We had a cjain of stores here in the UK called Maplins that sold lots of electronics ex-stock but, lie a lot of high street stores, they are now gone. Amazon stocks nearly everything I need from wire to Arduinos and delivers next day (even now) so I don't feel that I am missing too much.
Long Haired DavidA.K.A. David Penningtonmain man on the Sunset and North Eastern R.R.http://www.gmrblog.co.ukfrom the UK
I live in the UK and I was on a business trip to Cupertino. I broke my glasses so I needed some super glue. I went to the Radio Shack in Sunnyvale CA. After purchase, they insisted on having my address (if you remember this was an annoying trait). I explained that I was from the UK but no - I need your address - so I gave hime the hotel. I guess that, for many years, the hotel got Radio Shack mailings addressed to me!
We used to have a store called Baynesville Electronics. It was bigger than your average Ace or True Value hardaware store. It had everything Radio Shack had and more.
Across the street was a restaurant my father had 1/2 interest in. Last time I was there, it was a Hooters. Imagine, if only I had inherited a Hooters restaurant.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
And I STILL miss Radio Shack. I never bought much, just an occasional resistor. But, they were there. I fully understand that their old business model was a dinosaur.
Radio Shack used to be part of the Tandy Corporation.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Weren't they teamed up with Tandy Leather back in the day?
Then Tandy split off and went with computers, but picked the wrong OS to go with, CP/M as I recall. MSDOS took over and CP/M fell to the wayside. I think Wang in Lincoln, Massachusetts was considered the richest man in the world before Bill and the Berkshire-Hathaway guy took over.
I used to get leather kits from Tandy. I might have a holster I made from a Tandy kit.
But yes, I miss the convenience of Radio Shack...
Oops, old thread, didn't look...
WP Lives
I guess that would be fine if they were truly a cell phone store that offered all carriers but I havnt seen one like that.
I live not too far from microcenter and it is pretty awesome. But come on...I needed a rectifier to finish a project and MC didnt have any useful ones. NTE is in NJ for goodness sake but doesnt do walk up retail, so I kept thinking Radio Shack probably has one: oh wait. Not anymore. Now at my other place there is nowhere within many hours drive to get spare parts like this. So I wait a few days for them to come from adafruit or something similar.
The issue, I think, is how Radio Shack became a cell phone store. Who are these people who go to cell phone stores?
Gee, dead stores, radio shack is like a thousand other store that could no compeat. Some made wrong moves and others did leveraged things. Had a faviorite hardware chain out here that desided to expand and the chain they bought brought the whole thing down. It can be hard to keep up with today without alianating those that already buy there, that is radio shack in a nutshell and toys-r-us also.
I miss the convenience but I don't miss the price. Recently I needed a large capacitor for a project and drove a 30 mile round trip to the nearest Radio Shack store. They wanted $5.99 for this single capacitor, I declined, went home and ordered 10 of the same for $9.99 from allelectronics.com. I hade to wait a week for them to arrive but at least I didn't feel I was being vastly over-charged. Swings and roundabouts
Actually, I kinda do miss Radio Shack. Back when I was living in CT, there was one located a short drive from my home. It had the basics for what I needed, but I had to order stuff like headlight LEDs, from online electronics stores. RS had most all the wiring that I needed, hardware like power distribution blocks, wire connectors, etc. It's a real shame they couldn't figure out what business they were in. They had some good audio stuff at one time, too. Of course, now we can get everything online. Not that I mind because I buy the stuff I need in bulk online in order to have enough on-hand. That said, I sure do miss having the convenience of running down to a local RS if I needed more wire, connectors, etc.
Russ
Modeling the early '50s Erie in Paterson, NJ. Here's the link to my railroad postcard collection: https://railroadpostcards.blogspot.com/
Yep - Great place, Henry. I get all of my computers and most of my computer-related items from them. And only a 10-12 min. drive from my house.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Micro Center is the Home Depot for computer stuff. You are lucky to have one close by.
Don't miss them at all. A local Micro Center has an assortment of electronics parts equal to, if not better than, what Radio Shack offered in their stores.
A lot of Hobbytowns now carry Radio Shack components. I was in one in Richmond VA and they had quite a bit- not what it used to be but comparable to the selections of components that they had not too long before they shut down.
I do. Radio Shack was very close to home. Yes, I could see the end coming, but if I needed a tiny part it was easy to get.
My next choice was You-Do-It Electronics, a retail store that I recognized as the old Heathkit building.
The only thing that I can safely say that I miss about Radio Shack is the fact that no other place in my little town carried (or carries even today) 2-56 screws. I don't have a LHS where I can go in and get those screws same day. (Yes, I do get almost all my hobby stuff online.)
However, I did get most of the wire for my new layout from a slightly unlikely place - my local NAPA store! The thickness of the wire did cause problems in one spot. As a result, I did have to order a spool of Atlas wire online to get that part accomplished.
In the early days, the Radio Shack guys were mostly electronic geeks. Back in the 60s, I was a volunteer firefighter. And several of us were in Radio Shack frequently for VHF radios, crystals for various frequencies, before the programable radios came out. Also bought a lot of CB stuff, antennas, booster amps, cables, etc. Then the scanners came out and I had several of those. And the Radio Shack guys mostly knew their stuff. Gradually Radio Shack began stocking a lot of skin pak stuff on pegs, and then phones, and as mentioned, upselling. Gradually, their component drawers became empty, and were not restocked. When I did go there looking for something, they were out of it. The people working there had no clue about much of anything. I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did.
Radio Shack was good if I needed “one of” something in a hurry since they were 2 blocks from my office.
These days I mostly order parts online.
Joe Staten Island West
Not really.
I do have a "same-day" source for electronics components, should I need them (Micro Center). But...I can drive across down to spend $1 for a pair of resistors or get them online...and get 20 of them for a buck. I can be patient for a week's delivery. Same with specialty hardware. The eyebolts on the ends of my module legs are $3 at Home Depot, Lowe's, and the local hardware store. Bolt Depot has them for $1.50 a piece.
kasskaboose Radio Shack was a joke. I really don't miss them at all. Harbor Freight is far superior. They not only offer superior products, but many coupons. I love that they allow me to use two coupons.
Radio Shack was a joke. I really don't miss them at all. Harbor Freight is far superior. They not only offer superior products, but many coupons. I love that they allow me to use two coupons.
There was a long period of decline as electronic hobyists became increasingly rare. One by one, electronic specialty stores disappeared. The very things you complained about are the changes that enabled the Shack to last longer than their competitors. It is, however, now a mail order world for items that cost pennies.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
kasskabooseRadio Shack was a joke. I really don't miss them at all. Harbor Freight is far superior. They not only offer superior products, but many coupons.
irishRRWho out there has had any good experience with wiring trackside signals for operation? Now I know where to place my signals and what i want them to indicate. I know that i want some to display occupancy for my sidings and others for the main, and others to indicate the throw direction of my switches. I see multiple options out there for programming relays that respond to IR sensors, magnetic reed switches, block detection and photo cells... but many are pretty costly.
There are so many options for automating signals, I won't know where to start, as I'm not an electronics geek, so my signals are powered through a seperate power pack, and the color of the lights I change manually as I need them, with rotary switches.
I think you should go back to your signal thread and continue this, as you'll get more responses, or even start a new thread in Electrical and DCC on powering signals. This kind of gets lost in here with the RS thread.
Mike.
My You Tube
garya ROCK MILW If you're ever in the Twin Cities, stop by Ax-Man Surplus, located on University Avenue in Saint Paul. They have a huge selection of used electronics: resistors, capacitors, inductors, switches of all types, transistors, vacuum tubes, power supplies, motors, etc. https://www.ax-man.com/collections/electrical-components They also have an iron lung, oscilloscopes, and other stuff that is worth a look. It is a unique place. Just there on Sunday. It can be frustrating trying to find exacly what one needs, though. They have several stores in the area: https://www.ax-man.com/pages/contact-us
ROCK MILW If you're ever in the Twin Cities, stop by Ax-Man Surplus, located on University Avenue in Saint Paul. They have a huge selection of used electronics: resistors, capacitors, inductors, switches of all types, transistors, vacuum tubes, power supplies, motors, etc. https://www.ax-man.com/collections/electrical-components They also have an iron lung, oscilloscopes, and other stuff that is worth a look. It is a unique place.
If you're ever in the Twin Cities, stop by Ax-Man Surplus, located on University Avenue in Saint Paul. They have a huge selection of used electronics: resistors, capacitors, inductors, switches of all types, transistors, vacuum tubes, power supplies, motors, etc.
https://www.ax-man.com/collections/electrical-components
They also have an iron lung, oscilloscopes, and other stuff that is worth a look. It is a unique place.
Just there on Sunday. It can be frustrating trying to find exacly what one needs, though.
They have several stores in the area: https://www.ax-man.com/pages/contact-us
We have an Ax Man Surplus in St Louis Park. I love that place, they have different things coming in all the time as they cycle. Now I have a surplus of gadgets. Gears and threaded rods for a future turntable, you name it. I buy stuff that I know I'm going to need down the road, I have a box of stuff. Good stuff.
I do miss Radio Shack. My brother and I used to go there when we model railroaded together growing up. My brother was a little smarter than me back then, probably still is We made a pulse power transformer for our layout, well he did most of the work but he showed me how to make the PC board and he connected the capacitors and resistors. He was always a better solderer than I was.
The Radio Shack on Miracle Mile in St Louis Park had this radio Veteran guy that worked there all the time. He really knew his stuff and always steered us in the right direction. You needed to know your own stuff in the newer stores before they went under. They didn't have anyone like that anymore.
I do miss the old Radio Shack. I always wanted to make one of those pulse power Transformers again. It was fun to make an electronic device and see it work for the first time.
TF
Thank you everyone for all your input. I saw a reference to a signal thread I started as well and how I was not continuing in on the conversations. Truth is, I have been taking in the massive amounts of information and trying to figure out how to apply it to my layout. So I am going to tie my 2 threads together for a minute.
Who out there has had any good experience with wiring trackside signals for operation?
Now I know where to place my signals and what i want them to indicate. I know that i want some to display occupancy for my sidings and others for the main, and others to indicate the throw direction of my switches. I see multiple options out there for programming relays that respond to IR sensors, magnetic reed switches, block detection and photo cells... but many are pretty costly.
In hindsight, I should have planned this before laying my track, but what's done is done. So I ask of you...
Any advice for finding these small electrical relays and the best way to wire them? I look forward to learning even more... this project can get a little intimidating and overwhelming at times... thanks again!
https://www.allelectronics.com
Only saw one small reference to this source. Granted it is mail order but I use to get pretty good service from them when I lived up north
Brian
My Layout Plan
Interesting new Plan Consideration
Gary
Often par for the course around here!
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
The OP never seems to join in on the discussions he starts. Just like the signal thread.
Oh well.