Electronic components in southern New Hampshire?

On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 10:39:00 -0700, RST Engineering (jw) top-posted:

Probably one of these:

( )

Cheers! Rich

Sorry for the localized post but I'm really getting tired of dealing with Radio Shack's sad selection.

If there's anyone from the southern New Hampshire/northern Massachusetts area reading this, do you know of any sources for electronic components other than that waste of retail space known as Radio Shack? I'm looking for something similar to You-Do-It Electronics but closer to work (Seabrook, NH). I wish Fry's would set up shop on the east coast.

It's insane that these stores do not exist. I understand that electronics tinkerers may be rare but surely there are many, many companies that could use a local source of components for prototyping.

Thanks,

Joel Moore

Hi Joel,

I live 5mn from this store:

right on exit 31 of rt495, or about 20mn south of Nashua NH.

Chafik

Joel Moore wrote:

--

-CH

Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.

Hello Joel,

That's just the point. Local companies won't send an employee down to the store. Accident liability is one concern but the main reason is that the half hour or so in fully burdened labor cost would be much more expensive than the Digikey shipping charges. Also, Hobbyists these days rarely tinker on the transistor level anymore. Many are now unable to do that.

We are located near Sacramento. The local Radio Shack became a cell phone store. Sigh. Fry's is at least one hour's drive away and doesn't carry much in what I'd need anyway. It is mostly a computer store with a small parts section that carries the bare essentials. I don't think you'd even find a simple BSS123 there. Then there is a smaller store that has some parts but mostly deals in surplus. So, I guess it's Digikey, Newark and Mouser.

Regards, Joerg

Joerg wrote in news:GsFTe.1353$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com:

I don't think accident liability or the cost of labor are really considerations for small development companies like mine (

Chafik Hankour wrote in news:0jFTe.1030$ snipped-for-privacy@news.tufts.edu:

Thanks, that's good to know about. I think You-Do-It in Needham is more accessible for me but there may be times when that's not the case.

Hello Jim,

Rich posted the data sheet link. It's a vertical DMOS work horse. Cheap because it is now made by many companies, around 5c in qties. 100V,

6ohms. The BSS84 is kind of its p-channel sibling but much less voltage.

I can hardly recall a design of mine where I didn't use one.

Regards, Joerg

Hello Joel,

Best is to stock a pretty good selection of standard parts right in the lab. Ideally all you should have to do is walk over to the bins. I found that even a good electronic parts store won't offer much beyond what's right here in the bin racks. Then if you need that special Schottky diode or mixer chip the local stores won't carry these anyway and it's going to be mail order.

It would likely not increase their profits but probably decrease them. Rent, tenant improvements, inventory, staffing etc.

That's a good idea. I even did that with a company next door to a client of mine. Saved us lots of time. And if they'd run out of some specialty RF stuff they'd also know where to knock on the door.

Regards, Joerg

Oh, and don't forget some other nice staples such as the old BFS17A. For around 10c you get a rocket. Over 2GHz ft and it even offers a reasonable noise figure at low currents.

Just imagine what you can do with one of these in nsec applications.

Regards, Joerg

Just use Digi-key

, they have a quick turnaround, I've hard stuff delivered the next day using UPS-red...but normally it takes a week.

maxfoo wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

That's not good enough if it's 8 PM and you just need a .47 uF capacitor to finish the job. We can't afford to wait a couple of days for that.

I think Joerg had the right idea -- stock up our lab with a good supply of essentials.

Hello Joel,

Well, I just had a very similar experience. Faulty library in a layout program and that can really only be somewhat decently corrected by through-hole parts soldered onto the prototype pads. Could have really used a few 2N7000 transistors in TO92. It's pathetic: You cannot get these and we are near Sacramento, not exactly an arctic outpost. No enhancement mode n-channels anywhere within reasonable driving distance.

So, since it has to be finished this weekend I have to "make" thru-hole FETs from BSS123. That's the downside of having stocked mostly in SMT.

Regards, Joerg