Actually I do.
Although not really so much a hobby as a necessity.
Thank goodness for the parts sellers on eBay.
But it has been decades since Radio Shack's main business was parts and kits. They trended more and more towards TVs and telephones, small household electrics and remote control toys over the last many years. Cell phones and cell phone contracts was the primary business of my local one.
Agreed. Radio Shack went away from all the goodies that used to draw me to them. I’d almost kill to lay my hands on a couple more of their Radio Shack made-by-Ungar soldering irons.
That’s a good point, about the parts sellers on eBay. There is some pretty serious volume there. But, a problem with the Chinese sellers is variable quality. For example, I bought a few micro-HDMI-to-HDMI adaptors, mini-HDMI-to-HDMI adaptors, and cables from two sellers with very good feedback. All the parts from one seller work fine, but from the other, all the mini-HDMI-to-HDMI adaptors (which I actually needed more) don’t work. Checking, some pins do not connect through. This seller will hopefully refund me, but, sometimes it’s a hassle. I could order from a US seller, but the parts are generally from the same sources. My closest “brick and mortar” supplier, Gateway Electronics, is a 3-1/2 hour drive away.
Incidentally, I am surprised no one has mentioned another major online seller, MCM Electronics. I’ve bought a lot of “goodies” from them over the years. Most of their items are good, but, their speakers (with some exceptions) are junk and usually the specs are WAAAYYY off. Recently, customers discovered at least some of their RCA patch cords are not even shielded. 18 ga. speaker wire turned out to be Copper-clad Aluminum, not copper. (Much higher resistance per foot.) And so on. More worrisome is that recently they have been having many fewer “deals”, and, worse yet, they can’t seem to keep half of their regular items in stock. This results in orders where small parts trickle in — ok for a hobbyist, perhaps, but deadly if one is building custom stuff for, say, a commercial enterprise such as a bar / restaurant trying to open on time. And, since MCM offers free shipping on most larger orders, one can literally get over a dozen UPS envelopes or small packages in the month or more following an order. Sometimes they’ll literally ship, say, 56 cents of small parts in an envelope they (MCM) HAD to pay over a dollar to ship. No way can that be sustained...
The sellers are missing some bets, too, which can discourage hobbyists AND pro’s. For example, rack panels can be had inexpensively. But, sensible cabinets to go with them, at similar pricing (for what one gets) are very difficult to find. And, if one does find a useful cabinet, usually there’s a catch: The main chassis “box” is available, but, the cover is not, is a common situation.
Now, here’s a “go back in time” question:
Have any FReepers built any Dynaco equipment?