RadioBanter - Where can a guy buy electronic components?

On Apr 27, 10:25?pm, "George" wrote:

Used to be that components were readily available in electronics parts
stores. Most of these stores have closed now.

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.

I've lived in the Greater Los Angeles area since November, 1956. That
area is (very roughly) 40 by 80 miles, includes 80+ incorporated
cities,
with a population of (very approximately) 8 million. It was a center
for
aerospace of the USA with many large electronics corporations. The
entertainment industry is now tops with aerospace in second place
due to several large corporations moving to other states or just
relocating other places in the state.

To live in this area requires transportation, most convenient being a
personal car. "L.A." is known for founding the "hot rod" and custom
cars activities since the end of WWII. I find it most strange that
anyone
involved in any electronics and who lives in L.A. thinking that "radio
stores" are just minutes away from wherever they lived; it wasn't that
way a half century ago and, strangely, it has improved in that time!
We, that is, those who live here, think of distances in driving time,
not
driving distance. Within a half hour's driving time, probably 20
minutes
in non-rush traffic, I know of at least a dozen "stores" that sell
components for electronics, plus a dozen more distributors that will
sell small quantities of components "over-the-counter" or by mail-
order.
With FedEx, "the Big Brown Truck" (UPS), USPS, and DHL delivery
services available, quick at lowest shipping rates, mail-order over
the
Internet is a snap. We get at least two different telephone books
plus
some smaller regional area ones for one area code for "Yellow Pages"
hunting. I choose mail-order delivery right to my door for
convenience.
No problems from CA, NV, WA, NY, RI, MA, MS, OR, AZ, IL, MN
distributors/dealers/manufacturers shipping that way.

Those of us who've been in the design engineering work know very well
that electronics is no longer, has not been since the start of WWII,
just
involved in "radio." Components alone have increased in ratings and
case types at least two orders of magnitude in a half century, NOT
counting SMDs. Electrolytics (capacitors) are now seldom made in
the "high voltage" ratings of vacuum tube days; there's no demand for
them late into this solid-state electronics era, seldom in the types
that
were long-ago familiar.

As an example, L.A.-based J. W. Miller once had a broad line
of "radio coils" for pre-WWII style (HF or below) radios but now
Miller
makes plain inductors (lots more than earlier times) for a variety of
ordinary uses (and extra-ordinary such as switching supplies).
National Radio is essentially no more, and James Millen parts are
rare...since WWII there have been hundreds of specialist companies
starting up and making all sorts of components and assemblies for
bigger electronics companies. What radio-only-interested folks have
overlooked is the tremendous impact of the personal computer and
microprocessor-enabled electronics plus the ubiquitous IC on the
market.

The "micro" has generated a huge CHANGE in most every electronics
area, away from just "radio" to everything from IPods to lawn
sprinkler
controllers to medical bedside monitors to warehouse on-line auditing
to running a mail-order dealer (large or small) at an efficient,
profit-
making rate...including the shipping done by other, similarly-aided
firms
who all have the convenience of daily order shipment tracking.
Every two years We in California have to get a smog check of our
cars...done by a "micro" enabled machine...even if the cars
themselves have two "micros" within. Newer cars even have RF-
linked individual tire pressure monitors! The DMV offices in this
state
use digital cameras and special-software PCs to generate the license
data itself, including the magnetic strip info on all CA license
cards.

Getting into radio-electronics as a mildly-interested hobbyist in 1947
I would treasure the Allied catalog and its mail-order capability from
far-away Chicago (90 miles 'distant'). There was only ONE small
electronics "store" in my town then. That catalog was about 1/4 inch
thick, printed on heavy newsprint. On the shelf above my PC is a
2007 Allied Electronics catalog, 2 7/8 inches thick, 2192 pages. Next
to that big white-on-red thing is the green Mouser quarterly catalog,
only slightly smaller than Allied's. There are parts in both
catalogs
that just didn't exist in electronics in 1947. I don't have the
DigiKey
"industry" catalog, just the regular one. Jameco's catalog keeps
getting bigger, is already bigger than the old Allied. All four have
Internet mail-order capability, including stock checking (by computer,
naturally) to see if a part is immediately available.

The PC I am using now has an internal clock rate of 1.2 GHz with
a RAM access rate of about 100 MHz. That's certainly in "radio"
frequencies. The cordless telephone in the other room operates
at 2.4 GHz, well above "radio" (HF) into microwaves. I don't know
how far up the digital cable TV frequency region is, probably close
to 900 MHz since it has more channels available than can possibly
be watched by two people. That begins in the HF region (for
'upstream' comms on the cable system). My wife likes to use the
little matchbox-size clip-on FM stereo receiver with 1 GB storage
for pre-recorded music. FM broadcast is "radio." So is AM BC.
My Icom R-70 still works fine despite being two decades old, does
"DC" to 30 MHz with precise digital tuning at 10 Hz resolution. It
sits next to an Icom IC-746Pro using digital tuning down to 1 Hz
resolution plus DSP final IF filtering (all solid-state) with DSP of
audio bandwidth separately for Rx and Tx. It can tune "DC" to
2m but transmit ONLY IN [USA} ham bands (160m to 2m). I am
debating which HT to get: an Icom 91AD has wonderful features
but its control pad is almost too small to operate safely while
driving; an older analog (but controlled digitally inside) HT might
be better for mobile operation? The same on a vertical antenna
for home use on HF, a choice of all-bands models which just
didn't exist in "radio" in 1947 or even 1957. Maybe a DC-3GHz
HT receiver with scanning capability, continuous tuning just for
monitoring; those radios have been on the market for a decade.

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

In most RS stores I see them up front: AM/FM BC receivers from
micro to massive, scanners, cordless telephones, radio-controlled
toys, even a few CBs (still "radio" at 27 MHz), Bluetooth earsets
(UHF but still radio linked to cell phones), and the ubiquitous
cellular telephones with a variety of built-in features. All ready-
built,
ready-to-use. Convenient for the casual consumer who wants
"radio" things. I've never been a fan of Radio Shack and have never
depended on them for individual components, even if they had those
when the first Tandy RS stores opened up in this area. Well, the
local RS to me always has a good supply of watch and calculator
dry cells in stock...

"RADIO" has changed. It has evolved. Like it or not, their insides
have gone digital in both control and operation...using micro-
processors, the same kind of thing that has enabled the PC used
to access the Internet. The electronics component market has
grown larger than Jack's beanstalk was high. If We want to stay IN
radio we've got to adapt, grow, evolve or at least try to keep up with
it all, from "stores" to the big ham-specialty dealers' products. Or,
those who don't want to change can stay in HF using old modes
with all-analog circuitry in the "radio" of what once was. I chose to
progress, indeed had to in order to stay in my chosen career.

I suspect Radio Shack chose that name way back in time when it
was unusual, catchy, might have had some identification with the
market public. Once they went national, I doubt if they were ever
going to lock into HAM Radio Shack products, but some still insist
they must. That's irrelevant. There's lots of national chain store
names which have also evolved, changed, or were just unusual,
that didn't mean they HAD to stay in one particular market area.

Fry's Electronics is pure and simple a consumer electronics chain.
The "Fry's" part is made-up, has no meaning in itself. Anyone in
the southwestern USA can check out a Fry's to see the HUGE
supermarket of electronics available for consumers. I'd say any
store with three dozen checkout stands (as in the Burbank, CA,
Fry's) qualifies as HUGE. Oddly enough, they DO sell components
there, most nicely packaged in clear bags. Also some coax cable.
But, no "radio" parts a la 1957 genre of "radio." They sell radios
to consumers at (I think, by inspection) prices better than Radio
Shack...also test equipment (!) suitable for checking out analog
amateur radios of old. One of the huge Fry's stores is a good
indicator of today's radio market...or a Best Buy or a Circuit City.

73, Len AF6AY