In article ,
wrote:

| Did Radio Shack (the store) start out selling Ham Equipment and stuff?
| Based on their name I sort of suspect that.

Yes. And they stopped selling ham radio stuff not too long ago.

| I know they used to carry a decent stock of parts, but now they just
| sell lots of toys and a few overpriced useful home electronic items.

They sell what people want. Or they go out of business.

To be fair, they do still sell quite a few radios -- GPSs, stereos,
cell phones, satellite receivers, walkie talkies, R/C toys, CBs,
scanners, etc.

The last RS catalog I read (2004?) still listed some ham radios and
antennas and such, so maybe they do still carry some, but it's all
special order now unless it's also useful for CBs (which they still
carry a few of.)

Looking at the web site, I can't find any of the HTs or mobile units I
recall seeing in the catalog, but they still sell a few ham-only items
items -- paddles, a 2m amplifier, a TNC, DSP filter, code practice
units, SWR analyzer, tuners ...

(Ok, a few of those might be useful to a CBer, but you get the idea --
they're not totally out of ham radio yet.)

But even so, `You've got questions? We've got cell phones!' and
`You've got questions? We've got dumb looks!' still applies for most
of the people that work in the stores. Which isn't surprising -- if
they knew more about electronics, they'd probably not be in what's
basically a retail sales job.

--
Doug McLaren,
Seen on a Bumper sticker: "FISH TREMBLE AT THE MENTION OF MY NAME!"