View Single Post
Old 18th Apr 2017, 7:29 am   #404
Radio Wrangler
Moderator
 
Radio Wrangler's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Fife, Scotland, UK.
Posts: 22,799
Default Re: Bygone radio traders

I was in my teens a decade or so later, Roger. The only radio sort of place I can remember anywhere near the old market in Huddersfield (long gone and still lamented) was Charlie Shaw's on the Shambles. That was purely a radio and TV retailer, since moved to New street opposite Wood's.

I'm trying to remember the TV repairer on Venn street, near the junction with King street, next to Sydbros. They had a Mullard one-armed bandit valve tester in the public part of the shop.

Hi William, I'm definitely interested. It seems like similar market forces have been at play on both sides of the Atlantic. There was a long established amateur radio dealer near London, by the name of The Radio Shack, so when the Tandy corporation decided to expand their franchises this way, the name was already taken, so they traded as Tandy, here. They were useful sometimes for components, but their finished goods were generally seen as not the best. They wouldn't let you buy anything without getting your address first. I got tired of being a dumping ground for tons of advertising, so I started saying '1601 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC USA' None of them figured it out. Visiting California for work, I got shown round all the usual surplus outlets and told that they were a shadow of what they once were... oh and the amateur radio section at the Bascom Bandit in Sunnyvale.

There is a difference in attitude in our two countries If you can play around with electronic or mechanical things and make them work, or design new things. In the USA you are considered useful, in Japan and Germany you are respected as one of the creators of their level of wealth. In Britain, you are considered odd.

David
__________________
Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done
Radio Wrangler is online now