On Apr 28, 2:25�am, "George" wrote:
Used to be that components were readily available in electronics parts
stores. Most of these stores have closed now.

Yup. That's because there wasn't enough demand for parts to keep them
open. The demand went away because:

1) Electronics became more reliable and less expensive, so the repair
demand went way down
2) Building your own became a niche activity, so the homebrew demand
went down
3) Mail order and online suppliers took what was left.

Last week I needed to buy an electrolytic capacitor. Los Angeles,
population zillions, has no electronics stores anywhere near me. But I
found some caps - in a local Radio Shack. Their entire supply of compo
nents
was in one DRAWER in the back of their store, well out of sight of shoppe
rs.
Good thing that I wasn't picky about the value or voltage rating!

Radio Shack sells plenty of computer-related stuff. But where's their
RADIO-related stuff?

Digi-Key, Mouser, Allied, Newark, Radio Daze, Play Things Of The Past,
Dan's Small Parts, and many more places. All have great websites. Most
will send you a free catalog, too.

(insert standard no-connection disclaimer HERE)

--

It's not just radio that has undergone such changes.

Last Saturday afternoon I had to deal with a clothes dryer that was
making a horrible noise. Turned out it needed a new blower wheel.
(Oddly enough, it's a Maytag). Unfortunately, I didn't have one in the
spare-parts inventory.

Googled the part number and found an exact replacement online. $13 and
change for the part, $4 for shipping. Ordered it online, part arrived
on Tuesday, dryer was back in service the same day. Took only a few
minutes online to do the whole thing.

I could have searched all over the area for the part, but there was no
guarantee I'd find it, nor for a competitive price, because the dryer
isn't a current model or even a recent model. And the appliance supply
places are closed Saturday afternoons and Sundays, so the soonest I
could have looked was Monday. Even if I found the part, there would be
the cost of transportation, sales tax, and time to find and get it.

73 de Jim, N2EY

On Apr 28, 10:48 am, wrote:

The demand went away because:

1) Electronics became more reliable and less expensive, so the repair
demand went way down
2) Building your own became a niche activity, so the homebrew demand
went down
3) Mail order and online suppliers took what was left.

Add:

4) All the hams have a basement full of defunct Silvertone, Zenith,
and Admiral TV's from which we canabalize parts to repair our new
Gonset, Swan, and Hallicrafter rigs.

73, de Hans, K0HB