[AMRadio] FT243 crystal sockets, half-watt resistors

[Jim Wilhite]

Several places on the web have parts that are suitable to use when working 
on equipment but the cost is out of sight now.  The place I looked was 
Mouser.  All of the parts places use a filtering system that can certainly 
lead me astray, but in this case I only wanted 680 ohm, 1/2 watt resistors 
with axial leads and the cut tape version was all that came back with a 
minimum of 1200 resistors.  Some of the descriptions are a bit misleading, 
for example if you want only 1-5 then you must select the "Bulk" filter and 
then look at the minimum quantity column to see what they ship.

Mouser is just down the road from me so shipping is as little as anyone can 
expect.  For UPS ground the order would have been here tomorrow but the 
cost, just for shipping, would probably have been 8-10 dollars and what they 
call Super Savings would be about 6 dollars but that is UPS to the nearest 
depot then given to the PO for the last mile.  Like I said that is a lot for 
just 4 resistors.  Just Radios has what I want and will sell small 
quantities, but they have a minimum order of $25 plus shipping making the 
four resistors near $30 or so.

I like carbon comp resistors for replacement parts but the last I ordered 
from Antique Electronic were as far out of tolerance as the used stuff I 
have here, so that reduces that option.  In this case I am not replacing 
resistors in an RF circuit, but in a voltage divider used in the S meter 
circuit.  While the circuit is not accurate the existing resistor there is 
so high in value that the meter will barely read.  Mouser also has carbon 
comp resistors but the price for them is astronomical, like some silver mica 
caps.

Another item that is almost out of hand is mechanical relays.  Recently I 
looked for an open frame 3PDT version with a 12 volt coil.  I finally found 
one at a surplus place but the cost was $25 plus shipping.  The place that 
had what I wanted buys surplus stock from people like Mouser, Digi-Key and 
Allied.   I have almost quit refurbishing anything but stuff I want to keep 
and that is a minimum nowadays.  All I want to do is keep it running, a pair 
of NC 183D (different models), a HRO 60, a GK 500A and a Globe Champion 
300A.

In my case I would rather reimburse my fellow hams for small quantities like 
this if they have extra and will send them to me rather than the suppliers, 
but you are right Don, save everything you can.  In my case everything is 
ordered including nuts, bolts and screws because  I live near a town that 
has only 4 K residents and that even limits Wal-Mart stock.

Jim
W5JO
-----Original Message----- 

I have checked the usual parts sources on line and never ran into anything
like this before, but it's been a while. As I recall some of them had a
minimum order but  nothing like  that.  The problem I have had is not being
able to find carbon composition resistors any larger than 1-watt, and
increasingly limited selection of resistance values in all types.  Ordinary
vitreous enamel wire wound resistors on hollow ceramic tubes with solder
lugs at each end seem to have about dried up.

This is getting to resemble the scarcity of just about every product
imaginable during WWII, when EVERYTHING had to be made  to last. Scary.


Don k4kyv




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