heath SB-300 with both filters for $ 20.  Needed paint but otherwise was fine.

As others have said above, eBay is a world unto itself and doesn't represent market value.  It represents eBay value. If you can't or won't go to any hamfests then you pretty much guarantee you will only have eBay and the highest prices on record, plus, shipping is now sky high.

In the late 1990's Collins KW-1's were being offered for $ 15-20,000.   Not any more.  Even though they are rare, the people who wanted them got them and demand is drying up (other than well heeled people who think it would be cool to brag they have two or three of them.)

Regarding "here at AM Fone" I think there are a lot of us who are pretty cheap and not interested in forking out large sums for some boat anchor or paying some "restorer" three figures to overhaul it for us.  At least I am one of them.

[n8fvj]

Prices are dropping on eBay for the better radios in last few years or so. Exceptions are the Collings R-390A and 51J-4 that are still rising in cost. A clean & working Hallicrafters SX-100 cannot get a $100 bid on eBay right now. I think the issue is double cost shipping vs a year ago is the issue and frankly out of control IMO. $125 shipping cost on the Hallicrafters SX-100 from AZ to FL.

Better deals are usually at Ham swaps, but I doubt a working and clean Hallicrafters SX-100 would be listed for $99 at any Ham swap.

[K1JJ]

I look at eBay as a quick source of parts that are priced at "list price."       Ebay supplies me a universe of used parts to maintain a station when they are needed ASAP.  For example, if I blow out a 700 volt @ 200 Ma transformer or need a round Weston 300 mA meter, I can usually find them quickly by doing a search on eBay and sometimes find them right away.  Problem solved, but often at a premium price.

Where else can you find surplus parts like that now that Fair Radio is gone?    I suppose putting out "wanted ads" here and on QRZ.com also works, but it is slower and more random luck to find stuff quickly.

I use eBay a lot for parts, but as already said, actual commercial equipment is available and cheaper at flea markets and in the wanted ads. EBay equipment is top dollar.  It's always about what the market will bear -   and what sellers can get away with and still make money.

T

[KD1SH]

  eBay is a hit or miss thing—a box of chocolates, like Forest Gump said—the prices are often absurd, but sometimes, if you're quick, you can snag some good stuff at great prices. I've picked up some very nice vacuum variables there, for example, at about what I'd expect to pay at a hamfest. And it's a good source of new stuff, like SHV connectors, for example, or brand-new panel meters. It's all Chicomm stuff, and you're going to wait a few weeks or a month for it to arrive, but some of it's surprisingly good.
  What gets me is when people show up at hamfests and expect to get eBay prices for their stuff, or when, at local consignment shops or whatever, the person behind the counter says something like "let me take a look on eBay (or Etsy) and see what that's worth," as if eBay and Etsy and the like have become the de-facto "blue book" of pricing.
  A couple of years ago I was at a local consignment shop, and spotted a zip-lock bag of receiving tubes—12AX7's and the like; maybe six tubes in all—sitting on a shelf. The tubes were obviously old and dusty, as was the bag. I picked up the bag and asked, "how about five bucks for this bag of tubes." The ditzy young girl behind the counters takes the bag and says, "let me go on Etsy and see what they're worth." After some five minutes of tapping away on her tablet, she says,"well, I see here that 12AX7's are going for forty dollars, and these 6AU7's are going for thirty-five, so how about seventy-five for the whole bag?" Needless to say the tubes stayed there, and when the place closed up sometime last year, they most certainly went into a dumpster.

I look at eBay as a quick source of parts that are priced at "list price."       Ebay supplies me a universe of used parts to maintain a station when they are needed ASAP.  For example, if I blow out a 700 volt @ 200 Ma transformer or need a round Weston 300 mA meter, I can usually find them quickly by doing a search on eBay and sometimes find them right away.  Problem solved, but often at a premium price.

Where else can you find surplus parts like that now that Fair Radio is gone?    I suppose wanted ads here and on QRZ.com also work, but it is slower and more random luck to find stuff quickly.

I use eBay a lot for parts, but as already said, actual commercial equipment is available and cheaper at flea markets and in the wanted ads. EBay equipment is top dollar.  It's always about what the market will bear -   and what sellers can get away with and still make money.

T

[n8fvj]

For some reason I have seen ridiculous prices for ordinary receivers on eBay this week. How about $1K for a Hallicrafters S-40B. However, a clean and operating Hallicrafters SX-100 could not get a $99 bid on ebay. Auction ended and receiver was not relisted.