Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: synsys!jeffj@uunet.uu.net (Jeff Jonas) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Allied Radio / Radio Shack Message-ID: Date: 12 Feb 91 12:10:09 GMT Sender: news@casbah.acns.nwu.edu Reply-To: Jeff Jonas Organization: Jeff's House of Electronic Parts Lines: 74 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 115, Message 6 of 6 In article <74329@bu.edu.bu.edu> rees@citi.umich.edu (Jim Rees) writes: >> Lafayette was located on Lafayette Street in NYC, near Hudson and >> Varick Streets. This area was known as Radio Row, and had many radio >> and electronics parts and surplus strores. The area disappeared when >This area seems to have moved over to Canal Street, which is also a >great place to buy the latest toys from Taiwan and $25 Rolex watches. >I mention it here because it's also a good place to shop for cheap >surplus telecom gear. I've been a long time surplus electronics buyer (mostly switches, LED/neon displays, indicators, and digital electronics parts, even a few Z80, 68000 computer systems). Since I'm moving soon, I will have to thin out my inventory. If you need an unusual part (like an indicator bulb), please check with me. I recently lost a basement full of old equipment due to a misunderstanding, but I still have a tremendous inventory. Back to the topic at hand ... Have you been to Canal street recently? I was an EE student at The Cooper Union from 1978-82, so I spent a lot of time on Canal Street. The electronics surplus area was on Canal Street between Broadway and West Broadway. [Go too far West and you'll find the Hudson River. Go East of Broadway and you're in Chinatown] Until recently there were a few good stores, but I can recall only one remaining. Ramco is still there with the mess of parts all over the back. They organized the wire spool so they could help you with that, but their bread and butter nowadays is PCs. They always had walls of speakers and speaker parts. I mostly loved their selection of illuminated switches. Trans Am electronics on Canal St and West Broadway (formerly Omnibus) seems to have changed ownership. They have virtually NO surplus stuff anymore and sell mostly chips and stuff that I can buy much cheaper by mail order. All my classmates went there since it was still better than Radio-Sh***. "American Excess" was a fun place, but the owner moved to Florida. I think the real name for the place was "American Relay". They had a catalogue of really expensive servo motors. I recall buying many "bargains" there such as army surplus switches, many new surplus switches and rechargeable batteries. The fellow changed stores every few years, so but some stuff never really moved. There was a wall full of obsolete overpriced oscilloscopes and test equipment that never sold. The store was usually clean, bright and full of useful parts. I miss that store most of all. Traveling further downtown was Courtlandt Electronics on West Broadway. I think it's now a repair shop only (no more surplus). I went there once for a friend to get wire wrap IC sockets and I was overcharged .30, so that prompted me to buy a $30 credit card sized calculator so I could check all further purchases. (I usually used the calculator in restaurants to figure tips). I'm disappointed at the collapse of the surplus market. I used to get many surplus electronics catalogues, and now there are too few. I typed in my list of catalogues a few years ago, but the list is out of date before I can ever post it. Marlin P Jones (Florida) seems to still exist, and I've gotten useful items from them. I found that John Meshna (Mass) has been extremely unsatisfactory due to low quality merchandise and inconderate customer relations. I have experiences problems with all my recent orders with them, so I no longer deal with them. Please E-MAIL any replies of your experiences. Jeffrey Jonas jeffj@synsys.uucp synsys!jeffj@uunet.uu.net