RadioStratophere.com

Comment

Comment by David Wilson on August 17, 2017 at 3:57pm

Ken .... Great story there!  I had a Phiharmonic Beam of light, one of the most difficult radio I have ever worked on. I sold it about 6 years ago so I could buy a McMurdo V. I have a AW 15 so this  AW 27 I bought will be my 3rd Scott I've owned. I'm looking forward to working on the AW 27.

Comment by Ken Carr on August 16, 2017 at 6:51pm

Great story, David! I believe every word. I have had similar experiences, good and bad. I went into an antiques store and saw a Stratosphere (I don't know what model). They had a price of about $75 on it. It was obviously a great radio and I was all ready to buy it when I noticed a sign attached to it. "Sold". It seems a collector had purchased it the day before and had not picked it up yet.

One that did not get away was my E. H. Scott Philharmonic. A fellow ham operator and I were working communications for a diabetes bike ride. He mentioned that he had this old "Scott" radio in his garage that he wanted to get rid of. I told him I was interested. I also told him that they are very valuable radios. Well it seems it belonged to his wife's father who had passed years ago. She was not ready to get rid of it. Five years later we met again and he said his wife wants the garage cleaned up and the radio has to go. It was mine for the taking . I was there the next day. It's a keeper.

Comment by David Wilson on August 16, 2017 at 6:20pm

Ken, I have been collecting radios since around 1988. My first radio given to me by my parents was a Zenith X316W AM/FM plasic tabletop radio. I got it for a birthday in late 60s. It was one of the last tube radios Zeinth ever produced. My first vintage radio I aquired was a Zenith 12-U-159. It was quite a find at that time. Believe or not I was offered a chance to buy a Zenith 1000 Z Stratosphere the week before I bought the Zenith 12-U-159. A jukebox collector friend found the radio in a warehouse in El Paso, TX and offered it to me for $3,700. I had no idea at the time what kind of radio I being offered. It was cool looking. I though he was nuts on his price and told him I could not afford the radio. I stumbled on to the Zenith 12-U-159 in an antique shop the next week and it was $250. I told myself now that looks just like the big Zenith my collector friend offered but it was about $3,500 less. I'll buy it! LOL That is how I started collecting radios. I'm not making this up, it really happened. 

 

Comment by Ken Carr on August 16, 2017 at 6:12am

David, there are easily over 100 radios around here and I've been seriously accumulating them for at least 25 years. If I count my first shortwave radio it goes back to about 1961 when My parents gave me a Hallicrafters S-120 which I still have. I have a special like for RCA Radiolas of the 1920's but it has been difficult for me to pass up any old radio. A few of my radio stories are on http://www.idlenot.com and I keep photos on Flickr,com/kb1awv . Welcome to this Scott site. The folks here are very helpful!

Comment by David Wilson on August 15, 2017 at 5:22pm

Thanks Ken,

It's hard to believe that the radio stratosphere.com site has been up going almost 10 years now. I've really enjoyed visiting with collector, historians, radio broadcasters and others from around the world over the years. The site is due for a major overhaul due to the platform it was built on. The focus of my radio collection these days is in the area the chrome age radios. I've been at it since 1988 and now have a handful chrome chassis radios including the 1000Z and the 16 tube stratospheres. How long have you been collecting?

Comment by Ken Carr on August 15, 2017 at 5:11pm

Very nice site, David. I love the photo too. No stratosphere here, just a couple E. H. Scotts