Thoughts on antique radio collecting

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by Jeffhs

..... little as we AKers may think of it, these antiques we own and work on today were simply classics and relics at one time, but even in the '60s and '70s people still got a kick out of making them "talk" again after 30-40 years; thanks to AK, we still do. I am proud to be a member of a group such as AK which is dedicated to keeping this wonderful hobby alive and well in the 21st century.

My hat is off to AK's own Doug Harland and Max Morgenthaler (as well as other Zenith TV and radio collectors here). Please, guys, hold on to your old sets, as they are becoming scarce in this day and age. Who knows?

Kind regards,

Doug did hang on to his collection, for a while:


http://videokarma.org/showpost.php?p...9&postcount=94

[decojoe67]

Originally Posted by user181

That's a very good point. We've observed the same thing in telephone collecting, which is my primary hobby. The older wooden wall sets and "candlestick" desk phones aren't nearly as in demand as they once were, whereas now people are more interested in the newer plastic sets from the 1950s-70s.

Yes. I've seen this happen with many collectibles. As with radios, the only sets from the early days that get a second look are the rare pieces only. All the typical stuff that the old-time collectors once valued, like common AK's and legged consoles, drop sharply in value. There are still lots of old-time collectors around today that value many typical '30's-'50's sets, but as they age and die-off even that area of the hobby, which is by the far the bulk of it, will fall off sharply. Only the rare, iconic sets will hold good value. The hobby will be for (slightly) younger collectors like me who simply love the average sets for what they are, not their value.

[Tubejunke]

I was born in 1969. Yet I have very few radios, TVs or whatnot that are even nearly that new. I started toying around with 30s-50s radio and TVs at around 10 years old when they were regularly available for $5 or $10 at flea markets and generally considered junk except a few of the finer models that had been really well kept. I never cared for the older 20s sets mainly because they were DC farm radios and I never had a way to power them. Once I gained the knowledge of how to power them later in life I found that it was still too much trouble.

Only a year or so ago I found an Atwater-Kent "coffin" radio that operates on AC, so I grabbed that. Luckily it works as I find that I don't know much about exactly what makes it tick. I mean I do, but I'm happier just flipping the power switch once in a while and letting it do it's thing. So, for decades now I have been interested in mainly the same era which has nothing to do with my actual life span. I am glad that I am old enough to remember tube testers in all the drug and dime stores and even taking bags of tubes to test. I am glad that I can remember regularly seeing older stuff still in regular use like the "roundie" color TVs that everyone is raging over.

I went through a phase where it was mostly 50s TVs I was bring life back to, but I have found that it is not for the common man with limited space and the remote thought of keeping a woman around. I still have 5 TVs from a 1948 RCA up to a 1965 or so Zenith "roundie" which I sometimes wonder if I should let go of while they are HOT. And hot they are! But I have always for some odd reason liked the first generation color TVs and have often kept one in use through the years.

It's funny; even the other techs joke about my love of what I call REAL electronics. They say things like your stuff is before electronics existed. Meanwhile they often can't even solder. They don't think about what makes something work (or not work). They just change parts. Can't read analog meter scales or understand the multipliers; yet claim to be educated in electronics. But that's what the schools are putting out in the world these days. Not to say that all techs are this way; mostly the young ones.

I also get that funny look when I talk about vintage electronics or my collection, but let me bring in a nice old radio or piece of test equipment and many times people are very interested if not amazed the same way I am. So keep the dream alive folks because it's never coming back. It's up to us to preserve the equipment AND by the grace of God the knowledge that fades with each passing year. I fear that Ohm's Law will one day be seen as a relic or archaic and useless theory.

[Sandy G]

I'm LUCKY enuf to actually HAVE a few of the "Onesies/Twosies" type of radios-One is an RCA AR-60 from 1935, their TOTL set. Picks up from 1500 KC to about 18-20 MC. It was $495 in '35, when you could buy a NEW Ford V-8 that year for $650 or so. They THINK there may be 6-12 or these Bad Boys still around, out of 2-300 actually made. Another one is my Collins R-389 from 1955. Again, they THINK 700 of them were made, possibly 350 still around. They were about $4500-$5K in big, round, 1955 dollars. Finding the ACTUAL cost of these things is very difficult, because its about the ONLY aspect of these fabulous machines that the Gummint STILL keeps "Classified". Why the price/cost of a 60 yr old radio should STILL be classified is beyond me, but Uncle Sugar THINKS it should be, so there you go. My last radio surprise is the Rohde & Schwarz EK-07, the West German answer to our R-390. Supposedly 1000 of these remarkable machines were made 1958-73, most in the 1960s, they were roughly the equivalent of $6K each then. Like the R-390 series, it is generally known, but NEVER confirmed, that these are STILL in Gov't use today. What IS known is that there are only 3-4 dozen known sets on OUR side of the Big Pond.. The easiest way to describe these sets is to say a Collins R-390 is a Cadillac or Lincoln, & the R&S set is a Mercedes or BMW.. All I know is that I have, in conjunction w/my KIWA MW loop, pulled in AM daytimer one lunger stations WAY beyond where I should have been able to pick them up..

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

It's funny; even the other techs joke about my love of what I call REAL electronics. They say things like your stuff is before electronics existed. Meanwhile they often can't even solder. They don't think about what makes something work (or not work). They just change parts. Can't read analog meter scales or understand the multipliers; yet claim to be educated in electronics. But that's what the schools are putting out in the world these days. Not to say that all techs are this way; mostly the young ones.

I also get that funny look when I talk about vintage electronics or my collection, but let me bring in a nice old radio or piece of test equipment and many times people are very interested if not amazed the same way I am. So keep the dream alive folks because it's never coming back. It's up to us to preserve the equipment AND by the grace of God the knowledge that fades with each passing year. I fear that Ohm's Law will one day be seen as a relic or archaic and useless theory.

The invention of the tube is what brought about the electronics era! Prior to that electrical equipment was for light, motors, and weak limited functionality Phone and telegraph/radio tellegraph use.

The tube ushered in complex circuit design and power signaling. Things like long distance phone and radio, electronic computing, video systems, radar, etc. all got their early life and key steps of their present advancement from the tube and the proliferation of cheap electronic parts it's applications created.

[Findm-Keepm]

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

It's funny; even the other techs joke about my love of what I call REAL electronics. They say things like your stuff is before electronics existed. Meanwhile they often can't even solder. They don't think about what makes something work (or not work). They just change parts. Can't read analog meter scales or understand the multipliers; yet claim to be educated in electronics. But that's what the schools are putting out in the world these days. Not to say that all techs are this way; mostly the young ones.

I had those thoughts back in 1988 - I took the Associate CET exam with a bunch of tech school students - it was one of those paid, post-high school tech centers that taught electronics, computers, and HVAC. The US Navy paid for the test, so a bunch of my shipmates and I signed up to take the test. An instructor at the tech school was the proctor. I finished the associate exam, had it graded, and took the Avionics specialty exam, the same night. Of 23 test takers, 6 of us passed the associate exam, and I was not surprised that the folks failing the exam were the tech school students. i
dunno if anyone passed any further specialty exams, as I got out of there and went home before most were finished. The associate test is quite easy if you have a solid background and understanding of electronics, but those tech school students seemed to be of the "memorize for the test, forget forever" type, and seemed only interested in electronics to get that degree.

I gave up the whole CET bit when they started the re-test program, and the CET conventions were less about learning and more about socializing, eating and getting drunk.

Originally Posted by Tubejunke

I fear that Ohm's Law will one day be seen as a relic or archaic and useless theory.

Georg Simon Ohm did more to further mankind than Einstein - his work touches all but the nomadic sheep herder. Ohms law is in everything electric, and will never be a relic.

[DavGoodlin]

I was fortunate to be in this hobby for a few years by 1981 when, as part of my post -HS 2-year AS in electronics, I had a two semesters of tubes and transistors together.
We built and then used a HF transmitter with a 3.58 mc crystal (from you know what) tube oscillator and tube doubler and then final stage. I forgot the tube numbers.
Even then you learned more than you would use in practice for the early 80s.

It was uber-cool to hear HOW tubes worked 1-2 years AFTER I had re-capped a few early color sets into working and then setting up convergence, etc.
Few others in the class were hobbyists and thought I was over-enthusiastic about learning a fading technology, then came FETs and MOSFETS which behave similar to tubes, impedance-wise.
I worked at a Sylvania-Mag dealer then a Zenith-Admiral dealer during those years.