Can a mono mic record "stereo"?

[Colin McDonald]

All this talk of old electronic stores reminds me of the Aladdin's cave that was RME Surplus Suplies in Stockwell Street Glasgow in the 1960s and 70s. In addition to all the latest "transistorised" gadgets from Hong Kong and every component you could wish, it had a fantastic line in ex-Army, Navy and RAF electronic gear ranging from aircraft instruments (probably lethally radioactive!) to radio equipment (morse and voice) and many other boxes and units whose function I could not even guess, all built like the proverbial brick ****house (this was before the days of miniaturisation).

I particularly remember the ex-army radio operator's headsets that had a steel spring headband which held the earphones in a vice-like grip on the skull and the huge dynamic microphone mounted on a very substantial steel breastplate. I wish I'd kept a set to use with my iPhone.

I wonder what happens to all the "Government surplus" gear these days?

[Gary Nattrass]

We used to have a wonderful old radio store in Newcastle too called Aitken Brothers but sadly it closed down, there was one in Leeds too just round the corner from the station but not sure if it is still there.

I suspect a lot of government surplus is scrapped these days or written off by the accountants so it has to be trashed rather than sold due to our consumer madness!

[Steve House]

I remember Radio Shack from the 60's when it was "Allied Radio Shack" out of Chicago and they carried a full line of electronic components. They stocked both amateur and professional radio gear from brands such as Collins, Hammarlund, Hallicrafters, National, etc as well as their own house brand, Knight and Knightkit, in competition with Heathkit. They were closer to today's Full Compass than they do to the Radio Shack of the last 30 years or so. I remember clearly putting together a Knightkit shortwave radio kit when I was about 10 years old and the thrill of listening to Radio Moscow, the BBC, Radio Havana, etc

[Greg Miller]

Allied Radio / Electronics was an outstanding professional / industrial supplier for years. I remember looking through their catalogs when I was around 16 yrs. old, lusting over the Ampex 351 recorders and a wide range of studio quality mics. Certainly they had a lot of commercial equipment such as Steve has mentioned.

I had forgotten the dark days when Allied "went slumming" and merged with Radio Shack. One last gasp for RS, trying to be a real electronics company. And probably the beginning of the downhill slide for Allied.

At one time you could almost look forward to a trip to RS... at least as an up-and-coming youngster. Then it became something of a lark to go in there. And today, it's a real act of desperation. My, how times have changed. Say, anyone have a spare 12AX7 for that mic preamp?

[Richard Crowley]

Allied Electronics is still a major US electronics wholesale distributor/warehouse. They don't deal with retail, end-user consumers as much as Digikey and Mouser. For that matter, I remember when Digikey and Mouser were little podunk mail-order outlets of hobby surplus electronic components. Much like All Electronics and Electronic Goldmine and BGmicro and MPJA are today.

I also remember in Orange County, CA in the mid-1960s when a couple of local independent electronics retailers got taken over by the new upstart Radio Shack. It didn't bode well from day 1.

But you gotta hand it to Radio Shack. SOMEBODY in Ft.Worth corporate offices must know how to spell "hobby electronics".. They are selling a remarkable range of SBC and related gear like Arduino and Make and parallax and Velleman and even Seed.

[Graham Bernard]

Originally Posted by Gary Nattrass

At least in the UK we now have a store called Maplins which seems pretty close to what Tandy (radio shack) was in the 70's and 80's although you can always find things cheaper on e-bay or direct from China!

We've had Maplins for nearly 45 years now! - I wasn't aware of that....

Grazie

[Sam Mendolia]

My last trip to the UK, a Tandy store came to my rescue, that was the late 90's.

Yesterday, I was out looking for 1/8 stereo inline jack. making 1/8 to XLR balanced adapter, to connect to a Beachtek. The Source, formerly Radio Shack here in Canada, has turned into what most of you have said, less hobbyist and more into pretty toys.

4 Source stores later, I found some, and bought them all, you never know.
otherwise, there are 2 hobbyist shops close to work, much cheaper in price, but I needed what I got when I got it.

[Greg Miller]

If you actually bought some 1/8" jacks, you will have a hard time plugging in any modern equipment. Modern connectors are 3.5mm; 1/8" is 3.175mm. Not sure when the actual change occured, but I tried plugging some really old (1960s vintage) plugs (which are truly 1/8") into a modern 3.5mm jack, and the fit was so loose that the connection was intermittent. Obviously a sinister conspiracy on the part of the metric countries...

[Sam Mendolia]

sorry for using the "old school" term.

yes, they were actually 3.5mm

[Sam Mendolia]

Sorry for using the "old school" term.

Yes, they were actually 3.5mm.

I still have 1/8 jacks and plugs as well, at work.

Hmm, have never tried plugging the 1/8 into the 3.5, to hear the result.

New project to play with, results are predicted, as you found out. Thanks Greg.

oh, wait, I am in one of those metric countries, lol

[Greg Miller]

Sadly, I made the discovery in the field, when trying to use a set of "good old" AKG headphones with a new audio recorder. I had to hold the plug "just right" to hear both channels reliably. Luckily, nobody else knew about this, so only I knew that I had screwed up in my ignorance.

So you're metric up there, are ya, Sam? Round one goes to you guys... ;-) Actually, I eagerly bought a bunch of metric rulers and even tape measures back in the late '70s, and I'm still waiting for us to adopt the "logical" system here. Fat chance I'll live to see the day...

[Jim Andrada]

Well (if they haven't changed it while I wasn't looking) I-19 from Tucson to Nogales AZ is marked in - drum roll - KILOMETERS - not miles. There's a story about how when it was built we were on the verge of converting to metric so they went ahead and did all the signage in Km. And then the conversion didn't happen.

They've been talking about changing it to miles one of these days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/15/us...hway.html?_r=0

Interstate 19 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Tim Lewis]

Let's have a "War of Independence"!...











(Then stay with the IMPERIAL measurement system)

[Greg Miller]

Well, would you rather be independent from England, or independent from France? Given the choice, I guess Imperial measurements are a small price to pay. Even Morris Minors were more reliable than Citroens.

[Tim Lewis]

Agree with that Greg.