The nearest Altronics dealer is approximately 3 hours drive away. I would prefer to deal with them rather than Jaycar, but I can't justify spending a whole day and 50 litres of petrol just to pick up the odd chip and a few resistors. So Jaycar it is unless Altronics comes to town.
Opposite, or was there another one further down the street, or both?
And there was another shop around the area with a little mechanical man banging on the window with a toy hammer, to get one's attention.
happened to him?
Can't remember the name, I bought some copper plated carbon rods from there (I imagine carbon arc lamp electrodes) when I was 16 or so, so much stuff in those little shops :)
I'm in Bendigo, we got a Jaycar agency that has moved to larger premises at Dick Smith left the technical are -- they're quite busy too. Them there's a couple TV repair places used to sell some parts, the rest for me is web order. Pretty good.
I left Melbourne in '93 so no idea what it's like down there now.
Can remember buying Mini Scope Iron plus 3.3V transformer for $12.21 from McGraths, and, if you said 2N3055s were for a guitar amp they were 15% tax instead of 27.5% tax ;) Quite odd, if one didn't have a VS number, one could change tax rate on some items by stating intended use.
I used to love those surplus shops as a kid, my room was full of bits of old aeroplanes and WWII army radio gear. The thing that I really wanted though was a Lancaster bombsight computer. It was a box full of beautiful little motors, shafts, and gears, but they cost 2 quid and my parents wouldn't give me the money for one no matter how much I showed off :(
Australia ended up with the later variant Lincoln bomber in the RAAF just after WWII. I had a ride in one just before they scrapped them. So I'll almost bet it was a Lincoln bombsite labeled as a Lancaster. The average Joe didn't know the difference. Very fancy for their time. My wage was 3 and a half quid in those days, so two quid was a fair chunk of cash for mum and dad to find. :-)
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Cheers Don...
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Don McKenzie
Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
No this was in the UK, they scrapped several thousand Lancs after the war. There was a street in London, Tottenham Court Road that was lined with surplus shops. The best was Henrys it was just an empty shop with tea chests of stuff scattered around, you just fossicked through and took your finds to Mr Henry who made up a price on the spot (subject to some bargaining). You never knew what you'd find. Last time I saw the place it was a HiFi shop, no where near as interesting.
I saw one of the two last flying Lancs at a museum in Canada a few years ago, they fired it up while we were there and flew it off to the beautiful sound of 4 Merlins. If you ever visit Toronto, go down to Hamilton on the way to Niagara you won't regret it.
I thought I was the only bugger left alive that remebered him and his little shop..
My favourite was the 2n5088 a direct replacement transistor to the BC108 but in a TO92 case instead of the metal can.. about 1/10 the price.
I really miss the old Jock Ellis shop.. Used to catch the train in just the browse around there.. If I couldnt get what I wanted I would then have to go to McGraths to pay a lot more for what I needed.
I was in Tronto (local pronunciation :-) ) a couple of years back, didn't realize that had a running Lanc near there. A site to behold I'm sure. Long time since I heard 4 Merlins running at once. For me, perhaps 1956-57 I would think.
Cheers Don...
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Don McKenzie
Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
a few remember him Mick, I think if you google "Jock Ellis" and McGraths, mainly in the aus.electronics group, there are a few mentions of them.
I remember building my first analogue multi-meter out of surplus parts scrounged from Jock. If I recall, I had to go to McGraths to get the 1% resistors. :-) But Jock had some great gear in those days.
Cheers Don...
--
Don McKenzie
Site Map: http://www.dontronics.com/sitemap
The Jaycar outlet in Bendigo is probably a better example than an actual Jaycar store though. Since opening Peter has always been keen to supply what people wanted, and that wasn't, and I assume still isn't, limited to Jaycar products. The other key to their success is that they had a clue, unlike the mobile phone sales people at DSE. Peter and his son (Brett?) always showed interest in local bussiness and hobbyists, sharing their knowledge, and listening to others as well, and in developing those relationships got great word of mouth exposure. I notice also that one of the guys that previously worked at DSE is working for him now. His name escapes my memory now, but like the others, he has a clue as well. I'm sure they are well aware that electronics knowledge is the key to catering to the needs of their customers.
I think Peter's retired, haven't seen him in the store since it crossed the road ;) Brett's there occasionally, and the 'regular' crew are mostly okay.
Dunno, I don't go there often, know the store well enough to go the corner where the parts are, and to ask when I can't see them (usually 'cos I walked right passed them).
Dick Smith I last went to because they had a sale of quality blank CDs really cheap, plus curiosity. Hard to find sale item, one had to ask, I guess that was the idea, some people rather pick something more expensive than ask where sale items were hidden?
It will be what it has been for the last few decades; small run and custom jobs, but continuing to shrink as manufacturers face increases competition from overseas.
Is there any company in Australia designing or building telecommunications gear now? Is all our defence requirements slavishly sourced from the USA military complex?
I heard of a guy making cryptography gear. I think the Gov't response was to ban him from selling to certain countries and buy American equipment several magnitudes larger and less portable with built in back doors.
Most defense electronics I worked on in the late nineties was a mix of English, American, Australian and a tiny bit of Japanese.
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