Radio Shack slogan (was Re: [OT] USB KVM switches)

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Wed Feb 2 16:52:12 2005

Nathan wrote:
> Ah, RadioShack.
> "You have questions, we have blank stares."

That wouldn't bother me so much as "You have questions, we have
(incorrect) answers."

Once I was trying to repair a Battlezone arcade game. The main
fuse in the X-Y monitor had blown. I went to Radio Shack to get
a replacement fuse, thinking that the failure might have just been
due to a transient. The replacement blew. I tracked down and fixed
what I thought was the problem, and went back to Radio Shack for
another fuse. That one blew too. I spent more time studying it,
and found a failed deflection transistor. So I scrounged a replacement
transistor, and went back to Radio Shack for another fuse.

The salesman was curious as to why I kept buying fuses. I explained
what I was doing. He told me that I should just short across the
fuse holder.

Great advice. If I'd followed that, which I of course did not since
I knew better, it probably would have destroyed the deflection yoke,
the other deflection transistor in the pair, and probably a bunch of
other stuff.

I only will go to Radio Shack (or Fry's, for that matter) if I know
*exactly* what I need. Advice they give is worth *less* than what
you pay for it.

Of course, now neither Radio Shack or Fry's are trying to stock any
reasonable selection of components, so I rarely buy anything from
either.

Eric
Received on Wed Feb 02 2005 - 16:52:12 GMT