Re: Had it with Radio Shack

Guess I will never be in a Radio Shack again. And I did spuratic (dumb) buying when in there of the stuff they want to sell.

I went for something a month ago, they have a flat file drawer with some LEDs, and caps, it was slim, and they did not have what I wanted.

We electronics hobbyists are a dying breed. Today's kids hang out in the video game shops now. Note that every single electronics hobbyist rag in the country has folded now but Nuts and Volts. Popular electronics, Radio Electronics and others are only in our dreams now. Remember P-Box kits and the 100 in 1 electronics kits? Today's youth are growing up to be parasites, not contributors, what a loss.

Where did all the wonder go? I will not fail with my kids! I keep telling myself that... When I was a kid, when we got a Atari video game, I took it apart to see how it worked, I never bought a single game past the one that the unit came with (combat).

sigh, DLC

--
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* Dennis Clark         dlc@frii.com                www.techtoystoday.com   * 
* "Building Robot Drive Trains" published by McGraw-Hill 2002              *    
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It's not really RS's fault, the days of electronics as a hobby for the average guy are over.

I guess they don't keep their website updated. I found a condenser mic element on their site which they didn't have in the store. They asked for a part number, so I looked it up on the store computer and showed them the part number and the note indicating it was available in the stores. The clerk checked his catalog and couldn't find any listing and said the website was wrong, and it wasn't available in any Radio Shack store. They still have lots of components listed on their site: resistors, caps, diodes, relays, bread boards, heat sinks, etc.

-Bill

What

stereo

They

you'll

the

My local stores still have some basic parts, but recently I have just left at times as the sales people are tied up making cell phone sales to other customers (the sales guys smile when I mention the $$$ from cell phone sales). On the flip side I can now order on line from digikey or mouser with only ~$5 shipping charge and a couple day wait for most any part I want. I still look the stores for gizmos on closeout for hacking and tinkering. Below is a webcam switcher setup I made from parts still available at the local Radio Shack stores (AKA "The Rat Shack Challange"). With free web pages available and the google search engine, there is still a lot of DIY tinkering going on.

snip....

Bid Kepro a fond farewell.... they are closing.

In Houston, was that City Electronic that just closed? They always had a supply of odd ball stuff when I lived there.

Regards, Brad PC Logic

Schematic entry and PCB design software

Yep, that's the one. He had items I couldn't even find online or in print, especially the older inventory. A TV shop in H-town bought him out but when I visited the shop, the owner told me he was going to get rid of it for tax reasons. I've checked the other stores (EPO, ACE, etc.) to see if they picked the stuff up. Apparently they didn't, so I have no idea where all those goodies ended up. :(

Lamentingly, Ray

I guess your gona have to use your initiative.

naveed

had

all

in

closed

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Yep! Throw away goods. That's why! Costs more to fix that to replace. That is the real cause. In the future they will mine landfills to recover metals and other materials

ChadMan

"And in the beginning there were many Wal-marts and the CEO's saw this and it was good...

I say unto you 'Go you forth and make more landfills for you will need them to place the cheap sauder furniture and broken Nintendos...'

And they made more landfills and the CEO's saw this and it was good...

The CEO's saw this and said 'Now you must go forth and buy more sauder furniture and Nintendos...'

And the CEO's said 'Now I will make more Wal-mart and landfill jobs for you, so that you can rent Blockbuster movies, play Nintendo and eat frozen pizzas from your sauder furniture'...

And te CEO's saw this and all was good,"

all

in

closed

I was also floored when Electrotex called it quits. They had so many commercial/industrial customers that I figured those alone would keep them going.

And I lost a good source of repair parts and materials when ECD on Bissonnet shifted their focus to satellite video and studio audio sales. At least we still have O&E, for now.

Both of the EPO's are always full of people when I go in, so maybe they'll stick around a while longer.

(open

found.

But why should I pay Shack's prices when I can get what I need, cheaper and faster from Mouser and Digikey? I browsed through a few component listings on RS website. They only had a handful of resistor values, and they wer only available in packs of 5 for $0.99/pack. That's 20 cents apiece for

1/4W carbon film resistors. Less than a handful of transistors and only a pitiful smattering of ICs. Why I should bother with RS if they can't even begin to fill my needs.

Nahh, they're history. They should change the name on the stores to something that fits better, like CellPhone and Toy Shack. My $.02 worth...

-- Tweetldee Tweetldee at att dot net (Just subsitute the appropriate characters in the address)

Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.

Don't

Bissonnet

we

EPO on Fondren is my lifeboat. I'll probaly be buying a new soldering iron there tomorrow. I discovered I have one more solder connection to make on the Uniden CB, and plugged in the old Unger. It got a little warm, and then cooled off again. I know I have a spare around here somewhere, but it's the cheap piece of crap I bought the Unger to replace. Don't trust it. sigh I'll probably pick up some more jumper clips while I'm there (ran out of those today- needed six and only had four.) And anything else I can think of. It feels good to be getting my electronics shop back together. Now if I can just fint that old Citiphone (sp?).

Dave snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com

In article , snipped-for-privacy@sympatico.ca mentioned...

What'd you expect? The salesdroids don't know a thing about any of those parts, and if you keep telling the public that you have answers, yet your salesdroids can only give blank stares or the wrong answers, then that seems enough justification to eliminate the source of the problem, the parts themselves.

That's one thing I like about going to Fry's. There's no salesdroid breathing down your neck when you're checking the shelves for parts, and then making you wait for 20 minutes while he's selling a cellphone to some clueless mother and daughter. After waiting for several minutes, the guy ahead of me got PO'd and threw the packages down on the counter and walked off, and I just walked back to the shelf and hung them back on the pegs and left. Sorry, I've got better things to do on my lunch break.

Some salesdroids seem to have mastered the art of testing a battery, though. :-0

--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
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Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers.  Go to the URL
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http://www.everybookstore.com  You'll be glad you did!
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In article , snipped-for-privacy@io.frii.com mentioned...

Well, hey, the neighbor asked me to fix the wall wart cord that got pulled off when the kids argued over the game. But he had all sorts of carts, like Mario Bros. etc. It was fun for a few weeks, but nothing to get stuck on. He paid like a hundred or so for the Atari itself, and then had several hundred in carts at $20 apiece! His main problem was getting the kids to give up the TV so he could watch his programs!

--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS?   Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted.  *All* email sent to it 
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the 
Subject: line with other stuff.  alondra101  hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers.  Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com  You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

Well, you're gettin' a little far-fetched with that Mars Lander chip. But here's a place that sells a Grand Am chip, noooo problem! ;-))

Here's one that's even more inreresting.

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@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS?   Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted.  *All* email sent to it 
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the 
Subject: line with other stuff.  alondra101  hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers.  Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com  You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

In article , snipped-for-privacy@nospamcharter.net mentioned...

What's sauder? Is that like Ikea? A guy at work bought a couple Ikea butcher block stepstools, and when he assembled them, one of the threads stripped. Scares me to think that I'm standing on something that might fall apart any second.

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@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS?   Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted.  *All* email sent to it 
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the 
Subject: line with other stuff.  alondra101  hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers.  Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com  You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@

I feel for ya. I've kept my ancient, red Unger handle in the tool box even thought my last element burned out more than ten years ago. Still have half a dozen iron clad chisel tips for it ... in their unopened blister packs. The Air Force issued me that iron in 1969, and it was a joy to use. I'm sure that if I ever throw it away I'll stumble across a heating element soon thereafter.

I may still have a new screw in element laying around somewhere.

--


Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida

I still have 4 heaters for my old Ungars, two of them get used quite frequently. One is a hefty 47W (I think... the legends have long since worn or burned away) with a large integral wedge tip. All four are nearly 30 years old. They are the screw-on type, and I would like to find a few spare tips for them. Anyone know of a good source? Cheers,

-- Tweetldee Tweetldee at att dot net (Just subsitute the appropriate characters in the address)

Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.