I hung out at a Lafayette Radio & Electronics store in the 60's....and the slot car track next door. In fact one of my tube manuals still has the LRE sticker on it from when I bought it new...for $1.25! My ham radio call sign was, and still is KB4LRE.....so where did I get a job when I graduated high school? Well the LRE store had closed, so I worked at Olson's. I ran the service department, but we didn't use Olson parts, we got the good stuff delivered by one of the distributors that catered to repair shops.
The only thing I buy in Radio Shack are their small perf boards, the ones with the little copper pads on each hole. I find them very handy for sub-assemblies such as rectifier bridges with snubbers, DC heater and fan supplies, etc. If something breaks, it's easier to take out the little board and fix it then to struggle with the entire unit.
I'm thinking I should stock up on them before RS eliminates DIY stuff completely.
I'm thinking I should stock up on them before RS eliminates DIY stuff completely.
for some nostalgia and to see how things were changing in Radio Shack I sometimes browse through old catalogs:
Radio Shack Catalogs - General Catalogs
Radio Shack Catalogs - General Catalogs
Radio Shack it competing with Best Buy, Wal Mart, Target, etc in their quest to sell the lowest quality JUNK possible. It's the race to the bottom; which is the new America in a nutshell.
It's all disposable stuff that becomes obsolete within 18 months and is impossible to repair.
It is morons marketing to imbeciles.
I remember when RS was a decent store. Not only did they sell nice quality consumer goods, but they sold the electronic components and had knowledgeable staff.
RS has lost all respect. They are prostitutes. Their staff is mindless robots that only know how to sell you a cell phone contract. It's a metaphor for the whole country really.
I'm glad others are as bitter as me about the situation.
I was being polite yesterday, but wanted to complain about the people shopping in the stores, too..
They are definitely appealing to the lowest common denominator in society.
The electronics hobby scene isn't all bad, though. It's just moved on to microprocessors and things.. I can find cool microprocessor projects at several local stores, and obviously everywhere online.. Even some places I considered audio outlets (mcm, etc) are all about microprocessor projects these days.
Not exactly my thing (too similar to my day job), but at least it's a way for young people to get interested in engineering. Also, I could see a future not too far off where hobbyists can design and print their own IC's.. Maybe even reprint some old obsolete parts.
I was being polite yesterday, but wanted to complain about the people shopping in the stores, too..
They are definitely appealing to the lowest common denominator in society.
The electronics hobby scene isn't all bad, though. It's just moved on to microprocessors and things.. I can find cool microprocessor projects at several local stores, and obviously everywhere online.. Even some places I considered audio outlets (mcm, etc) are all about microprocessor projects these days.
Not exactly my thing (too similar to my day job), but at least it's a way for young people to get interested in engineering. Also, I could see a future not too far off where hobbyists can design and print their own IC's.. Maybe even reprint some old obsolete parts.
I'm old enough to remember when RS was a respectable store. When I was in high school, I built a lot of projects from scratch with parts from RS.
It's true that electronics is not a popular hobby like it used to be. There aren't a lot of us left. I don't know anybody in "real life" that does this stuff anymore. And people think I'm some kind of wizard when I repair stuff or build custom stuff from scratch.
And unfortunately, there isn't much of a market for my skills anymore. If I moved to India or China, maybe there would be. But that is just a snapshot of our once great country, which has been dumbed down to the extreme. The country has been hollowed out almost completely.
It's business mentality that has provided us with this new paradigm. They are just applying what they've been taught in business school, like mindless robots. Big business runs this country now, and they're running it into the ground. There is no use for talent or innovation any more; it's just obey, obey, obey.
those were great times and great memories going down this lane on the early years of radio shack and their buisness model. They were there when us baby boomers wanted to tinker and learn electronics.
I learned computers, electronics, solar, etc due to radio shack and my kids learn computers becuase i knew computers. my brother is an electrical engineer now. In the end, a lot of folks in my family benifetted directly or indirectly by the RS culture.
but RS needs to make money. population is basically shrinking with less folks entering the work force every year and in these wage earners development years science took a back seat. So today, RS needs to sell cell phones, watch batteries, and other convenience items.
At least we still have parts express.
I learned computers, electronics, solar, etc due to radio shack and my kids learn computers becuase i knew computers. my brother is an electrical engineer now. In the end, a lot of folks in my family benifetted directly or indirectly by the RS culture.
but RS needs to make money. population is basically shrinking with less folks entering the work force every year and in these wage earners development years science took a back seat. So today, RS needs to sell cell phones, watch batteries, and other convenience items.
At least we still have parts express.
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I have fond memories of perusing the Radio Shack and Lafayette catalogs back in the '70s. Spent much time at the Portland Wasson's Lafayette store in Portland OR. drooling over the display of EV drivers and locally assembled cabinets.
For reading fun I've got a 1957 Lafayette Radio catalog #305 on the book shelf.
For reading fun I've got a 1957 Lafayette Radio catalog #305 on the book shelf.
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Believe it or not I'm about to haul on over to the local Shack to pick up one of their magnet wire medleys so I can finish a tiny SEPIC converter. The store is only a couple years old too. They still sell the 22/26/30 AWG packs. It's 8 dollars for about an ounce of wire though. Unfortunately I couldn't find five feet of 22 wire anywhere in the basement. I could probably find a better deal on wire, but not to have it in an hour.
I knew it was all over for RS a few years back when I called and asked if they had any tantalums in stock. The reply I got was "is that a sprint phone?"
Sad to say but I remember when the whole store was wall to wall parts and tools. Now us "geeks" are relegated to a small cabinet with just a few half empty drawers of stuff in the lonely dark back corner. The rest of the store is all just pre fab Chinese crap.
Hate to say it but I hope they go balls up.
Sad to say but I remember when the whole store was wall to wall parts and tools. Now us "geeks" are relegated to a small cabinet with just a few half empty drawers of stuff in the lonely dark back corner. The rest of the store is all just pre fab Chinese crap.
Hate to say it but I hope they go balls up.
That's RS's ace in the hole; you have the part in hand within an hour.
I have tried to explain the parts to the salespeople before and give advice to them. They just couldn't care less; they a bunch of zombies with glazed over eyes. And I couldn't even get a job at RS when I was in high school and college because you have to have a college degree. So if this is the caliber of our college graduates; mindless zombies that couldn't find their rump if you spotted them one cheek, we are doomed as a society.