Thursday, December 11, 2014

Finding Obsolete Parts: Furthering This Idea of a STHR

In a recent Post, I put forward the idea of a Strategic Thru-Hole Reserve of parts commonly found in kits made in the mid 90s to today. There's been some good feedback about this, so the next step is to discuss what comes next. I envision a website where people go to share what they have and what they need. Let's say I need a 2SC2166. I should be able to search for the part, select a person with the part, and contact that person to make some sort of arrangement to acquire the part.
Sound about right?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This function seems to already be handled by the Yahoo/Google groups themselves, a variety of ham/hobbyist specialty sellers and and by eBay.

What am I missing?

--NT0Z

GB Hoyt said...

Most of the time, you can find stuff by looking around a little, but there's always that chance (it's happened to me) where the one guy who has what you need:
1. Isn't offering it on Ebay
2. Didn't read the email because he only gets the digest, and nothing about it stood out as interesting.

things like yahoo groups and email lists are designed to help, but they aren't designed to help you find parts.
Ebay is designed to help sellers sell stuff, but if the seller doesn't know you need it, he won't know what to sell.

I believe that providing this service could eliminate some of the frustration when looking to either fit out a kit, or make a repair. It's a "right tool, right job" thing.

Galen said...

NT0Z, this could be an online database where you put in what parts you have laying around. Others can then search for a specific part and contact the person(s) who have the part that is wanted.

It will only work if it is easier to use than eBay and the Yahoo groups (THAT will be easy).

It could also have the ability to upload the BOM for a particular project or circuit. A person could then search for a specific circuit and get a list of everyone who has parts for it.

Unknown said...

I have in my possession, 2 large boxes, sorted and inventoried of small electrical thru hole parts I've been considering. At least a few and as many as 100 each of each kind of resistor, capacitor (sev, air type), transistors, diodes and many other pieces. One hole box is packed with nothing but small metal/plastic hobby boxes.

There is a lot of stuff here. Not sure where to go to sell it all.
Dohn Smythe
N8ewy@comcast.net

GB Hoyt said...

Hey Dohn,
No Prob OM, we'll work something out, is there any way you can give us an idea of what you have that might be hard to find? This would be things like, old ICs, Toko coils, air variables suitable for VFO work, tubes w bases, and transistors that are past or near their EOL like the J310, 2SC2166, 2SC2078, etc. Things like resistors, film caps, ceramic caps, etc. will probably be with us for a while. I do remember one time when there was a scare that leaded NP0 caps were getting hard to find, but now even Radio Shack carries some of them.
I caught your message on QRP-L, so you should be familiar with Brad Thompson's periodic offerings of Blivets and Blivettes. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if someone else did something similar.
73,
GB Hoyt