I am leaving in the morning for a job up in Lake Tahoe(From Las Vegas, about 7 hours away).

I installed a LG tv the other day that was controlled with serial. F-F Null modem cable. The van I was in had ran out of our go to RJ-45 to serial adapters so I just use the one I had in my bag for Crestron programming.

Knowing I need one on the trip I go to the local electronics store(Fries) as well as a few other small places and they don't have one. In desperation I go to Radio Shack. No big deal.

They only have 1 and it is $26!! The nice lady comes over to me and asks if I needed any help.

I asked if they had any of the cables that where not $26...Maybe a generic.

She replies NO.

I say "Damn, these things are getting harder to find"

She replies" I know. We only have the 1. You see what the issue is is that everyone is converting the 9 pins over to the 15 pin VGA style, so they are harder to get for that reason and thus the high price".

I just walked away. Consequently I found 3 in my "BOX OF WIRES" we all have in my storage room. Problem solved.

That's why I order all manner of RJ45 to DB9 adapters in quantities of 25. I gotta keep them in stock or else I am days away from having one. Here on the east coast we don't have Fry's, which in my experience with them in NorCal has a TON of CI small parts.

Haven't been in "Rip off Shack" in years....


A 3' Composite Video with Stereo Audio cable is $15.29 at RS.


And they wonder why the business has gone to sh**.


That cable probably cost all of $.99....

Indeed, you can find them at the 99cent store...

You are paying for convience. The fact that there is probably a Radio Shack within 10 minutes of any job we are on, and that they have almost any small part we could need in stock cost alot of money. It costs alot of money to keep those stores open and to keep them stocked, even with products they may only sell once a year. Who else, besides hardware stores, would do that?

did you add an extended warranty to your adapter?  don't forget to get some batteries.  what cell phone service do you have?  

There is a radio shack in southampton where the same pimple face is every time i go. Every time he asks "can i help you find something" and each time (now i do it for fun) i tell him what i want and he starts shaking his head and says 1 of 2 things...

Nah man im sorry we wouldnt have anything like that...

Or...

Just what we have here (he points to wherever hes standing) and i dont see anymore...

Every single time i find what im looking for. One time what i needed was literally 6" from his hand as he told me they dont have it.

I have turned it into a game where i let him tell me no then i find it immediately and make fun of him until he rings me up. Lets just say im never in line more than a minute before this guy opens the second register and gets me out of there.

Anyone else remember when Radio Shack had their battery club? For a membership fee you got a card and went in every month to get a free battery. But you couldn't get the better red ones, you could only get the really crappy green ones.

This reminds me of the Lowes and Home Despot. I have yet to find a worker that understands that they carry speaker wire is that is meant for in-wall use.

One time when one of them asked me if they could help, even though I already knew, I asked and as usual she took me to the lamp cord speaker wire. I tried to explain once more then went looking on my own. She followed, repeating over and over that what she showed me was all the speaker wire they had. She continued to follow all the way to the real thing and even whe I showed it to her she wouldn't budge on it. I guess she thought it was cat5 or something since it was in a box like the cat5. Sheesh.

Yup I hated that damn battery club. I worked for Radio Shack in the early 90's back when the people actually knew something and RS still cared about having what people needed. I can say that without RS I probably wouldn't be doing a/v work.

For a very long time, like 10 or 15 years, from my late teens to maybe early 30's, Radio Shack was the *ONLY* place I had ever applied for a job that turned me down. It was quite a shock, and still puzzles me to this day :-)

I'm glad you gave up on Radio Shack after trying for 15 years :). I wouldn't be able to survive without your programming wizardry.

i stopped by a RS last week to pick up a simple network switch on the way to a job.  I asked to be pointed to the area where I could find a network switch, and the guy asked "you mean for a computer?"

"No, it's for my networking group. We meet on Friday and use electronic switches on each other."

I to remember when Radio Shack was truly and electronics supply house. It disappointed me starting in about 1970.

Just remember, guys, that your anger and irritation will only make YOU feel bad, and will only ruin YOUR day (unless Radio Shack bothers you enough that you make the lives of those around you miserable).

I'm happy to say that I'm over it. I expect nothing, just hope for a point in the general direction. This, I think, is the best attitude. It doesn't require me to surround myself with any hatred or other negative emotion.

And yesterday I needed an SPDT switch made for a round mounting hole. Momentary. Center off, of course. I had to put up with a DPDT, but that's just extra terminals. And the damn thing was $4.99! I'm so used to the ten foot phone cord for a hundred and sixteen dollars that I was REALLY surprised! And oh, yeah -- this was actually at Radio Shack!

(You also have to know your area. There's a Radio Shack in the western area of Hollywood that has everything. However, you can generally class the product carried by the Beverly Hills store as "no product that requires you to get your hands dirty.")