[MilSurplus] TBW-5, TA-12D

[Michael Crestohl]

I agree wholeheartedly with Dave on this point.  I too maintain that most
of the mods were not necessary to operate the radio in a safe and legal
fashion.  Just see the price difference between a modified Command set and
an original one.  Remember that you couldn't give them away in the late
1940s and early 1950s.  They sold them in sealed boxes for a buck.  Today
one of these is worth well over $100.00.  What about original TCS
sets?  Most of the ones I have seen were modified by removing the antenna
binding post and drilling 4 small holes and installing a SO-239 UHF
connector to the panel.  Same goes for the transmitters.  The price on
these is considerably lower than one with the single spring-loaded antenna
post.  So if you have a piece of this gear in original condition please
don't perform any irreversible modifications to it as you will be
destroying a historical artifact that by all rights should be in a museum
somewhere.

It is because so many were modified that so few original pieces survive and
that is why they are so valuable.

Just my .02 mF!

73,

Michael, W1RC
mc at sover.net

At 07:08 AM 8/4/1999 -0500, David Stinson wrote:
>Ronnie Parker wrote:
>
> > I am in need of conversion copy prints for the TBW-5 transmitter
> > and the TA-12D transmitter.....
>
>The units are certainly your property and I
>wouldn't presume to tell you what to do,
>but please consider the perspective of a serious
>collector of these historic radios.
>
>The "modifications" to military equipment written about in
>ham magazines during the 50s and 60s are almost universially
>detrimental to the operation of the radios and certainly destroy
>their value, both in a monetary and in a historic sense.
>The anti-TVI mods, for example, turned out to be
>totally wasted effort; the radios weren't defective-
>poorly designed TVs and improper radio operation were the culprits.
>I've done the work with modern analysis equipment to prove this.
>
>Moreover, drilling one small hole in your TBW is a
>sure and certain way to turn your $150 radio into
>a $15 radio.  Most serious collectors will not
>spend time or money on a drilled radio or one in which
>major componants have been removed (unless it's really rare ;-).
>The vast majority of these radios can be run without modification,
>or with modifications that are 100% reversable
>(meaning no drill holes or parts removed and lost).
>
>Both of these fine radios can be run without modification
>or with 100% reversable mods.  You'd need to pull the
>rectifier tubes from the TBW and run external DC to the
>power supply busses.  The TA-12 needs only power and/or
>a modulator and some controls, all of which can be
>mounted externally as the designers intended.
>
>As a matter of personal principle, I never provide
>any assistance when a historic radio is to be irrevokably modified;
>too many of them have been destroyed already.
>However, should you decide you would like to attempt to
>run the radios without such modifications,
>I will be glad to provide all the information
>I have available to assist you.
>
>Just the perspective of a serious collector, for what it's worth.
>
>73 OM DE Dave Stinson AB5S
>arc5 at ix.netcom.com
>
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