General > General Technical Chat
Old electronics shops in Melbourne: what's there today (video)
SteveLy:
I only found out about Rockby a few days ago thanks to the State of Electronics videos. I thought I knew about all the players in Melbourne having been into electronics since the late 1980s (and I used to shop at TECS too but not at 797 Springvale Rd). Rockby's sounds like a treasure trove. I must check them out.
vk3yedotcom:
And now Part 3. The oldest, newest and maybe the best. 1930s - 1960s.
German_EE:
I miss the old style electronics shops, one or two rooms full of real junk that had to be useful to someone, it just had to be the right person to walk through the door. As a boy I remember Mazel Radio, New Cross Radio and Berwick Electronics in Manchester and M&B Radio in Leeds who were a Mecca for test equipment. Then of course there was Edgeware Road and Tottenham Court Road in London, each of which would take a day in the good old days. All gone. :-//
VK3DRB:
Thanks Peter for part 3. A lot of work. Maybe some of the people abroad in the UK and the US should do some similar videos.
It is rather disappointing these many great electronics stores have been replaced by kitsch shops selling rubbish and illegal drug paraphernalia, Asian food, and vanity products. I guess the types of shops reflects the mentality of the population.
I bought my FRG-7 at Ham Radio Supplies in Elizabeth St in 1976. Still have it in mint condition. VoA, BBC, Radio Australia, RCI, Radio Netherlands and the many other great stations are gone or almost gone now. VoA was a great station in its day. I liked "Jazz Hour" which would beam into Oz with an armchair copy unless the annoying Russians were trying to sabotage it. But even stations like Radio Moscow and Radio Peking blurting out their relentless comedies of communist propaganda is somewhat missed. Many of the signals out there now is of a religious nature, spreading the word.
I was a member of the renown Australian Radio DX Club in the late 1970's. This club based in Melbourne had about 500 members with and many from overseas. Bob Padula (arguably the most famous DX'er in the world after New Zealand's very famous Arthur Cushen) was president of the club much of the time then. I remember visiting Bob's place and his receiver not nothing more than a valve Marconi. The noise figure from that radio was negligible compared with solid state radios. A beautifully engineered analogue Marconi. He ran the receiving station in suburban backyard on Melbourne but he had an impressive array of antennas. No one could DX like Bob. The second most prolific DXer in the club was Peter Bunn. I still have all my QSL cards, including an award for the rarest station, Radio Gabon in Franceville, picked up on a dipole in my backyard in 1977.
Sadly, like the electronics stores featured in the video, the ARDXC is virtually defunct. http://www.ardxc.info/. I am not sure whether its demise was due to the misguided coup from a Sydney based mob, or just a downgrading of SWL and DXing as a hobby in general. Probably both. In any case, such an empty website is a sad epitaph to a 50 year old club.
The good news is Bob still has the passion... http://swaus.blogspot.com.au/
VK3DRB:
--- Quote from: wilfred on November 29, 2015, 11:59:55 am ---
--- Quote from: VK3DRB on November 29, 2015, 09:34:49 am ---It is rather disappointing these many great electronics stores have been replaced by kitsch shops selling rubbish and illegal drug paraphernalia, Asian food, and vanity products. I guess the types of shops reflects the mentality of the population.
--- End quote ---
;D Do I detect a note of disapproval? Just what sort of shops would you like them replaced by? In reality the electronics shops were replaced by online electronics shops. The other shops just rented the vacant premises.
As for the mentality of the population. That hasn't changed. Disposable income is what has changed.
--- End quote ---
Electronics shops replaced by on-line shops? Well if I needed a part, I would just go to my nearest shop and buy them. Places like the old Radio Parts - you could get anything there. Not so today. Most on-line "retailers" like Element 14 and RS stock stuff-all in Australia. Pros and cons on both sides of the coin. At least we have fantastic data available on-line now. Little need for those bulky data books that cost a mint.
Sorry Wilfred, but the mentality of the population has changed - very considerably. Show a kid a radio transmitter or SDR and its ho-hum. The wow factor is gone. When I was younger, wow factor was much bigger among the young in general. The magic is gone. In high school, a terrific teacher named Mr Blanc bought his Barlow Wadley XCR-30 to school. That magic radio with a big wow factor changed my life. In those days, people built kits and the magic of electronics came alive. These days, many young people don't even know what an AM radio is, let alone how one works. A couple of years ago, the local Jaycar had radio receiving kits on their shelves. They sold only one in over two years. The mentality of DIY electronics is largely gone. Most of the population today are users, and are simply not interested what is under the hood. Today, how many people want to know how digital TV works? Very few. In fact, no one has ever asked me. 30 years ago, I was asked occasionally by different people how a colour TV worked. It was like magic to them.
Some bimbo with a barge-arse but no talent beyond self promotion can make a fortune. I don't think that would have happened in the 70's. Sadly, far more young girls these days want to be a singer or actress when they grow up than want to be an engineer, scientist, technician or computer programmer. In my primary and high school I knew of no one who desired to be an actress or entertainer. All our aspirations were down-to-earth.
There are many, many other examples now mentality has changed. Some for the worse, some for the better.
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