[TenTec] Pimping parts

[Grant Youngman]

> Seems more and more common on Ebay.  

Happens all the time.  There were a lot of Drake 7-line parts made available
when Drake closed the ham business.  Those used to show up quite often, and
I bought a bunch of stuff for a rainy day.  But more and more now the parts
come from a chopped TR-7 or similar, and odds are those were probably
working radios before they got hit with the wire clippers.  SP-600's get
sold by the part, HRO's get sold by the module (radio, speaker, power
supply, and each coil set, all in individual auctions), etc.  I once emailed
one of those clowns and asked why he wasn't selling the tubes, knobs, rubber
feet, cabinet, and tuning gear in separate auctions, too.  As it was, one
would only have had to follow and win NINE individual auctions to buy ONE
radio -- not nearly challenging enough :-)

And with more modern radios it's certainly common -- if not the norm -- to
have all the options like filters and what have you stripped out and sold
separately.  In the radio a filter might be worth nothing marginally, but
outside -- maybe $50-100.  So, it's only a matter of time until you can buy
a TT radio one circuit board, knob, washer and screw at a time.

If a radio "chop shop" can make money at it, they'll just keep on doing it.
Best think to do is just walk on by, IMO.  There are other places to look
for parts, even those milled from 100% unobtainium.

Grant/NQ5T