UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > General Vintage Technology Discussions

Notices

General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 17th Dec 2015, 8:58 pm   #61
m0cemdave
Octode
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 1,205
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

The Samson's I remember had two adjacent shop fronts. I remember visiting them when they were open, and also seeing the building after they closed. It was very close to the District Line tube station.

Some buildings in that area were swallowed up by the flyover which I recall being built in the mid 60's, but I think theirs may have survived for a while afterwards.

I guess the basement was where they moved to later on.

edited to add:
I have just found an advert in WW (February 1964) giving their address as 9 & 10 Chapel Street.

Last edited by m0cemdave; 17th Dec 2015 at 9:05 pm. Reason: further info
m0cemdave is offline  
Old 17th Dec 2015, 10:35 pm   #62
dseymo1
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 3,051
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Even if the supply and demand were still what they once were, it's difficult to imagine that profits would cover the lease and rates on those addresses now.
I used to regularly frequent Chiltmead in Reading, until they had an, er, disagreement with the local authorities over compulsary purchase of their premises. In fact, I picked up some stuff in the final liquidation sale, when all the doors were manned by official security guards! in addition to 'priced' items, they had a 'buy by weight' area, where some real bargains could be found by careful sifting. Some of the legal documents relating to valuation of their stock are readily available online; both the judge's summary and the figures quoted give an interesting insight into running such an establishment.
dseymo1 is offline  
Old 17th Dec 2015, 11:37 pm   #63
Skywave
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Chard, South Somerset, UK.
Posts: 7,457
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

In the early part of the 1980s, I was working as a contractor at a certain well- known government establishment in Cheltenham. Then, now and again, the powers-that-be held auctions of surplus kit for the staff to bid for. However, a few years on from that, those auctions stopped. Reason: Health & Safety / electrical hazards, potential for . But it still remained worthwhile to inspect the contents of the odd skip, now and again!

Al.
Skywave is offline  
Old 19th Jan 2016, 2:11 pm   #64
cendoubleu
Tetrode
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Lincoln, Lincs. UK.
Posts: 94
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Here in Lincoln we still have Birketts. Their military surplus is fairly limited these days, but still plenty of ARC52/PTR175 transceivers and control units. They do sell components of course and for those of us who like to dabble with valve-based gear, plenty of things like tag strips etc. These are much cheaper than buying online. I noticed today they have quite a lot of bins with knobs of various sizes and a good range of variable caps. in all sorts of values. They used to have a web site but that seems to have gone now. I believe they still advertise in PW.
cendoubleu is offline  
Old 21st Jan 2016, 3:52 pm   #65
avocollector
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Wellington, New Zealand.
Posts: 653
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Ah the glory days of surplus - visits to Birmingham as a kid and buying ex wd morse keys for 1/6d or lusting over the ten shilling green army surplus trench coats that were all the fashion rage at my school back in the late 60's. Over here in NZ when I now live there were never huge surplus electronic places post the 70's and those have mostly gone. However NZ has taken greatly to online auctions (google 'trade me nz' if you want to see a major one) in the last decade and the surplus stuff has rolled out onto that platform. Virtually all of my 40 or so Avos and other gear, including WW II ZC1's military radios, have come from that source.

What has been really upsetting, though, is the slow demise of a major electronic parts chain in NZ through sheer investor greed and stupidity. No names but this was started by an Aussie way back and had spread to NZ. You could get all the common resistors, caps, trannies, IC's, verobaord etc and test gear, plus they had computers, radios and all the latest electronic gadgets. Anyway the founder sold the firm to a local outfit who ran it as is for a while then sold it to an investment outfit who see only $. Components are 'not profitable enough' so they stop stocking, and eventually get out of, them along with test gear. Of course the idiots deciding this did not realise that it was the enthusiasts who came in to get the bits that also bought the other stuff and, without the components, they were now just another discount electronics (TV's, phones, computers, dvd players) store and not a particularly good one at that. The result was death by a 1000 cuts with the receivers recently called in. Really annoying as now it's either wait days for mail order or traipsing miles into town to find the one remaining parts store - bring on the same day drone deliveries!

Last edited by avocollector; 21st Jan 2016 at 3:59 pm.
avocollector is offline  
Old 23rd Jan 2016, 9:05 pm   #66
G6Tanuki
Dekatron
 
G6Tanuki's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,953
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Quote:
Originally Posted by avocollector View Post
What has been really upsetting, though, is the slow demise of a major electronic parts chain in NZ through sheer investor greed and stupidity.
The same happened to "Tandy" here in .UK: from the late-1980s they stopped stocking individual components and switched to 'hifi' stuff and computers, then mobile-phones, before being bought out by "Carphone Warehouse" who closed down the stores.

To be honest I can understand their move: a geek who comes into a store a couple of times a month to spend £5 on a few resistors/transistors/capacitors makes a pitifully-small contribution to the upfront running-costs of said store (staff salaries, rent/business-rates, liability and depreciation on the in-store stock).
G6Tanuki is offline  
Old 23rd Jan 2016, 9:58 pm   #67
russell_w_b
Dekatron
 
russell_w_b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK.
Posts: 3,684
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Quote:
Originally Posted by G6Tanuki View Post
To be honest I can understand their move: a geek who comes into a store a couple of times a month to spend £5 on a few resistors/transistors/capacitors makes a pitifully-small contribution to the upfront running-costs of said store ...
On top of what you say, I think it's the demise of geeks (or, rather, the changing nature of geekery) that's done them in. The 'geek peak' would be in the '60s, '70s and '80s when component-level electronics was a hobby enjoyed by a broader spectrum of people than now and was fuelled by Practical Electronics, Everyday Electronics, Elektor, etc...

And because the likes of RS were unapproachable to the public for components, Tandy and Maplin found they had a market offering new components to those who didn't fancy scavenging amongst ex WD stuff for bits for their projects.
__________________
Regds,

Russell W. B.
G4YLI.
russell_w_b is offline  
Old 23rd Jan 2016, 11:46 pm   #68
Junk Box Nick
Octode
 
Junk Box Nick's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,571
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Quote:
Originally Posted by russell_w_b View Post
I think it's the demise of geeks (or, rather, the changing nature of geekery) that's done them in.
The same period of time has seen the demise of the motor spares shop. Modern items are either not repairable or impossible to tinker with.

The handytype/geek has turned their hand to other pastimes.
Junk Box Nick is offline  
Old 24th Jan 2016, 3:08 am   #69
avocollector
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Wellington, New Zealand.
Posts: 653
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

I do recall seemingly a lot of the Geeks went from tinkering into computing from mid 70's onwards as Practical Electronics then had reams of stuff on computers and chip architecture. Here it seems mostly older guys are still actually fiddling with things - most kids get their kicks from computer games or texting/facebook/drones etc.

Everything changes, but I DO like the ability to now afford all the gear I could not even dream of owning back in the 70's.
avocollector is offline  
Old 24th Jan 2016, 3:54 am   #70
arjoll
Dekatron
 
arjoll's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Invercargill, New Zealand
Posts: 3,440
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Quote:
Originally Posted by avocollector View Post
Really annoying as now it's either wait days for mail order or traipsing miles into town to find the one remaining parts store - bring on the same day drone deliveries!
At least you have Jaycar nearby (even if it is "in town") - we only have a distributor here (who no longer uses the Jaycar brand because of cost) so it's hit and miss what they have in stock. I generally just wait until I have a $45 order to get free freight from element14 - their "overnight" out of Sydney is actually two days to anywhere other than Auckland, but at least it gets here.
arjoll is offline  
Old 8th Mar 2016, 4:17 am   #71
avocollector
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Wellington, New Zealand.
Posts: 653
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Yes as you say arjoll, I at least have a jaycar in reachable distance. This is one sad thing about progress though - the kids in school have lessons on technology, have youtube videos and yet it is now harder for them to get the actual bits than it was in my day. back in 60's Bromsgrove UK, or in 70's Christchurch NZ there were two or three component suppliers in easy walking distance of the cbd but now most kids, I suspect, have to mail order stuff. Given the smd's in the majority of new items it's also no longer so easy to 'harvest' bits as we did. Even the recent radios are now 'collectible' so it's unlikely junior gets ones to strip from Uncle Joe. Very sad I feel.
avocollector is offline  
Old 9th Mar 2016, 10:31 am   #72
dominicbeesley
Octode
 
dominicbeesley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,885
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

I have to say this is a very negative thread, and I think quite wrongly so. I do sort of miss the surplus and component shops. However, getting components and surplus stuff is easier than ever. Valves from the Ukraine, chips direct from Hong Kong, LEDs direct from the Philippines - all things I've got in the past couple of weeks, for very little money and without the bother of having to travel to a large city to buy them. Ebay, RS, farnell, amazon...

I think that the idea that there are fewer "geeks" (I hate that word) these days is also misplaced. The number of people making things, whether it be wearables, raspberry pi projects, retro / vintage stuff, self build computers, its all out there on the internet and lots of people are into it.

I remember being a teenager wanting to get into all this stuff: The monetary, geographical and most importantly knowledge boundaries made for a very steep learning curve. Nowadays a lot of excellent information is available online for free whereas before one had to rely on a friendly librarian and they would seldom know what to look for when it came to electronics or computers.
dominicbeesley is offline  
Old 9th Mar 2016, 10:35 am   #73
ms660
Dekatron
 
ms660's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 13,454
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Well said.

Lawrence.
ms660 is offline  
Old 9th Mar 2016, 12:16 pm   #74
Nickthedentist
Dekatron
 
Nickthedentist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,820
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Quote:
Originally Posted by avocollector View Post
Even the recent radios are now 'collectible' so it's unlikely junior gets ones to strip from Uncle Joe.
Maybe Uncle Joe won't give junior his old radio, but there are piles and piles of radios, stereos, videos, DVD players being thrown out by members of the public every minute of the day. In Oxfordshire, there are pink electronics recycling bins in supermarket car parks etc. which are almost always overflowing, so people illegally fly-tip items by the side. I feel that helping myself to such stuff is doing a good deed rather than theft, and so I rarely go to the supermarket without coming back with a new toy in the boot of my car. Any remains get put back in my car, to be deposited back in the box next time it has space.

Not "surplus" in the way we knew it, but not entirely dissimilar.

N.
Nickthedentist is offline  
Old 9th Mar 2016, 12:44 pm   #75
russell_w_b
Dekatron
 
russell_w_b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK.
Posts: 3,684
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickthedentist View Post
'...In Oxfordshire, there are pink electronics recycling bins in supermarket car parks etc. which are almost always overflowing, so people illegally fly-tip items by the side. I feel that helping myself to such stuff is doing a good deed rather than theft, and so I rarely go to the supermarket without coming back with a new toy in the boot of my car. Any remains get put back in my car, to be deposited back in the box next time it has space....'
Oxfordshire obviously has a very forward-thinking council with regard to recycling. I wrote to Eden District Council and the local newspaper suggesting our (otherwise) excellent recycling facility should have a 'junk exchange' - the true ethos of recycling - as some progressive local authorities do.

They are, or were 'going to think about it...'

With regard to 'surplus' surplus. There's a difference between acquiring electronic components to build a project (now well served as Dominic says), and acquiring surplus equipment which was obviously built and designed for a specific purpose because, well, simply because one 'likes' that sort of thing: getting old telephones going; using nice old test equipment; re-purposing military radios that exude a certain historic moment.

Who else as a child, when on holiday with their parents in london, would spend the day ratching in Proops Bros or other outlets on Tottenham Court Road (I never did get to Lisle Street...) for old flying helmets, Morse keys or DLR5s rather than visit touristy things? Many of you, I suspect.

Horses for courses.
__________________
Regds,

Russell W. B.
G4YLI.
russell_w_b is offline  
Old 9th Mar 2016, 12:47 pm   #76
Nickthedentist
Dekatron
 
Nickthedentist's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Oxford, UK.
Posts: 17,820
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Quote:
Originally Posted by russell_w_b View Post
Oxfordshire obviously has a very forward-thinking council with regard to recycling. I wrote to Eden District Council and the local newspaper suggesting our (otherwise) excellent recycling facility should have a 'junk exchange' - the true ethos of recycling - as some progressive local authorities do.
What an excellent idea. I suppose charity shops are as close as we get to this generally.

I must emphasise that taking stuff out of the bins is frowned upon and probably illegal. Whether anyone would notice or care though, is another matter.

N.
Nickthedentist is offline  
Old 9th Mar 2016, 1:21 pm   #77
pastyboy
Hexode
 
pastyboy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Cornwall, UK.
Posts: 270
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Anyone remember Brian Bamber in Ely, Frank Mozers Edmonton (never saw an ad for them in television but he was always busy) or BiPak in Ware (my school teacher used to live there and get me bits on Saturdays)
pastyboy is offline  
Old 9th Mar 2016, 1:44 pm   #78
wd40addict
Octode
 
wd40addict's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Stevenage, Herts. UK.
Posts: 1,515
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

I remember Bipak from the late 70s / early 80s. In their original shop it was quite an aladdin's cave.

Later on they moved down the road to larger premises which had previously been occupied by someone selling ex government test gear.

However, their heart didn't seem fully in it and every time I went there was less stock. It was no suprise when it closed.
wd40addict is offline  
Old 10th Mar 2016, 12:37 am   #79
bikerhifinut
Octode
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Penrith, Cumbria, UK
Posts: 1,993
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Quote:
Originally Posted by russell_w_b View Post
I wrote to Eden District Council and the local newspaper suggesting our (otherwise) excellent recycling facility should have a 'junk exchange' - the true ethos of recycling - as some progressive local authorities do. They are, or were 'going to think about it.
That would be nice Russell.
Especially as it now looks like we are in with a fighting chance of returning to Cumbria. We've had an offer accepted on a nice place in Lazonby. It'll be good to get back to where our families live.
And a "Junk exchange" sounds great.
Andy.
bikerhifinut is offline  
Old 10th Mar 2016, 1:19 am   #80
Restoration73
Nonode
 
Restoration73's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Surbiton, SW London, UK.
Posts: 2,801
Default Re: "The Death of Surplus".

Sadly some people have hoarded equipment and components which now sits in
warehouses. They display them on a website, with all items listed as POA.
Restoration73 is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 8:40 am.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.