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What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 6/24/2008 4:18:56 AM   
Doc.316


 

Posts: 103
Joined: 11/22/2007
From: Wichita, KS, USA
Status: offline 		Ok...I am a reasonable guy...but the wife had me looking on "the other place to buy vintage rc stuff" ok she had me looking for some 8mm and 16mm film for the projectors (don't ask) well I see a proline radio (kinda like I had in the back in the day)...and wow! 202 bucks! Wow what is the deal on this stuff? I mean I really love the old equipment...the blue case F&M is beautiful...(I wish JR would put a a 9303 in a nice square (easy to clean) anodized case).....but wow! I am an engineer...who really likes old stuff...(tubes do not even scare me off too much)......I guess I just find it interesting that "old RC" comes with such a high price tag....wow! It makes it hard to make a sub hobby (well I do fly new stuff) trying to figure out how the vintage stuff works.

Steve

oh...yea..wow...I can't believe that a cox "spider" funny car (wow mine would really go!).....brings $100 on the other sight..(well it would be expensive here also)....

So what are people doing with "old pre 1991" radios? Are they flying them?...if they are on 27 and legal I can see it..(well I have a couple before they became "collector items"..but what about the old freq...(they just collecting them...with no idea of flying them???)...
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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 6/24/2008 4:37:09 AM   
fritzke


 

Posts: 852
Joined: 1/3/2002
From: Saint Paul, MN, USA
Status: offline 		Nostalgia pal, nostalgia.
Dave

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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 6/24/2008 10:21:54 AM   
iflyj3



Posts: 985
Joined: 5/18/2002
From: Paris, KY, USA
Status: offline 		Old radios....

I am in to the vintage movement (VRCS, Vintage Radio Control Society) and I have refurbished an ACL system (27 MHz) and a single stick Heathkit (53 MHz) and fly them at vintage meets. I am choosey about which ones I will fly. I have a complete Controlaire reed set but will never attempt to fly it.

As far as the ones on the old 72 MHz even frequencies, I don't know what they do with those. One additional foot note. I did sell a Proline on the auction site to a fellow in South Korea. Other countries do not have the same frequency rules that we do.

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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 8/2/2008 10:44:05 PM   
dicknadine


 

Posts: 2040
Joined: 7/17/2003
From: Greensburg, LA, USA
Status: offline 		when your haveing fun in the pasture, it doesn't matter who is watching, except the FCC cops. dick

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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 8/3/2008 1:44:14 AM   
CoosBayLumber


 

Posts: 2996
Joined: 1/20/2002
From: San Bernardino Calif
Status: offline 		Although we live in an area having several million people, the FCC inspectors flat do not go after those on wrong frequencies broadcasting on a couple of watts. Which is essentially what the older radios were like. The frequency inspectors are trying to catch the folks who are broadcasting to the world on 50,000 watts using C.B. radio frequencies.

My older stuff went to a model boat club and a model car club. They like em, as there are zero inspectors wandering about on weekends or after dark. They know it isn't copaseptic, but OK with them. They are in more need of finished and working models than in need of a radio gear. Which may be why they do not sell so many in those frequencies, for the market is jambed with older stuff right now.

If you think of a c.o.p. pasing up arresting a J-walker and waiting instead for a murder suspect, you then get the idea.


Wm.


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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 8/3/2008 9:07:46 PM   
Doc.316


 

Posts: 103
Joined: 11/22/2007
From: Wichita, KS, USA
Status: offline 		So out in the "boonies"...people still fly the wideband 72mhz stuff.....interesting....I have been trying to concentrate on 27mhz stuff....since that is "legal"...was just wondering if people were flying (still) on the "way" old frequencys (Wow that changed in 91...17 yrs ago). I still havta get a single channel and a reed system to make the "flyable collection" complete...I guess I just get flustrated sometimes when the old systems are more than I pay for a nice new system...then I gotta replace wires, caps, etc to make them work....in a way it kinda amazes me...

Steve

(in reply to CoosBayLumber)
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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 8/4/2008 7:36:50 PM   
jaymen


 

Posts: 239
Joined: 3/26/2003
From: Mission Viejo, CA, USA
Status: online 		Look Doc., a Space Control was $600 back in 1961, gas was 26 cents a gallon, a hamburger was 10 cents, and a pack of Beechams candy stripped gum was a nickle. That gallon of gas is now over $4.00, that pack of gum is around 75 cents, the hamburgers is around $1.50. Taking the 40+ years of inflation into account, the Space Control, or the F&M Digital 5 you mentioned would cost you over $5000.00 in todays dollars. So considering the amount of manual labor and cutting edge materials used in the 1960s to produce these radios, they are a bargain even at todays going rates. To pay $500.00 today for a radio that cost $500.00 in the 1960's is not all that bad when you consider what the buying power of $500.00 was 40 years ago compared to today. It would be like buying that radio brand new back in the 1960's about $50.00.

What makes them hold their value( actaully they have lost their relative value) is the fact that they were prohibitively expensive during their day, and accordingly few were made as few could afford them. Good old supply and demand. Today, the demand is up, but the supply is very limited. Today, vintage transistors are becoming so hard to get that they have gone up to around $5.00 each, back to the 1960's pricing!! At one point, transistors were so cheap you could get them for a nickle in the 1980's, but now even they are obsolete.

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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 8/6/2008 12:45:12 AM   
Doc.316


 

Posts: 103
Joined: 11/22/2007
From: Wichita, KS, USA
Status: offline 		I guess I know what you are saying Jaymen......I guess I am the eternal "cheapskate".....(lol)....I just guess that since during my younger years I got all the old equipment given to me...(probably pretty good equipment at the time)...most of it was considered "junk"...since it was obsolete when 1991 came around I cleaned it up and put it on a shelf...(except for the 27mhz stuff).....now it is worth a mint and since it was a "gift" I can't sell it...(don't ask since it was one of "Mom's" values)...

It is interesting people are "collecting" this stuff since when I was a kiddo noone collected it (well except for me out of necessity)...

Steve

Oh...btw...(just got a load of old transistors at an estate sale)..."no joking"....$3....all sorts...(the guy was an electrical engr and ham)...

(in reply to jaymen)
       Post #: 8

RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 8/7/2008 10:46:48 PM   
jaymen


 

Posts: 239
Joined: 3/26/2003
From: Mission Viejo, CA, USA
Status: online 		At one time the USA led the field in electronics tecnology, design, and manufacturing. The early R/C gear, proportional in particular was driven and dominated by the USA. It was a golden era and as such the equipment from that era is highly prized. Yeah, we set it aside and/or gave it away as better and newer gear came out, never realizing that some day it might become collectable. For many years all my old radios did was collect dust! I'm one of the few who saved them as examples of the progression of R/C technology, in a large part due to the fact I was working in the R/C industry and felt it was important to preserve some examples and historic milestones. Here in the USA, we tend to destroy and throw away our history, as we are constantly re-creating and inventing ourselves.

I myself have a small modest sample of early equipment, and have no great desire to really expand that collection other than to make each of the pieces complete and opperational for demonstration purposes...but others are so smitten with collecting that ten of every type made is still not enough! You will find most collectors don't have working systems, but they have alot of them. My main interest is getting older systems opperational for other enthusiasts who want to demo them to people who are new to r/c and have no appreciation where it all began and started way back when. Some guys do actually fly these restored systems, which is pretty awesome to see. So my main drive is promotion of vintage R/C, and R/C in general by getting as many old systems out there opperational as possible...this creates the broadest exposure at a hands on level, which generates more interest in our hobby.

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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 8/11/2008 8:25:43 PM   
Kemosobie


 

Posts: 94
Joined: 8/4/2008
From: Ghost Town, USA
Status: offline 		I have a complete Blue Max radio. Box and all paperwork. $10.00 at a yard sale. Said her father had it but never used it.
I have it on display.

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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 8/11/2008 10:40:21 PM   
aerowoof


 

Posts: 1917
Joined: 6/11/2006
From: pembroke, NH, USA
Status: offline 		All my old kraft series 72 thru mark 4 and gold spectrumand signiture series. are all narrow band,some have the fm module and use new jr rx's.I have two pro line competition 6 trans mitters that are narrow band and are in use.no problems.In my talks with tony stillman at radio south.most old transmitters can be narrow banded and if am they can use any narrow band rx the ones I know of are the futaba 117 and 114,rcd platinum,ace 810 pro,kmi and the later kraft.with every one moving to the 2.4 band the fm stuff is up for sale pretty cheap as was the am stuff when everyone moved to fm.

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RE: What are people doing with this old stuff?? - 8/12/2008 3:42:08 PM   
jaymen


 

Posts: 239
Joined: 3/26/2003
From: Mission Viejo, CA, USA
Status: online 		Aerowoof( I'm sure that's not your real name, I hate internet "handles" brings up a good point. With the 2.4 GHz spread spectrum there seems to be an exodus from the 72 mHz band, which in a few years may result in it not being used very much. We will have to be careful or that band may be re-assigned, as the FCC has a "use it, or loose it" policy for frequency allocations. If the 72 mHz band for R/C becomes inactive, then other users can petition the FCC for it to be re-assigned for other useage. The FCC will monitor the band's activity and make an assesmant of it's usage, then make a decision.

Currently, there is a shortage of bandwidth everywhere due to the increased usage of personal wireless electronics, and industrial electronics. The computer age has changed how we do everything. The 27 Mhz band was once very active, truckers dominated it. Today it is not used as much as before, there are now many other alternatives such as cell phones and streaming video on-line sights where they can talk live. I predict in the next ten years the FCC will be doing alot of re-alocation and assignments, it's already apparent as broadcast televeision is going off the air in many areas, or shifting to digital format for high definition.

Jay

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Did you charge the transitory remitter batteries ?

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       Post #: 12

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