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What happened to Electronics Stores
- Thread starter Basil
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OP
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My primary rig was a General Radio MC-6 like this one (this is just the manual): EBay
I also had a Brewer Labs 150W linear amplifier and a 4-element "Big Gun" quad antenna. Oh what fun!
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Although we didn't use the big powerful stuff too much, we did occasionally use a 2,000W linear amp (the legal limit for hams) and a 40 meter rotary beam (Yagi) antenna. With that gear one could "punch a hole" in the band you were on.
The most fun I ever had was hoisting a bamboo dipole to the top of a mast on a sailboat in the south Pacific. At that time, the sun spot cycle was at maximum and one could have a QSO with anyone anywhere in the world on the 10 meter band (which is, essentially, next door to the CB band). Great times.
The most fun I ever had was hoisting a bamboo dipole to the top of a mast on a sailboat in the south Pacific. At that time, the sun spot cycle was at maximum and one could have a QSO with anyone anywhere in the world on the 10 meter band (which is, essentially, next door to the CB band). Great times.
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we are fortunate - these guys are rather close > SAYAL Electronics and Hobbies - Home Page < there is actually two or three similar stores in the same plaza. I use them pretty regularly.
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Now that you mention it, I think I miss the old-time HOBBY store even more. There is one left in my area, and I marvel at all the fun things (trains, cars, drones, rockets).
OP
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Kids these days need more of the hands-on hobby kind of stuff we had as kids rather than just sitting in front of a computer screen all day.
Gliderman8
Great Pumpkin
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Nothing could beat Polks Hobbies in NYC. Five floors of trains, planes, slot cars, boats, figures. It was a magical place right on 5th Avenue.
Hobby Lobby always seems a bit sad to me. Everything you need for the new hobby in a box. Seem to remember it took a bit more effort to get into a hobby.
I had got into stained glass work some years ago by going to a store that sold glass squares of various sizes and supplies. They did classes and had a scrap glass bin that you could buy from by the pound.
David
A lamp I made some years ago.
I had got into stained glass work some years ago by going to a store that sold glass squares of various sizes and supplies. They did classes and had a scrap glass bin that you could buy from by the pound.
David
A lamp I made some years ago.
I built a fender clone (guitar amp) a few years ago for/with my son. With the on-line shops like Antique Electronics and Tube Depot probably easier to get most of these parts than it has been for the many years. Hard to believe but some tubes like 6L6 have been in continuous production for 85 years. Lots of great information on YouTube on building and repairing old tube electronics.
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Ah, but they DO have a hands-on hobby! It's swiping the screens of their phones, and thumbing short texts to each other.
I know a 21 year old who likes repairing old clocks (19th century). But he is rare indeed.
And Paul, contact Mike Urban at Vintage-HiFi in Hartford. He can repair just about any time of old tube-type radio, from 1900 to today.
Vintage HiFi museum plus repair & restoration West Hartford Connecticut
Vintage HiFi museum plus repair & restoration for vintage audio including Fisher and McIntosh
www.vintagehifi.org
Tom M.
sparkydave
Jedi Knight
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It is unfortunate that Radio Shack went away. Was a loyal customer since I was a teenager, I was usually tinkering with electronic stuff and usually the store employees were usually asking me the questions 
. Figured I'd be a great fit there someday, and my first job was at RS for one summer. I think it was when their selection of electronic parts kept dwindling that their days were numbered. Too bad too, since it wasn't long ago I blew the amps fuse in my Radio Shack multimeter accidentally and realized I can't just run over to RS for a replacement anymore.
Didn't miss working there after that one summer though. Found I didn't really like it when my boss would nag me about not getting name, address and phone number for the frantic folks who came in needing a battery for their keyless entry fob because they are locked out of their car after shopping at one of the other stores in our plaza, or nagging me about not trying to sell things that are completely unrelated to what somebody came in for. Really, if I go to RS to buy an electronic part for something I'm working on, I wouldn't want the dude at the counter trying to get me to buy a new cell phone.
. Figured I'd be a great fit there someday, and my first job was at RS for one summer. I think it was when their selection of electronic parts kept dwindling that their days were numbered. Too bad too, since it wasn't long ago I blew the amps fuse in my Radio Shack multimeter accidentally and realized I can't just run over to RS for a replacement anymore. Didn't miss working there after that one summer though. Found I didn't really like it when my boss would nag me about not getting name, address and phone number for the frantic folks who came in needing a battery for their keyless entry fob because they are locked out of their car after shopping at one of the other stores in our plaza, or nagging me about not trying to sell things that are completely unrelated to what somebody came in for. Really, if I go to RS to buy an electronic part for something I'm working on, I wouldn't want the dude at the counter trying to get me to buy a new cell phone.
OP
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I too worked at RS for a while in High School. The thing I remember most is that I had better remember to ask every customer, "do you need any batteries today?"
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I was a Radio Shack store manager back in the day. Started with them in Louisiana in '73 and left seven years later. Managed one store in New Orleans, then one in Shreveport, one in Monroe, then the last one back in Shreveport. Was a great company to work for then - so many opportunities for growth, managerial and financial. However, once they started to focus on computers and - well, toys - things went downhill pretty quickly. Middle management was key, and I had some good regional and district managers. Good times!
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Thanks Mickey. I remember the big RS store in Fort Worth in the 1960s - just about any electronic part you'd ever need.
Then we saw RS gradually turn into "toys, games, and phones" - even the "kits" got sillier and less educational.
(Wonder if there's a parallel with the infamous "New Coke" disaster of 1985 - except that Coke went back to the original formula and recovered from the downward spiral, but RS didn't.)
Then we saw RS gradually turn into "toys, games, and phones" - even the "kits" got sillier and less educational.
(Wonder if there's a parallel with the infamous "New Coke" disaster of 1985 - except that Coke went back to the original formula and recovered from the downward spiral, but RS didn't.)
My dad used to take us down to NYC to Radio Row on the Lower East Side. LaFayette Radio was one of several. He was a Ham but remained a Novice since he didn't learn Morse Code. His handle was WN1VGU - "One very Good Uncle". I even remember some of the QSL cards he had pinned up on the wall. One was K2ADS Moonachie, New Jersey. memory is a funny thing.
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One issue I had with inventory was that we were often limited to quantity of many items we could keep in stock, based on store size and business volume. Some items were hard to keep in stock, and we often had to wait for an order cycle to restock. This was particularly true of CB equipment, but also applied to electronic components - resistors, IC's, caps, etc.
Also had a hard time keeping alligator clips in stock, due to recreational use. (Affectionately known as "roach clips".
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Also had a hard time keeping alligator clips in stock, due to recreational use. (Affectionately known as "roach clips".
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Thank you.
At one time I did a lot of stained glass work but I lack the Artistic flare so I just used patterns. Some people can sketch up something and it looks great. I did one entryway window and the design work was like pulling teeth. That lamp was the most involved lamp shade I made. Someone saw it and asked how much I would charge to make them one. When I gave them a price they laughed and said "I can get one at Sears for a fraction of that price" Explaining there was 2 to 3 weeks of evening work in it did not seem to register with them as they had seen lamps at Sears for $99.99.
David
At one time I did a lot of stained glass work but I lack the Artistic flare so I just used patterns. Some people can sketch up something and it looks great. I did one entryway window and the design work was like pulling teeth. That lamp was the most involved lamp shade I made. Someone saw it and asked how much I would charge to make them one. When I gave them a price they laughed and said "I can get one at Sears for a fraction of that price" Explaining there was 2 to 3 weeks of evening work in it did not seem to register with them as they had seen lamps at Sears for $99.99.
David
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