An article about Radio Shack

[jhalphen]

Hi! to All,

My 2 cent's worth...

I live in France and am 54 years old. I had the privilege of coming to the US West coast every two years when flying time to NYC was 14.5 hours and 23 hours to SFO with 4-5 refueling stops (1950s-60s - before jets).

For a kid from Europe, Radio Shack was heaven! "unobtainium" components hanging readily available which we MIGHT see in 2-3-4 years across the pond. I purchased scanners which gave me years of fun listening to the French Police, the first LEDs, no one had seen in France, voice synthesizer chips at which adults listened with disbelief, fingernail-sized audio amps, high-power CB walkie-talkies, etc.

To this day, when i travel to the US, i still visit a RS shop. Components such as 75 Ohm to 300 Ohm baluns for vintage TVs, F-to-RCA, F-to-SMA adapters, US TV modulators are difficult to source in Europe, they still have them.

OK, the company is slowly dying, i just wanted to add my tribute to what was once-upon-a-time an exciting reason to visit America.

Best Regards to All,

jhalphen