My first visit to Radio Shack was when I was kid in 1971. The first thing I ever bought was an Archer UHF 100 mile outdoor Yagi antenna in 1972. That was mated with a Winegard VHF antenna and a CDE antenna rotor that I talked my father into letting me put up as a kid on our houses roof. That's how my DXing tv began. That's probably how I got interested in satellite tv from my DXing hobby as a kid.
old radio shack catalogs
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My earliest memories of Radio Shack were when it was a side line of the Tandy Leather Company. They had a lot of kits and do it your self stuff and kind of reminded me of Heathkit, another cool company back then. I too did a stint working at a Radio Shack store.
Heathkit............that's another company I'd like to see all the old catalogs for. I used to drool over theirs in the 80s but all their stuff was a bit too pricey for me back then.
Don't miss the commercials
Hers is a real gem http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/videos/1970_rod_serling/
Hers is a real gem http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/videos/1970_rod_serling/
Hehe, looking at the FLAGSHIP of Police Scanners from 1990's the PRO-2006 was $449.99 9+ tax at B&M stores. I always bought my rigs way cheaper from some mail order store in Texas, can't recall the name. Something amarak or sounds like that. Who remembers?
Anyways, in-store price was $449 and from this mail order place in Texas was $369.99 and no tax and was an authorized RS retailer.
Anyways, in-store price was $449 and from this mail order place in Texas was $369.99 and no tax and was an authorized RS retailer.
I had found that link after I posted that I'd like to see the old catalogs but it's not quite as good as the Radio Shack site. Still pretty interesting but most of it is pretty old stuff.
Back in 1972 my big brother was in the USAF and completed his basic training in Texas and we went to visit him there. We ended up at the big Fort Worth store and I was like a kid in a candy store! 
Oh wait, I was a kid!
It was great walking through the aisles with electronic kits piled up halfway to the ceiling! Now this was way before giant electronic retailers like Best Buy with pallets of stuff everywhere like they do now. To a 8 year old this did turn out to be a bummer because we did not buy anything!
We also stopped at Radio Shacks' corporate sister store American Handicrafts which my bratty sister got to buy something!
Oh wait, I was a kid!
It was great walking through the aisles with electronic kits piled up halfway to the ceiling! Now this was way before giant electronic retailers like Best Buy with pallets of stuff everywhere like they do now. To a 8 year old this did turn out to be a bummer because we did not buy anything!
We also stopped at Radio Shacks' corporate sister store American Handicrafts which my bratty sister got to buy something!
I'd love to get hold of one of their "Easy to level base" parts. Looks like that might work well for a temporary mount. As for the price, just move the decimal point left a couple of places and it's a sweet deal
...and that sexy 80 degree LNB
AND... It's "Advanced"!
you know ... i cant remember ... but it was probably around when i was around 10 or so .... putting it back in the in the early 60's if they were around then ... maybe before...i still have some old cats from atleast the seventy's or eighty's or so
Keep in mind I am in Canada with a different division, and in 2005 or so completely split from Radio Shack. The Canadian coportate head was called InterTan (and still might be). When RS split, Circuit City bougt them, and they changed to The Source. when CC went under Bell (yes the phone company) bought them.
Many towns like ours have affiliate stores which carry their own product lines as well as the InterTan supplied ones. Our town as had the same affilate owner since at least 1980 in various locations downtown.
When? Before I was 10. IIRC our local mall had an RS store, and Dad and us went there to get wires to extend his stereo speakers outside, so we could listen to music when we polished his truck. I conciously went there on my own after 10 years old.
Catalogs? They were always free, and came out in September. I remember one year or two they had "parts and tools" in a separate catalog. Intertan corporate stores sold "surprise" boxes of (usually discontinued or overstocked) electronics parts, which were sometimes a treat to get sometimes, if you could find them. Affiliate stores usually don't have them, at least the affiliate store I went to.
Many towns like ours have affiliate stores which carry their own product lines as well as the InterTan supplied ones. Our town as had the same affilate owner since at least 1980 in various locations downtown.
When? Before I was 10. IIRC our local mall had an RS store, and Dad and us went there to get wires to extend his stereo speakers outside, so we could listen to music when we polished his truck. I conciously went there on my own after 10 years old.
Catalogs? They were always free, and came out in September. I remember one year or two they had "parts and tools" in a separate catalog. Intertan corporate stores sold "surprise" boxes of (usually discontinued or overstocked) electronics parts, which were sometimes a treat to get sometimes, if you could find them. Affiliate stores usually don't have them, at least the affiliate store I went to.
we had those too. Grab bags we called them and they were just parts that we didnt need anymore
I was cleaning the closet in the basement yesterday and ran across two "vintage" (I guess) items that I have from Radio Shack that are from days gone by.
a FM booster for the car radio which I will say did work to pull in distant stations. Bought it back in 94. Worked great at the cabin to get more stations. Only drawback is if you are in metro area it distorts the stations there
2nd is a 2 channel crystal controlled receiver. And it still works Has 2 crystals in it. One at our local police dispatch and the other for weather.
a FM booster for the car radio which I will say did work to pull in distant stations. Bought it back in 94. Worked great at the cabin to get more stations. Only drawback is if you are in metro area it distorts the stations there
2nd is a 2 channel crystal controlled receiver. And it still works
Has 2 crystals in it. One at our local police dispatch and the other for weather.Attachments
Love that Rod Serling commercial for Radio Shack. I'd never seen it before. Twilight zone used to just freek me out when I was a kid, wildy imaginative stories with a real twist.
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