[Scan-DC] The demise of the DIY electronics shops

[merlin at merlinjacobs.com]

In the 50’s 60’s 70’s and early 80’s we did not have cell phones or really 
decent computers on a mass scale. A lot of what we had was left to our 
imagination. Everything now a day is just there for them. When I go to 
hamfests and club meetings it’s just a bunch of old, fat, gray, white guys 
(me too) which are all dying off just like Radio Shack.

I remember listening to cell and cordless phones conversations on the old 
analog systems. I knew everything about my neighbors and what they were 
doing. My buddies and I would decoded MDT from the police department and cab 
companies. Decoding pagers was interesting too. Of course it was for 
entertainment and we never abused what we found out. The MDT thing really 
hit the fan when Bill Cheek posted them on the internet. He died before the 
feds brought him to trial.

I remember EEB too. I recall they got into trouble with the feds which 
helped their demise. I occasionally see radio gear on EBay that has the old 
EEB stickers on the back, mostly AOR stuff.

Good old listening days.....

-----Original Message----- 
From: Greg Danes
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2014 8:35 PM
To: Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net
Subject: [Scan-DC] The demise of the DIY electronics shops

I was the service manger of Heathkit as I worked 1982-1992 ( the Glory
years) of DIY electronics. It comes as no surprise we are the dinosaur
generation for that type of thing. Back then we sent people to radio shack
for common stuff, connectors, simple kits, Radio Shack sent them to us for
batteries, LOL. It was all good !!!! People built their own prototypes of
stuff later to be used in various ways. I have written the history of
Heathkit during this time. If you will really were looking for something
"out there" You went to EEB in Falls Church. This was a time of Tom
Knitel's " Secret Government frequency's" books put out by CRB research.
Long before RS came out with their books on sectional areas called " Police
Call books". It was a gas cause everything was analog then and could be
heard on the air. With the internet everything changed so People starting
RR, and or other sites had all that info online. But during the days before
this EVERYTHING as up for grabs. The FBI was playing with DES encryption
but mostly could be heard. All the WHCA folks were downlinking off 415.700
Navsats etc. One of our techs had a car phone on 465.XXX or 462. XXX, The
internet was years away yet. The companies made it a habit of offering
discreet components for hobbyist long before SMT tech came about, You could
build teletype and wefax stations in your home. Today everything is SDR.
Yes if you tried to explain this to kids today they would laugh at you, sad
as we had a lot of fun back then.


KJ4DE

-- 
"I seek not to know all the answers, but to understand the questions"
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