On Thu, 5 Feb 2004 04:15:29 UTC, - - Bill - -
wrote:

Brian Hill wrote:
"N2EY" wrote in message

Not a typo - five

thousand one hundred dollars.



WOW! is all I can say




Did he build it or does he just have a $5000 box of old parts sitting in
the shack for looks?

-BM

Nah, certainly someone who paid that much understands the
"investment value". Do a websearch for "catalin radio" for
shocking valuations. Also see those "Antique Roadshows", where
hideous junque goes for ten times that and more.

I caught one last weekend, they had an "1800's American Indian
carrying pack for babies". It was made of a couple horse blankets
and had yarn woven into a diamond pattern, $50,000 or more. It
looked like a couple old horse blankets that someone had trimmed
with coarse yarn. Ugly.

There was also a painting of an old house. Looked amateurish
but supposedly done by a "famous artist". Gag me with a J-38.

I turned it off. It was too much to take.

That AT-1 is *cheap* at $5,100.

1) It is a early relic of a technological age that will never, ever
come again. The homebuilt tube radio era when kids saved their
milk-money to buy magical communications devices.

2) It is a Heathkit. The Heath line was an anomaly in the ham
world. A few genius engineers put technological marvels in
"everyman's" hands. I remember the awe of putting my DX-60
together in 1963 as a 16 year old.

3) It is an "unbuilt" kit. As others have said, there are lots of
built kits available but the "unbuilts" are the rarest of the rare.

I started restoring boatanchors a couple years ago when a hand
surgery went bad. Scared my doc, he could see the liability suit.
I have no (ZERO) interest in sueing someone for drawing bad cards,
luck of the draw. He told me to work my fingers as I had never
worked them before to regain manual dexterity (this is after we were
sure I wasn't going to lose the hand.)

Turns out that refurbing boatanchors is fun, almost as much fun as
building the DX-60 or that incident with "Trixie-Lee" when I was
18.

I've updated my boatanchor site, start at
www.kiyoinc.com/heathstuff.html and follow the eZine/BLOG.

No Spam wrote in message news:ifgU75G3LLdo-pn2-bzTUedqnM5tU@localhost...
On Thu, 5 Feb 2004 04:15:29 UTC, - - Bill - -
wrote:

Brian Hill wrote:
"N2EY" wrote in message

Not a typo - five

thousand one hundred dollars.

WOW! is all I can say

Did he build it or does he just have a $5000 box of old parts sitting in
the shack for looks?

I don't know if the buyer ever built it - there was no indication of
what
he intended to do.

Nah, certainly someone who paid that much understands the
"investment value". Do a websearch for "catalin radio" for
shocking valuations. Also see those "Antique Roadshows", where
hideous junque goes for ten times that and more.

Yep. What happens is that an "object" stops being what it was designed
to be (a table, a lamp, etc.) and becomes "art", and its price becomes
whatever people want to pay, regardless of its utility as what it was
designed to be.

I caught one last weekend, they had an "1800's American Indian
carrying pack for babies". It was made of a couple horse blankets
and had yarn woven into a diamond pattern, $50,000 or more. It
looked like a couple old horse blankets that someone had trimmed
with coarse yarn. Ugly.

There was also a painting of an old house. Looked amateurish
but supposedly done by a "famous artist". Gag me with a J-38.

I turned it off. It was too much to take.

That show is kind of a "guilty pleasure" for me. I like seeing
ordinary folks suddenly discover that something they have is
worth big bucks.

Two favorites:

Two ladies bring in what looks like a Tiffany table lamp. They'd had
it for years, and the local antique dealers said it was worth maybe
$200 because it
wasn't a real Tiffany lamp. They *knew* it wasn't genuine because the
base was
metal, and Tiffany only used wood.

The AR expert, however, said it was indeed genuine Tiffany, because in
the
early 1900s there had been a few lamps made with metal bases. Six were
known
to survive - the ladies' was the seventh, and none of the others were
in as
good condition. Expert said the lamp was worth at least $120,000. The
two
ladies had simply taken it off the end table and brought it to the
show in
a cardboard box. Their *house* wasn't worth $120,000.....

---

Then there was the couple with an antique table. Cost them a few
hundred.
Ugly with a capital ugh. Expert said it was very rare, perfect
condition, yada yada yada. Worth at least $200,000 at auction. They
nearly capsized; they'd
been using it as the place to dump the mail and car keys when they got
home
and in the door.

So they put the thing up for auction at Sotheby's. Of course with the
show
it had lots of publicity. $100K. $200K. $300K. $400K. Bidding finally
stopped at somewhere around $490,000. For a little old table.

That AT-1 is *cheap* at $5,100.

As art. As a transmitter it's not worth $51.


1) It is a early relic of a technological age that will never, ever
come again. The homebuilt tube radio era when kids saved their
milk-money to buy magical communications devices.

I was one of those kids....

2) It is a Heathkit. The Heath line was an anomaly in the ham
world. A few genius engineers put technological marvels in
"everyman's" hands. I remember the awe of putting my DX-60
together in 1963 as a 16 year old.

The AT-1 was probably their *worst* transmitter. Which is forgivable
because it was their very first. I had a DX-20 - very good little
rig.

One of their most amazing feats was the HW-16. In some ways it was
the very best Heathkit ham rig ever made, because it gave a Novice
*exactly* what was needed, at a low low price. Good CW receiver and
Novice gallon transmitter in one box with sidetone, TR switch, etc.
Nothing else needed but a key, speaker, antenna and xtals. No
frills but no shortcomings either. For a nickel less than $100.

Another was the SB-200. Table top amplifier that would do the
then-legal-limit on CW and 1200W on SSB. $200 when it first came out.
Its bigger brother, the
SB-220, was only $359.

3) It is an "unbuilt" kit. As others have said, there are lots of
built kits available but the "unbuilts" are the rarest of the rare.

And best left that way.

I started restoring boatanchors a couple years ago when a hand
surgery went bad. Scared my doc, he could see the liability suit.
I have no (ZERO) interest in sueing someone for drawing bad cards,
luck of the draw. He told me to work my fingers as I had never
worked them before to regain manual dexterity (this is after we were
sure I wasn't going to lose the hand.)

DANG!

Turns out that refurbing boatanchors is fun, almost as much fun as
building the DX-60 or that incident with "Trixie-Lee" when I was
18.

Some things one never forgets....

I've updated my boatanchor site, start at
www.kiyoinc.com/heathstuff.html and follow the eZine/BLOG.

That is one heck of a site! Love the descriptions! And yes, in basic
radio performance the new rigs are not much better than much of the
old stuff.

A thought for all:

With some basic tools and test gear, plus a bit of skill and patience,
one can collect an SB-line, clean it up and have a
pretty decent ham station. 40 year old technology but still very
useful
and fun.

Will the hams of 2044 be able to do that with today's ham rigs? Or
even the
hams of 2024 with the ham gear of 1984?

73 es keep 'em glowing de Jim, N2EY