I said I wasn’t going to get back into this radio sales business, but so what? Here are some radios I’m offering; if interested, I’m at joelthurtell@gmail.com

HEATH — SB-104-A 80-10 meter SSB and CW 100-watt output transceiver with HP-1144A matching AC power supply, matching Heath microphone and manuals. The rig works fine. I got it from the ham who built it as a kit many years ago. Excellent condition. $600 plus packing and UPS.

HEATH — SB-634 station console; matches SB-104-A with phone patch, speaker and RF wattmeter. Excellent condition. $150 plus packing and UPS.

HEATH — SB-614 station monitor scope, also matches SB-104-A. Excellent condition. $150 plus packing and UPS.

KENWOOD TS-830-S 160-10 meter (including WARC bands) 100-watt output SSB/CW transceiver. Excellent condition. $450 plus packing and UPS.

AN/ART-13 Collins-designed autotune transmitter. Single 813 modulated by two 811-As. AM/MCW/CW. $425 plus packing and UPS. I have three ART-13s and will sell all three for $1,200.

PAIR OF POWER/CONTROL PLUGS FOR AN/ART-13. $50 plus UPS.

PILOT’S REMOTE TUNING SWITCH FOR AN/ART-13, $40 plus UPS.

In the art world, when a “one of a kind” masterpiece surfaces, collectors battle for the right to possess a unique treasure. Ham radio collectors are no less frenzied. And as the author discovered, mythical, legendary and lost treasures are occasionally recovered–even by mere mortals!

By Joel Thurtell, K8PSV

It’s 1958. You’re a hotshot engineer at Zenith. Your boss gives you a longterm assignment: Design the best amateur radio receiver money can buy. What kind of radio would you build?

Wait! Zenith in the ham radio business? Sure, they made television sets and delved into military electronics. But who ever heard of them manufacturing ham radios back in the fifties?

Well, they did it, but under a different name. Their ham radio products were marketed under the Central Electronics logo. In truth, everything they sold sprung from the fertile brain of ham radio entrepreneur Wesley Schum, W9DYV or his chief engineer, Joe Batchelor, W4EGK — even the fantastic receiver that would be designed by that hotshot engineer at Zenith.

Central Electronics leaped into ham radio history in September 1952, when QST ran Schum’s ad promoting a little gray box that transmitted a then little-used mode of communication called SSSC — single sideband suppressed carrier. We now call it simply single sideband, or SSB, and everybody knows it’s the dominant mode on the amateur high frequency bands.

But in the early 1950s, single sideband was an exotic form of communication. Our standard ham receivers were not designed to demodulate single sideband signals. And for years, many ardent AM operators rejected the new mode.

Sideband transmitters in those early days were homebuilt. It was Schum who conceived of manufacturing a low-cost kit of parts which would give the builder a usable, low power single sideband transmitter. Schum called it the “10-A,” and began shipping kits from his garage in Chicago. Schum became a missionary for sideband, traveling around the country and speaking to every ham radio club willing to give him a little time on their programs.

He recalls receiving a standing ovation from Chicago’s Hamfester’s Radio Club after he demonstrated the 10A. But the going was often rough. Doc Holt, W9VVN, remembers the Hamfester’s Club meeting differently. “The initial response of the audience was one of skepticism and even derision,” recalls Holt. “Many of my ham buddies who were steeped in the AM phone tradition called it ‘silly sideband’ or worse yet, ‘duck talk.’ ”

A few curious hams bought 10-As. They discovered that sideband signals, even barefoot 10-watt signals, could get through when AM was fading or lambasted by interference. Soon, more hams bought 10As. Schum found more garages for assembling the rigs.

Meanwhile, over in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the head of Collins Radio Co. was listening. Art Collins was used to being king of the pile-ups with his 1,000-watt plate modulated Collins KW-1.

“A guy in Indiana was pinning Art’s ears back with reports much better than Art was getting with his KW-1 and rhombic farm,” recalls Schum. The Indiana ham was driving a pair of 811As with a Central 10-A. His power output was less than the KW-1, but single sideband was more effective.

Collins called Schum. He wanted Schum to sell him a 10-A.

Problem was, there were no factory-wired units on hand.

Schum told Collins, “If you think you have anybody out there who could put a kit together, we could sell you a kit.”

Collins’ response: “I think we could manage, Wes.”

“I found out later they didn’t read the assembly instructions and went at it in typical ham fashion and it took them a month to get it running,” recalls Schum.

A few months later, Collins called to place another order. “We’d like to buy three of them, Wes, but no more kits.”

Business was good. The 10-A was followed by the improved 10-B, then the 20-A, which was a bandswitching rig, covering 160 through10 meters, with 20 watts of RF output. Central also offered accessories such as the MM-1 and MM-2 station monitoring scopes, and the Model A and Model B sideband slicers to convert older receivers to sideband reception.

Meanwhile, Schum noticed a potential competitor. In Georgia, Joe Batchelor was converting military surplus BC-696 transmitters into sideband exciters. He sold dozens of the little rigs, even though they had no name. Batchelor said Schum was worried the little 696s would compete with his 10-A. So Schum invited Batchelor to join him at Central.

Batchelor brought a novel idea to Chicago. How about a “look, ma, no hands” transmitter? A deluxe 100-watt output all mode transmitter which required no final amplifier tuning. Batchelor eventually patented his broadband coils, which were the major innovation in the Central 100-V transmitter and 600-L linear amplifier. The 100-V had a permeability tuned oscillator which was extremely stable and a small oscilloscope for monitoring the transmitted signal’s quality. It could transmit CW, phase modulation, double sideband with or without carrier and single sideband with or without carrier. It also would do radio teletype. It used the phasing method of generating a single sideband signal with circuitry which ensured longterm carrier and unwanted sideband suppression rivaling or surpassing that achieved by filter generators. But the big advantage of the phasing system was audio quality. The final tubes were two 6550s — highly linear audio tubes. If you liked hi-fi, you’d love the 100-V.

Batchelor and Schum always wanted to produce a receiver which would match the marvelous100-V. Such a receiver would have to be like its deskmate — revolutionary.

But first, they had to deal with production problems — the complex 100-V turned out to be a handful– like a talented but temperamental child.

The first Batchelor broadband couplers were inefficient. “The first 100-Vs didn’t ship until late 1958,” said Schum’s good friend, Nick Tusa, K5EF. “During that time, they endured VFO problems, bad HF oscillator crystals and the continual problem getting the Batchelor couplers to a state where they were reproducible with consistent results.”

By 1958, said Schum, “We didn’t have the working capital to produce over a million dollars of backlog in orders for the 100-V. We had run ourselves out of money. The (100-V) buyers didn’t pay cash … Instead of getting money in hand … you got a purchase order — the dealers had my working capital!”

Schum eventually worked out a takeover with Zenith in control. New capital flowed in, the 100-Vs — by then performing beautifully — were almost selling themselves. An updated model, the 200-V, went on the market.

With Zenith came new talent. Now Schum and Batchelor outlined what they wanted in a receiver that would properly complement the 100-V: It must have high sensitivity, selectivity, stability. It must transceive with the 100-V. It must resemble the 100-V.

Bill Van Slyck, W9EMB, was head of special products at Zenith. He assigned two top engineers — including Jim Clark, a former Hallicrafters receiver deisgner — and two technicians to the receiver project. “They worked several years on this thing,” recalls Van Slyck. “We spent a quarter of a million dollars when you think of all the company overhead.”

He told Clark’s team, “Build the best receiver ever built, with an emphasis on single sideband.”

It would be called the “100-R.”

Clark’s engineering notes indicate a prototype was in use by 1960. Follow-up tests were conducted through 1961.

Schum took it home and played with it. “It worked well — I transceived with it one Sunday afternoon with a 200-V.”

It covered the ham bands, 160 through 10 meters. The second intermediate frequency was at 50 khz with six tuned circuits for great selectivity without crystal or mechanical filters. The PTO could be owner-adjusted quite easily. It had three degrees of selectivity for AM, two each for upper and lower sideband and one position for CW. Once gain, it featured a Batchelor creation: the bifilar compressor was an RF-derived AGC system which made the front end virtually immune to strong signal overload. Together with low noise RF, mixer and IF tubes, the receiver had impressive sensitivity, better than .6 microvolt through 40 meters and less .9 microvolt on 10 meters.

Ray Osterwald reviews receivers for Electric Radio magazine. He calls the bifilar compressor “true genius.”

“It probably would be tough to overload, even with a gain antenna on 40 meters at night,” said Osterwald.

Schum recalls planning to have five more prototypes built with production and sales to begin in 1962.

Central’s transmitter sales were brisk, but a new president at Zenith decided amateur radio was not good for the corporation.

“I think they experimented with the (ham radio) market and found it wasn’t deep enough for them,” said Schum.

Late in 1961, orders from Zenith: Close Central Electronics.

Wes Schum remembers the trash bins. Central’s records — everything from design plans to sales receipts — went to the landfill.

Including parts for the next five 100-R prototypes.

The lone 100-R prototype vanished.

Years passed. Schum longed to re-establish what he calls “Central Headquarters.” He had a couple of 200-Vs, and some other Central equipment. And a friend donated a 75A-4.

Whatever happened to that lone 100-R?

I run a small used ham radio equipment business. [This story was written in 1997; I no longer have the radio business -- JT] Over the course of my buying and selling of old ham radio equipment, I had heard a yarn about a receiver companion to the 100-V. I too longed to own it. I had owned 100-Vs and 200-Vs at different times, and always loved the transmitters. I would usually run a Collins 75A-4 as a receiver, but it was not a perfect match. Rumor had it that some ham had managed to acquire the 100-R prototype. How many times had I sat in front of my 100-V and wished for a matching receiver. It would be wonderful, but … It was a dream, that’s all.

Then one day in September 1997 my phone rang.

I sipped coffee and waited for the answering machine to take the message. “Joel, this is Bill Van Slyck in Chicago. I have a receiver you may be interested in — ”

Turns out Van Slyck bought the 100-R along with a matching speaker and 100-V transmitter from Zenith as the electronics giant pulled the plug on Central. All three units had sat in his basement unused.

One hitch. Van Slyck had a little auction going. A collector from New Orleans was on his way to make an offer for the 100-R.

I drove to Chicago, and there it was — the mythical 100-R was real after all!

The New Orleans collector paid Van Slyck a visit, too. I figured they’d top my offer. End of story. But the next day I had a phone call. Bill Van Slyck, accepting my offer.

Another rushed trip to Chicago. Next day, I was in my shack cabling the 100-R to my 100-V transmitter together. Transceive with the 100-V!

And thinking. Van Slyck assured me that “there is only one,” but still, I wondered. Was there another stray 100-R out there?

Who would know for sure?

I called Wes Schum.

“You got a one and only,” said Schum.

Then he hit me. My rival on the 100-R deal, the “New Orleans collector” Van Slyck mentioned, was Schum’s good friend, Nick Tusa. And Schum was with him.

“I am preparing my second ham shack with a 200-V, and I was looking forward to buying that receiver,” Schum said. “I wanted to get the 100-R and 200-V on the air at headquarters.”

He offered me a deal: Send him the 100-R on loan. He would tune it up, make detailed notes on its design and performance. Thus, after playing it, photographing it and talking about it to anyone who’d listen, I packed it up and shipped it to Wes Schum.

The 100-R is on line at headquarters and Wes has overhauled it. He even sent the PTO to Nick Tusa for repair. Now he’s comparing its performance with his Collins 75A-4, the main competition when the 100-R was conceived.

Does that venerable 75A-4 stand a chance?

Stay tuned — that’s another story.

Reprinted with permission of QST

By Joel Thurtell, K8PSV

This article first appeared in the October 2006 issue of CQ magazine. I could re-calculate all those prices through 2008, but don’t have time. Hope you enjoy this piece — I had fun writing it.

The rock star’s question made me ponder the unanswerable: What are my old radios worth?

Me and my Central 100-R

Easy: They’re worth whatever someone will pay, right?

That’s the only sane answer.

But what fun is sanity?

The human condition demands that we dicker or bicker about prices if only to stave off boredom.

What sparked my latest run at the old radio pricing conundrum was an email from Joe Walsh, lead guitarist with the Eagles. Joe wanted to know the price of my Central Electronics 100-R ham receiver.

First reaction: Sorry, Joe, it ain’t for sale.

I mean, that’s the crown jewel of my radio collection.

The Central Electronics 100-R. was featured in my April 1992 Electric Radio and November 1998 QST stories and in the 1999 CQ classic radio calendar.

Central only made one.

They don’t get any more scarce.

The 100-R represents the pinnacle of my collecting career.

To sell it would be, well, unthinkable.

But if the 100-R were for sale, how much would I ask?

I keep telling you it’s NOT for sale!

Doesn’t anyone listen?

Including me?

Central 100-V, left, and 100-R, right

Admittedly, Joe’s 100-R query is a toughie: The radio never went to market, never had a price tag placed on it. It’s a prototype of a receiver meant to match the renowned Central Electronics 100-V and 200-V transmitters. Before Central could gear up production, the parent company, Zenith, closed Central.

With no price, there’s no baseline from which to extrapolate even a guesstimate of its current worth.

And even then, its very uniqueness makes it impossible to appraise.

Does this discussion seem arcane? Well, there are practical uses for present-day values with old gear.

Consider this: After UPS mangled one of my radios some years ago, I tried to file an insurance claim. How much was the radio worth? That was easy. An old catalog told me that in 1955, my Heath DX-100 sold for $189.50.

There was extensive damage. A transformer broke free and like the proverbial loose cannon sliced through ranks of glass tubes. The complete rig at its 1955 value wasn’t worth what some of its individual parts would cost today. For instance, a new Peter Dahl Co. high voltage transformer alone would set me back $205.

Heath DX-100

I needed to know how much that DX-100 was worth today.

Aside from the UPS problem, the question is interesting to me because I buy and sell old ham radios and need to price them. Since most of them need repair before I can ship them, it would be helpful to know how much money I could invest in a given rig before my costs of acquisition, labor and parts for repair, advertising, warehouse rent, utilities, local, state and federal taxes add up to more than I could get for the radio. Oh yes, and I’d like a little room for profit.

True, I could track eBay prices. But they are one-time events, representing the sale price of a radio of unknown quality and unknown cost during one short slice of time. To me, it’s useless information.

There are some half-hearted price guides. Authors of some amateur radio equipment books provide price guides, but I don’t trust them. What is their database? There is no good source for price information and I don’t sense that dealers have been asked. No author has ever asked me for a list of my selling prices. And I have another concern. Since authors often are collectors themselves, they might like to have prices appear low in hopes of keeping them that way.

So how can we objectively arrive at current price estimates for yesterday’s radios?

Why not use the manufacturer’s original price, adjusting it for inflation? The original price presumably reflected the cost of production plus some markup for profit.

In the mid-1990s, when I first posted my www.radiofinder.com website, I compiled a list of present-day values for several old radios in my inventory. I used a table of inflation factors I got from another collector. For each radio, I researched its year of manufacture and original price. My inflation factor chart gave a number that I multiplied times the past price of the radio to arrive at the 1994 value.

That was okay in 1996. But by 2003, when we re-designed the Radiofinder website, the numbers were way out of date.

But by then, the remedy was easy as google.

Call up the search engine and type “inflation calculator.”

Pages of websites will appear on your screen and they let you plug in the year of manufacture and then current price. The website does the math and up pops your present price. Today, the most recent “present” year is 2003.

One site– http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateCPI.html (Oops! This piece was written ca. 2004. That NASA site no longer works. Try this: www.westegg.com/inflation) will do calculations based on Consumer Price Index from 1913-2003.

What an amazing tool. Now I know that my old National HRO receiver priced at $167.70 in 1935 was worth $2,249.69 in 2003. Thanks to NASA, I now know that my 1955 DX-100’s $189.50 price would come in at $1,301.10 in 2003 dollars.

But it would likely be worth considerably more than that. After all, the DX-100 was a kit. The buyer was expected to contribute his labor. Add in the value of labor and you have, well, a figure considerably more than $1,301, though a little hard to determine.

Collins 75A-4

You can get a more accurate present-day price reading by looking at a factory-made unit. Take the Collins 75A-4, popular in 1955 when it was introduced and still sought after today. It was priced at $495 in 1955.

In 2003 dollars?

$3,398.67.

But even when looking at a relatively recent classic such as the Collins-Rockwell KWM-380, the effects of overall inflation are amazing. The KWM-380 came out in 1979 priced at $2,995. In 2003, the same radio fresh from the factory would cost $7,589.33!

Try this trick on the venerable Collins KW-1, pricetag $3,850 in 1953.

In 2003?

$26,530.35.

Collins KW-1

To anyone who thinks these calculations lead to outrageously high prices, consider that in 1955 not too many of us were buying 75A-4s. I dreamed of owning a 75A-4, but when I was in the market for a good ham-bands-only receiver in 1960, what did I settle for? An older 75A-2, which I could afford on my newspaper carrier’s earnings.

Indeed, one of the 75A-4s in my shack was homebrewed by a Collins technician who could not afford to buy an A-4 off the factory line. (See QST, February 2000) In other words, for many hams, $495 was as insurmountable a price in 1955 as $3,398.67 is today.

Yet that $3,398 doesn’t seem so outrageous, after all, when you consider the cost of top-of-the-line new piece of equipment. In the 2002 Amateur Electronic Supply catalog, the FT-1000-D was selling for $4,199.

Now ask yourself, when the Kenwood-Icom-Yaesu rigs are 40 years old and the 75A-4 is 90, where will the A-4 be?

Not in the landfill beside today’s rigs, I’ll bet!

But what about the 100-R? We still haven’t figured out how much Joe Walsh ought to pay me for that gem.

We can work the math just as we did for the other rigs.

The retired Zenith vice president who sold me the 100-R said Central-Zenith spent $250,000 developing that one radio.

In 1961 dollars.

Let’s plug the numbers into our trusty NASA inflation calculator, and …

Whoops!

Hard to believe for a government agency, but NASA’s inflation calculator choked on a quarter of a million.

Turn to another, less fastidious, Internet calculator, www.westegg.com/inflation. The price, in 2002 dollars, is …

Stand back, please. One to a customer.

One million, four hundred sixty thousand seven hundred forty one smackers plus fifty four cents.

$1,460,741.54.

No point being pick. Let’s round it off.

One point five million big ones.

Hey Joe!

Changed my mind.

Got your check book?

Basic tools for inflation calculations

To figure out those elusive current values for old gear, you’ll need some basic research tools in addition to the Internet inflation calculator.

It wouldn’t hurt to have a collection of old QST and maybe CQ magazines, because their advertisements often list prices and confirm date of manufacture.

The ARRL’s “Radio Amateur’s Handbook” during our classic period of roughly the 1930s to about 1970 had an advertisement section that gave prices.

An easier way to check those facts is to stock your library with a few handy reference works. Here are the ones I find most helpful:

The Pocket Guide to Collins Amateur Radio Equipment, 1946 to 1990, by Jay H. Miller, KK5IM, Trinity Graphic Systems, 1995.

Shortwave Receivers Past & Present; Communication Receivers 1942-1997, by Fred Osterman, Universal Radio Research, 1998.

Tube Type Transmitter Guide; Manufactured Pre-Builts and Kits from 1922 to 1970 Using All, or Mostly Tubes, by Eugene Rippen, Sound Values, 1995.

Communications Receivers; The Vacuum Tube Era: 1932-1981, by Raymond S. Moore, RSM Communications, 1987.

Radios by Hallicrafters With Price Guide, by Chuck DachisSchiffer Publishing,Ltd., 1996.

The Hallicrafters Story, 1933-1975, by Max de Henseler, Antique Radio Club of America, 1991.

Heathkit: A Guide to the Amateur Radio Products, by Chuck Penson, WA7ZZE, Electric Radio Press, 1995.

Rock star price chart

Maker                        Model                  Built Price             2003

Hammarlund       HQ-120                  1938 $117          1,526.85

Hallicrafters        S-38                       1946 39.50              372.72

Central Elect        10-A                      1953 159.50          1,099.11

Hallicrafters       SX-88                    1953 595                4,100.14

Johnson             Ranger                   1954 329.50          2,.253.78

Collins                  KWS-1                  1955 1,995           13,697.67

Drake                      1-A                      1957 299                 1,957.85

Heath                  DX-60                   1962 79.95                487.14

National            NC-303                  1963 449                2,699.84

Heath                HW-101                  1970 399.95         1,896.56

The Radiofinder is back! Ever wonder what happened to the old radiofinder.com website? You’ll hear that story in the weeks and months to come as we bring back www.radiofinder.com with a new look, a new feel and a new focus.

Some things have not changed. The Radiofinder still is Joel Thurtell, a Plymouth, Mich. radio amateur, or ham, with the FCC callsign K8PSV. This website, www.radiofinder.com, will still promote the collecting of old ham radio equipment – and more. In fact, the emphasis this time around will be on the “and more.” The old business model seemed fairly simple – buy old radios, fix them up and sell them as “classic radios that work.”

Simple was really complicated, it turned out. In a new column, the Radiofinder will write about some of his experiences as a dealer of antique ham radio gear. Yes, he will be selling collectible radios, but not always in working condition. We’ll let the hobbyist carry more of that load.

In other words, if you really love em, you’ll learn to fix em. Meanwhile, by freeing us from having to scrounge parts and wait for radios to be fixed, we can focus on thinking and writing about the future of collecting old radios – and for that matter, of ham radio.

Let’s say it right up front: HAM RADIO IS VERY MUCH ALIVE!! Its demise has been prematurely predicted.

Watch for a (sporadic) column, written by the The Radiofinder, about the trials and tribulations of trying to provide  “classic radios that work” as a service to collectors.

Watch for columns that grapple with the most profound difficulties besetting ham radio and the Radiofinder’s unvarnished thoughts about how this seemingly moribund hobby might be revived.

There will be books in both print and ebook form. Soon to be released is the Radiofinder’s book aimed at hooking kids into the hobby.

His illustrated book, MOUSE CODE, and its sequels will make terrific gifts for young would-be hams at Christmas or birthday time. Maybe they’ll be inspired to go for their ham license!

While The Radiofinder would not pass up a choice collectible radio, his focus will no longer be on acquiring inventory. The emphasis will be on trying to preserve and enhance a hobby that many have seen as near death.

The Radiofinder will still sell tube-type amateur and military radio transmitters, receivers and accessories. He will still occasionally purchase entire estates of what some call “boat anchors.” The Radiofinder has helped many hams liquidate excess gear, and he has also helped many collectors find rare antique wireless equipment. Within ham radio, classic ham radio is the fastest-growing area of interest in the hobby. The Radiofinder’s customers ranged from collectors intent upon assembling small or not so small personal museums to radio operators who actively communicate with vintage radio gear. In his heyday, The Radiofinder had customers worldwide and shipped radios to Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia.

But the Radiofinder has other interests, too. This site soon will direct people to the www.hardaleepress.com site for information about general and special interest books. There are his forthcoming novels, supported by yet other sites at www.crosspurposes.com, www.stringerthebook.com, and his writer’s self-help book, www.shoestringreporter.com. For those interested in wooden boat sailing and restoration, there is his book about his own boat project at www.plugnickelbook.com.

Or there are books about his adventures canoeing Detroit’s Rouge River soon to be available at www.uptherouge.com

Copyright © 2009 by Joel Thurtell. All written and photographic material in this web page is the exclusive property of Joel Thurtell and may not be reproduced without his express permission.