Thrift store and garage sale treasure

[dime196604]

Thought a would start a journal of sweet finds and deals from thrift stores and garage sales or whatever steel you find. I will post items along the way as i find stuff and hope you guys will post all your sweet finds and steels here in this topic too..

[dime196604]

First post to the journal. Today I pick up about 75ft of twin lead, don't know how many ohms it is but its thick wire and the cable is about a inch wide. You wanna know what the price was? 89 cents! and i got 50ft of RG-58 coax for 50 cents

[dime196604]

Another deal i came across like a year ago or a little less, I saw a ad on craigslist fro a bunch of cb stuff, guy moved into has house he bought finds a bunch of cb stuff in his basement and just posts it on craigslist for $150 or trade. So i traded him a acoustic guitar i got for $98 and in return i got a Turner SSB +2 mic, a astatic ug8 d104, a 1x4 mobile amp, a 1x4 base amp, one Lafayett comstat 25b that worked after some tinkering, a Citi phone SS, a cheap swr tuner, a 3 way pow/mod/swr meter, one 10 amp power supply, and three 3ft coax jumpers. That i think was the best Find

[KaeRZet]

you're from WI ... I wish find some gold mine like you ...

[dime196604]

you're from WI ... I wish find some gold mine like you ...

I check craigslist every day, and some time more then once a day, and i check out the thrift stores once a week or so. Most of the time there is nothing but over priced radios and antennas but once and a while i find a steel. Just the other day i saw a guy trying to sell a old beat up midland 23ch radio for 100 bucks, i offered him 5 bucks for it and he said i was crazy, and i told him he had that backwards

[KaeRZet]

yeah , maybe he didn't know what it was ... anyway, craigslist - OK. but after i checked that website couple times and there was [maybe still is] guy with Astatic 636 noice cancelling mic for ~$45 - and we can get for $19.99 i decide save my time ... you're right sometimes there are some deals but I couldn't find them...
Once i get 2 CB, 2 magnet mount antennas , 2 amps for $300 ... but it wasn't a great deal...

[dime196604]

I got the best kind of deal you can find today, FREE my neighbor knocks on my door today and says he found a CB that he is gonna give to me, so he runs to his car and come back with a Tram Diamond 60, i can't find a lot on the value of it and it is only a 23ch, but it is a Tram with SSB and works fine, so i am very happy, got my first Tram radio, and hopefully down the line i will pick up a nice Tran tubed base radio .

[dime196604]

Just got a Cobra 19 dx lll for free, it a cheap ol radio but it came with a Cobra Power mic(cobra high gear) never heard of it before, any body know about this mic? is it crap? it feels like a cheap pile of crap, feels like it would fall apart if i key up too hard

[paBullwinkle]

I had one on my galaxy radio.... The stock Cobra 25 LTD Classic mic out performs it.... gained 2 watts barefoot and 10 watts with my amp.

[Sporty Mike]

Gee Dime , I need to be hangin around with you....



Mike

[Anvil Hands]

Sounds like you have gotten some good finds there Dime, especially the Free items.

Not a lot of thrift stores or pawn shops around me so I check craigslist, but haven't really found any great deals yet.

[Hondarider]

Haha sweet finds dime!
Have a good one.

[Don1962]

Hey Dime,
BOY YOU REALLY got lucky on that Tram!!!!!!!! Wish I had neibors like that!!!!!!

[dime196604]

Hey Dime,
BOY YOU REALLY got lucky on that Tram!!!!!!!! Wish I had neibors like that!!!!!!

Yea its not to good looking due to age but it has some awesome audio, just as loud if not louder the my 959 and the receive is super low static, i wish it was a 40ch radio

[dime196604]

So got me a oscilloscope for free, its a old heathkit but it works. I remembered seeing one if my friends basement like 10 years ago, i did not know what it was back then. But any way it just poped in my head the other day while i was looking for scopes on the internet, so i gave my friend a call and asked him if his dad still had it and if he would sell it. So he calls me back a few hours later and says yes my dad still has it, it a old heathkit and he has not had any use for it in the last 20 years and you can just have it! He fired it up to make sure it was working and every thing. I can't believe im getting it for free, that saves me a crap ton of money. Now i just gotta learn how to use it

[KaeRZet]

thats great I wish have friends like yours .

[KaeRZet]

today the luck smile to me i found on craigslist amplifier for sale - I wnet for pick up and the guy says that the amp is not working , in a sec i **Censored** off because it was about 35miles away , but in next second i've been so happy after this guy says that i can take it with me back home, just for free ... because he test it - plug it to the wall and it wasn't work....
Tomorrow I take a look on it ...
And picture of my treasure :

[gunner57]

Just got a Cobra 19 dx lll for free, it a cheap ol radio but it came with a Cobra Power mic(cobra high gear) never heard of it before, any body know about this mic? is it crap? it feels like a cheap pile of crap, feels like it would fall apart if i key up too hard

Yeah the Cobra HG series mics aren't good. I bought the HG73 which is a replacement mic and they do feel like they can fall apart. The outer coating on the cable split apart near the 4 pin connector after 3-4 weeks in my wife's car. They make the standard, a noise canceling, and a power mic. The only thing I do like about them more than the stock Cobra mic is that the grill mesh is more forgiving than the nickle size hole on the stock so your mouth placement isn't quite so important. But who can complain about free, right?

I have had my garage sale blues like your 23 channel midland story. I found a Yaesu 2 meter radio like I've been wanting at a garage sale. My wife had called to tell me the lady had "radio stuff." So I asked the lady what she wanted for it. She said $200. It was an older model they don't make anymore. NIB Yaesu radios with more wattage and features that are equivilent are selling for $165. I just told her I couldn't even make a reasonable counter offer that wouldn't offend her. Then I left with the blues. But I found an old Kenwood for $25 on fleabay, so that made up for it.

I hope your luck keeps up with aquiring stuff.

[dirtyjob]

today the luck smile to me i found on craigslist amplifier for sale - I wnet for pick up and the guy says that the amp is not working , in a sec i **Censored** off because it was about 35miles away , but in next second i've been so happy after this guy says that i can take it with me back home, just for free ... because he test it - plug it to the wall and it wasn't work....
Tomorrow I take a look on it ...
And picture of my treasure :

sweet, from what i read online it should have one 6JE6C driving 4 6JE6C's

[Nagant]

That is a rarer model of Astro amp you have there. The smaller two tube units were and are much more common than that one. Congrats!

[dime196604]

today the luck smile to me i found on craigslist amplifier for sale - I wnet for pick up and the guy says that the amp is not working , in a sec i **Censored** off because it was about 35miles away , but in next second i've been so happy after this guy says that i can take it with me back home, just for free ... because he test it - plug it to the wall and it wasn't work....
Tomorrow I take a look on it ...
And picture of my treasure :

That is awesome even tho it does not work, but still awesome. It could not be to bad try to Resurrect it, how much power do they push when are running well

[KaeRZet]

[....]

sweet, from what i read online it should have one 6JE6C driving 4 6JE6C's

That's what there is : ADMIRAL 6LQ6 / 6JE6C tubes 1x4 - all the same one of this four is glow more than other , any ideas why ? should I replace them ?
Looks like amp works just fine on dead key i get 150-170Watt and whistling about 400watt...
have some questions about it but i leave them for tomorrow [ today later] ---> got to go rest / tired / had long day toady [mean yesterday] ...
73

[Nagant]

How bright or dim the tubes glow has nothing to do with being good or bad. The only way to know how good they are is to test them on a good calibrated tube tester. Sounds like the amp is basically doing what it should though.

[tenderfoot]

All these deals and then you hear about the estate sales and all the good amps people get cheap because people don't know anything about them or not interested in. Why can't I come across deals like that?

[dime196604]

Yeah I have not found much lately, I saw a drake communications receiver at a estate sale but they wanted 350 for it as is untested. I offered 50 bucks for it and the guy looked at me like in was crazy. I told him good luck ever selling it.