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PLEASE READ - Internet site under legal attack by Radioshack corp.
Anyone with the merest knowledge of DC Electrical Fundamentals can go
into about any Radio Shack company store and be in a position to tech-slam the employees. Radio Shack has pursued a policy of not hiring electronics people for decades, they have remained to the small extent that they are in the electronic parts, tools, books, and 'test equipment'for image purposes and I have been repeatedly told as much by Radio Shack management. Radio Shack is a cancer on the ass of all electronics hobbies and all electronics professionals, what few remain. They should be stripped of their image by persistently and consistently reminding the technically less knowledgeable that "real nerds won't set a foot in there". Radio Shack's death would be a good thing IMO. __________________________________________________ ____________________________ Putting MM on the dime would serve a lot of purposes. It would displace the devious FDR, send a signal to the Islamist world, make the currency more attractive, and be a thorn in the ass to the Kennedy Family, to name four good ones. |
"Sam Byrams" wrote in message
om... Anyone with the merest knowledge of DC Electrical Fundamentals can go into about any Radio Shack company store and be in a position to tech-slam the employees. Radio Shack has pursued a policy of not hiring electronics people for decades, they have remained to the small extent that they are in the electronic parts, tools, books, and 'test equipment'for image purposes and I have been repeatedly told as much by Radio Shack management. Radio Shack is a cancer on the ass of all electronics hobbies and all electronics professionals, what few remain. They should be stripped of their image by persistently and consistently reminding the technically less knowledgeable that "real nerds won't set a foot in there". Radio Shack's death would be a good thing IMO. I don't understand this attitude towards RS at all. If you don't like it, don't buy from them. You now have a zillion alternatives right through the internet. Then again, you may actually be the type of guy that walks into Best Buy or Circuit City and actually relies on the snot-nosed salesperson knowing all about TVs and giving you advice on which to buy. It's a self-serve world out there now. If you want premium service, you'll have to pay extra for it and buy from a smaller shop in which you can get help. But you'll pay more for it. |
This thread reminds me of a conversation I overheard in a Radio Shack store
many years ago. Salesman, trying to sell customer a Micronta sliderule: "See, if you want to multiply 2 by 2, you put this 1 here on this slider over the 2 down here and move this window thing so this line here is on the 2 over here. Then the answer is down here, see, 2 times 2 equals, hmmm, about 3.95. "Miles O'Neal" wrote in message ... On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 02:59:52 +0000, mark wrote: I don't understand this attitude towards RS at all. If you don't like it, don't buy from them. You now have a zillion alternatives right through the internet. Hmmm... What's that they say in all their ads? "You have questions? We have answers." Oddly enough, if your question is even the least bit technical, their answer is either "I don't know", or it's bogus. Every once in a while they screw up and hire folks who understand electronics. But IME, not too often. And heir selection is *abysmal* - and getting worse. Granted, the hobbyist market is down. But I contend that RS helped destro it. |
"Sam Byrams" wrote in message
I don't understand this attitude towards RS at all. If you don't like it, don't buy from them. You now have a zillion alternatives right through the internet. Not on Sunday afternoon when the transmitter is down and the boss is screaming at you and you're trying to explain to the man that you want an XLR plug with four pins, and not three, and he's telling you that nobody uses XLR plugs any more. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
;-)
Chuck wrote: I do that pretty well...butt suck. Chuck muck bophuc |
"Miles O'Neal" wrote in message ...
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 02:59:52 +0000, mark wrote: I don't understand this attitude towards RS at all. If you don't like it, don't buy from them. You now have a zillion alternatives right through the internet. Hmmm... What's that they say in all their ads? "You have questions? We have answers." Oddly enough, if your question is even the least bit technical, their answer is either "I don't know", or it's bogus. Every once in a while they screw up and hire folks who understand electronics. But IME, not too often. And heir selection is *abysmal* - and getting worse. Granted, the hobbyist market is down. But I contend that RS helped destro it. Yeah. We've seen this thread before -even heard from the guy with the website too, IIRC. The place definitely isn't a hobby shop anymore. Closer to a home electronics specialty shop. It may do that pretty well, but certainly it DOES suck at its 'old' business. Chuck |
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Phil Witt wrote:
On 11 Aug 2004 10:02:56 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote: Not on Sunday afternoon when the transmitter is down and the boss is screaming at you and you're trying to explain to the man that you want an XLR plug with four pins, and not three, and he's telling you that nobody uses XLR plugs any more. Could you elaborate on that particular trouble? I'm having a hard time figuring out how an XLR connector could go bad or what you would need one to get back up. In this case, the XLR connector didn't go bad, the %^$%#@!!! TFT remote control unit blew up, with a nice hole in the PC board of the horribly undersized power supply and all sorts of collateral damage. And one of the other stations in town had a spare Moseley unit that I was able to grab, but not the connectors for the thing. I swear, my contract is going to say "no Sparta consoles, no TFT STLs" soon. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:43:36 GMT, "Martin"
wrote: This thread reminds me of a conversation I overheard in a Radio Shack store many years ago. Salesman, trying to sell customer a Micronta sliderule: "See, if you want to multiply 2 by 2, you put this 1 here on this slider over the 2 down here and move this window thing so this line here is on the 2 over here. Then the answer is down here, see, 2 times 2 equals, hmmm, about 3.95. They had Pentium sliderules? "Miles O'Neal" wrote in message ... On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 02:59:52 +0000, mark wrote: I don't understand this attitude towards RS at all. If you don't like it, don't buy from them. You now have a zillion alternatives right through the internet. Hmmm... What's that they say in all their ads? "You have questions? We have answers." Oddly enough, if your question is even the least bit technical, their answer is either "I don't know", or it's bogus. Every once in a while they screw up and hire folks who understand electronics. But IME, not too often. And heir selection is *abysmal* - and getting worse. Granted, the hobbyist market is down. But I contend that RS helped destro it. |
In MHO, radio shack should have gone out of business years ago!
I use to know 3 people that worked in different stores. All of them said basically the same thing. The equipment is nice looking but the insides are substandard and the parts (if they have them) are only experimenters quality. I once asked for a replacement rod type pull up antenna. The guy looked at me and went DUH. Then I said and motioned, silver antenna, pull up, usually on many radios. He replied, we don't have anything like that. I went in the back and found a very large choice of 3 types. I brought him one and he said, "oh, is that what you wanted"? I put it back on the rack because it was the wrong one I needed, of course. DUH! Where have all the REAL electronic stores gone?? :-( Sam Byrams wrote: Anyone with the merest knowledge of DC Electrical Fundamentals can go into about any Radio Shack company store and be in a position to tech-slam the employees. Radio Shack has pursued a policy of not hiring electronics people for decades, they have remained to the small extent that they are in the electronic parts, tools, books, and 'test equipment'for image purposes and I have been repeatedly told as much by Radio Shack management. Radio Shack is a cancer on the ass of all electronics hobbies and all electronics professionals, what few remain. They should be stripped of their image by persistently and consistently reminding the technically less knowledgeable that "real nerds won't set a foot in there". Radio Shack's death would be a good thing IMO. __________________________________________________ ____________________________ Putting MM on the dime would serve a lot of purposes. It would displace the devious FDR, send a signal to the Islamist world, make the currency more attractive, and be a thorn in the ass to the Kennedy Family, to name four good ones. |
kashe posted:
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:43:36 GMT, "Martin" wrote: This thread reminds me of a conversation I overheard in a Radio Shack store many years ago. Salesman, trying to sell customer a Micronta sliderule: "See, if you want to multiply 2 by 2, you put this 1 here on this slider over the 2 down here and move this window thing so this line here is on the 2 over here. Then the answer is down here, see, 2 times 2 equals, hmmm, about 3.95. That's only for small values of 2, else the answer is 4.2. Don |
But that's my point - why in the world would you rely on the advice of a
radio shack employee? Their job is to ring up stuff at the register. They don't know anything about electronics. "Miles O'Neal" wrote in message ... On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 02:59:52 +0000, mark wrote: I don't understand this attitude towards RS at all. If you don't like it, don't buy from them. You now have a zillion alternatives right through the internet. Hmmm... What's that they say in all their ads? "You have questions? We have answers." Oddly enough, if your question is even the least bit technical, their answer is either "I don't know", or it's bogus. Every once in a while they screw up and hire folks who understand electronics. But IME, not too often. And heir selection is *abysmal* - and getting worse. Granted, the hobbyist market is down. But I contend that RS helped destro it. |
"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
... "Sam Byrams" wrote in message I don't understand this attitude towards RS at all. If you don't like it, don't buy from them. You now have a zillion alternatives right through the internet. Not on Sunday afternoon when the transmitter is down and the boss is screaming at you and you're trying to explain to the man that you want an XLR plug with four pins, and not three, and he's telling you that nobody uses XLR plugs any more. --scott That's your fault for not having backup parts in the first place....and besides - why not just look around yourself. Radio Shacks aren't that big - ignore the sales guy and just find the plug yourself. |
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"John Miller" wrote in message ... wrote: Or you could go to my local RS and talk to the kids who don't know a carburetor frlom a klystron. Or you could go to the same store and talk to the retired HP tech who knows more than any of you. Your choice. In your experience, which is the rule, and which is the exception? I wouldn't know because I don't sit there and chat and question those guys to find out. I simply write up my list of what I need before going there, walk in, find the stuff, and then I say "ring it up." And then they invariably try to get me to buy batteries or some other junk, and I tell em no. A quick, painless way to shop at Radio Shack. |
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Steve wrote:
In MHO, radio shack should have gone out of business years ago! I use to know 3 people that worked in different stores. All of them said basically the same thing. The equipment is nice looking but the insides are substandard and the parts (if they have them) are only experimenters quality. Leaves one wondering about just one thing, Steve. If the RS employees are as stupid as you claim they are, HOW WOULD THEY KNOW? -- John Miller Email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm "Because he's a character who's looking for his own identity, [He-Man is] an interesting role for an actor." -Dolph Lundgren, "actor" |
"Phil Witt" wrote in message
... On 11 Aug 2004 22:21:09 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote: I swear, my contract is going to say "no Sparta consoles, no TFT STLs" soon. --scott Sparta....a name from my distant past. Thanks. Wow, dude, that's so awesome! You bring back memories of the man-months I spent getting the RF out of The Yard. Bill, who thinks you mean "TWT", but who could be wrong. |
"Scott McKnight" wrote in message
... On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 02:46:36 GMT, "VT1" wrote: RADIO SHACK : YOU HAVE QUESTIONS? .... WE HAVE DUMB LOOKS! You have questions? ...we have some products that we'll attempt to shoehorn into your solution. BTW, can we sell you a cellular phone today? -Scott I usually kill the "new cell phone" pitch by walking in with mine in open view. Works most of the time! As to shopping, you're better off knowing what you want and need and what they offer before going in. At least most of us are better equipped to do that, than the average person! Usually, the guys at the store I go to, know my electronics background, so they rarely bother me. It's the newbies who don't know, who approach me. It is sad that many are clueless in what they sell. It isn't easy knowing everything. What hurt them, is the motto.. "You have questions, we have answers." Too many take that for granted. The employees I suppose try to help even if they come up with half wit answers. They "should" endeavor to learn what they sell, but they're also made to push the cell phones and such..... They can't be making any commission worth a damned off off a $1.99 part. The other thing is too, that with SMT technology, not many are repairing let alone building/experimenting these days. L. |
Scott Dorsey wrote:
Imagine if you will a group of design engineers sitting around trying to figure out how to make equipment more annoying for broadcast folks. "I know, we can put the power supply all at the bottom so you have to pull all the channel strips out to get to it, making it impossible to test under load." "Great, and then we can use output capacitors that fail into intermittent shorts so that the supply has to be loaded to find them!" I didn't know you'd ever worked at KCSC-FM. Regulators with failure modes that involve smoking the full-wave bridge. Capacitors that explode. Leaking tantalum capacitors that eat the traces off the boards. Leaking batteries ditto. UPS battery chargers adjusted so that the "float" voltage is about 10% too high, so that the batteries outgas, leak, and die. Ground-loop city. A plate capacitor on the ttransmitter's final that turns out to be a strip of PTFE wrapped around the final tube, above the HV lead, and which gets punched through about once a month. A grounding hook with a broken resistor in it. The idea is to discharge the HV PS capacitors "gently". That's fine, as long as the resistor maintains continuity and discharge to "safe" levels (0 VDC for me, TYVM) doesn't take a week. -- The official state religion of France is Bureaucracy. They've replaced the Trinity with the Triplicate. (David Richerby) |
Feel THIS ;-)
Chuck wrote: +yaluM wrote in message ... ;-) Chuck wrote: I do that pretty well...butt suck. Chuck muck bophuc Stop. You're hurting my feelings. Chuck |
"L." ) writes: "Scott McKnight" wrote in message ... On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 02:46:36 GMT, "VT1" wrote: RADIO SHACK : YOU HAVE QUESTIONS? .... WE HAVE DUMB LOOKS! You have questions? ...we have some products that we'll attempt to shoehorn into your solution. BTW, can we sell you a cellular phone today? -Scott I usually kill the "new cell phone" pitch by walking in with mine in open view. Works most of the time! As to shopping, you're better off knowing what you want and need and what they offer before going in. At least most of us are better equipped to do that, than the average person! Usually, the guys at the store I go to, know my electronics background, so they rarely bother me. It's the newbies who don't know, who approach me. It is sad that many are clueless in what they sell. It isn't easy knowing everything. What hurt them, is the motto.. "You have questions, we have answers." Too many take that for granted. The employees I suppose try to help even if they come up with half wit answers. They "should" endeavor to learn what they sell, but they're also made to push the cell phones and such..... They can't be making any commission worth a damned off off a $1.99 part. The other thing is too, that with SMT technology, not many are repairing let alone building/experimenting these days. L. Every time threads like this come up, someone brings in their slogan. |
shopping at radio shack......................
like shopping for bread at the hardware store. 73 ku4yp. "John Miller" wrote in message ... Steve wrote: In MHO, radio shack should have gone out of business years ago! I use to know 3 people that worked in different stores. All of them said basically the same thing. The equipment is nice looking but the insides are substandard and the parts (if they have them) are only experimenters quality. Leaves one wondering about just one thing, Steve. If the RS employees are as stupid as you claim they are, HOW WOULD THEY KNOW? -- John Miller Email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm "Because he's a character who's looking for his own identity, [He-Man is] an interesting role for an actor." -Dolph Lundgren, "actor" |
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Harry Conover wrote:
I suppose that the only reason that I dredge up this ancient history is that this was the expected technical performance of an FCC license holder back in the 1950-1970 era. What is it today? They don't have them any more. They do have guys with SBE certifications who basically have the same technical performance, except they spend their time removing viruses from automation control systems.... --scott I got a Volumax on the bench today too. Unfortunately the T-pad on the input seems to be bad. -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:43:55 +0000, Michael Black wrote:
Every time threads like this come up, someone brings in their slogan. Only because it's so absurd. I love the absurd. ``You want a 40 micro-farad, 600 volt cell phone? Sure, we have that!'' |
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 03:11:17 +0000, Steve wrote:
... I once asked for a replacement rod type pull up antenna. ``You want a replacement rod type pull up cell phone? We have those!'' |
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 12:20:04 +0000, John Miller wrote:
Leaves one wondering about just one thing, Steve. If the RS employees are as stupid as you claim they are, HOW WOULD THEY KNOW? ``You want a stupid cell phone? We have those!'' |
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 21:48:10 +0000, kash wrote:
Or you could go to my local RS and talk to the kids who don't know a carburetor frlom a klystron. Or you could go to the same store and talk to the retired HP tech who knows more than any of you. Your choice. Not really. Your store is within reasonable distance of *what* percentage of usenet readers? Yeah, I thought so. There are three RS within reasonable driving distance of my house. One is at the mall. I hate malls. So that's out. Of the other two, one has two employees who really try to help, the other has one. None of them really know much about electronics. But they're good people, and they try, and I can always figure out if they have what I need (IOW, I ran out of something and I need it now). One of these stores used to have a guy who knew something. Presumably the guys in black body suits from RSHQ hauled him off in the middle of the night and shot him. Tell your HP friend to watch his six. ``You want a 12AX7? It's a what? A vacuum tube? Is that a type of cell phone? We have those!'' |
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 02:57:05 +0000, Mike Andrews wrote:
I liked going to some of the Radio Shacks in San Antonio, TX, back when I was in the Air Farce. Most of the [classified school] instructors seemed to have part-time jobs at them, and that was a group with really serious clue. Well, yeah, in 1967 they were an electronics store in a thriving DIY culture. I loved RS back then, even though Lafayette was better. (RS was far more convenient.) ``You want a cell phone shaped like Marilyn Monroe or Mighty Mouse? We have those!'' |
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 10:02:56 -0400, Scott Dorsey wrote:
Not on Sunday afternoon when the transmitter is down and the boss is screaming at you and you're trying to explain to the man that you want an XLR plug with four pins, and not three, and he's telling you that nobody uses XLR plugs any more. ``You want a CDC brand cell phone that sens two copies of /etc/termcap with every digital message? We have those!'' |
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 02:22:29 +0000, kash wrote:
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 11:43:36 GMT, "Martin" wrote: .... Salesman, trying to sell customer a Micronta sliderule: "See, if you want to multiply 2 by 2, you put this 1 here on this slider over the 2 down here and move this window thing so this line here is on the 2 over here. Then the answer is down here, see, 2 times 2 equals, hmmm, about 3.95. They had Pentium sliderules? Post of the month!!!!!!!!!!!! |
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 04:40:06 +0000, mark wrote:
But that's my point - why in the world would you rely on the advice of a radio shack employee? Their job is to ring up stuff at the register. They don't know anything about electronics. Then we're agreeing. Except that their ads suggest they *are* there to help by giving advice. I never ask them anything, except where something is when I can't find it. In which case the answer lately is almost always, ``We don't carry that any more.'' But lots of other folks believe the ads. ``You want a 5K ohm to 8/4/2 ohm, 25 watt output transformer, with interleaved windings and a paper bobbin? Is that a cell phone? We have those!'' |
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 04:42:21 GMT, "mark"
wrote: "Scott Dorsey" wrote in message ... "Sam Byrams" wrote in message I don't understand this attitude towards RS at all. If you don't like it, don't buy from them. You now have a zillion alternatives right through the internet. Not on Sunday afternoon when the transmitter is down and the boss is screaming at you and you're trying to explain to the man that you want an XLR plug with four pins, and not three, and he's telling you that nobody uses XLR plugs any more. --scott That's your fault for not having backup parts in the first place....and besides - why not just look around yourself. Radio Shacks aren't that big - ignore the sales guy and just find the plug yourself. Go to the desk and RTFCatalog. |
Hi John,
First, I never said all were stupid, but many of them really don't have a clue. They could be selling shirts at the Gap. RS should really train these guys a bit more or hire people with a bit more electronic knowledge. After all, RS is an electronic store, right? As to your question, it is a good one. One guy worked at Grumman before he retired there and wanted to keep busy a few days a week. The second guy was a ham radio extra who worked there during the Christmas holidays last year. And the third was a girl who use to work at Verizon. Not as an operator but in the tech area. All these people I know are not dummies by any standard. It is just RS usually hires the young that are not to experienced as of yet. John Miller wrote: Steve wrote: In MHO, radio shack should have gone out of business years ago! I use to know 3 people that worked in different stores. All of them said basically the same thing. The equipment is nice looking but the insides are substandard and the parts (if they have them) are only experimenters quality. Leaves one wondering about just one thing, Steve. If the RS employees are as stupid as you claim they are, HOW WOULD THEY KNOW? -- John Miller Email address: domain, n4vu.com; username, jsm "Because he's a character who's looking for his own identity, [He-Man is] an interesting role for an actor." -Dolph Lundgren, "actor" |
On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 23:23:57 -0500, "Miles O'Neal"
wrote: On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 21:48:10 +0000, kash wrote: Or you could go to my local RS and talk to the kids who don't know a carburetor frlom a klystron. Or you could go to the same store and talk to the retired HP tech who knows more than any of you. Your choice. Not really. Your store is within reasonable distance of *what* percentage of usenet readers? Yeah, I thought so. Thanks for answering your own (strawman) question. Try again for a right answer. Jerk. |
On Sat, 14 Aug 2004 07:00:19 +0000, kash wrote:
Thanks for answering your own (strawman) question. Try again for a right answer. Jerk. Pretty quick with the name calling, but short on any useful content. Now, like I said, how many readers can get to your store, hmmm? Not very many. You posted an example of one store that has one good guy. That's nice. We've heard from many, many more, who can't find anyone who knows diddly. So, what exactly was your point? That's what I'm trying to understand. |
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