KB6NU's Ham Radio Blog

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Sears sold ham gear?

Posted: 17 Mar 2021 07:59 PM PDT
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kb6nu...m_medium=email

Click for larger image.

Who knew that Sears once sold amateur radio gear?

On the CWops mailing list this morning, someone posted a link to the Sears
1940 Radio Amateur/Test Equipment/Sound Systems Catalog. I knew that Sears
sold lots of things in the past, but Id never heard that they sold ham
equipment.

This catalog features gear from a lot of major manufacturer of the day,
including:

Hallicrafters
National
Meissner
Hammarlund
Stancor


The prices look pretty good, too. On page 7, you see that the National
NC-100 costs only $120. But, wait a second, thats in 1940 dollars. Most
inflation calculators say a 1940 dollar is worth $18.61 today, so that
makes the price of that NC-100 $2,232 in 2021 dollars, and for that price,
youre only getting the receiver. Dont worry, though. As you can see, you
can buy that radio on Sears Easy Payment Plan.
Click for larger image.

Sears also parts, like tubes, crystals, capacitors, and coils. An RCA 807
21 W transmitting tube sold for $3.50. An 806, which had a maximum plate
dissipation of 150 W, went for $22.

Sears sold test gear, too. The catalog includes 12 pages of test equipment,
including gear from Triplett, Weston, Hickok, and RCA, but also
lesser-known names, such as Precision Apparatus, Radio City Products,
Supreme Test Equipment and ReadRite. Id never heard of these last four
manufacturers, and I consider myself somewhat of a test-equipment geek.
Below is a page showing testers from Precision Apparatus. As you can see,
Precision Apparatus made a wide variety of gear, including voltmeters,
signal generators, and tube testers.
Click for larger image.

Many items are reasonably priced. One of my friends commented that the
Speed-X keys were very economically priced. The top of the line straight
key—the Speed-X 320—cost only $1.91, while the Speed-X 545 Speed Key, or
bug, was only $5.44.

Theres lots of other cool stuff in the catalog, too. Download it, browse
through it, and let me know what you found interesting.

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