I just showed that photo:
to SWMBO and declared: "SEE! I'm not that bad!!" pointing to my modest setup.
Her response - "Well, if we pull out all your bits and pieces..."
I plaintively protested: "But that's only his work bench .... !!!" as she was leaving the room.
I'm never going to win, am I?
I did the same. I got one eyebrow which is the “not over my dead body” look
So what is it, am I the only one dumb or brave enough to go for a stab at bagging something from that American seller with all that nice Fluke and Tektronix goodies on offer?
So what is it, am I the only one dumb or brave enough to go for a stab at bagging something from that American seller with all that nice Fluke and Tektronix goodies on offer?
Are you referring to nmem's PM?
I just showed that photo:
to SWMBO and declared: "SEE! I'm not that bad!!" pointing to my modest setup.
Her response - "Well, if we pull out all your bits and pieces..."
I plaintively protested: "But that's only his work bench .... !!!" as she was leaving the room.
I'm never going to win, am I?I did the same. I got one eyebrow which is the “not over my dead body” look
There are advantages to no resident SWMBO and this is a classic example.![]()
So what is it, am I the only one dumb or brave enough to go for a stab at bagging something from that American seller with all that nice Fluke and Tektronix goodies on offer?
Are you referring to nmem's PM?Correct
I just showed that photo:
to SWMBO and declared: "SEE! I'm not that bad!!" pointing to my modest setup.
Her response - "Well, if we pull out all your bits and pieces..."
I plaintively protested: "But that's only his work bench .... !!!" as she was leaving the room.
I'm never going to win, am I?I did the same. I got one eyebrow which is the “not over my dead body” look
There are advantages to no resident SWMBO and this is a classic example.
If you really need to make a point just show SWMBO this video, that should get the results you seek.
Well I'd be failing in my duty of being a supporter for you if I let it go at that so I'm saying to you, go on and have a look, you know that you want to and should do, after this is the TEA room and resistance is futile because it won't last![]()
![]()
I just showed that photo:
to SWMBO and declared: "SEE! I'm not that bad!!" pointing to my modest setup.
Her response - "Well, if we pull out all your bits and pieces..."
I plaintively protested: "But that's only his work bench .... !!!" as she was leaving the room.
I'm never going to win, am I?
Whenever my lady visits I try to explain to her what I've been doing in ref to TEA. She looks at me and says she'll never understand what all this stuff is and even after you explain it I still won't understand. Then she says "I'm glad you enjoy playing with this stuff because then I know you're not out playing with other women."
Yep....she's a keeper!
Digikey have 1% resistor kits. I have a few of them. Even if I've run out of the 'exact' value, the next value up or down will do the trick to replace a 5% resistor.
Shame about the Radio Shack. stores They certainly were useful at times.
Yup, I've about decided to get one of those and update my resistor stock. It's tragic when Fry's has hundreds of resistor slots on their display, and half of them are either empty, mis-stocked, or in a pile of loose packages under the shelving. The associates clearly don't care about re-stocking or sorting them; I'm not even going to bother looking next time.
They used to have some test equipment such as scopes, power supplies, etc. set up for display. When I was thinking about a scope, I went to look them over and push a few buttons. I can be swayed to spend a few extra dollars if I get to handle the gear and verify that it does what I want. But no, now they just have a few low-end items in sealed boxes at higher prices than I can get next-day shipped from Amazon. Retail stores are killing themselves.
Radio Shack back in the 70s had all kinds of enclosures, switches, components, and drawer after drawer of piece parts that they didn't want out on display. A few minutes of searching and you could find something useful for your emergency repair or custom project without having to mail-order a part or drive 50 miles to the next city. As a college friend once said, "It's the place where you can buy an op-amp on a Sunday afternoon." Not the cheapest, but sometimes what you desperately needed. Once they went down the road of cheap consumer electronics, phones and R/C parts, it was inevitable that they'd lose the hobbyist market which sustained them for years.
So what is it, am I the only one dumb or brave enough to go for a stab at bagging something from that American seller with all that nice Fluke and Tektronix goodies on offer?
Are you referring to nmem's PM?Correct
Yep, lots of good deals and I could easily go broke so I'm refraining from talking about it or I'll convince myself to start buying.![]()
So what is it, am I the only one dumb or brave enough to go for a stab at bagging something from that American seller with all that nice Fluke and Tektronix goodies on offer?
Are you referring to nmem's PM?Correct
Radio Shack has been going out of business for 20 years... I don't know whose idea it was to follow in Sears' "Brand Central" marketing model AFTER it destroyed the Sears-Roebuck brand, but they need to have their manberries ground into a fine paste in situ without anaesthesia.
If you're lucky enough to have one nearby, go check out Micro Center. My local one is laid out with very much the same sort of "It was organized when we put it out here" clutter that made Red Ten feel like home. They have NTE, Klein, Hakko and SRA Solder/ Chemtronics product in stock,, as well as Adafruit and RoBugz
... but they also have several EXTECH and a 1054Z on the shelves, so at least our store has SOMEBODY in procurement that knows and cares what the electronics hobbyist wants and needs.
I just showed that photo:
to SWMBO and declared: "SEE! I'm not that bad!!" pointing to my modest setup.
Her response - "Well, if we pull out all your bits and pieces..."
I plaintively protested: "But that's only his work bench .... !!!" as she was leaving the room.
I'm never going to win, am I?I did the same. I got one eyebrow which is the “not over my dead body” look
There are advantages to no resident SWMBO and this is a classic example.![]()
If you really need to make a point just show SWMBO this video, that should get the results you seek.
Mr Carlson's arrangement works I suspect because he has his entire lab in the basement of his residence. I'll bet the SWMBO rules the roost in the upper floors. And that's great if you gots the room.
Whenever my lady visits I try to explain to her what I've been doing in ref to TEA. She looks at me and says she'll never understand what all this stuff is and even after you explain it I still won't understand. Then she says "I'm glad you enjoy playing with this stuff because then I know you're not out playing with other women."
Yep....she's a keeper!Hmm that doesn't quiet compute, but leave her in that ignorent bliss. There are a growing number of women in electronics these days and we have some among our forum members, some of whom are TEA members [emoji6]
Typical evening's ebay surfing:
Me: "Ooo! That's a good price, that's a very good price."
SWMBO: "How big is it?"
Radio Shack has been going out of business for 20 years... I don't know whose idea it was to follow in Sears' "Brand Central" marketing model AFTER it destroyed the Sears-Roebuck brand, but they need to have their manberries ground into a fine paste in situ without anaesthesia.
If you're lucky enough to have one nearby, go check out Micro Center. My local one is laid out with very much the same sort of "It was organized when we put it out here" clutter that made Red Ten feel like home. They have NTE, Klein, Hakko and SRA Solder/ Chemtronics product in stock,, as well as Adafruit and RoBugz
... but they also have several EXTECH and a 1054Z on the shelves, so at least our store has SOMEBODY in procurement that knows and cares what the electronics hobbyist wants and needs.
I was just musing yesterday that Sears (with their long history of mail-order service) was poised to take over the world when internet ordering became possible, but they have somehow let that slip away from them. The local stores are closing one by one, despite having a good selection of products.
I went to a Micro Center in Columbus the last time I was passing through; they had tons and tons of printers but their hobbyist gear section was paltry and included essentially no test equipment (much like Fry's). It seems very much to be dependent on the locale and management.