Had to look up the coordinates. Got ya way up north NY.
Tnx Lee

QSL DE ex-K1LWT. I also could not copy the code faster than 5. Result of having learned it (in spite of warnings not to) visually at about age 8. Everything into my ears had to be transferred into pictures of the dots and dashes in my feeble brain. Now there's no code requirement, maybe I'll get in again. Or maybe not.

Used to use the RS story at 167 Washington Street in Boston as my parts bin. They had knowledgeable staff AND a tube tester better than the crummy one at the local drugstore.

I knew the end was near for RS when I saw their attempted re-branding to "The Shack." The boat is sinking. Quick! Let's hoist up a new flag!

I am in the tiny crowd who still have been buying
things from RS every month or so. . I need a part
for an experiment and sometimes they have it -- or
something close enough. . so I will resort to online
searches. . bye-bye, RS;;; I will miss you. -- j

my first stereo amp was a Lafayette -- had a phaser
switch on it which reversed the phase of one channel.
changed the bass response in my little room which
I called an apartment while in college. -- j

Thanks for the history lesson. I always thought Radio Shack came out of the old Allied Radio company.
Seems that Tandy purchase both companies and eventually ended up with the lone Radio Shack name.
I still remember the stores of the 70's where the staff could actually answer most of your electronics queries. Now days, they can maybe figure out what battery you need for your cellphone.
I'll have to see what effect the corporate bankruptcy is going to do to our local franchise outlet (like most of them are, out here).

Bless you. I had to write down my dots/dashes to make sure I had it right. You got it right! You can check my " creds" on line. 73's WB3KEF. Lee

You have to see my notes as I I did the dot dash thing. I knew it would get a quick response. I am not active now but I do miss ham alot. Thanks.

It's a conspiracy by TPTB so no one can fix anything!

The same at Home Depot and Lowe's. A few are very good, many of the rest can't find their way to the next aisle.

http://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberry-pi-...

"Raspberry Pi 2 is now on sale for $35 (the same price as the existing Model B+), featuring:

A 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU (~6x performance)
1GB LPDDR2 SDRAM (2x memory)
Complete compatibility with Raspberry Pi 1

Because it has an ARMv7 processor, it can run the full range of ARM GNU/Linux distributions, including Snappy Ubuntu Core, as well as Microsoft Windows 10."

From Wikipedia: "The company was started as 'Radio Shack' in 1921 by two brothers, Theodore and Milton Deutschmann, who wanted to provide equipment for the then-nascent field of amateur, or ham radio. The brothers opened a one-store retail and mail-order operation in the heart of downtown Boston at 46 Brattle Street, near the site of the Boston Massacre. They chose the name 'Radio Shack', which was the term for a small, wooden structure that housed a ship's radio equipment. The Deutschmanns thought the name was appropriate for a store that would supply the needs of radio officers aboard ships, as well as 'ham' radio operators. The term was already in use — and is to this day — by 'hams' when referring to the location of their stations."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RadioShack...

Greetings WB3KEF!

Please accept this 'Post Card' as confirmation that your signal has reached 41.1469N 73.3990W on Sat Jan 07, 2015 14:54 EDT :^)

Hardware: HP xw8600 Xeon 3.33Ghz, 8Gb RAM, 5.2TB RAID, 50Mbps down x 15 up.

Best!

I wish I could reply with my amateur call sign, but I don't remember it, and I think my commercial 1st class has long expired. I was never able to copy code at more than 5 wpm -- I could translate, but I simply couldn't *hear* the difference in the tones; still can't, but this was a lot easier because I could read it!

My eventual objective is some modest DSP functionality and D-Class amplifier control. I build speakers, and I want to develop integrated active filters & amplifiers. I bought an inexpensive Freescale development system which is for automotive (e.g. the brain in your car). It has huge I/O (DOI, PWM, A/D, D/A, etc), an embedded PowerPC, and FPGA functionality. Once worked out, you basically need a single $20 chip in production.

Unfortunately the learning curve on the IDE is high, and it does not hand hold at all, being for professional developers. So I was looking for something to accomplish my goals in a more user friendly platform. Don't think Ardiuno has the processing power. Raspberry PI doesn't have the I/O, unless there is a daughter card I haven't found.

There always was the dichotomy of someone skilled enough to adequately assist you who was making a retail wage. High schoolers are part time. I either found over priced items or under skilled clerks. It was frustrating. Frankly it 's the same problem best buy has...

What about android mobile? Likely more opportunity if you want to produce for profit as an added bonus.

given the lack of do it yourself type people these days I am surprised that they didn't go out of business in the late 1980's.

I've played with both a little. Pi was neat in that I could install the OS and immediately have it talking to the screen, keyboard, and thumb drive. Arduino is neat b/c it's very easy to get lights blinking in pretty patterns and read I/O.

Another household name bites the dust in Obama's rip-roaring economy. Sorry, I misspoke. In Obama's rip-off economy.

Have you tried the Ardiuno or PI? I am trying to pick a platform to reignite my programming/hobbist interests.

Over time, all companies must reinvent themselves or die.

Sears and JC Penny are trying now. Do you recall that Sears once sold houses?

GE is another interesting one, from power and lighting, to steam then gas turbines, to a bank (under that idiot Welch), and recently buying ConverTeam to get back into electric machines and power converters, which were a core GE technology, that became technically weak and expensive over time.

I do understand, CG. I have no expectation of intelligence in retail sales of technical products. When I do experience it I am delighted.The salespeople sometimes know enough to "serve" the average customer in buying an end-user electronic device. I do most of my buying online because that's where I find the information for decision making (and competitively priced products.) If its something that I know I will need help with after the sale, then I will find a local expert and buy from them. Usually I become the local expert.

"Perhaps those DIY guys with initiative just buy stuff online. "
- Probably good insight here. The Shack should have aggressively moved into the online space for education and components a long time ago.

Probably hard for their business model - since it would compete with all their independent storeowners.

So it goes the way of other firms that could not manage the inevitable transitions in business (especially the technology space).

I agree completely. I said the same thing, and someone voted it down. I'd like to hear for those disagree.

I know. Maybe someone else will take their place.

My point was that the management seemed to have contempt for the customer. The ones I met didn't see themselves as helping someone save two gallons. They saw their customers as idiots.

This is based on my limited sample of meeting a few managers at the store, district, and regional levels.

Over the years I have used Radio Shack often however brick and mortar businesses are facing huge challenges in rent utilities insurance and payroll. The internet is probably the biggest factor. I am old enough to recall Lafeyett electronics as well. I will surely miss them when they are gone.