Good morning,

Yesterday, while attending a local fleamarket (not radio related), a
large dark grey box got my attention. I could not believe it; in the
middle of lots of other items (mostly _real_ junk!), there was a lonely
National NC-183D!. In about two years, it is the second BA I see in that
market (the other was a BC-348 which was fastly sold). The 183D was not
in great shape, having scratches all around it, some oxide, a couple
missing knobs (I will post later for help on this). It was about a 5 on
a 1-10 scale. Internally it was dirt but complete, with all tubes.

I asked price and got 80 Euro (about US$92) as an answer... finally, I
got it for 60 Euro (about US$69)

Of course, money left my wallet and the NC-183D went to my car's boot
:-)

I think it is a nice winter project and hope to be able to restore it to
its former glory (more to come about this as works start)

Regards from a happy camper :-)

JOSE

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
73 EB5AGV / EC5AAU - JOSE V. GAVILA
La Canyada - Valencia (SPAIN)

Vintage Radio: http://jvgavila.com
Vintage Test Equipment: http://jvgavila.com/testeq.htm
European Boatanchors List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/euro_ba_swap

Jose V. Gavila wrote:


I asked price and got 80 Euro (about US$92) as an answer... finally, I
got it for 60 Euro (about US$69)

Of course, money left my wallet and the NC-183D went to my car's boot
:-)

Good catch!

-Bill

Jose V. Gavila wrote:


I asked price and got 80 Euro (about US$92) as an answer... finally, I
got it for 60 Euro (about US$69)

Of course, money left my wallet and the NC-183D went to my car's boot
:-)

Good catch!

-Bill

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 06:49:09 UTC, "Jose V. Gavila"
wrote:

Good morning,

Yesterday, while attending a local fleamarket (not radio related), a
large dark grey box got my attention. I could not believe it; in the
middle of lots of other items (mostly _real_ junk!), there was a lonely
National NC-183D!. In about two years, it is the second BA I see in that
market (the other was a BC-348 which was fastly sold). The 183D was not
in great shape, having scratches all around it, some oxide, a couple
missing knobs (I will post later for help on this). It was about a 5 on
a 1-10 scale. Internally it was dirt but complete, with all tubes.

I asked price and got 80 Euro (about US$92) as an answer... finally, I
got it for 60 Euro (about US$69)

Of course, money left my wallet and the NC-183D went to my car's boot
:-)

I think it is a nice winter project and hope to be able to restore it to
its former glory (more to come about this as works start)

Regards from a happy camper :-)

JOSE


Great story. I've never had that happen to me. I've been
restoring and fixing up old Heathkits and Tektronix Oscilloscopes
that I get on eBay.

I believe that these old radios will be prized collectables
in a few years. That said, I have a life time supply of "fix it"
radios now, enough for 6 full stations.

de ah6gi/4

Yes, let us hope that they will be valuable in future years, as the market
on ebay and elsewhere for boatanchors is very soft now. Hopefully there
will still be analog stations to tune, and low enough levels of electrical
interference
to hear them.

I used to have an NC-183, and then decided that I shall have no boatanchor
larger
than a microwave oven. That maxim has certainly limited the size, but not
the quantity, of my boatanchors awaiting restoration!
Pete Verrando
KQ5I

pete wrote:

I used to have an NC-183, and then decided that I shall have no boatanchor
larger
than a microwave oven. That maxim has certainly limited the size, but not
the quantity, of my boatanchors awaiting restoration!
Pete Verrando
KQ5I


Get a bigger microwave oven.
-Bill

pete wrote:

I used to have an NC-183, and then decided that I shall have no boatanchor
larger
than a microwave oven. That maxim has certainly limited the size, but not
the quantity, of my boatanchors awaiting restoration!
Pete Verrando
KQ5I


Get a bigger microwave oven.
-Bill

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 04:22:15 UTC, "pete"
wrote:

Yes, let us hope that they will be valuable in future years, as the market
on ebay and elsewhere for boatanchors is very soft now. Hopefully there
will still be analog stations to tune, and low enough levels of electrical
interference
to hear them.

Soft prices are a double edged sword.

The prices are driven down by the aging and death of the interested
population, by low prices of new radios, by the distractions of
other hobbies such as the Internet, and by collapse of the economy
(The Dow Jones began falling on January 14, 2000).

These are all strong forces.

On the other hand, there will be no more boat anchors built, ever.
Every day, another boat anchor radio is lost, tossed out,
deteriorated beyond repair.

As good as the new radios are, you cannot pick out the transmitters
by tuning across 40. Was that a ICOM Pro II or an HT-37?

Similarly on receive, my QTH, antenna, and speakers affects the
receive quality more than the radio. That's assuming that I'm
using a boat anchor of reasonable quality, something with 1 kHz
readout, 1 uV sensitivity, .5 kHz/30 minute stabilty, 2.5 kHz or
better selectivity, half watt audio output, etc.

Easy to achieve specs from 1960 on.

I used to have an NC-183, and then decided that I shall have no boatanchor
larger
than a microwave oven. That maxim has certainly limited the size, but not
the quantity, of my boatanchors awaiting restoration!
Pete Verrando
KQ5I

I don't have any Nationals. Almost all Heathkits here.

de ah6gi/4 Got a Signal/One CX7A working on receive.

--

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 04:22:15 UTC, "pete"
wrote:

Yes, let us hope that they will be valuable in future years, as the market
on ebay and elsewhere for boatanchors is very soft now. Hopefully there
will still be analog stations to tune, and low enough levels of electrical
interference
to hear them.

Soft prices are a double edged sword.

The prices are driven down by the aging and death of the interested
population, by low prices of new radios, by the distractions of
other hobbies such as the Internet, and by collapse of the economy
(The Dow Jones began falling on January 14, 2000).

These are all strong forces.

On the other hand, there will be no more boat anchors built, ever.
Every day, another boat anchor radio is lost, tossed out,
deteriorated beyond repair.

As good as the new radios are, you cannot pick out the transmitters
by tuning across 40. Was that a ICOM Pro II or an HT-37?

Similarly on receive, my QTH, antenna, and speakers affects the
receive quality more than the radio. That's assuming that I'm
using a boat anchor of reasonable quality, something with 1 kHz
readout, 1 uV sensitivity, .5 kHz/30 minute stabilty, 2.5 kHz or
better selectivity, half watt audio output, etc.

Easy to achieve specs from 1960 on.

I used to have an NC-183, and then decided that I shall have no boatanchor
larger
than a microwave oven. That maxim has certainly limited the size, but not
the quantity, of my boatanchors awaiting restoration!
Pete Verrando
KQ5I

I don't have any Nationals. Almost all Heathkits here.

de ah6gi/4 Got a Signal/One CX7A working on receive.

--

Yes, let us hope that they will be valuable in future years, as the market
on ebay and elsewhere for boatanchors is very soft now. Hopefully there
will still be analog stations to tune, and low enough levels of electrical
interference
to hear them.

I used to have an NC-183, and then decided that I shall have no boatanchor
larger
than a microwave oven. That maxim has certainly limited the size, but not
the quantity, of my boatanchors awaiting restoration!
Pete Verrando
KQ5I