On Wed, 2 Jul 2003 17:36:55 -0700, "Chuck / KE4ETH"
wrote:

It's a sad thing.

My local Radio Shack is run by a fellow that stocks parts. Not the RS brand,
but Ohmite and others. We have a college in that town and an electrical
engineering department, so I guess that one doesn't count. A company store,
45 miles away, has an upright cabinet with drawer with resistors, ICs, Caps
and other parts. Not a good selection, but some. Another store 35 miles away
has the same kinda drawers with the same kinda items.

Franchise stores have a great degree of flexibility; the Shack in Lincoln
City, OR, not only stocks componets well, but also has S&W revolvers.

http://www.bizcenter.org/ClientStories/radioshack.pdf
http://www.valuecom.com/acclaim/Oreg...uperstore.html

Company stores, on the other hand, are often hopeless.

So sayeth a former two-store Shack manager.

snip
--
Nobody but a fool goes into a federal counterrorism operation without duct tape - Richard Preston, THE COBRA EVENT.

On Wed, 2 Jul 2003 17:36:55 -0700, "Chuck / KE4ETH"
wrote:

It's a sad thing.

My local Radio Shack is run by a fellow that stocks parts. Not the RS brand,
but Ohmite and others. We have a college in that town and an electrical
engineering department, so I guess that one doesn't count. A company store,
45 miles away, has an upright cabinet with drawer with resistors, ICs, Caps
and other parts. Not a good selection, but some. Another store 35 miles away
has the same kinda drawers with the same kinda items.

Franchise stores have a great degree of flexibility; the Shack in Lincoln
City, OR, not only stocks componets well, but also has S&W revolvers.

http://www.bizcenter.org/ClientStories/radioshack.pdf
http://www.valuecom.com/acclaim/Oreg...uperstore.html

Company stores, on the other hand, are often hopeless.

So sayeth a former two-store Shack manager.

snip
--
Nobody but a fool goes into a federal counterrorism operation without duct tape - Richard Preston, THE COBRA EVENT.

"donut" wrote in message
...
"Duncan Walters" wrote in
:

Anyone would think that home construction was a dying hobby!

No! Say it ain't so! ;)

Where will we live......

"donut" wrote in message
...
"Duncan Walters" wrote in
:

Anyone would think that home construction was a dying hobby!

No! Say it ain't so! ;)

Where will we live......

Where will we live......

DOH !!

Where will we live......

DOH !!

"R J Carpenter" wrote in message ...
"Tim Shoppa" wrote in message
om...
"Tweetldee" wrote in message
...
Adios Radio Shack !! RIP

Well, they still have fuses and light bulbs, at least.

Digi-Key has, in the past decade or so, gotten really good at carrying RF
inductors and capacitors. They even have a small assortment of microwave
parts now. I think that homebrewing could be entering a renaissance age
of using all the really good radio stuff that is permeating everywhere.

Recently I built a 1.6 GHz LNA with a 0.5 dB noise figure... using about
$5 in parts from Digi-Key. This *is* the dawn of a new age in
homebrewing.

Agreed.

Actually, Digi-Key's very first product was a digital keyer for hams...
after that for a long while they didn't have much in the way of RF products,
but in the last couple of years they've really come around. They've
been driven almost certainly by consumer electronics use of RF parts,
but as hams we have to learn how to take advantage of all that stuff out
there.

Learning to use all that stuff isn't necessarily automatic! Many of the
parts are available only in surface-mount today. But even though I grew
up on 6L6's and transformers pulled from junk TV sets, I've managed to
make the transition. If a stuck-in-the-mud guy like me can make the
transition, I think others can too!

Oh, yeah, Digi-Key still sells folded-sheet-metal chassis boxes :-)

Tim.

"R J Carpenter" wrote in message ...
"Tim Shoppa" wrote in message
om...
"Tweetldee" wrote in message
...
Adios Radio Shack !! RIP

Well, they still have fuses and light bulbs, at least.

Digi-Key has, in the past decade or so, gotten really good at carrying RF
inductors and capacitors. They even have a small assortment of microwave
parts now. I think that homebrewing could be entering a renaissance age
of using all the really good radio stuff that is permeating everywhere.

Recently I built a 1.6 GHz LNA with a 0.5 dB noise figure... using about
$5 in parts from Digi-Key. This *is* the dawn of a new age in
homebrewing.

Agreed.

Actually, Digi-Key's very first product was a digital keyer for hams...
after that for a long while they didn't have much in the way of RF products,
but in the last couple of years they've really come around. They've
been driven almost certainly by consumer electronics use of RF parts,
but as hams we have to learn how to take advantage of all that stuff out
there.

Learning to use all that stuff isn't necessarily automatic! Many of the
parts are available only in surface-mount today. But even though I grew
up on 6L6's and transformers pulled from junk TV sets, I've managed to
make the transition. If a stuck-in-the-mud guy like me can make the
transition, I think others can too!

Oh, yeah, Digi-Key still sells folded-sheet-metal chassis boxes :-)

Tim.

"Tweetldee" wrote in message ...
snipped.....its been reposted enough as this is probably the 20th reply or so...maybe even farthur down the list...

I never bought a whole lot from the shack....batteries,ferric
chloride, and the occasional doo dad were my only big purchases.

Until about 4 years ago I had a shack within walking distance that was
very well stocked in high priced components....like I said I didnt buy
much but they were handy when I somehow didnt have it in one of my
bins.

We did have a regular electronics place here for years....Radio
Electric Supply and it was dingy dusty electronics supply house that
carried everything but they dried up for lack of business about 6 or 7
years ago maybe 8....

2 other places in nearby towns that actually carry electronic supplies
but they are geard more toward cable, computers, and communications
now......any ics or semiconductors will be the 3.00 a pop brand names
like NTE..... no more resistor packs or bulk anything....one of the
stores does not even stock magnet wire and the pros there didnt even
know what it was.

I make my purchases from mouser and electronix express and a few
others....mostly mouser. If you are serious about the hobby you might
as well order 10 or more of the common stuff and make large orders to
save on shipping.

I went to rat shack a couple of weeks ago....they moved to the other
side of town. They had very few components left and didnt knw if they
would restock. They had it all in a big cabinet with bins. They did
have a couple of new rat shack soldering iron stations and some tools
but resistors, capacitors, semicondutors were barely stocked. #
bottles of ferric chloride...I bought 2.

They did have lots of coax type stuff....bncs in many shapes and sizes
and all kinds of "f" coax stuff.

The store was empty and I was immediately accosted by two salesmen who
left me alone when I said I was just loking for electronic parts.

The whole store except for less than 10 square feet is dedicated to
computers and phones....the odd battery selection, the behind the
counter calcualtors etc....but rat shack is clearly a cell phone
dealership now.

"Tweetldee" wrote in message ...
snipped.....its been reposted enough as this is probably the 20th reply or so...maybe even farthur down the list...

I never bought a whole lot from the shack....batteries,ferric
chloride, and the occasional doo dad were my only big purchases.

Until about 4 years ago I had a shack within walking distance that was
very well stocked in high priced components....like I said I didnt buy
much but they were handy when I somehow didnt have it in one of my
bins.

We did have a regular electronics place here for years....Radio
Electric Supply and it was dingy dusty electronics supply house that
carried everything but they dried up for lack of business about 6 or 7
years ago maybe 8....

2 other places in nearby towns that actually carry electronic supplies
but they are geard more toward cable, computers, and communications
now......any ics or semiconductors will be the 3.00 a pop brand names
like NTE..... no more resistor packs or bulk anything....one of the
stores does not even stock magnet wire and the pros there didnt even
know what it was.

I make my purchases from mouser and electronix express and a few
others....mostly mouser. If you are serious about the hobby you might
as well order 10 or more of the common stuff and make large orders to
save on shipping.

I went to rat shack a couple of weeks ago....they moved to the other
side of town. They had very few components left and didnt knw if they
would restock. They had it all in a big cabinet with bins. They did
have a couple of new rat shack soldering iron stations and some tools
but resistors, capacitors, semicondutors were barely stocked. #
bottles of ferric chloride...I bought 2.

They did have lots of coax type stuff....bncs in many shapes and sizes
and all kinds of "f" coax stuff.

The store was empty and I was immediately accosted by two salesmen who
left me alone when I said I was just loking for electronic parts.

The whole store except for less than 10 square feet is dedicated to
computers and phones....the odd battery selection, the behind the
counter calcualtors etc....but rat shack is clearly a cell phone
dealership now.