Radio Shack

Started by Lamewolf, December 09, 2014, 03:26:51 PM

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Lamewolf

Went to Radio Shack last night to see if they had any RG8X (Mini 8) coax, the guy takes me over and grabs a box with RG6, 75 ohm TV coax and heads for the cash register.  I tell him thats not what I want, I asked for RG8X and that is RG6.  Then he says the only other coax we have is PL259 coax.  I tell him that a PL259 is a connector for coax not the coax itself.  He tells me, "I know what I'm talking about, trust me its a type of coax".  So I say show it to me.  He goes to the other side of the room and picks up a box of RG58 coax and says, "this is PL259 coax cable".  So I pointed out on the box that it is RG58 coax with PL259 connectors on it, and he says "Oh, ok - I thought the PL259 was the number of the cable".  Anyway, they didn't have any RG8X coax at, but could order it in 100' boxes.  Before I left I asked them if it was true they were changing the name from Radio Shack to The Phone Booth ?  The guy says, "I don't know, maybe they are".  He didn't get it and didn't have a clue I was joking !



Thought you guys might get a chuckle out of this !

cockpitbob

The last thing I read said that Radio Shack was having serious financial troubles.

On the bright side, the Radio Shack here in western PA (I'm on business travel) has CBs, antennas, including a discone for scanners and a modest selection of coax and connectors.  At least here in rural deer hunt'n country the store isn't all about phones.

whoppo

Radio Shack... you've got questions,  we've got cell phones.

Lamewolf

Quote from: whoppo on December 10, 2014, 09:13:27 PM
Radio Shack... you've got questions,  we've got cell phones.

No, you got it all wrong - Radio Shack, you got questions, we got dumb looks !

I asked them one time where they kept the volume controls because I figured they wouldn't know what a potentiometer was, and the kid says, "oh, you're looking for a potmeter".

Jim Boswell

The Radio Shack in Socorro, NM is an associate store. We are talking a real Radio Shack with 3 call signs on the front door and an Icom 706 station, set-up on the shelf, always monitoring the local repeater. Al and Sandy Braun have almost everything you need from common transistors, diodes to tools, coax and connectors. They don't sell cell phones. If you ever travel to Socorro, NM check out a real Radio Shack. 73'S  KA5SIW

Lamewolf

Quote from: Jim Boswell on December 11, 2014, 11:26:03 AM
The Radio Shack in Socorro, NM is an associate store. We are talking a real Radio Shack with 3 call signs on the front door and an Icom 706 station, set-up on the shelf, always monitoring the local repeater. Al and Sandy Braun have almost everything you need from common transistors, diodes to tools, coax and connectors. They don't sell cell phones. If you ever travel to Socorro, NM check out a real Radio Shack. 73'S  KA5SIW

That is good to hear, sure wish there were still Radio Shacks in this area like that !  At one time here I could have went to Radio Shack and bought just about everything needed to build small radios, accessories, and antennas.  But anymore you are very lucky to find a few components, almost no coax or at least good coax except for a few jumpers and premade RG58 cables.  The thing here seems to be cells phones and toys.

Lamewolf

Well, I ordered coax from Radio Shack last Monday and was told it takes 2 days to deliver to the store with free shipping.  Here it is a week later and it still hasn't arrived even though they say they are receiving shipments daily.  No place local sells coax except for 75 ohm TV coax and I have my off center fed dipole together and ready to go up but no feed line to put on it !  I'm almost tempted to use 75 ohm cable on it since Radio Shack no longer carries radio supplies in their stores !

Luigi

Why are you buying cable from them in the first place?
THere are many other vendors out there who can deliver just as fast and make better cables.
Luigi

Lamewolf

Quote from: Luigi on December 15, 2014, 05:01:24 PM
Why are you buying cable from them in the first place?
THere are many other vendors out there who can deliver just as fast and make better cables.
Luigi

I just ordered the cable, I already have the PL-259 connectors and reducers and I make up my own cables.  Just went there because they used to carry it in stock, but its free shipping if you have it delivered to the store so I ordered a 100' spool while I was there.  Lately when I order from other vendors, UPS and FedEx both deliver to your local post office and you have to pick it up at the post office if it doesn't fit in your mail box. They no longer deliver it direct to you home.  The problem with that is I am working when the post office is open and since its a rural post office it closes at 11:30 am - I don't get off work until 5pm.  So I have to order from some place that delivers to the store in order to get it.  We used to have a local electronics dealer 2 blocks from where I work, but another person bought it out then went bankrupt and even got in trouble writing bad checks, and that's where I used to get all my coax because they sold Belden brand coax.  Places that sell radio parts and supplies are quickly fading away !

Lamewolf

Update on Radio Shack RG8X coax cable.  My order finally arrived yesterday, the box is labeled "RG8X Communication Cable", but no where on the cable is it labeled 50 ohm or RG8X, it looks like RG8X except that the outer jacket is thicker than usual and the adapters that are supposed to fit RG8X cable will not go over it, but I managed to drill out a couple of them to make them fit for when I do make up the cable.  The quality looks fair, it has a 16 gauge stranded copper inner conductor, foam center insulator, foil shield then a braided copper shield over that so it is well shielded.  Now when I get time to finish putting together the off center fed dipole, I'll post here how the Radio Shack cable checks out with some measurements.  It sure is different from I used to get from them !

Luigi

On Amazon, I used Kimberly_Distribution_LLC to obtain LMR-400 cable. They are pretty reasonable and the cable was a nice warrantee.
I know you are away from a normal shipping area, but others might need a place to get cable. I am not affiliated with them. I am just a customer.
Luigi

cockpitbob

In the last 5 years Radio Shack stock (RSH) has gone from $22 down to $0.35.  In the last month it's gone from $0.85 to $0.35.  It's toast.  In my youth I had a lot of fun with the stuff I bought there.  I'll miss Radio Shack.  :-[

Lamewolf

Quote from: cockpitbob on December 23, 2014, 03:12:38 AM
In the last 5 years Radio Shack stock (RSH) has gone from $22 down to $0.35.  In the last month it's gone from $0.85 to $0.35.  It's toast.  In my youth I had a lot of fun with the stuff I bought there.  I'll miss Radio Shack.  :-[

Know what you mean my friend, when I was in high school, you could go to RS and buy enough stuff to actually build a radio but not anymore !  And its just a matter of time before there will be no more through hole components available too with our throw away society where instead of fixing something, it just gets thrown away and buy new.  But I think that's all in the master plan, they don't want stuff fixable, they want you to keep buying new !  I say lets all go back to tubes, this new stuff will cease to work when the big one hits anyway !

AC0AX

Years ago when I worked for RS stock was over $100 a share. That was about 15 years ago however.

Lamewolf

Well, I guess Radio Shack will soon fade out of existence.  Just stopped by the local store to pickup some solder and other misc items because they have up to 60% off on everything in the store.  Got the solder, some packs of 15 npn transistors, and assortment of 1/2 watt carbon resistors, copper clad board, RJ45 8 pin mic plugs, a couple of project boxes and a big pack of 1n914 diodes.  It will be sad to see them go, but I guess we all saw it coming.