Found some stuff at the habitat store. My dad was in ham a lot, and this stuff looked familiar.
Ham radio gear. Anybody know what it is?
- Thread starter Supervstech
- Start date
chrisski
Solar Boondocker
My guess is the 6 meter HAM band, 50-54 MHz, is either a receiver or transceiver. It can do USB, LSB, (voice) or CW (Morse code).
This being an older unit may have access to a slightly different frequency. I usually associate USB and LAB to the 2 to 30 MHZ range. I could be way off on my 50 - 54 MHZ range.
The rectifier takes the AC power and makes DC power. Looks like a dangerous AC hookup with exposed fraying wires. I think the open cannon plug would power multiple units or multiple DC voltages to a single unit.
This being an older unit may have access to a slightly different frequency. I usually associate USB and LAB to the 2 to 30 MHZ range. I could be way off on my 50 - 54 MHZ range.
The rectifier takes the AC power and makes DC power. Looks like a dangerous AC hookup with exposed fraying wires. I think the open cannon plug would power multiple units or multiple DC voltages to a single unit.
CommandoJoe
Solar Enthusiast
The cay-20086 is the power supply for a WW2 era Navy radio
Anybody want either of them?
That meter unit looks like the predecessor to the digital one i have from my dad doing it in the 70s
Oh, i figured that, but if anybody wanted it, i could ask them to bargain.
Wednesdays everything is half off.
Wednesdays everything is half off.
Ebay has it selling/listed for 150 to 499 in various stages of functionality...
efficientPV
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2019
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- 1,838
Habitat is good at building houses. They should get out of the retail business. They hire the dumbest people on earth who price things higher than it can be purchased retail. We have a local store and I refuse to go in anymore. They started reducing the size of the hardware section because nobody was buying. They had lots of stuff that I would buy, just not at those prices.
robby
Electronic Engineer
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- May 1, 2021
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- 5,718
That is eBay, but at a Ham Fair they are asking for a fraction of that price.
I would assume it's not working and probably needs parts that are going to be very very hard to source.
werepuppy
Solar Enthusiast
It is vintage stuff of some possible collector interest but unless you know what it is, I wouldn't bother. Start with newer stuff. There are good ham forums and you probably should get a license before buying gear. I've been a ham for decades, not very active nowadays, but it's a fun thing to be involved with.
BarracudaBob
Harvesting free photons from clean fusion
Many of the older hams are dying off so the market for much of the vintage stuff is dendwiling. With all these new SDR Radios makes the big old clunky stuff hard to justify.
Linear amplifiers with big tubes are still holding strong but the tubes are getting expensive and harder to find.
Linear amplifiers with big tubes are still holding strong but the tubes are getting expensive and harder to find.
BarracudaBob
Harvesting free photons from clean fusion
werepuppy
Solar Enthusiast
Most interesting mode to me is JS8CALL, which is super low speed digital (about 1 character per second). Same modulation scheme as FT8 but without the templated QSO format. You can send a 60 char text message in 1 minute and a 1 watt portable should give you intercontinental reach because the bandwidth is so low. Equivalent to several thousand wants for a voice signal. This speed is about like 10 wpm Morse code. A 5x faster version could be like RTTY, usable for realtime text chat yet still super long range for low power.
The Icom IC-551 started production in 1979.
The one pictured looks like it was rode hard an put up wet, steer clear.
Back in the 1980’s 6m radios were far more valuable since HF radios didn’t include that band and people bought separate, single band radios for 6m, 2m and 70cm.
Nowadays most every HF radio includes the 6m band and none of the major manufacturers even bother making a 6m single band radio. And they put out 100W typically while the 551 puts out 10W.
I’d guess that radio, in that condition, would sell in the $25 range at a hamfest today.
The one pictured looks like it was rode hard an put up wet, steer clear.
Back in the 1980’s 6m radios were far more valuable since HF radios didn’t include that band and people bought separate, single band radios for 6m, 2m and 70cm.
Nowadays most every HF radio includes the 6m band and none of the major manufacturers even bother making a 6m single band radio. And they put out 100W typically while the 551 puts out 10W.
I’d guess that radio, in that condition, would sell in the $25 range at a hamfest today.
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Here is a 551 that sold, along with a second radio, for $60.
aarauctions.com
Absolute Auctions & Realty
aarauctions.com
hogback
Solar Enthusiast
What do they want for the chardonnay?
My dad and I set up at ham fests and fle markets over 40 yrs strait, buying and selling. I've had the icom model in a 2-meter and like yours it is a Transceiver TX and rec. They were a nice unit in their day. They were and "all mode" unit working in most all modes such as upper/lower side band /fm / cw. If clean and working right, not scratched up or banged up should bring 150. to the right person. The issue it is 6-meters and only a select amount of people (Hams) bother with that band and most seem to like AM as well with 6-meters. So, if you have nothing in it, don't bother to make sure it works right or clean it up then Robby's opinion comes into play. Back in the 80's/90s a nice one would bring 350. or so but they just are not popular. 2-meter was more attractive to a larger group.
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