be carefull at ratshack!

[Soundguy]

I never had anything much to do with a mainframe, but I was a lowly user of a VAX system and a Wang.

.

I remember some of the last work I did on a wang was upgrading it's memory.. as I recall.. that card was larger than a regualr 'pc' MOTHERboard..

 

[Redbug]

I have enjoyed reading the threads about Radio Shack. I have spent many a dollar at them in past years. Ham radio is making a come back in this day and age. But, I don't think Radio Shack will unless they can find another nitch.

Here's a funny, (tongue in cheek), write up from The Onion, back in 2007. There's more truth in it than you may think...
Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

 

[k0ua]

I have enjoyed reading the threads about Radio Shack. I have spent many a dollar at them in past years. Ham radio is making a come back in this day and age. But, I don't think Radio Shack will unless they can find another nitch.

Here's a funny, (tongue in cheek), write up from The Onion, back in 2007. There's more truth in it than you may think...
Even CEO Can't Figure Out How RadioShack Still In Business | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

There are 707,598 of us (ham radio licensees)in the US as of 09/12 76,362 In the UK, 15,626 in Australia as of 03/10 3,278,988 in Japan as of 03/09
so yeah there are a few of us left, and the term "radio-shack" well that is not exactly a WWII term. This Radio Shack CEO does not have a clue what keeps his company alive.. hum.. that does not surprise me a lot. A lot of folks have gotten to where they have gotten to without a "clue"

James K0UA

 

[daugen]

Ham radio is making a come back in this day and age.

Just curious, why?
Survivalists?

I have a Grundig s/w set at my desk that when I want to just tune out, I tune in to. Rotate the dial and visit the world. Basic long wire antenna, nothing fancy.
So maybe someday KOUA I'll tune you in. I know your handle...what's your frequency?

If a company doesn't have a vision, a driving force to do something very well, they'll fizzle. They'll be the best manufacturer of the last buggywhip made.
Radio Shack is into alarm systems, telephones, cellular, every kind of cabling and always has a giftee gadget laying around, or two or three.
But I don't see or hear them marketing to their strengths. The girl screaming when she got her first cell phone was one of the more forgettable ads, as in want
to forget. With Circuit City out of the market, I think Radio Shack was helped, but small electronics can now be purchased in so many places. Hard market, need to
find a niche and exploit it. I go to RS several times every year, or more, but never am I motivated to come back because I saw something neat there.

 

[Redbug]

Hi Daugen...Survivalists...that's a good point. I got a couple people interested recently in ham radio. And they were interested because of the survival standpoint. In a way, that's a shame. That's not what ham radio is about.

I guess a good nitch for Radio Shack would be selling dried foods, more ham radios and kits for survival. Instead of rc cars they need to be selling rc drones...

 

[Soundguy]

i know guys that live in remote areas that have no cell coverage.. don't want sat phones.. but Do want some communication.. ham works ( can ) fine for that..

the onion is some pretty funny stuff sometimes..

 

[California]

Instead of rc cars they need to be selling rc drones...

Fry's is already miles ahead of them in this area as well as everything else. 5 pages of RC helicopters.

I think RS got left in the dust as soon as the PC era began. Yes, I had their original pc. It had excellent software (for the time) MS Basic, running on really crappy hardware. It soon became unusable due to keybounce - multiple codes emitted per keystroke. They threw away a huge opportunity to be a market leader, with that cheapskate design flaw.

 

[Soundguy]

i had an original tandy 1000

I remember when they came out with the 286 add on card. we joked that it mat it a 286 XT ( not at ) as it still had that 8bit card bus and no 16 bit slots..

 

[k0ua]

amateur radios is not making a comeback its is just showing slow steady growth. There is no set frequency for an amateur radio operator. There are many bands of frequencies of what you're free to be on any frequency within those bands. I prefer 20 meters but I operate pretty much all bands 160 meters thru 6 meters and of course 2 meter FM to some a small extent which is a local coverage only band.

James k0ua

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. 2m talkie band...