The demise of components stores

[VK4GHZ]

Times are changing, and this is just the beginning.

Replacing old coax runs here at VK4CP this week, and doing some long overdue maintenance around the shack.

I went to DSE at Buranda yesterday to get some N Connectors and RG213, and managed to clean out their stock of N conns... all eight of them!
There wasn't much RG213 left on the roll either, after I took a measly 13m worth.

Why are basic items so hard to obtain these days, without having to pre-order, or order from a webstore - and then have to wait?

Requiring more N Conns, I went to DSE Booval today, none in stock, and I also cleaned them out of RG213... a whopping 5m worth.

I then went to DSE Indooroopilly to get some more N connectors, but none in stock.
(By the way, don't believe the stock on hand figures they quote off their computer system!)

Actually the Indooroopilly store had moved a few shops up, although still in the same complex.
This store no longer carries electronic components, as such.

Flatscreen televisions, mobile phones, batteries, answering machines, and other consumer goods are everywhere though.

I asked the young girl behind the counter what had happened to the components.
She replied "you can order them online".
"Indooroopilly is the first store to change to the new look".
(First in Brisbane metro, QLD, or Australia wide, I didn't ask)

What a pain in the a***, I thought, if you need something immediately.

Before too long Jaycar will be the only place in Brisbane you can conveniently buy components... with the exception of the RS Components Trade Counter.
However, no hobbyist will want to pay RS prices for a similar item stocked by Jaycar.

I believe this is related to the fact that, as a society, we are dumbing down... and that fewer and fewer enthusiasts are building things these days.

[VK4VU]

Adam

I have been buying most of my connectors from Peter Martin at The RF Shop located at Oxley.

Please refer to http://www.rfshop.com.au

They generally have a good supply of connectors and cables in stock.


73

Rod VK4KZR

[VK4GHZ]

I have been buying most of my connectors from Peter Martin at The RF Shop located at Oxley.

Hi Rod
Yes, I was there today, getting some N-N adapters.
I should have asked if they sold cable by the metre whilst I was there, but never did.

[VK2OMD]

Adam,

Noted all the stuff about DSE, the writing was on the wall when Woolworths bought them, first step Powerhouse, next step the evolved DSE store.

RFSHOP is a good source, and they will terminate cables for IIRC less than $10 per end (over the cost of cables and connectors). That isn't a bad option for cases where you don't have a crimp tool to suit, or don't have confidence in getting the crimp right first time. It also should appeal to 'modern minimalist' buyers who don't want to stock a roll of RG213 just in case.

I haven't bought coaxial cable from DSE in decades after an experience with low braid coverage RG213, and in the same week, RG58 with centre conductor off centre (ie Zo seriously wrong).

I source most of my electronic parts from Futurlec, or from WES (but WES may have an account only policy), a little from Jaycar, and less from Farnell.

Though you might not like the idea of pre-ordering, if I order something from WES or Farnell, it is here next day every time. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Futurlec, it can be many weeks.

I can remember as a kid standing in the queues at Radio Despatch Service in Sydney when people queued up to by the parts for the latest Playmaster kit, resistor by resistor. The model was doomed to failure.

Dick Smith's model hadn't changed much since he opened his electronic parts store in Atcheson St at St Leonards.

The good thing is that Jaycar seems buoyant, perhaps even growing, so we may continue to have a corner store for some parts.

Owen

[VK3PY]

Another good component supplier is Altronics: http://www.altronics.com.au/

Also, for some "lucky dip" cheap parts, see Rockby electronics: http://www.rockby.com.au/myindex.cfm They seem to have cubic metres of surplus components from end of production runs. If you get on their mailing list they send you emails of clearance sales.

Chas
VK3PY

[VK4QB]

Hi Guys,
Owen you've got it right.
DSE is now what we could call a gimmick shop . Their quality of parts is cheap and thats all, so as the saying goes "You pays your money and you gets what you pays for." !! Very rarely do you get a bargain. The ARRL and the RSGB are concerned about this loss of technical expertise. This then shows up as less and less people are building gear which flows onto less and less parts available and also manufacturing equipment becomes more economical due to manufacturers being able to order large quantities of parts. Its a vicious circle. I think that the shortage of good quality parts will make us pay more. parts whether we like it or not. The good quality components are still available at a price, and I have found that Farnell and RS Components will get anything that they list and without much wait, and the quality is good. . However, the cost of components escalates with small orders due to a $10 freight charge. You guys in the big cities are lucky as you can pick it up,yourselves.But these 2 companies don't stock everything, so sometimes you have to dig around on the www. After Farnell and RS the lower quality is Jaycar and Altronics. DSE is last!
Brian 4QB

[VK7HDX]

Even DSE Launceston has moved away from transmitter in general except UHF-CB. But then that's very limited on parts of that medium example plugs and antennas. And really the prices are not cheap but then I suppose of you don't know any better you will run down to your local store on a Saturday afternoon and grab a plug or bits to suit the UHF radio.

Here in 2009 DSE has moved into the "home entertainment " market with lower quality items now. I can remember if it had a Dick Smith logo it was good quality but now its generally cheap import rubbish. I have a on going issue with the DSE set top box. I have had 2 just fail for over heating (small or close to none heatsink in the chassis).

We Have a Jaycar in L'ton which is a bit better for looking for a SMA to BNC of something similar in plugs and sockets.

73... Karl
VK7HDX

[VK2GOM]

I have got to chime in here with a DSE experience...

I needed a PL259 to RG58 to a SO239 antenna base assembly for an antenna I needed to quickly fit to my vehicle. I looked it up on the DSE website, and it was in stock in my local store. I went there.

I described it to the 'Techspert' on the shop floor. He didn't recognise it. I took him to the component drawers and said a ready-made one of these, to some of that, to one of these with a screw base. He had no idea. He said come back in half an hour and speak to their communications expert.

I went back later, found the communications 'expert' and said I'm after the PL259 to RG58 to an SO239 antenna base assembly. He said "I've no idea what you're going on about". I said PL259? He had no idea what one was. And this guy was the communications expert...

So there I was stuck between a pillar and a post. I knew the item was at the store, yet due to staff ineptitude, I couldn't buy it as they couldn't find it in the stock room.

I emailed the complaints dept for DSE and told them the predicament.

To their merit, they tracked another down about 30km, where I went to pick it up and they did it for just above half price.

But - it is trying when you're dealing with monkeys who are supposedly the 'experts'.

Back in G land (UK) where I came from we had LOADS of stores where you could get what you needed. Mail order was dead easy for absolutely anything electronic/radio related, as were Maplin Electronics stores where the staff seemed to know their stuff and did next day mail order provided you ordered before 6pm! I've always said it's difficult to buy anything "vaguely technical" in Australia. I still order radio bits from the UK...

73 - Rob VK2GOM

[VK4QB]

Hi Guys,
Say, this is a good subject. But lets look why ?
We still have a few places where we can get things of good quality and availability. We should tell each other where we got them and the price. WES has some stuff but their catalogue on the web is woeful. Pity.!!! There is is Rockby Electronics that have parts different from others , and also a mob in Brisbane whose name eludes me ,which have different stuff again. Their catalogues on the web are pretty woeful too. But we have little choice now . If we had about 50.00 hams wanting stuff we would have more suppliers but realities are different Even the hams are different to what they were 10, 15, 25 years ago. Who builds their gear anymore ? ( appologies to 4DD and a small group of others) Other countries had what we had years ago but times have changes and we have to make do with what we have, and tell each other what is where, more often.
Is this a suggestion for a where to buy column ?
73
Brian 4QB

[VK3UH]

Quote:
"I needed a PL259 to RG58 to a SO239 antenna base assembly for an antenna I needed to quickly fit to my vehicle. I looked it up on the DSE website, and it was in stock in my local store. I went there."
Rob,
Did it ever cross your mind to ask for it by the catalogue number? If you described it as you wrote, I think you were doomed from the start. You are correct about the collective knowledge in these stores, but you can help yourself a bit in dealing with them - most of them understand cat numbers
Regards,
Ken

PS: I think a listing of some sort as to where we find usefull bits is an excellent idea.

[VK4BKP]

A new DSE store has just opened at Mt Pleasant shopping centre here in Mackay. Not a component in sight. It's just an over priced appliance store. Jaycar has closed now too. It's bad here.

[VK2GOM]

Quote:
Did it ever cross your mind to ask for it by the catalogue number? If you described it as you wrote, I think you were doomed from the start. You are correct about the collective knowledge in these stores, but you can help yourself a bit in dealing with them - most of them understand cat numbers
Regards,
Ken

I should have perhaps expanded my post in that the initial catalogue number request didn't work either... that was when the descriptions started.

It's funny, the store-room at the back of the store, peeking in wqhen they open it - what a shambles. Worse than my shack HI. No wonder they can't find anything. But the knowledge is woeful. I told DSE the guy I dealt with was mis-employed. How he ever got through a job interview for a comms specialist is beyond me. Even my wife (a non-amateur) knows by know what a PL259 is Mind you, she still calls the squelch knob on the mobile the 'Squidge'.

Regards,
Rob

[VK6ADF]

I've been calling them glorified toy shops for a while now. I saw a mention in a newspaper here a couple of weeks ago that DSE was changing style to compete with JB HiFi. Its been slowly happening for years. Now at the local store there are more TV's, video's, music systems, full on computer systems and toy's than parts.

Lets face it, they have to sell what makes them money. The sales of items we like to buy don't put bread on their tables. Kudos to Altronics, Jaycar and the others for keeping the flame flickering.

73 Phil...VK6ADF

[VK3UH]

Rob.
OK on trying the cat number first - it used to work, but not now,apparently.
"Mind you, she still calls the squelch knob on the mobile the 'Squidge'." Sounds like your wife might be over qualified for a job there, then.
Regards,
Ken

[VK5MK]

I went to my local Jaycar store yesterday to buy a ferite toroid to make a balun. Explained what I was after and quoted the appropriate FT numbers to the bloke who was serving me. Nice chap but ... unable to help. Jaycar catalouge indicated they had 3 only toroids & the website didn't have any more. When I asked him to get the data sheets for what was available, they weren't!
In VK5 where else do you go where you can talk to someone and view a data sheet? Looks like it's online buying from now on!

[VK2ZRH]

It seems like we're "back to the '70s" . . . but perhaps not quite.

Over the late-1960s ~ early 1970s, there were no electronics "chain" stores and comparatively few "retail" electronic component/equipment stores offering a comprehensive range of stuff. There were certainly a gaggle of individual small retailers, often specialising and carrying a limited range, and a bunch of "trade" electronics suppliers (quite a few of those selling into the radio/TV/record-player service market). Retailers supplying kits were thin on the ground (indeed, a couple of state WIAs figured prominently as kit suppliers). Dick Smith had one store (self-service!) - at Gore Hill, Sydney. He had no direct competitors.

To get electronic/RF stuff in that era, you had to not only shop around, but often make many phone calls and travel great distances, have lots of patience and a network of mates who "knew" people and places. It seems we're returning to that era.

Back then (early-mid 1970s), I was writing/editing/publishing 6UP (a VHF-UHF newlsetter), writing articles (freelance) for Electronics Today and working in an electronics/RF lab (IPS). This kind of put me in the position of being a "hub" of knowledge on electronics/RF suppliers. The home phone ran hot. The letterbox filled with pleas from frustrated enthusiasts.

So my wife and I fell upon the idea (suggested by a couple of acquaintences) to produce a kind-of 'phone book guide to electronics/RF suppliers. After some 3 months or so spare-time work we published The What, Where Who, Hassles and How Much Book - An electronics and communications buyers guide for hobbyists, fanatics, small businesses, shortwave listeners etc. Full title ! Here's the front cover:

The 1st Edition was published in March 1974, with a reprint (with revisions) in December 1974.

Content was divided into categories, each carrying listings of companies et al in alphabetical order relevant to the category. Here's the Contents page:

Here's a page from the General Components, Hardware and Accessories category:

The listings were succinct and often gave some guidance on what to expect (ie. George Brown & Co, Dick Smith).

More - next posting.

73, Roger Harrison VK2ZRH

[VK2ZRH]

Continuing where I left off . . .

At the back of the book was a Master Address List. There were some 260+ companies and organisations listed. Here's a page:

We couldn't resist a little mischief. There were 11 "dummy" listings, which referred from one to another, with three "entry" points, so that once you looked from one to the next, and so on, you got stuck in the loop Hassell Electronics was one of the dummies.

So far as I can tell, of those listed on this page, only Hare & Forbes, Hewlett Packard, Hills Industries and Hy-Q remain in business today. C'est la guerre.

We sold advertising. One key advertiser took the outside back cover:

This company was later bought by an industry personality and transformed into that well-known electronics retail chain, Jaycar.

While it's clear from the comments made by posters on this forum that such a source may be needed these days, it would most likely have to be published in electronic form, rather than print.

Posted as an amusement.

73, Roger Harrison VK2ZRH

[VK2JH]

Just throw my "two bob's" worth in. I will only whisper it in case the DSE powers-that-be hear me. Here in Tamworth, the one and only store, DSE, still carries, tools, solder, some electronic components and numerous switches, connectors, cables etc. Maybe a bit pricier, but usually the drawers are kept stocked. And, that area appears popular, looking at the people usually down that end of the store. (We do have a couple of tv repair places also that sometimes have a bit or two.)

For how long, I would be too scared to ask, but, please keep it quiet unless "THEY" in the corporate tower cotton on.

John
VK2JH

[VK2SWL2]

All the Dick Smith stores I drive past regularly have now dropped "electronics" from their signage. The North Parramatta one hasn't had a component in it for ages. Luckily I am an easy walk to the Jaycar head office store in Rydalmere.

I remember when I first moved to Sydney in 1982 there was a shop somewhere near the top of Broadway that used to have of valves and so on. Also behind the QVB you had Tandy, Dick Smith, Jaycar and David Reid Electronics. Between the 4 you were bound to be able to find what you wanted. Different nowadays.

[VK3NEA]

Better quality components from specialized stores, especially when you want coaxial cable and fittings.
Alan.