Are there any neat surplus electronics parts, eqpt, etc stores left in and
around Houston that I should check out on my this week?
tnx

--
73
Hank WD5JFR

EPO (eletronic parts outlet)

110 E Medical Center Blvd
Webster, TX 77598-430
out in Clear Lake area near NASA



"Henry Kolesnik" wrote in message
om...
Are there any neat surplus electronics parts, eqpt, etc stores left in and
around Houston that I should check out on my this week?
tnx

--
73
Hank WD5JFR

Hank-
Alas, Houston has become a wasteland for electronics scrounging from what
I've been able to tell.
The EPO outlets used to have a reasonable amount of miltary and commercial
surplus, but they've become commercialized towards computers, and the other
garden variety electronics stores only carry the traditional stuff. Fry's
is pretty cool, but obviously no surplus. Madison Electronics used to be
the cats meow, but that was many years ago.

I assume you've heard of dallas' 1st Saturday sale, which occurs this coming
weekend.
http://www.firstsaturday.com/ it's become computer-centric, but most of the
electronics stuff (i.e. ham) start setting up around 7:00AM in the back
area.

Also Ft Worth has Nortex
http://www.montagar.com/~patj/nortex.htm
Which is waay cool to browse, but don't expect to find any incredible finds
or deals.

Too bad Houston isn't more like Dallas wrt surplus goodies.

regards
-dave
W5OC



"Henry Kolesnik" wrote in message
om...
Are there any neat surplus electronics parts, eqpt, etc stores left in and
around Houston that I should check out on my this week?
tnx

--
73
Hank WD5JFR

This will become an increasing problem in Yerp when the
WEE Waste directive takes hold - no company will be able to
dispose of old electronic eqpt other than through a licensed
waste operator, who must in his turn be able to show that he
has passed it on to similarly licensed people.

Scrap electronics will become a thing of the past for the enthusiast.

"David" wrote in message
...
Alas, Houston has become a wasteland for electronics scrounging from what
I've been able to tell.

"Airy R. Bean" wrote in message
...
This will become an increasing problem in Yerp when the
WEE Waste directive takes hold - no company will be able to
dispose of old electronic eqpt other than through a licensed
waste operator, who must in his turn be able to show that he
has passed it on to similarly licensed people.

Scrap electronics will become a thing of the past for the enthusiast.


This from a summary of the WEE:

"The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) aims to
minimise the impacts of electrical and electronic equipment on the
environment during their life times and when they become waste. It applies
to a huge spectrum of products. It encourages and sets criteria for the
collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of waste electrical and
electronic equipment. It makes producers responsible for financing most of
these activities (producer responsibility). Private householders are to be
able to return WEEE without charge."

Sounds like they are concerned with the same mess we have here with
computers and cells phones ending up in the dump.

Other WEEE info indicated that they are mainly concerned with dangerous
chemicles in batteries, etc. It does sound like the inspection process
would drive up the price of everything.

If they are trying to minimize the buildup of electronic waste as disposal
sites they would probably encourge surplus dealers to take what they could
sell. There is a limit to how much the dealers could pay for it. MH



"David" wrote in message
...
Alas, Houston has become a wasteland for electronics scrounging from
what
I've been able to tell.

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 04:59:12 -0500, "truegridtz"
wrote:

Sounds like they are concerned with the same mess we have here with
computers and cells phones ending up in the dump.

Other WEEE info indicated that they are mainly concerned with dangerous
chemicles in batteries, etc. It does sound like the inspection process
would drive up the price of everything.

If this would force the manufacturers, particularly Chinese ones, to
pay more up front to cover the environmental impact of their
products, then it is a good thing, even if it means consumers will pay
more as well.

For too long, importers of this cheap crap have been permitted to
operate with scant concern about where their products will ultimately
end up. They have been able to price their wares artificially low
because the true cost of manufacturing and ownership is not borne by
them. Why should they care? They don't have to pay the costs of
disposal!

About four to six times a year, I go to our local dump to deposit
refuse that is the result of seasonal cleaning. Every time I am there,
I see an enormous dumpster that is just FILLED FILLED FILLED to over
the top with late-model electronic junk of every description. It makes
me sick.......These items are totally useless albatrosses. No one can
repair them, cannabilization for useful parts is almost impossible,
and disposal in an environmentally acceptable manner is quite
expensive.

IMHO, These items should be put on a giant barge and sent back to the
country of origin with the caveat that a trade embargo will be imposed
against any country that refuses to take them back. Maybe when China,
Mexico, and other cheap-labor countries experience first hand what a
colossal pain it is to deal with the ass end of their product's
mercilessly short life cycles, maybe they won't dump quite so much of
this junk on our shores.

-Scott



DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE AT THE EMAIL ADDRESS ABOVE!
Instead, go to the following web page to get my real email address:
http://member.newsguy.com/~polezi/scottsaddy.htm
(This has been done because I am sick of SPAMMERS making my email unusable)

Need a schematic? check out the Schematic Bank at:
http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/schematics/

Archive of alt.binaries.pictures.radio binary postings:
http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/abpr/

"Scott W. Harvey" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 04:59:12 -0500, "truegridtz"
wrote:

Sounds like they are concerned with the same mess we have here with
computers and cells phones ending up in the dump.

Other WEEE info indicated that they are mainly concerned with dangerous
chemicles in batteries, etc. It does sound like the inspection process
would drive up the price of everything.

If this would force the manufacturers, particularly Chinese ones, to
pay more up front to cover the environmental impact of their
products, then it is a good thing, even if it means consumers will pay
more as well.

For too long, importers of this cheap crap have been permitted to
operate with scant concern about where their products will ultimately
end up. They have been able to price their wares artificially low
because the true cost of manufacturing and ownership is not borne by
them. Why should they care? They don't have to pay the costs of
disposal!

About four to six times a year, I go to our local dump to deposit
refuse that is the result of seasonal cleaning. Every time I am there,
I see an enormous dumpster that is just FILLED FILLED FILLED to over
the top with late-model electronic junk of every description. It makes
me sick.......These items are totally useless albatrosses. No one can
repair them, cannabilization for useful parts is almost impossible,
and disposal in an environmentally acceptable manner is quite
expensive.

IMHO, These items should be put on a giant barge and sent back to the
country of origin with the caveat that a trade embargo will be imposed
against any country that refuses to take them back. Maybe when China,
Mexico, and other cheap-labor countries experience first hand what a
colossal pain it is to deal with the ass end of their product's
mercilessly short life cycles, maybe they won't dump quite so much of
this junk on our shores.


I doubt that the Chinese are really worried about what we want. Communists
are not known for having much of a conscience.

I recall seeing a TV documentary months ago about the recycling of old
computers. They bust them all up and sort the plastic, etc. Seems they
were breaking even or even making a profit. The problem is getting them
before people throw them in the dump. This was a huge operation with
conveyors belts and big piles of dead or near dead computers. I think they
had something like what the tree trimmers haul behind their trucks. Grinds
them up into little recyclable chunks....sort of like spam. Grunt labor
stands there all day by the conveyor belt with Tylenol and rubber gloves.
At least they can claim they are in the computer industry. The last word in
computer technology. MH

-Scott



DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE AT THE EMAIL ADDRESS ABOVE!
Instead, go to the following web page to get my real email address:
http://member.newsguy.com/~polezi/scottsaddy.htm
(This has been done because I am sick of SPAMMERS making my email
unusable)

Need a schematic? check out the Schematic Bank at:
http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/schematics/

Archive of alt.binaries.pictures.radio binary postings:
http://techpreservation.dyndns.org/abpr/

Scott W. Harvey wrote:
IMHO, These items should be put on a giant barge and sent back to the
country of origin with the caveat that a trade embargo will be imposed
against any country that refuses to take them back. Maybe when China,
Mexico, and other cheap-labor countries experience first hand what a
colossal pain it is to deal with the ass end of their product's
mercilessly short life cycles, maybe they won't dump quite so much of
this junk on our shores.

Funny you should mention that, That's where a LOT of our surplus
(i.e. garbage) computers end up. They've got a growing problem in
China now about the recycling centers causing massive ecological
damage to the towns that they recycle in. From burning plastic
insulation off to salvage copper, and the chemical sludge from
stripping gold and silver plating.

Jeff


--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
Tara Morice as Fran, from the movie "Strictly Ballroom"
http://www.grendel.com

In rec.antiques.radio+phono Scott W. Harvey wrote:
About four to six times a year, I go to our local dump to deposit
refuse that is the result of seasonal cleaning. Every time I am there,
I see an enormous dumpster that is just FILLED FILLED FILLED to over
the top with late-model electronic junk of every description. It makes
me sick.......These items are totally useless albatrosses. No one can
repair them, cannabilization for useful parts is almost impossible,
and disposal in an environmentally acceptable manner is quite
expensive.

I bet at least half of those is easily repairable ($5 in parts, an hour
labour at most). Most people don't consider repairing because it is
cheap to buy a new one. It's not the bad design per se. Just make the
stuff more expensive (import taxes) and demand a 3 year warranty or so.

IMHO, These items should be put on a giant barge and sent back to the
country of origin with the caveat that a trade embargo will be imposed
against any country that refuses to take them back. Maybe when China,
Mexico, and other cheap-labor countries experience first hand what a
colossal pain it is to deal with the ass end of their product's
mercilessly short life cycles, maybe they won't dump quite so much of
this junk on our shores.

I can't say for sure whther this would work (items may just be dumped
into the ocean), but it could be an idea.

---
Met vriendelijke groet,

Maarten Bakker.

Scott W. Harvey wrote:

expensive.

IMHO, These items should be put on a giant barge and sent back to the
country of origin with the caveat that a trade embargo will be imposed
against any country that refuses to take them back. Maybe when China,
Mexico, and other cheap-labor countries experience first hand what a
colossal pain it is to deal with the ass end of their product's
mercilessly short life cycles, maybe they won't dump quite so much of
this junk on our shores.

-Scott

These countries are ALREADY taking the stuff back, and it is killing
people and destroying the environment in their countries, as well:

http://greennature.com/article978.html
http://english.epochtimes.com/news/3-9-11/5040.html
http://www.peopleandplanet.net/doc.php?id=1445

Bob Weiss N2IXK