Not exactly sure when this radio came out, however the ad below says
to get a free 1966 catalog.. So I know this was from 1966 ,
price today $3616... and thats just the radio no power supply, the
ac supply was $700, .. Leo Meyerson , owner of World Radio Labs, in Council Bluffs, IA. Leo was a much like person, I've been told that when WRL was still in operation, Leo had free coffee and donuts on Saturday morning at his show room. Webmaster comment: I meet him at aksarben radio club meetings in Omaha in 1977.. my boss and dozens of hams from Omaha partook of the free coffee.. HI HI (free is good) FYI: aksarben, is Nebraska spelled backwards, a very large ham club in Omaha. A good friend of mine (W6ZSL) ran one of these mobile out at Edwards AFB in 1970's ![]() |
The Gonset Communicator was a series of vacuum tube VHF
AM radio transceivers that were widely sold in the 1950s and early 60s. The radios could operate from 110 volt AC , or 6 or 12 volt DC from a car battery. The receiver was manually tuned over the unit's frequency range with an analog dial, while the transmitter frequency was controlled by a crystal.. The civil defense model was painted yellow with CD insignia, and was available for the 6 and 2 meter bands. Most folks had several crystals, you would call CQ then tune around searching for someone answering you, mostly you were NOT on the Same Frequency..
Communicator model 2 (slightly different) The Communicator III cost back then $270, I'm
not sure what year ""back then"" was?
And heres the LAST of the line, the communicator 4,
cost today $3400
OUCH,, |
Here's one of the first portable 2 meter rigs, it could run Battery
Powered ! 1 watt of FM this ad is from about 1980 Today's price $359 6 channels , Crystal controlled.. This came with three sets of crystals for 3 channels, I presume your choice ?? There were repeaters by 1980, which greatly improved the range of this low power radio, every time you wanted to add a repeater or simplex channel it cost about $10 a channel,, ![]() |
Last week was the Benton Harbor Lunch Box radios, from
Heathkit now For those rich hams ?? HI back in the day as in 1965 The basic radio came with ONE crystal, the VFO as shown in the picture was $20 (today almost $179) The radio WITHOUT a microphone was $200 (that's $1787.. today) This was a vast improvement over the Heathkit TWOER (last week), but only a dream for most hams. This was a superheterodyne receiver, (no squelch) and the TX put out maybe 10 watts. AM, it weighed 18 lbs.. there were NO repeaters, you needed a good OUTSIDE antenna if you planed to talk to anyone or be ready for emergencies .. Hallifcrafters SR-42A
Want to know more .. link TO SR-42 specs |
Benton Harbor Lunch Box
|