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4 жыл бұрын

Go back in time to 1980 and a look at what consumer electronics and parts were available from Tandy in the UK.
1980's Tandy Voice Recognition Chip: • EEVblog #713 - Voice R...
Dick Smith's new channel: • Dick Smith - The Austr...
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#Tandy #1980s #UK
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Пікірлер: 821

@BradsGuitarGarage 4 жыл бұрын

I used to go and drool at the blister-packed components while mum was clothes shopping as a kid. The guy with one arm in the Penrith plaza store chastised mum for letting me browse alone because it "isn't a child-minding center". Mum put him in his place. Good onya mum. Tandy's the one, good onya mum.

@BradsGuitarGarage 4 жыл бұрын

@@4BoltClevo She stopped short of belting him with his own prosthesis.

@MrPnew1 4 жыл бұрын

@@4BoltClevo yeah but he was legless

@stonent 4 жыл бұрын

@@MrPnew1 Captain Rum: Legless?! I've never touched a drop! Black Adder: No I mean you haven't got any legs!

@gorillaau 4 жыл бұрын

@@BradsGuitarGarage Armless? Well mostly armless.

@TheSecurity16 4 жыл бұрын

I don't remember Tandy being in the plaza but I do remember it being on high street. It's now the happy inn chinese restaurant.

@fltechie 4 жыл бұрын

Wow! Memories. I worked for Tandy Service Center in South Florida, USA from 1980 to 1998. I worked on probably half the items in that catalog. Tandy truly serviced what they sold!

@ShaneGadsby 4 жыл бұрын

I joined Tandy in ~2007, well past it's prime, and just before Woolies finally re-branded us all to DSE, had a great time. One of the few retail jobs I've had that actually made you feel like you were helping people, more than just pushing more crap for people to buy!

@pr0engineer873 4 жыл бұрын

It's nice to know I wasn't the only one hanging out to get the latest catalogues to go through them, looking at what was new and exciting. Always making lists of things I wanted to buy... Good times.

@TheDefpom 4 жыл бұрын

Ahhh Tandy, my favourite place as a kid🔥

@MrPINKFL0YD 4 жыл бұрын

Same here. That and the army surplus with the army and navy radio surplus.

@PH2LB 4 жыл бұрын

spend hours looking in that shop and spend lots of pocket money there. bought my first multimeter there (still have it) and lots of components and manuals.

@MrPINKFL0YD 4 жыл бұрын

@@PH2LB I found a breadboard in a box and was amazed that they were still used! 😂 Not good for micro surface mounted parts

@PH2LB 4 жыл бұрын

@@MrPINKFL0YD you mean the small white bread board with the Realistic brand on it. I still using that one also. :-)

@ferrumignis 4 жыл бұрын

The original Maplins stores in the UK were awesome as well, before they started reselling cheap Chinese tat. Their catalogues were incredible, listed all specs for components.

@borisjevic6338 4 жыл бұрын

Sure love these trips down memory lane, especially with authentic catalogues... Not the digital versions, but they are good enough if you don't have the original. Thank you so much for reviving my childhood memories. Very much appreciated.

@teamrampageservices7981 4 жыл бұрын

Damn, memory lane!!! In California USA our RadioShack was almost half Tandy! This catalog brings back so many memories, the project kits was my absolute favorite!!! I made my Dad buy me the 75-in-1 when I was 4 or 5 and that was it, I was hooked! The next thing I got from there was the 22-203 Micronta multi-meter (still use it today!). I must have turned a couple TONS of cans into receipts from RadioShack/Tandy back in the day! When we moved my parents 20 years later, there were still several projects that still sort of worked even! Wish Tandy/RadioShack was still around me, hard to get good quality stuff in low volume now, for me anyway. Man, so many good memories! Thanks, Dave!

@thomaskitz1185 4 жыл бұрын

I worked at Radio Shack from 1972-1974 in The U.S. This was at the time when Tandy bought out Allied Radio. We were shipped a lot of the Allied(Pioneer made) stereo components and wooden cases and other name brand stereo items. I was the last customer at the Oshkosh WI store a few years back when everything was 95% off. My receipt went from the register to the front door.Fun time!

@smcic 4 жыл бұрын

It’s like a catalog of techmoan videos 😂 * *Edit - this comment is sponsored* *

@stclairstclair 4 жыл бұрын

smcic, I stopped watching him after I realized half of his stuff is a sponsored paid promo.

@memriloc 4 жыл бұрын

Nope. Much better. There's no friggin moaning or stupid unfunny puppets at the end. Use to like tech moan but he seems to have morphed into a boring old lady

@stclairstclair 4 жыл бұрын

Dom O'Leary he's a paid shill

@smcic 4 жыл бұрын

It’s pretty easy to spot the paid advertisements. I don’t take everything I see on KZfaq seriously - it’s all entertainment including this channel.

@Rob2 4 жыл бұрын

@@stclairstclair Then watch "Technology Connections" instead. Or maybe "Mr Carlson's Lab" when you are into even older stuff.

@TimeWasted8675309 4 жыл бұрын

Worked @ RadioShack '79-'84 in Canada and it was magical: CB Radios, Laser Disks, 2 inch screen portable TVs, the portable computers, 4-color portable plotter/printer for the handheld computer, and all the "holiday" toys. The catalog was truly magical.

@mercgunzel 4 ай бұрын

Just stumbled across this post and it reminded me of my teenage years visiting Tandy at Garden City Kotara NSW Australia. I just used to love looking at all the individual electronic components on sale. Packets of Resistors, Switches, Transistors, Hifi Components and who could forget the TRS-80 computers that to my recollection pre-dated any other PCs. I just had a look on my computer and found a scanned copy of a book I bought from Tandy called "Engineers Mini Notebook - 555 Timer IC Circuits" which cost $A1.79 (Item 276-5010). Later I used to go to Tandy at Hornsby in Sydney before they got bought out. Such a great chain of stores. Sadly missed.

@foxpianocovers 3 жыл бұрын

I worked at Tandy in various Brisbane stores between 1998 and 2002. Like you, it started as work experience and then turned into my first full time job fresh from school. The product knowledge they required from their staff was second to none. It really was the ground roots for the rest of my working life. Always fond memories of Tandy. It’s sad it suffered from multiple buyouts and an every changing electronics consumer scene...

@anthonyharrison6005 4 жыл бұрын

Just watched this, I was an engineer for Tandy for a long long time, repairing the Scanner range, on the inside cover is the Tandy UK head quarters in Wednesbury, the repair centre was based there, happy days.

@srh76able 4 жыл бұрын

I loved the Tandy/Dick Smith catalogues! Loved browsing in the stores too! So many memories, I still have realistic handheld CB's stored in my office. I'm glad I'm not the only one that enjoyed browsing the catalogues and dreaming of one day owning my on floor stand cabinet stereo with big arse speakers!

@davidpalmer9780 4 жыл бұрын

I saw the Jetstream airband radio I purchased as a kid to listen in on the pilots talking to ATC. I wore out the tuner thumbwheel worm drive, going backwards and forwards to find a frequency in use, to pickup a conversation. The analogue frequency discrimination was a shocker and given VHF is line of sight, I mainly heard just the pilots talking once they were airbourne. Great memories...

@jrhalabamacustoms5673 4 жыл бұрын

i worked at Radio Shack (USA) in the later 1970's, man this brings back memories. Thank you Dave!

@soundenguy 4 жыл бұрын

Tandy was in the city next to our home town . Loved my rare visits there . Still have a few Tandy realistic stuff . And archer kits were the most common in our store . Had the am/FM radio kit was my first . Happy days

@resonantconsciousness9248 4 жыл бұрын

I used to listen to people's cordless home phones with my dad's scanner, when I got back from school

@jtirabasso4866 4 жыл бұрын

I was a Radio Shack junkie, built a lot of project with their parts, ended up working for them part time, to purchase some audio gear (Sound of Gold System ). It was still worked when I sold it in 2010. The one nice thing about Radio Shack was you could order service manual and replacement parts for RS branded equipment and speakers.

@PA-Tammy 2 ай бұрын

I was a Shack kid and Heath-kit had a Tandy 1000 in 1984 and loved it. I still live back in the 70s and keeps a lot of the gear from back then still working..

@DarkFire515 4 жыл бұрын

Seeing this brings back many happy memories making electronics kits with my dad. I have a vague memory that some of the Tandy kits were Tandy and Realistic branded, so they may have been made by Tandy themselves in the UK. Good times...

@memriloc 4 жыл бұрын

I'm a musician and run a recording studio. My first little mixer and mic was from Tandy circa '83 - 84 still got the little mixer! My local was Top Ryde shopping Center.

@dancollins1012 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the memories Dave. Grew up right out in the bush (100km to nearest Coles supermarket) and saved up all year to buy kits and components when visiting Dick Smith Electronics store in Canberra. Would buy a catalogue too, that would keep me going for another year, read every word on every page

@paulwesterman 4 жыл бұрын

Yep I always read the Tandy catalogue cover to cover, visited very week (Langney shopping centre, Eastbourne) and was in the Battery Club of course. I recall all the telephones in the catalogue were marked as prohibited from connection to UK lines! Got my first soldering iron, multimeter, audio mixer, mic and most other things there. Happy days :)

@ottoreuter6279 4 жыл бұрын

As a budding basshead I used to covet the component woofers and subwoofers (50 oz magnet! Poly cone!!). It was the Radio Shack "Building Speaker Systems" book that gave me a solid foundation in sub box theory and design, I still reference it today.

@Rob-du9ui 4 жыл бұрын

My Nad 3020B amplifier, from 1984, is still in use today. Lovely piece of kit.

@deano023 4 жыл бұрын

My first computer was a TRS-80 colour computer II. Had the 200-in-1 as well as many of the DSE "funway into electronics" series kits. Many great memories browsing Tandy and DSE stores as a kid.

@elcam84 4 жыл бұрын

I live in Fort Worth and used to go to the outlet store which was at the main distribution hub. They would have a tent sale every month or so with overpriced returns and damaged junk. As for the free batteries I used to get the N cells. They were only sold in 2 packs so they would give you a 2 pack of them. That lasted until they dropped the red N cells and only had the green. I also used to go to the Tandy center down town which had a nice parking lot by the river and a subway that took you under ground to the base of the tandy center right next to the skating rink. They had a radio shack on every floor on top of each other. The tandy center was great for jury duty as once you got out of the subway car you went out the door and directly across the street to the court house.

@ANTandTEC 4 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it 😊

@alexanderthomas2660 4 жыл бұрын

My first ever soldering iron also came from Tandy, and I bought a roll of way too thick solder with it. The iron has perished, but I still occasionally use that roll when I need to apply a lot of juicy lead-based solder onto something.

@laurentthommet8313 4 жыл бұрын

It remembers me my first contacts with electronics... Here in France we had similar magazines. I still have some of them. Greetings from France Laurent .

@hillct 4 жыл бұрын

I still have my Micronta Digital Multimeter - my first big purchase as an 8 year old, $40 saved up from lemonade stand and lawn mowing. I also have a cabinet full of vintage RadioShack components: resistors, transistors, potentiometers and 555 timers. Oh, the memories...

@cattflap1447 4 жыл бұрын

I recently bought a complete Technics system off eBay for £100. Cleaned it all up and refurbished it and it sounds incredible. My kids are into vinyl as it's making a bit of a comeback and they love it ... great gear.

@MrPINKFL0YD 4 жыл бұрын

I've been looking at the vintage hifi on eBay too. An amps an amp and same thing for speakers I'd rather have 20 year old top quality than modern crap

@peterschmidt9942 4 жыл бұрын

With vinyl making a comeback, it seemed to have brought out higher prices for vintage stereo equipment as well to look and sound the part. A few years back I was buying pallets of old gear cheap and just slowing going through refurbishing it.

@sbalogh53 4 жыл бұрын

@@peterschmidt9942 ... one of the local Hi-Fi shops in Chapel St Windsor are selling tube amps for $10k and turntables for $9k. INSANE prices.

@peterschmidt9942 4 жыл бұрын

Dexxter mate wouldn't surprise me. I know when I was buying the stuff a guy from windsor also bought a lot of stuff. Any pile that had NAD or technics went for 3-4 times any other pile! Even if it has only one unit of it.

@leonhardeuler5773 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for putting this up Dave. As a youngster, I logged many many hours at my local RS store trying to decide how best to spend my $5. Great memories and the beginning of a lifetime of tech work. Also, I had to pause the video on the IC page to scrounge a couple part numbers. I saw the TI complex sound generator chip and oddly enough I had just dug one of those out of my ancient chip stash (1979 date code) to play with a couple days ago. Also saw the 1024 dual delay line that I'd like to get my hands on again. Crazy expensive on Ebay right now. Keep up the good work, love the videos.

@julian7333 4 жыл бұрын

In the mid 80s, the local Tandy store sold the last few remaining "Model II desks" at a very low price. We purchased a couple, and still use both to this day. They have been used for computers ranging from the 640KHz Epson HX-20 to a modern multi-GHz PC. They were made in Germany, and built like tanks - I suspect they will outlive us.

@KeanM 4 жыл бұрын

Yeah, they were nice desks.

@DriverDude100 4 жыл бұрын

In the 80's a kid could go to the local mall and browse resistors, ICs, etc. Kids of today won't know what it is like to etch their own boards and assemble their own circuits from readily sourced components.

@EEVblog 4 жыл бұрын

Indeed

@johnbrewer318 10 ай бұрын

I know the video is 4 years old but it brought back fond memories as a kid making stuff from that magazine. I do remember buying single resistors! On a slightly different tangent, I still have my Casio fx-100d from school in the early 80s and still use it fairly regularly. I've never replaced the battery, don't even know what type it takes!

@Raptor50aus 4 жыл бұрын

We used to modify an FM radio to pickup the police bands below 88Mhz

@Jehannum2000 4 жыл бұрын

Back when FM was labelled as VHF on radios. In Britain the police used to give AZ Atlas references (page number and grid square) when they were reporting incidents over the radio and I used to look up where stuff was happening.

@ambientblue-eyedmonkey8849 4 жыл бұрын

We used to have sex with everyone, not being afraid to get AIDS.

@BillAnt 4 жыл бұрын

We used to modify those hand-held DTMF touch tone dialers to emit "Red Box" tones in order to make free calls from pay phones... ahhh those days. ;D

@EarlFaulk 4 жыл бұрын

I had a weird experience like that one time. We were outside playing with walkie talkies and somehow we picked up a transmission from someone driving around possibly a cop.

@gavincurtis 4 жыл бұрын

8:51 that dual knob digital meter on the right page was my first expensive meter purchase. That sucker was on layaway for 6 months! What a happy nerd I was the day I got to take it home. My most absolute most prized tool/posession at the time. I still have it and it works last time I checked.

@northsideservicecompany3567 4 жыл бұрын

When I was in High School in 1976 and 1977 I worked at the local Radio Shack. The owner put a workbench in the front window and paid me to build kits. People would stand out front and watch me solder. When kids would come in with their moms - I would answer their questions and assure mom that Johnny wouldn't "burn the house down" by building kits. My favorite project was a dual output DC Power Supply with built-in tracking between the 2 channels. It had 2 big meters on the front and it took me about 2 weeks to build it. - Chris

@Distinctly.Average 4 жыл бұрын

As a kid in the 80s I almost lived in Tandy. I had loads of their kits, from simple astable flashing lights (with bulbs, not LEDs) to a radio, a level meter and all sorts of other things. I remember buying a little RIAA pre-amp kit so I could convert the ceramic pickup on my Matsui deck to a magnetic one. Loads of fun for any geeky kid like me.

@aerobaticant 4 жыл бұрын

I was 9 back in 1978 when I got a 150-in-1 kit for Christmas. That's what started me off on my career in electronics, I've still got it! I've also got one of the VCP200 voice recognition chips unused in its pack, ha ha! I must have dozens of Tandy items around. Dave, I think our life paths have been strangely similar.

@JOHNHOOK1966 4 жыл бұрын

Takes me back to my childhood! Radio Shack was my favorite store at Southlake Mall in Merrillville, Indiana.

@flyingsled2 4 жыл бұрын

Still have that cabinet from 3.16. Lots of good memories with CD Players and Tape Players! My father is worried I'll cover it with electronic parts which are all over the basement where it is now!

@danedewaard8215 4 жыл бұрын

i worked at a RS store while in college. I still have many RS items including the sound level meter and Nova 8 speakers with well made 12" aluminum basket woofers with cloth surrounds. I miss going to RS. While malling, I could NEVER pass one by without going in!!! Thanks for the memories!!!

@bishopi2000 4 жыл бұрын

One of the few regrets in my life was not getting the job I applied for at Tandy in Queensland during the late 80s ... though the upside was getting more into PC builds and networking at an early stage, which has served me well in years since.

@dj_paultuk7052 4 жыл бұрын

I remember my mum buying me circuit kits from Tandy's back in the 80's. Really miss that store. And now we have lost Maplin's too in the UK. We have no electronics stores at all anymore. Sad times.

@root42 4 жыл бұрын

6:54 You can see on the right page, top in the middle "Music Synthesizer IC". That's the SN76488, which is very close to or maybe even THE IC used in the PCJr, the Tandy PC (actually they used the SN76489, IIRC). Has 3 voices of squarewave, plus a noise channel.

@KeanM 4 жыл бұрын

I don't think I have that one, but I still have an SN94281 complex sound generator - Archer cat # 276-1767

@root42 4 жыл бұрын

Kean Maizels Seems like a popular IC for hobby projects. Google search shows quite a few DIY projects.

@BCThunderthud 4 жыл бұрын

I remember when I was really little Radio Shack used to sell Tandy stuff, but it was still leather back then, I think my older sister got a moccasin kit.

@frankowalker4662 4 жыл бұрын

One of the projects on the Solar Power science fair kit, 9:47 ,(next to the digital computer), was an AM transmiter. I spent many hours playing with that. 14:52 the radio that your hand is covering was awsome! It was also very heavy, I think it took 8 D cells and the power cord did'nt detach, so that was always wrapped round the back. My trash 80 was a model 1 with model 2 upgrade. I still use an Allied Radio Shack 8 track cartridge recorder from the 80's! Thanks for the memories, Dave!

@Yp-ku4sy 4 жыл бұрын

Still have a floor standing cabinet with a Sansui AU-888 and TU-888 with a record player on top.

@hmack22 4 жыл бұрын

I used my mom's old STA-52B all through high school, I miss that thing so much. I didn't bring it with my to university and I think my folks eventually chucked it. Funny how I'm more nostalgic for that system than my mom, who owned it all through her own university years.

@czarodzi9967 4 жыл бұрын

Yes! Battery of the Month Club member! I would have a handful of cards and have to get one battery and have a card stamped, then leave and come back to go to another cashier. It would take most of the afternoon to get enough D-cells to power up the boom box!

@aronhighgrove4100 4 жыл бұрын

"Look at these old boxy headphones" -- just like today, again.

@lorim7487 4 жыл бұрын

What a nostalgia-fest. The 150 in 1 was my first introduction to electronics....what a blast. Thanks for sharing

@danielr82 4 жыл бұрын

I still have my 200 in 1 that I got ~ 30 years ago.

@bitrot42 4 жыл бұрын

A friend of mine got the free 9V battery every month for a couple of years, and plugged them all together in a line to make a 200V battery. Good fun, and relatively safe. I studied those catalogs like sacred texts for a decade. I always knew a good deal when it came up. Still have a few diodes and ICs in those blister packs. Really, they’re going to be very useful... someday... Thanks for taking us back!

@1pjodan 4 жыл бұрын

Just the word Tandy brings back fond memories of my dad and his crazy diy projects! Thanks

@dnorman2134 4 жыл бұрын

My area of Canada, we had Radio Shack, but we also had a couple Tandy Computer Centers. They were often right next to a Radio Shack. My local center also had a BBS during the early 80s.

@Rob2 4 жыл бұрын

Philips sold a lot of kits here locally, and they were very well engineered. I have bought a couple of them, but they were usually above my budget. They also had speakers (drivers), filters etc as separate components. And a line of magazines and books to document and advertise them. As (in those days) they also had manufacturing facilities for radio/tv etc, they knew very well what was required for a reproducible schematic that always worked. Other kits made by smaller manufacturers were usually more like electronics magazine projects.

@_P_M_ 4 жыл бұрын

STILL have my Battery of the Month Club membership card. Saw my old STA52b receiver in your catalog. These days I use my dad's Pioneer receiver, but I have a Realistic EQ 312020 for it that came out early 80's. Love the look of those late 70's stereos!

@kevincozens6837 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Radio Shack is long gone here in Canada. It used to be a source of parts for me. Not cheap but they were in the local mall just a short walk away. I have an old stereo system in a tall cabinet behind me. It hasn't been used in a couple decades. Wow. A 2114 was 6 times the cost of a 2102. I remember the look of some of those project cases and when a "wood look" case was a thing. :) Battery of the month. I think I had one of those cards for a while. I still have an old crystal based hand-held Realistic scanner and a Realistic variable power supply. The power supply was my main piece of gear for powering up circuits when I was a kid. I also had one of those 300-in-1 kits given to me when I was a kid. It was one of several things I wish I kept but that got tossed when I cleared out a storage locker.

@Zonker66 4 жыл бұрын

You know you were a geek when you cut out a TRS-80 Model III pic and taped it to your wall. That was a thing of beauty to me back in the day... never did get one. My first was an Apple IIc. The days when proprietary DOS was still a hope for Tandy.

@hogshouse 4 жыл бұрын

I think Maplin (Tandy's UK competitor) took the whole "Kit" thing to the next level. I remember Tandy selling kits but by the mid 80's, Maplin were selling many more. Some good memories.

@alandouglas8939 4 жыл бұрын

No Tandy in New Zealand. But I used to go to Sydney quite a lot for work in the 90s and York Street was always one of my favorite places to visit. Tandy and Jaycar were not in NZ (Jaycar is here now.) We did have David Reid Electronics and Dick Smith but the Aussie stores always had new things to look at. Both stores have dissolved now. Ahhh Memories! They were so much more Realistic back in the day.

@benkrake3678 4 жыл бұрын

My parents still have the digital ready antenna which I purchased from Tandy back in the early 2000’s. My dad put it on the roof and wired it up correctly, but the signal was still pretty poor. My parents are in a black area for all reception. Luckily for us we had a guy who lived at the bottom of the street, who worked for Jim’s Antennas. At this point we had 2 antennas on the roof, the main one for the TV in the lounge room, which was located at the highest point on the roof, and the one I purchased for my room which was on a lower part on the roof. The antenna guy suggested that we do away with the old antenna and just use the new one I got, split the signal between my room and the lounge room, and add a signal booster to it. Still works a treat. Still get the occasional signal drop out, but still pretty decent for the most part!

@vk3hau 4 жыл бұрын

14:18 I still have a "General Coverage Receiver with LED Digital readout " in my shack. still works to.

@horrgakx 3 жыл бұрын

I still have a set of speakers in the loft, haven't used them in a long time but I don't want to throw them out! When you opened the catalogue and started talking about the various products, especially the tapes etc. I suddenly remembered how all this used to smell, it all had a very distinctive electronics smell.

@BassSwirls 2 жыл бұрын

Things were most definitely not cheap! In comparison to today. I loved my visits to Tandy as a teenager.

@regmigrant 4 жыл бұрын

I got a Saturday job at the local store so I could spend time on their Model 1, taught myself Basic then figured out how to win one in a competition when they opened their dedicated computer shop

@NetworkXIII 4 жыл бұрын

regmigrant I learned Basic on a Model 1 as well, and on my VIC-20.

@oliversettle8722 4 жыл бұрын

got my first BLUE LED from tandy had to special order!

@ianmangham4570 3 жыл бұрын

Amazing shop

@Thatdavemarsh 4 жыл бұрын

Awesome trip down memory lane!

@biganddaft1981 4 жыл бұрын

I have and still use a Micronta 63-814 alarm clock as my bedside clock. I've used it for around 30 years. My parents bought it new in the early 80s. Won't be replaced until it's totally knackered.

@fabimre 4 жыл бұрын

I still have and use some Tandy "Archer" tools: pointed scrachers, hooks, mini chisels (to interrupt printed circuit tracks), miniclamps (for extra heat diverting) and others. Even conductive paint. I also have some breadboard-size pcb solderboards and a breadboard sketchpad, and even a (single) breadboard. All by now 50 years old and still going strong. Alas I also lost a lot of things. Pity the last shop selling Tandy stuff in my town closed it's doors in 1998.

@001snapshot 4 жыл бұрын

I did a couple of years as an RS employee. When it WAS RS...not Cell Phone Shack. I loved helping customers with finding what they needed...ofton they didnt know what they needed. After a few minutes of conversation i could tell them what they needed. In the area i worked many CB and Ham operators used the store...learned many things...and help some people learn some things as well...")

@Phantomthecat 4 жыл бұрын

I used to spend sooo much time in there back in the 80’s, this brings back sooo many memories! Thanks for posting this! Oh, and yes I have a floor standing cabinet with all my now ‘retro’ gear in it - still works great and sounds good although I had the cones replaced in the speakers (Sound Dynamics) and have replaced the caps in the crossovers, pre amp and amp (both NAD units). Only Realistic piece I have left is a mixer I used to use when I DJ’ed many years ago - that still works a treat too. 👍. It’s a little later than the ones I that catalogue. Still have my first Micronta multi meter - the one on the top right of the LH page with the meters on it - that still works too and as it’s my only analogue meter I do break it out occasionally to cross check some things. 😁

@stonent 4 жыл бұрын

I had a mid 90's set of Yamaha speakers that blew (purchased at Incredible Universe, one of Tandy's companies) and I was given a Tandy credit voucher for them and I purchased an absolutely identical set of Optimus speakers at Radioshack. They were identical in every detail except for the grille and back sticker said Optimus instead of Yamaha. So Yamaha was definitely a possible source for their speakers.

@paulevans4334 4 жыл бұрын

I used to pour over these for hours reading every page, same with the old maplin catalogues

@Blitterbug 4 жыл бұрын

Love it! Can't even buy decent audio separates anymore :(

@barrieshepherd7694 4 жыл бұрын

Rocksan, Cambridge Audio to name two

@Fanta.... 4 жыл бұрын

@@barrieshepherd7694 From a quick search, cambridge audio stuff is made in china. Having said that, chinese stuff can be made well if not built to a shit price.

@barrieshepherd7694 4 жыл бұрын

@@Fanta.... I was really commenting more on 'Can't buy ....separates' rather than where they were made. The fact that 'stuff' gets put together in China is not a barrier to a good product if the design in right. High quality separate systems are very much alive and available - albeit at a price! Anyway no matter where it's assembled the parts will almost certainly be at least 80% Chinese manufactured!

@Blitterbug 4 жыл бұрын

@@barrieshepherd7694 Well, I did say *decent* ! Bring back all the Japanese makes, that's what I say...

@ambientblue-eyedmonkey8849 4 жыл бұрын

@@Blitterbug it's not coming back... this brain dead, ear buds, cell phone generation can't comprehend, nor have any hearing left to appreciate quality and understand why 10% THD sounds like a science fiction to me... 10% THD are you fucking kidding me? and that's why others are ripping off us, want quality, pay incomprehensible prices. Keep an eye on Ebay, that's where I shop for all used old quality hifi, anything past 90s can go in a dumpster. Where's no demand for quality, players like Kenwood, Technics, JVC who used to compete with each other in quality department, all are more or less dead and produce mini hifi shit, to keep themselves afloat, and most of them merged with each other. Kenwood even developed its own (own or not, don't matter) TRAIT transistors to keep current in check between multiple transistors, to keep audio linear... imagine any developer doing this today? lol... brain dead generation can't comprehend that, so there's no market for that and no one is pushing boundaries of quality like it used to be up to early-mid 90s. It's dead...

@raymondcourtois67 4 жыл бұрын

That does bring back memories.. My first multi-meter was the top left one from page 78, except that it was blue and came as a kit. It was my first time soldering and as I remember, I made some good sized solder blobs.. That fancy thermometer on page 52 came as a kit too, and we had got that for my father one Christmas. It could read indoor and outdoor temperatures (the wire for the outdoor probe had to be fed up the wall into the attic and out the gable vent at the end of the house). I remember it being quite a procedure to calibrate the two temperature sensors. The contacts on the push buttons to activate the indoor/outdoor readings were exposed unplated copper contacts which oxidized over time so we had to add toggle switches through holes we drilled in the top of the case to make it work, but it still works today..

@ducomaritiem7160 4 жыл бұрын

Yes, my mum (83) has still an Akai full cabinet audio system.... It still works.

@SaturnV2000 4 жыл бұрын

Pretty much everything in that catalog was available on the shelves at Radio Shack stores here in the U.S. They stocked all those components - transistors, IC's, passives, enclosures, tools, cables, the kits, etc. . . . . '79-'80 was probably their peak years

@johnfinn1570 4 жыл бұрын

What a blast. thanks for sharing

@EdwinNoorlander 4 жыл бұрын

Nice photo from your old man.

@KeanM 4 жыл бұрын

Tandy Australia definitely sold the 2114 static RAMs - I built one of my first Z80 computers using them. May even still have some of the old hang tag packets.

@kostaskritsilas2681 4 жыл бұрын

I bought a pair of 2102 SRAMs to upgrade my Challenger IIP from 2K to 4K. It was a 6502 based machine. 1977.

@drmarcfpelletier 4 жыл бұрын

Moldy meada : ) 8:47. Great video, your enthusiasm is infectious.

@flomojo2u 4 жыл бұрын

Great stuff. I probably made my local Radio Shack profitable with all my regular trips for components back in the 80s! I was rough on transistors, always blowing up a 2N3055 or 2955, since I would constantly rebuild a simple oscillator circuit with a NPN, PNP, resistor, capacitor, and transformer. The high voltage transients always eventually destroyed the transistor facing the transformer winding, but I loved charging up capacitors and making sparks. An ignition coil was great fun while the transistor lasted!

@muzzaball 4 жыл бұрын

Soo good Dave, thanks for the memories. I remember Silicon Alley in York St, and I had the 150 in 1 Electronic Project Kit. I am about to search your channel for the vid!

@v8vrooooom 4 жыл бұрын

I lke these old nostalgic look backs you do, keep em up!

@clharden1 4 жыл бұрын

I worked at Radio Shack in 1990. One day a customer brought in one of those TRS-80 printers for repair. I swear that thing weighed 100lbs or a smatter of roos or whatever you guys use. Point is that thing is f’in heavy. I just remembered another thing. When that print head moved back and forth, it shook the floor. It was heavy for reasons.

@AndrewWilsonOz 4 жыл бұрын

For a short in the late eighties, of possibly the early nineties, Tandy started to sell Heathkit, kits. They never sold a full range of kits, as you said.

@millomweb 4 жыл бұрын

Memories of Tandy shops - staff playing with an acoustic coupler modem ! Bought WordStar6 for DOS from Tandy - about 2 years before I had a computer to run it on ! Got the WS6 icon on the desktop of this Win7 laptop - so I can still use it !

@MattOGormanSmith 4 жыл бұрын

What's not a temp adjust trimmer, it's a nylon grubscrew acting as strain relief. Weller, Weller, Weller, Tell Me More!

@steviebboy69 4 жыл бұрын

I did have one in the mid 80's that did have a temp adjustment 1/3 way along the body of it, I cant remember the brand, and it was a brown colour.

@kenseastrand7428 4 жыл бұрын

Lots of memories there for sure. I still have several of the things in that catalog, and still use them, 12v power supply, on my bench right now. I have had many of the battery a month club cards also.

@root42 4 жыл бұрын

My mom had a quadrophonic Realistic amplifier for about 20 years. Got it from my uncle, who was a HiFi and record collector. He would buy amps and records from the US and import them. I guess the Realistic was too cheap for him to keep, so we got it. It was one of those with brushed metal front, wood case and the heat grille at the top. Had some massive TO3 transistors in there which you could see through the grille. Accompanying were some huge ~60cm tall Realistic speakers (stereo, not quadrophonic) and a matching reel to reel deck. Sadly my mom got rid of all of it at some point, because the amp was failing. Probably one could have gotten it repaired. But it was very formative for me as a kid. Loved the whole setup.

@video99couk 4 жыл бұрын

8:50 My first multimeter is on the same page. On the far top right is a "low cost 3.5 digit LCD Multimeter" which they did half price one week at just £20. I think I got that as a Christmas present. It lasted for many, many years.

@KeanM 4 жыл бұрын

Yep, I had one of those same digital multimeters. I think I still have it here somewhere, and I just found the manual!

@video99couk 4 жыл бұрын

@@KeanM The 2mm connectors instead of 4mm, were the only real failing. It was hard to get replacement plugs when they snapped.

@bostedtap8399 4 жыл бұрын

We had a Tandy in Coseley, near Wolverhampton/Dudley, Staffordshire, UK, battery club was a great idea, I think it closed late 1980s, in 1990 I purchased a house 9 miles away, and it was the retired manager, an American from the store 😃. He had married here and was retiring to Florida. I still have several Tandy books on Electronics, machine control. I also had a so called programmable scanner, yes, Eve's dropping on phone calls was dire, it wouldn't lock on to correctly. Love the tactile of a hard copy. Great blast from the past Ant and Dave. Thanks for sharing and best regards from the UK.

@marcgriff8125 4 жыл бұрын

Lol.. i live in Dudley remeber that one and one in Town also opposite cousins unless i am going batty in my old age

@bostedtap8399 4 жыл бұрын

@@marcgriff8125 I don't remember one in Dudley, But doesn't mean there wasn't one, though I worked in Dudley (British Federal) from 1978 to 88, and can't remember one there. I'm guessing that since Coseley was mid way between Dudley and Wolverhampton, then that may have served both, again, only surmising.

@harrybailey4624 4 жыл бұрын

I still have that Pro 2020 scanner on my nightstand programmed with the local fire departments and 2-meter ham band, Connected to a discone antenna on the roof, I bought it in December of 1980 and it has never been turned off.

@afterthetone 4 жыл бұрын

My first meter was the little baby one above the model you had. No function knob, just a selection of holes to plug the leads in!

@James_Bowie 4 жыл бұрын

The good thing about Tandy was that it carried different lines from Dick Smith. Once the grocer bought them both it was all over red rover.

@prismstudios001 4 жыл бұрын

Funny, in the US. at least where I am located, Tandy was a leathercraft store. You went there to buy tools, and various types of leather hides for projects. Imagine my childhood puzzlement when going to the RadioShack with my Dad, and seeing Tandy branded computers!!