John Bouck said:
All Electronics and Ebay have been my source for parts since RS decided to be a mini Best Buy outlet with stereos and cell phones.
RS still has an Ebay store, but I noticed the parts are diminishing.
I get all my electronic parts from either EBay (for the cheap bulk stuff) or from Digikey if I need quality parts.
Yuh, I needed some extra Phoenix type reed switches and found them cheap on Ebay. All the way from China in 4 days, shipped free. And it turned out they were the exact same ones that Phoenix uses. What amazed me was the Chinese tracking numbers were usable on the USPS web site for tracking. And they were shipped airmail for free.
John Bouck said:
Yuh, I needed some extra Phoenix type reed switches and found them cheap on Ebay. All the way from China in 4 days, shipped free. And it turned out they were the exact same ones that Phoenix uses. What amazed me was the Chinese tracking numbers were usable on the USPS web site for tracking. And they were shipped airmail for free.
Yup. The Phoenix or Wago connectors are near-identical. its incredible to me that I can order $2 worth of parts, shipped, from the other side of the planet, and I get it in a week.
Amazing isn’t it. An airmail package from China, with tracking in 7 days, but try and get a first class letter from California that fast. Not likely!
The Chinese mail must be subsidized by their govt.
I ordered an iCom two way radio off eBay some time ago.
The company in China sent me a Baofeng instead.
The Baofeng sells on eBay with free shipping for less than it was going to cost him for me to ship it back.
Ralph
Careful Ralph - we’re in an off topic thread with the conversation leaning to politics (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
The Baofengs are actually pretty good radios if you can find a manual in real English. I’ve been thinking about buying a pair for a year or so now.
I have a couple Baofeng UV5Rs. Nice radios when you find some explanations in English.
Daktah John said:
Careful Ralph - we’re in an off topic thread with the conversation leaning to politics (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Nothing political…just Chinese radios and Chinese mail.
Ralph
Bob McCown said:
I have a couple Baofeng UV5Rs. Nice radios when you find some explanations in English.
Is it real English, or Chinglish, written by a Chinese high school sophomore studying English for the first time? I imagine our translations into Chinese Conji are equally as bad.
edited to correct Autocorrect
Steve Featherkile said:
Bob McCown said:
I have a couple Baofeng UV5Rs. Nice radios when you find some explanations in English.Is it real English, or Chinglish, written by a Chinese high school sophomore studying English for the first time? I imagine our translations into Chinese Congi are equally as bad.
Mine came with no instructions. I spent a couple hours on Youtube figuring out how to program it.
My Local Radio Shack is just a ghost!! ( sign only) (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cry.gif)
OK, the Radio Shack in the Mall is going, the store here in East Bremerton is still open and according to the people inside will be open in the near future. So what does that mean? I was able to get a DC Power plug the other day. And maybe they will still be on line (Web)!
Paul
All the stores in our area of the High Desert are closing or gone except the one in our town that is open “for now.”
Since the Shack doesn’t have what I need anymore I will not miss it much. I get fuses, batteries and solder there when I am caught short. But I don’t shop there like I used to. But I will be sad to see it go.
I hit my local ones pretty hard when I was doing some recent development. I will miss them. I see both are going out.
I was hoping someone would buy the chain and turn it into a ‘maker store’ perhaps with a shop in the back?
Lots of hacker parts and Ardunios etc, plus some 3D printers, routers and laser machines you could rent time on?
That would be cool.
Ah well.
Everywhere I go it’s Baofeng (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
They really aren’t bad for the $. If you are interested in one (or a dozen) buy the UV-B5 over any other one they sell. It’s been proven the ‘winner’ time and again for the ‘best’ Chi-com HT avail under $40. (I counted the other day-I have 13 HT’s…and hardly use any of them)
I have an Amazon Affiliate Store linked to the podcast full of HT’s and Ham Gear if you’re interested.
I’ve lamented the passing of the Shack for years now. They sold their soul to the devil (cell phone cos) and lost their way. If only…
Oh well, the 2 left here are almost picked clean, even at 70% off, stuff is still cheaper from All-Electronics, etc…
I’m looking for some alternate reed switches-please see my thread here: http://www.largescalecentral.com/forums/topic/23310/reed-switch-mounting
cale
I’m surprised my RS lasted as long as it did. They sold a common part I use on all installs for $4. I can buy it online for $.40 with free shipping. Also they didn’t always stock it.
T
Alas, the internet has been the demise of many brick-and-mortar businesses.
I still miss Heathkit and Layfayette Radio. Here in Massachusetts there was a heathkit retail store.
I built a few Heathkits. They were fun. Today with IC and surface mount technology kit building would not be easy. Today’s “kit” builders string together a bunch of special purpose boards to create something.
The original Radio Shack was on Comm Ave in Boston. It was huge! I had the chance to visit a few times in the 70’s while going to school in Boston. Neat place.
