Pye Cambridge 6/AM10B's. Value?

[DanSaxton]

Hi everyone,

I am an instructor at an Air Training Corps squadron and we have some old radio sets that we would like to go to a good home (to raise some cash if possible), but we don't know what they are worth - I'm hoping someone might be able to help??

We have 4 Pye Cambridge 6 channel AM10B sets:
1 is boxed in a crate for use remotely.
1 is boxed ready to be used in a vehicle.
1 is on a plinth for use at a base station.
1 is a spare.

All boxed units come with handsets (looks like an old phone with a button to press when you wish to transmit), fuses, speakers and controls (see picture).

Any thoughts on these would be really helpful.

Many thanks,

Dan

[Keith]

Hi Dan,

Probably worth contacting VMARS as they have an auction coming up shortly.

http://www.vmars.org.uk/Contact_VMARS

[DanSaxton]

thanks Keith - i sent a couple of emails over.

Dan

[trh01uk]

Dan,

the problem will be firstly finding anyone who will be willing to part with cash with them. Or even just to give them a good home (for free). There are a few people still interested in these sets, but they are pretty thin on the ground. You used to see mountains of these sets going unsold at the typical amateur rally a few years ago - these days I don't think anyone still owning bothers to bring them.

The problem at the moment with them is that they are not really vintage - so have little historical value or interest. And they are a bit too old to be useful - although they can be made to work just fine. Trouble is that they need crystals just to get them work on a single channel - and those crystals are hard to find, and new ones cost an arm and a let. Anyone just wanting a VHF set can easily just buy a synthesised set, and the whole problem of crystals is bypassed.

A further important factor is which band they operate on. Usually with Pye sets there is a label somewhere on the outside of the case which will tell you this. The bands were designated by letter: "A", "B", "C", etc. The letter indicates the range of frequencies the set will operate over. If yours happen to operate in a band which does not contain an amateur band, then I am afraid your market will be even further reduced, since they cannot be legally used by any radio amateur (without serious modification), and you will be reduced to the collecting market only. Bands to look out for are "B" (which covers the amateur 2m band), "E" (which covers the 4m amateur band) and "T" (which covers the 70cm amateur band).

If you did find a buyer and they parted with £10 per set you would be doing pretty well!

Richard

[DanSaxton]

Hi Richard,

Thanks for the info...looks like it's a trip to the tip!

Dan

[trh01uk]

Dan,

well, don't be too hasty. Adverts like the one you placed here are always worth a try. And someone from vmars might just come back to you. The best market place is always Ebay because it reaches buyers other mediums do not. But you do need to have someone willing to do the work!

Richard

[DanSaxton]

thanks Richard, i guess i just wanted to get a feel for what i could ask for on ebay...not sure it's worth it for £10!

Dan

[Sparky67]

Dan,

There could also be a market among people interested in vehicle restoration and display. Authentic radios from a vehicle's operational era are not always easy to find...

[JohnBG8JMB]

You could try a film/tv prop buyer - if you find one, let me know!

john
G8JMB

[Restoration73]

It is likely these will be crystalled for the old AM 78.1 MHz ATC channel.

[ex seismic]

Try the vintage police car/fire engine/ambulance associations.

If these are sets with valves in them anywhere then the power supplies are useful to those of us trying to make inverters to run other valve stuff from batteries.

Gordon

[AC/HL]

Valve transmitter with a transistor inverter, and a transistorised receiver: http://www.vmarsmanuals.co.uk/archiv..._Cambridge.pdf

[Scimitar]

What band are they actually on?

[Aub]

Please don't bin them!

Get them to the VMARS auction, as Keith says.

Cheers

Aub

[G6Tanuki]

Truth is, they're only really worth anything for parts [the QQV03/10 valves and the inverter are repurposeable - NKT404 transistors are fun to play with].

There's next-to-no use of AM on the amateur 4- and 2-metre bands these days - and even if you were interested the 'glider-band' radios are not the best to convert to either. Serious amateurs from the 1970s went with the hybrid valve/transistor AM/FM Vanguard series [I had a tweaked one that ran a solid 87 Watts on 2M FM] or saved mobile battery power and went all-solid-state with the AM/FM combination Whitehall-models or the lower-powered Westminsters. If you felt flush in the 1980s you bought an all-transistor Pye "PMR2" from Anchor Surplus, which did 100 Watts on 2 Metres FM!

As has been noted, the control-boxes mics and speakers could be of interest to classic-car police/ambulance types or TV/movie set-dressers but not so the radio 'lump'.

[Keith]

The modulation transformer could be useful for solid state modulating any small valve AM TX. Incidentally, the VMARS auction is held in Baginton so very close to you, Dan.

[DanSaxton]

thanks Keith - we're based at Baginton Airport - so right on our doorstep!