[Boatanchors] Capacitors

[Richard Knoppow]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robert Moses" <rhmoses at earthlink.net>
To: <Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 8:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Capacitors


> WOW I have not been able to get individual parts locally 
> for a couple of
> decades and I am in a metropolitan area of about 3 million 
> including
> Mexico where TV's etc. are actually repaired. Everything 
> here is either
> RS or mail order. We used to have shops that supplied 
> parts for all of
> north central Mexico as well as west TX and southern NM. 
> No more.
>
> Rob Atkinson wrote:
>
>>I am starting to think I am the only ham in the U.S. who 
>>can get in the car
>>and drive a few minutes to the local parts store, get a 
>>cart and walk around
>>amongst parts bins and pick caps and resistors etc. put 
>>them in plastic
>>bags, pay and go home.
>>
>>Rob
>>K5UJ

      I live in Los Angeles, a center of electronic 
manufacture, I have to get a lot of what I consider generic 
parts by mail order via the internet. There are a couple of 
surplus places here where I can sometimes find capacitors or 
connectors, etc, but I have come to rely increasingly on the 
web for sources. A lot of stuff is far from being 
unobtainable and may not even be expensive if you do a 
little shopping, but its a PITA that I can't just run across 
town to get parts.
      I think this is a result of partly the change in the 
nature of electronics from designs intended to be 
maintainable by replacements of components to those 
requiring essentially replacement of entire assemblies or 
sometimes just discarding the whole thing and replacing it. 
The sort of components required by "boatanchor" equipment is 
also different. For instance, I can find all the surface 
mount stuff I want but axial lead capacitors have become 
rare.
     I am even having a hard time finding hardware. For 
instance I just obtained an antique Vibroplex bug which is 
missing the little screw that holds the dot paddle. Not a 
common size and no regular hardware store has any. In this 
case I can get a replacement from Vibroplex but it will take 
a phone call and a couple of days plus postage.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com