Author Topic: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s  (Read 3015 times)

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Offline cpufrost

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Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« on: December 30, 2020, 06:46:26 PM »
Anyone remember these where the ALERT "siren" is just that, sounds similar to RED ALERT from the original Star Trek?!

Loved that sound.  I know the tremolo hi/lo wig wag whatever you call it they have now probably can be heard by human (and dog!) ears further away, that siren noise just was something else to have!

Caution if you have headphones!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=104&v=Qg6S0m-KbIw&feature=youtu.be

Offline Garth Bock

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Offline fkapp

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2020, 09:41:39 PM »
I had the cube one too.
Brings back memories listening too when storms approached when was kid with first weather station science set kit.

Thanks for sharing..

Offline cpufrost

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2020, 10:41:25 PM »
Mine was the Weather Radio Alert with LED clock, cat no. 12-153.

It's on page 150 of the 1983 catalog:

http://radioshackcatalogs.com/flipbook/1983_radioshack_catalog.html


Offline CW2274

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Offline cpufrost

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2020, 11:23:07 PM »
Yep, love that site, wish there was a way to archive it into a searchable PDF locally in case it goes poof one day.

Love going through the catalogs especially in the 70s.

If there was a genie that could grant a wish it would be to shop from those catalogs.  Even if I had to spend my own money. :-D

It was quite annoying at times, like CSRs wanting your address every damn time you buy something.
Free battery card, worst batteries ever.  OK carbon zincs but hey they came apart easy and having a supply of essentially free carbons (for DIY carbon torch) was nice.  And those crappy, horrible 5D flashlights they gave away for free!  Ugh!  But I had a six cell D light and I used to put the bulbs from them in that and even with tired batteries it was super bright and white.  With new duracells it looked like, dare I say, Xenon or LED?!  Short lived, of course.  Oh the days...

Offline Garth Bock

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #6 on: December 31, 2020, 12:41:06 AM »
Thanks for the walk down memory lane. I lived at Shady Rack.... bought IC's (7400 family) , switches, circuit boards, etc. TRS 80 mod 1,3,4,4P.....reel to reel tapes....I spent a lot of money there and almost left my Field Engineer to run 2 of their computer training centers....glad I didn't.

Offline davidmc36

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #7 on: December 31, 2020, 06:57:23 AM »
This can is only a bit over 20 yrs old......but the pack of small perf board I just opened for a project was much, much older.

Ah, Battery Cards. And the fun of roping your Dad into taking you to another mall so you could skirt around the "Only one Card" rule....or something like that it went. [ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

Offline cpufrost

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #8 on: December 31, 2020, 08:17:48 AM »
That tuner cleaner had a sweet smell! ;-)

Of course nothing beats the smell of cold dittos fresh off the machine! :-D

And for those old enough to remember...Carbon Tetrachloride!  :-P

Offline chief-david

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #9 on: December 31, 2020, 09:06:35 AM »
I worked at Radio Shack 2000-2006

We had old magazines, they were great to look through.

They had great electronics.
The once great RS was driven into the ground by bad management and not understanding the new shopping ways. Also the recession.

I believe Tandy Towers is gone-at least converted into new space.

But RS lives on and is being revived online!!!!! It will never be the same as what it was.



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Offline cpufrost

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #10 on: December 31, 2020, 10:15:51 AM »
Yeah they never really come back in their old form unfortunately.

Also for nostalgic electronic geeks:  Lafayette and Heathkit! :-D

Out of all my Heathkits the only thing that works fully is a 2410 HF frequency counter I built in 1986.  It hasn't been powered on in years but I'm sure it still works.  I do miss the HP counters with nixies.  I swear walls of nixies with the numbers moving in and out could hypnotize one who spent countless hours monitoring things.  Now we have to deal with a similar effect that's obnoxious with smart phone cameras!  Focus hunting!

Offline Garth Bock

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #11 on: January 02, 2021, 01:29:02 PM »
My old school Radio Shack weather monitors. The left one has an outdoor sensor and is from 2007. The right one is from the late 80's and is an indoor temp/ barometer. Both still working fine.

Offline cpufrost

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #12 on: January 02, 2021, 02:40:42 PM »
That reminds me, I remember the Micronta indoor outdoor electronic thermometer from the 80s.

This one:

https://www.ebay.com/c/1523681822

I almost got one but was OK with my Springfield Palisades. :-)

Offline sadivnik

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Re: Radio Shack (Realistic brand) weather radios from the 1980s
« Reply #13 on: April 04, 2023, 05:09:51 PM »
Here I go reviving an old thread again -- but I'm a uuuuge fan of most things Radio Shack* & miss it more every day! (for instance, it's about impossible now in the US to get a quality outdoor yagi directional analog FM radio antenna; something I really wish I hadn't put off now!)

My two main weather radios are the model 12-141[https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/radioshack_realistic_desktop_weather_receiver_12_141.html]
&
12-151a [https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/realistic_12_151_a12151.html].

Both of these were bought at local 2nd hand shops for $1 or 2 and work great now as they did .. 35 or 40 years ago when they were new & I was still a juvenile delinquent! One's in my kitchen & one's in my office.

I also had the cube; not the nice 'simulated walnut plastic' one but the gray plastic one (I was poor college student), bought new ca. 1990, still somewhere in storage (since 2002).

A few years ago when I moved back after many years to where I could use a weather radio again I bought the midland wr-120ez - what a waste of $40; I never did get it to work for more than a day before it drained the battery. Total junk and a shame to the name of a great old radio mark. But there was no Radio Shack to get the Cube at (sniff, tears).

I do miss the old days before the WR 'readers' were robots though!

I always say RS stuff was great - and sometimes awful - because it seemed like whatever they made they made apparently without looking at what the competitors made, like in a vacuum or on another planet (or the soviet block).

So sometimes they were able to not get stuck on the same recurring problems/design flaws that everybody else copied, but other times (less often) you'd wonder what the hell was wrong with their logic!

I built numerous hi-fi speaker sets from scratch with RS parts - some way too big for my chevette (it was green) (or any other car the 50-something me now says!). I bought it all - woofers & tweeters, crossovers, grill fabric, etc. right down to the solder there - even their how-to speakers book!

Their 1980s car stereos were pretty OK for the money, too. Not to mention 'Optimus' hi-fi stuff. Man!

*But it was so annoying when you'd try to buy one small thing at radio shack, like a flashlight bulb or a battery, and they'd want your phone, address and all that for the receipt - criminy what a hassle! (I see this is mentioned above too so I'm not the only one - but I'd suffer the inconvenience, man would I ever, to have RS back again!)
« Last Edit: April 04, 2023, 11:53:44 PM by sadivnik »