23 Jun
2010
23 Jun
'10
10:37 a.m.
On 6/22/10 3:22 PM, William Donzelli wrote:
[cue Twilight Zone music once again]
Are you even looking at where these sellers actually are today, which
is online? I wasn't alive in the 50s or 60s, but I can tell you that
what I saw in the 70s was NOTHING compared to what we've got now. The
only advantage back then is I could ride my bike up the road and buy
parts at Radio Shack, while now I have to wait 2-3 days for stuff to
arrive via FedEx or UPS.
There are hundreds of component suppliers, and dozens of kit vendors.
Are you seriously asserting that there were more than that in the 1950s
or 1960s?
-Dave
--
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL
I don't
really see that. In fact, I remember when there was six electronics parts stores
(excluding RadioShack) within a short bicycle ride of my house in the early 1980's in
Southern California. All but one is gone.
Yes, brick and mortar electronics parts stores are a vanishing breed.
All the ones I knew as a kid are gone, and nothing is replacing them.
The same is true for the surplus market - the old line is just about
gone, and very few new guys are stepping up.
> Electronic kits: There are more electronic
kit vendors...
The 1950s and 60s were the golden era of the electronic kit, with FAR
more vendors than today. Even some of the big guns tried the kit
business (Hallicrafters and National, to name two), but they could
never match the Heathkit standard, so they disappeared quickly. Most
of the vendors, like today, were small, and now completely forgotten.
If you look in the old trade rags and electronics hobby magazines, you
will start to see just how wide the kit business was back then. The
resurgence in kits in the last ten years is actually just a little
bump in the big picture.