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Remember Radio Shack?

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As I posted earlier, I left the company in '78; could see the writing on the wall back then. Kornfeld was gone (I believe), and they were more concerned about having enough Christmas toys, really strange gadgets that no one wanted, and fast-moving items on hand than keeping the stores properly stocked. The last store I ran was one they called "SMIA", Special Manager Incentive Agreement (I think that's what it meant - been a few years!). That was an arrangement that allowed the manager to pony up half of what the store cost to open, and in turn would split the profit each month in lieu of salary/bonuses. They even financed your half of the opening price! It was a great arrangement; but they were losing money and had stopped the practice.

For anyone interested there's a website dedicated to posting old catalogs. It's been shown here before, but here's a link:

https://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/

And the real elderly nerds among us may remember Allied Radio/Electronics, once a competitor to Radio Shack until it was bought and merged into the RS family. There's a website for their old catalogs as well:

https://www.alliedcatalogs.com/catalogs_main.html

Now you've got plenty of nostalgia to peruse!
 
I couldn't afford the TRS-80 "desktop" computers which used TRS-DOS, but my first portable was their 1983 Model 100. Used four AA cells, and with the Ultimate ROM plugged in, it did everything I needed (text, spreadsheet, database) including BASIC programming.

Tandy_model100_System_1.jpg


I actually still have two of them (a 100 and a 102), and use the 102 at the air museum for database work in the stacks and restoration hangar.

Tom (a/k/a Elderly Nerd)
 
Lafayette, Gerber Scientific, Heathkit ... wow. If we started a new topic on companies we've lost, it would probably be the longest topic ever.

:glum:
 
NutmegCT said:
Lafayette, Gerber Scientific, Heathkit ... wow. If we started a new topic on companies we've lost, it would probably be the longest topic ever.

:glum:
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The Heathkit digital clock that I built when I was in college is still running on a shelf in my living room.
 
Up until about 10 years ago I couldn't have done my job with out them setting up our Plc networks for water plants we had to have terminating resistors for AB Dh+ networks good old blue hose.
 
About the only thing I've gotten there in recent years was ver fine gauge electrical solder to replicate wiring in model building projects. Guess I should go stock up before I have to start finding it online.
 
Banjo said:
Oh yea. I still have a Realistic 2 meter handi-talkie. They didn't have a huge selection, but their store brand, Realistic, made 2 meter, 440, 10 meter and some others. They also carried decent antennas and amps, tuners and SWR meters.
CB was supposed to have the 10 code, it's just no one ever used more then "10-4" after the 70s. 10-20 even got shortened to "What's your 20?"
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Oh, right... forgot about 2 meters. I was always an HF guy (80 through 10 meters).
 
Another big difference is that when you need to fix something, you no longer replace individual capicitors or resistors, or whatever had burnt -- you remove and entire module and put in a new one in. I still bought a bunch of DIY components from them when I was making a homemade spark-shooter that would mount in the bell of a saxophone (it worked, but long story...)

After 9/11, Law enforcement quickly realized that 10-codes were not consistent from department to department, so there was a movement to start making plain language transmissions. Then someone decided that it would be too easy for someone to "listen in" and hear what was going on, so back to the 10 codes and activity codes. Then once again, the policy was change to go back to plain language transmissions now that service was trunked and moved up into cell phone bands versus the old VHF radios. Between 2007 and 2012 our department switched back and forth 3 times. During the "transition" periods, you'd end up with officers responding in 10-codes to plain language calls, and vice versa.
 
Who remembers a Heathkit store? There was one in Seattle. Loved visiting it.
Still have a Heathkit Grid-dip Meter (used in amateur radio for tuning antennas mostly).
 
The ham shack at Northwestern University (mostly maintained by the students in the EE department) had a lot of Heath gear... including the classic 2 kilowatt linear amplifier. Combine that with the HUGE Yagi antenna on the roof of the tech building and one could poke a huge hole in the 20 meter band. :p They also had SSTV (slow scan TV) which was pretty cool in the day (about 1978). Those EE grad students were fun to hang around with. On one project they had going, they did a "moon bounce" and later a "blimp bounce."
 
The problem as I see it is, at one time we built much of our electronic gear,but today it can be bought for less than we can build it for
 
GregW said:
I do. There was one near us in Virginia. Dad built a couple of their TVs. I later made a depth finder for my boat.
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What chu doin down nere I thought you was a native.---:glee:
 
The last thing I bought from Radio Shack was a Piezo Buzzer to wire into the TR's directional signals. Speaking of Heath Kit; any one need a Q Multiplier?
 
TRMark said:
The last thing I bought from Radio Shack was a Piezo Buzzer to wire into the TR's directional signals. Speaking of Heath Kit; any one need a Q Multiplier?
Click to expand...

Me too!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [for the Bugeye]
 
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