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Old 9th Apr 2019, 5:27 pm   #1
ian rose
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Default RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

Hello all,

Out of interest does anyone know what the new cost was of the RA17 [L,W, etc.] and the AR88?
I realise these sets were not intended for the public market but any ideas?
Just curiosity.
regards to all
Ian Rose
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Old 9th Apr 2019, 6:03 pm   #2
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Default Re: cost when new?

o, what was the selling price of the AR-88? It seems to be a mystery lost in the bureaucracy of the Lend-Lease Act and later RCA commercial advertising. By comparing the AR-88 receiver to its predecessor, the AR-60, which sold for $475 in the configuration used by the USCG (the CGR-32-1,) one can estimate that the AR-88 cost at least $475 - maybe even slightly more. Of course, this is just a guess. If anyone does know a specific price assigned to any of the AR-88 versions, please e-mail me and I will add that inform
From...https://www.radioblvd.com/ar88.htm
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Old 9th Apr 2019, 6:06 pm   #3
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Default Re: cost when new?

RA 17 New Price: $1200-2400
From...https://www.dxing.com/rx/ra17.htm
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Old 9th Apr 2019, 6:56 pm   #4
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Default Re: cost when new?

I remember reading that the AR88 was 400 dollars in 1943 .
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Old 9th Apr 2019, 7:11 pm   #5
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Default Re: cost when new?

Remember also that you need to consider exchange-rates when comparing stuff-priced-in-dollars to UK prices at the time.

"Within the first month after the U.K.'s entry into WWII, the exchange rate of the pound to the U.S. dollar dropped 13% from £1=US$4.61 to £1=US$3.99."
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Old 9th Apr 2019, 8:06 pm   #6
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

I remember reading somewhere that an RCA AR88 or perhaps a Hallicrafters SX28 cost more than the van it was delivered in. I've no idea whether it's true. Depends on the size and age of the van I guess.
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Old 9th Apr 2019, 8:14 pm   #7
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

Advertised Stateside price c1941 Hallicrafters SX-28 $159.50 (Net) Loudspeaker extra.

Lawrence.
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Old 10th Apr 2019, 12:30 pm   #8
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

Thank you everybody, interesting info.
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Old 10th Apr 2019, 1:19 pm   #9
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

In the 1960s there was a firm advertising crated unused AR88 for £80 I bought a well-used one for £33 which was in range of a schoolboy's savings.

In the 1980s I bought a freshly uncrated unused RA117 for £325 Mmmm... Shiny!

- Just to put in a couple of waypoints between then and now

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Old 10th Apr 2019, 1:27 pm   #10
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Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler View Post
In the 1960s I bought a well-used AR88 for £33 which was in range of a schoolboy's savings.
In the 1960s as a school-boy, £33 was way outside any savings that I had accrued from doing a paper-round!

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Old 10th Apr 2019, 2:10 pm   #11
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

ISTR 10/6 per week for a paper round in 1966. So about 15 months of nothing but pocket money to spend!

Though there was choir money at about 5/- a quarter, plus the odd wedding if it didn't clash with Saturday morning school (yes, I did say Saturday morning school).

My aspirations peaked at R1155!
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Old 10th Apr 2019, 2:54 pm   #12
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

It was the result of a good few years of saving, TV fixing and doing a bit down at the family business. All my Christmas and birthday presents went into the pot, and I worked hard for that radio. Pocket money was 5 bob a week.

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Old 10th Apr 2019, 4:15 pm   #13
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

At the RSGB Radio Hobbies Exhibition, in November 1958, there was a prize drawing for a Racal RA17. It was described as being worth £400. See the RSGFB Bulletin, Nov 1958 pp 228-230 and Dec 1958 pp 271-272. At the time there were about $2.80 per GBP.

As a reference, the price of an Austin A40 in 1959 was about £680. See https://www.motoringresearch.com/car...car-year-born/

73 John
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Old 10th Apr 2019, 6:39 pm   #14
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

When comparing costs remember to include the effects of purchase-tax and import-tariffs.

Your $400 US-made receiver could have been slapped with a 40% import-tariff followed by purchase-tax.

Purchase-tax was a variable that could significantly distort apparent price: it penalised supposedly 'luxury' goods - what constituted 'luxury' was a matter of protracted legal wrangling [is a radio-with-a-built-in-speaker eligible for PT? Does fitting it with a BFO make it a utilitarian 'communications' receiver so no PT?]

Same went for radiograms - which were seen as 'luxury' items so attracting the highest rate of PT - so manufacturers started supplying 'radios' in big cabinets with a cutout to take a turntable but with the turntable not-fitted, so they didn't incur the punitive purchase-tax. After purchase, your local dealer would then offer to supply the turntable at a good [non-PT] price and fit it for five shillings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purchase_Tax
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Old 10th Apr 2019, 7:08 pm   #15
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

It would be interesting to compare a genuinely early production AR88 (serial number in low tens, say) with a late WW2 version in detail. Every WW2 mass production process, from bolts to battleships, had the exacting gaze of production engineer and production accountant applied to them and a number of seemingly trivial changes might add up to a substantial saving (in money and its related variable, time) on the completed item. For example, the AR88s I've seen all used the technique familiar from consumer radio manufacturer of stamped-through chassis earthing tags, rather than separate earth tags retained by screws familiar in professional equipment. Similarly, the (horribly leaky!) main PSU block capacitor in mine used machine screws and solder tags for its connections, others use rivets and tags- possibly ongoing production thrifting?

I'd expect much less thrifting over time with the RA17, as there wasn't the sudden looming of an actual global war during its production life- just the ongoing open cheque-book and (relatively) predictable production requirements of the Cold War. Relatively as in not expecting to produce tens of units a year and finding it had abruptly gone to a requirement for thousands!

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Old 10th Apr 2019, 7:22 pm   #16
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

Quote:
Originally Posted by turretslug View Post
For example, the AR88s I've seen all used the technique familiar from consumer radio manufacturer of stamped-through chassis earthing tags, rather than separate earth tags retained by screws familiar in professional equipment. Similarly, the (horribly leaky!) main PSU block capacitor in mine used machine screws and solder tags for its connections, others use rivets and tags- possibly ongoing production thrifting?.
I'd rather view this as the outcome of proper study by WWII-era production/cost-engineering and operational-research analysts who invested their time and professional expertise to ensure the resultant receivers still performed to-spec but at the lowest possible cost.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operat...cond_World_War

Saving a few dollars/a few minutes of production-time per receiver could - cumulatively - have made a significant contribution to winning WWII.

[Similarly, people today complain about the way the R1155 is assembled - saying it makes maintenance really difficult. They don't appreciate that the bombers the 1155 was designed for would typically have a service-life of a few dozen missions so 'radio servicing' never really entered into the calculations].
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Old 10th Apr 2019, 10:06 pm   #17
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

Osterman provided some information on HF receiver original prices in his book “Shortwave Receivers Past and Present”. The 2nd edition is available on-line, at: https://archive.org/stream/Shortwave...2ndEd_djvu.txt.

The RA17 was shown as $1200 to 2400. Presumably that range reflected price inflation over its production run. No new prices were shown for the RCA AR88.

There is a newer edition of this book, see: https://www.universal-radio.com/cata.../0004used.html, but I have not seen it.


Cheers,
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Old 10th Apr 2019, 11:54 pm   #18
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

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Originally Posted by Station X View Post
I remember reading somewhere that an RCA AR88 or perhaps a Hallicrafters SX28 cost more than the van it was delivered in. I've no idea whether it's true. Depends on the size and age of the van I guess.
A brand new "commer" 8 hundredweight van cost £149 in 1938. So allowing for the exchange rate, a NEW van was worth a bit more than one of the sets featured.
However a well used but still serviceable van would be worth perhaps one third of the new price, say about £50, or appreciably less than the radio being delivered.

BEFORE the war, a car or van could be purchased for the advertised price by anyone with the money.
DURING and shortly after the war, vehicles were in very short supply and the advertised price was a poor guide to actual availability. A purchaser had to demonstrate a need for the vehicle as well as having the money.
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Old 10th Apr 2019, 11:55 pm   #19
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

Early AR88s had copper-plated front panels with engraved markings. It soon changed to silk-screening.

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Old 11th Apr 2019, 9:32 am   #20
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Default Re: RA17 and AR88 cost when new?

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Station X View Post
I remember reading somewhere that an RCA AR88 or perhaps a Hallicrafters SX28 cost more than the van it was delivered in. I've no idea whether it's true. Depends on the size and age of the van I guess.
A brand new "commer" 8 hundredweight van cost £149 in 1938. So allowing for the exchange rate, a NEW van was worth a bit more than one of the sets featured.
However a well used but still serviceable van would be worth perhaps one third of the new price, say about £50, or appreciably less than the radio being delivered.

BEFORE the war, a car or van could be purchased for the advertised price by anyone with the money.
DURING and shortly after the war, vehicles were in very short supply and the advertised price was a poor guide to actual availability. A purchaser had to demonstrate a need for the vehicle as well as having the money.

I believe the article I read related to a brand new set purchased by a US amateur radio operator in the US. Did the AR in AR88 stand for Amateur Receiver?
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