old radios can be fun but since the bands have changed so much in the USA the last 20 years, and the station proximity to one another, older systems don't do as well as they did. Making matters worse, everything was analog back then, and it is digital and compressed now so the harmonics are missing. Add an old man's hearing into the mix, and it makes old radios an expensive hobby. People today live their lives differently. Besides, every morning when I wake up these days I hear like running water / static, and a radio station faintly in my head they isn't really there. We had an old Zenith Transoceanic I rebuilt in High School in the late 60's. Was a fun radio to listen to the different bands. Can't imagine doing that today.
Some time ago Harry Beenham died and the kids could not sell off dads posessions / businesses / property fast enough .
Harry bought vast amounts of surplus and this included millions of surplus & obsolete radio valves mostly ex-WWII
The auctioneers originally listed them as "pallets of obsolete electric valves tubes "
The number of enquires was so big they first broke them down into single pallet lots and eventually by valve number lots in dozens
The auction went 3 days longer than originally scheduled because the bidding for these valves was so fierce.
people few in from all around he world and there was not a hotel bed to be found in Sydney
They had to set up speakers in the street which had to get closed to accomodate all of the bidders .
Right opposite was one of my customers and for the week you just could not get to them during auction hours .
The net result of this was a couple of local small companies returning to produce some valves that they had not made for 20 + years
