Goodbye Radio Shack

[Michael Black]

On Wed, 24 May 2017, Ian Field wrote:

oldschool@tubes.com> wrote in message
news:dcv8ic9rs19glsb19jiq6rop77ckkk6mss@4ax.com...
It's official. Radio Shack is closing their doors. The nearest store to
me (in a big city about 60 miles away), is having a "going out of
business sale". Yesterday it was 80% off almost everything. But there
was little left to choose from.

A few months ago I found a Radio Shack calculator dropped on the ground by
some recycling bins.

Its an old retro LED job and the = button needs a convincing jab to work -
but it has a proper on/off slide switch that doesn't get knocked on in my
jacket pocket.

I'd forgotten about the days of slide switches to turn calculators on and
off.

Though, the TI30 I got in 1976 or so used two pushbuttons for on and off.

And most of the calculators I've had since have had solar power, so I
never worried about whether they were on or off.

Michael

 

[Ian Field]

"Michael Black" <et472@ncf.ca> wrote in message
news:alpine.LNX.2.02.1705241558220.6832@darkstar.example.org...

On Wed, 24 May 2017, Ian Field wrote:



oldschool@tubes.com> wrote in message
news:dcv8ic9rs19glsb19jiq6rop77ckkk6mss@4ax.com...
It's official. Radio Shack is closing their doors. The nearest store to
me (in a big city about 60 miles away), is having a "going out of
business sale". Yesterday it was 80% off almost everything. But there
was little left to choose from.

A few months ago I found a Radio Shack calculator dropped on the ground
by some recycling bins.

Its an old retro LED job and the = button needs a convincing jab to
work - but it has a proper on/off slide switch that doesn't get knocked
on in my jacket pocket.
I'd forgotten about the days of slide switches to turn calculators on and
off.

Though, the TI30 I got in 1976 or so used two pushbuttons for on and off.

And most of the calculators I've had since have had solar power, so I
never worried about whether they were on or off.

I have a Casio solar with no battery at all - its allegedly collectible, so
I took the opportunity to put it somewhere safer than my jacket pocket.

 

[C.Copperpot]

I still have 3 or 4 free comics they gave away in the 1970's. I think
they were made by DC. They were the last place in town that had a tube
tester and sold tubes. Gold plated pins with a lifetime warranty.

 

[Foxs Mercantile]

On 5/24/2017 6:01 PM, C.Copperpot wrote:

They were the last place in town that had a tube tester and
sold tubes. Gold plated pins with a lifetime warranty.

I have about 2 dozen of their gold pin "Lifetime warranty"
tubes that keep at the shop.


--
Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi
http://www.foxsmercantile.com

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On Wed, 24 May 2017 13:22:20 -0400, Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca>
wrote:

On Tue, 23 May 2017, Carter wrote:

On 5/23/2017 3:47 PM, Foxs Mercantile wrote:

Middle management was draconian at best. Always grinding
on the store managers to meet constantly changing quotas.

Yup, had a GREAT manager at the local RS -- helpful, knowledgeable, a really
nice guy. Sadly, they fired him because of the bogus quotas.


That's some of the mythology of the place.

People complain about "Got questions? We've got answers", because they
took it literally. When in reality it wasn't that they'd be a source of
information, but having that adapter fo solve a problem.

I don't think the chain ever deliberately hired "technical people". But,
lots of people need jobs, and retail often means flexible schedules. So
the teenager interested in electronics would apply for jobs at Radio
Shack, since it was in line with the hobby. And I seem to recall
something about an employee discount, which had to be good.

So in the seventies I certainly had friends who worked there.

But I think with time, it became a less interesting place to work, more
about consumer electronics than hobby type things, so the hobbyist was
less likely to apply. Or maybe it's that "electronics" became mainstream,
so any kid with a cellphone applied, fancying himself as a "stereo whiz"
or something, so the hobbyist had competition.

Michael

The manager of one of our local Radio Shacks was a HAM radio
operator.
The manager of another was a former military elecronics engineer.
Both could tell you anything you needed to know about CB radios,
Stereo sytems etc and knew their components inside out. Sadly, that
all ended when Circuit City closed the last Canadian Radio Shacks in
2007 -

 

On Wed, 24 May 2017 16:01:41 -0700, C.Copperpot
<Chester.Copperpot@Goonies.com> wrote:

I still have 3 or 4 free comics they gave away in the 1970's. I think
they were made by DC. They were the last place in town that had a tube
tester and sold tubes. Gold plated pins with a lifetime warranty.

I dont recall the comics, but now that you mentioned it, I do remember
the gold plated pin tubes. I think R.S. was the only company to make
gold plated pin tubes.

So, if I have one of these tubes and it is bad, where do I go for the
"lifetime warranty".


---
Now I know I'm old. I cant find any store with a tube tester anymore,
and when I went to phone in a complaint about it, I could not find a
single pay phone booth to make the call.

 

[Clifford Heath]

On 25/05/17 17:18, oldschool@tubes.com wrote:

On Wed, 24 May 2017 16:01:41 -0700, C.Copperpot
Chester.Copperpot@Goonies.com> wrote:

I still have 3 or 4 free comics they gave away in the 1970's. I think
they were made by DC. They were the last place in town that had a tube
tester and sold tubes. Gold plated pins with a lifetime warranty.

I dont recall the comics, but now that you mentioned it, I do remember
the gold plated pin tubes. I think R.S. was the only company to make
gold plated pin tubes.

So, if I have one of these tubes and it is bad, where do I go for the
"lifetime warranty".

When the tube dies, that is the end of its lifetime.

 

[bitrex]

On 05/23/2017 02:29 PM, oldschool@tubes.com wrote:

It's official. Radio Shack is closing their doors. The nearest store to
me (in a big city about 60 miles away), is having a "going out of
business sale". Yesterday it was 80% off almost everything. But there
was little left to choose from. I got a few audio cables, some heat
shrink tubing and a couple 12v 1a transformers. That's about all I could
find.....

This is a sad day..... Radio Shack is the last of the old electronics
stores, and while they have not had much in recent years, I still liked
their stores, and over the years I found their equipment was made fairly
well.

The guy said they are presently going to keep about 70 stores, which is
about one per state, and they will only be in the very large cities.

This sucks!!!!

I bought up all the BNC connectors/automotive switches/guitar effects
box switches from my local store; 6 packs of nickel-plated brass RG-58
and RG-59 crimp-on/twist on connectors with gold contacts, usually
around $18 a pack. IIRC got 20 packs of different types for about $1.50
each.

Also bought up all their TO-3 power transistors (2N3055 etc.) for around
30 cents each

 

[Ancel B]

Oh, well. I still have some RS parts on the blue card in the plastic bubble from 1979. Plus I have all 3 of the Transistor projects DIY books from Forrest Mimms and I built almost all of the projects. As a 14 yr old, with no internet, the projects were the only way to learn.

The most fun was the DC to DC converter that could zap people.

I also still have the portable Tandy / RS chess computer with 8 levels.I don't think it works, but I suppose I could get in there and fix it.Never opened it to see if the chips were socketed etc. I got up to level 6 which took a looong time to make a move. Several hours sometimes.

 

[bitrex]

On 05/25/2017 09:10 AM, bitrex wrote:

On 05/23/2017 02:29 PM, oldschool@tubes.com wrote:
It's official. Radio Shack is closing their doors. The nearest store to
me (in a big city about 60 miles away), is having a "going out of
business sale". Yesterday it was 80% off almost everything. But there
was little left to choose from. I got a few audio cables, some heat
shrink tubing and a couple 12v 1a transformers. That's about all I could
find.....

This is a sad day..... Radio Shack is the last of the old electronics
stores, and while they have not had much in recent years, I still liked
their stores, and over the years I found their equipment was made fairly
well.

The guy said they are presently going to keep about 70 stores, which is
about one per state, and they will only be in the very large cities.

This sucks!!!!


I bought up all the BNC connectors/automotive switches/guitar effects
box switches from my local store; 6 packs of nickel-plated brass RG-58
and RG-59 crimp-on/twist on connectors with gold contacts, usually
around $18 a pack. IIRC got 20 packs of different types for about $1.50
each.

Also bought up all their TO-3 power transistors (2N3055 etc.) for around
30 cents each

I have more connectors than I really know what to do with now. If anyone
needs some of this nice stuff for cheap let me know I get you good
price...;-)

 

[pfjw@aol.com]

My single experience with R/S "Lifetime" tubes does deserve mention. For a few years I worked in Saudi Arabia - and lived in Al Khobar, near the causeway to Bahrain. As we had a 'multiple' visa, we would visit Bahrain about every other weekend for unrestricted shopping and for the many interesting sights and sites. One of the locations visited was the Seef Mall, wherein was a Radio Shack.

I brought a couple of tube-type TransOceanics, and of all things found a Dynaco FM3 at a used electronics souk near Qatif. So, I had some tube stuff. In any case, a 1U4 in my B600 developed an open filament, and it was a R/S Lifetime tube. So, on a whim, I took to to the Radio Shack at the Seef Mall..

The manager looked at it, said "Yes, Sir", and about 3 weeks later, a new 1U4 arrived. No warranty on the replacement, but it was good, and I did not have to pay anything. Service with a smile. This was in 2004.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

On Thursday, May 25, 2017 at 9:16:52 AM UTC-4, pf...@aol.com wrote:

My single experience with R/S "Lifetime" tubes does deserve mention. For a few years I worked in Saudi Arabia - and lived in Al Khobar, near the causeway to Bahrain. As we had a 'multiple' visa, we would visit Bahrain about every other weekend for unrestricted shopping and for the many interesting sights and sites. One of the locations visited was the Seef Mall, wherein was a Radio Shack.

I brought a couple of tube-type TransOceanics, and of all things found a Dynaco FM3 at a used electronics souk near Qatif. So, I had some tube stuff.. In any case, a 1U4 in my B600 developed an open filament, and it was a R/S Lifetime tube. So, on a whim, I took to to the Radio Shack at the Seef Mall.

The manager looked at it, said "Yes, Sir", and about 3 weeks later, a new 1U4 arrived. No warranty on the replacement, but it was good, and I did not have to pay anything. Service with a smile. This was in 2004.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Yep, I've heard similar stories. Some stories including young guns working the counter who didn't even know what a vacuum tube was or why it would have a lifetime warranty. But just as in your case, the tubes were duly ordered and replaced. Some of these were tubes like the pricy 7591s before the Russians started new production of them. I don't know where RS got the replacements but they kept their end of the bargain even if they did spend more to replace the tubes than they used to charge for them back when they were common items.

 

[Michael Black]

On Wed, 24 May 2017, C.Copperpot wrote:

I still have 3 or 4 free comics they gave away in the 1970's. I think
they were made by DC. They were the last place in town that had a tube
tester and sold tubes. Gold plated pins with a lifetime warranty.

I can't remember if I ever saw a Radio Shack comic book. I did have a
Tandy Leather comic book in the early sixties.

I still have an Archie comic book from the late eighties or early
nineties, the ARRL organized something so the characters would be in a
special issue about amateur radio.

Michael

 

[Michael Black]

On Thu, 25 May 2017, Ancel B wrote:

Oh, well. I still have some RS parts on the blue card in the plastic bubble from 1979. Plus I have all 3 of the Transistor projects DIY books from Forrest Mimms and I built almost all of the projects. As a 14 yr old, with no internet, the projects were the only way to learn.

The most fun was the DC to DC converter that could zap people.

I also still have the portable Tandy / RS chess computer with 8 levels.I
don't think it works, but I suppose I could get in there and fix
it.Never opened it to see if the chips were socketed etc. I got up to
level 6 which took a looong time to make a move. Several hours
sometimes.

And it's probably not the software that's slow, but the processor.

I don't know when it came out, but I suspect it was an 8 bit cpu, which
likely ran at best 2MHz. Compare that with this computer, a Pentium
running at 3GHz, and I bet the same program would give results in a blink
on this (if only the program ran on a Pentium).

Michael

 

[Michael Black]

On Thu, 25 May 2017, pfjw@aol.com wrote:

My single experience with R/S "Lifetime" tubes does deserve mention. For
a few years I worked in Saudi Arabia - and lived in Al Khobar, near the
causeway to Bahrain. As we had a 'multiple' visa, we would visit Bahrain
about every other weekend for unrestricted shopping and for the many
interesting sights and sites. One of the locations visited was the Seef
Mall, wherein was a Radio Shack.

I brought a couple of tube-type TransOceanics, and of all things found a
Dynaco FM3 at a used electronics souk near Qatif. So, I had some tube
stuff. In any case, a 1U4 in my B600 developed an open filament, and it
was a R/S Lifetime tube. So, on a whim, I took to to the Radio Shack at
the Seef Mall.

The manager looked at it, said "Yes, Sir", and about 3 weeks later, a
new 1U4 arrived. No warranty on the replacement, but it was good, and I
did not have to pay anything. Service with a smile. This was in 2004.

I remember you telling that story years ago.

I suspect that tube use diminished so much that it didn't cost Radio Shack
much to honor the warranty on the tubes, because hardly anyone showed up
after some point. Between people not bothering, people not knowing, and
people not using tube equipment, there was a small pool remaining.

Michael

 

On Thu, 25 May 2017 03:18:24 -0400, oldschool@tubes.com wrote:

On Wed, 24 May 2017 16:01:41 -0700, C.Copperpot
Chester.Copperpot@Goonies.com> wrote:

I still have 3 or 4 free comics they gave away in the 1970's. I think
they were made by DC. They were the last place in town that had a tube
tester and sold tubes. Gold plated pins with a lifetime warranty.

I dont recall the comics, but now that you mentioned it, I do remember
the gold plated pin tubes. I think R.S. was the only company to make
gold plated pin tubes.

Not quite, Electro Harmonix and Amperex also made/(make ?) gold pin
tubes

So, if I have one of these tubes and it is bad, where do I go for the
"lifetime warranty".


---
Now I know I'm old. I cant find any store with a tube tester anymore,
and when I went to phone in a complaint about it, I could not find a
single pay phone booth to make the call.

 

[bitrex]

On 05/25/2017 10:04 AM, Michael Black wrote:

On Thu, 25 May 2017, Ancel B wrote:

Oh, well. I still have some RS parts on the blue card in the plastic
bubble from 1979. Plus I have all 3 of the Transistor projects DIY
books from Forrest Mimms and I built almost all of the projects. As a
14 yr old, with no internet, the projects were the only way to learn.

The most fun was the DC to DC converter that could zap people.

I also still have the portable Tandy / RS chess computer with 8
levels.I don't think it works, but I suppose I could get in there and
fix it.Never opened it to see if the chips were socketed etc. I got up
to level 6 which took a looong time to make a move. Several hours
sometimes.

And it's probably not the software that's slow, but the processor.

I don't know when it came out, but I suspect it was an 8 bit cpu, which
likely ran at best 2MHz. Compare that with this computer, a Pentium
running at 3GHz, and I bet the same program would give results in a
blink on this (if only the program ran on a Pentium).

Michael

Additionally good modern chess programs use lots of different heuristics
to evaluate board positions while avoiding traversing large areas of the
search space.

The Tandy just doesn't have enough memory to store all the tables.

 

On Thu, 25 May 2017 09:10:07 -0400, bitrex
<bitrex@de.lete.earthlink.net> wrote:

On 05/23/2017 02:29 PM, oldschool@tubes.com wrote:
It's official. Radio Shack is closing their doors. The nearest store to
me (in a big city about 60 miles away), is having a "going out of
business sale". Yesterday it was 80% off almost everything. But there
was little left to choose from. I got a few audio cables, some heat
shrink tubing and a couple 12v 1a transformers. That's about all I could
find.....

This is a sad day..... Radio Shack is the last of the old electronics
stores, and while they have not had much in recent years, I still liked
their stores, and over the years I found their equipment was made fairly
well.

The guy said they are presently going to keep about 70 stores, which is
about one per state, and they will only be in the very large cities.

This sucks!!!!


I bought up all the BNC connectors/automotive switches/guitar effects
box switches from my local store; 6 packs of nickel-plated brass RG-58
and RG-59 crimp-on/twist on connectors with gold contacts, usually
around $18 a pack. IIRC got 20 packs of different types for about $1.50
each.

Also bought up all their TO-3 power transistors (2N3055 etc.) for around
30 cents each

The store I went to, all the small parts in the bins were $1. No matter
what it was. But there were little left.

I got Three 12V and One 24V power transformers for just over $2 each.
That was at 80% off, but the packages on them showed they were OLD
stock, thus old prices. I first grabbed one of each off the shelf, but
for that price, I decided to take all four. That's a steal.

 

[Neon John]

On Tue, 23 May 2017 15:52:31 -0400, oldschool@tubes.com wrote:

The only reason I even found out that they were closing is because the
9volt battery connector broke on my portable weather radio, so I stopped
at R.S. to buy one. (I did not know they were closing). I had no problem
paying probably about $4 for one of them connectors. Now, I'm stuck
ordering one from ebay (I found a pack of 5 for about $3), but I hate
having to wait a week or more to get small parts like that, and my bench
piles up with projects waiting to be repaired, while I wait for parts.
Lately, when I buy a part, I usually buy 5 or more and keep them on
hand, so I have that stuff here. Its costing me more to stock all that
stuff in the end, but there is no way around it....

Quick! As fast as you can before it gets away, grab the nearest 9
volt battery. Preferably an exhausted one.

Now take your dykes and carefully peel back the case. Snip the two
metal straps going to the connector on top.

Viola!!!! You now have a brand new, high quality 9 volt battery
connector. Solder your red wire to the big terminal and your black
wire to the small one. Apply a little liquid tape if you think it
necessary.

You've now replaced your defective connector without having to drive
to Rat Shack, pay a piddling amount of shipping from Mouser, etc., or
whine about ebay.

What once took a day or two to repair something sometimes takes months
now, because I have to keep waiting for each and every part I need.

Sounds like extraordinarily bad project management to me. Surely you
don't order each part individually, do you? Hmm, maybe you do. Bad.

Because of our relative locations, I can order something from Mouser,
select the cheapest UPS ground shipping and get it in 1 or 2 days.

John
John DeArmond
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.tnduction.com
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
See website for email address

 

[Foxs Mercantile]

On 5/28/2017 4:07 PM, Neon John wrote:

Sounds like extraordinarily bad project management to me.
Surely you don't order each part individually, do you?

I used to do side jobs in construction.
The plumber that worked with us ALWAYS had to make several
trips to Home Depot for more fittings, and other things.

Finally, Jack, our foreman, asked him, "Are you going out
of business? How come you don't have any inventory on your
truck?"

Because of our relative locations, I can order something
from Mouser, select the cheapest UPS ground shipping and
get it in 1 or 2 days.

McMaster Carr is almost over night. If I order before 9AM.
Same with Mouser.

With a shipping charge of $8 for USPS, I ALWAYS order enough
bits and pieces and extras quantities so I don't have to
immediately re-order the same things.



--
Jeff-1.0
wa6fwi
http://www.foxsmercantile.com

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