SOURCES OF USED ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS IN EUROPE, BY COUNTRY GREAT BRITAIN 1. M&B Radio Ltd 86 Bishopsgate Street Leeds, LS1 4BB Tel: +44 113-243 5649 Fax: +44 113-242 6881 Strong on ex-broadcast equipment, test gear in general. Not noted for low prices. (From Andrew Emmerson) 2. Johns Radio Whitehall Works 84 Whitehall Road East Birkenshaw Bradford, BD11 2ER Phone (01274) 684007 Fax (01274) 834465 Large collection of receivers, especially RACAL including RA-17 and later models, test equipment and vast amounts of other goodies. Ask for Pat. Caution: the filling of orders can take a very long time. 3. Anchor Surplus Ltd The Cattle Market Nottingham, NG2 3GY Tel: +44 115-986 4902 Tel: +44 115-986 4041 Fax: +44 115 986 4667 Open: 09.00-18.00 Monday-Friday, 08.00-16.00 Saturday, middle of the day Sunday. Several large sheds of mainly military surplus: electronics and optical items, mechnical engineering and furniture (boring stuff!). Electronics section is strong on military radio, test gear and weird lenses. Not as good as it used to be but perhaps the quality merchandise is hearder to find. Good items sell very fast here. Some bargains but not many. 4. Bull Electrical 250 Portland Road Hove, Sussex BN3 5QT Tel: 01273 203500 Fax: 01273 323077 This is a nice mail order shop which has lots of electronic bits. They also have a shop at this address (opposite the Gala bingo hall), but I have not been there personally. Sells some 'decent' components (ask for their main catalogue), but has a regular newsletter (ask to be put on their mailing list) of surplus stuff, including vaguely illegal stuff like video senders, radar blockers, air rifles etc, together with other interesting bits (most of which are of the "10-million of them for a pound" variety), like lasers, geiger counters, steam models, old "innovations" items. (From Gerald Evans) 5. Langrex Supplies Ltd. 1 Mayo Road Croyden, Surrey CR0 2QP (44) 181 684 1166 Duncan says they specialize in obsolete equipment. They have 833A tubes for 85 UK pounds. 6. Vintage Wireless Museum 23 Rosendale Road West Dulwich, London SE21 8DS Tel. 0181 670 3667 Yes, this is a very interesting visit. But be warned: The curator, Jerry Wells, definitely falls toward the "English eccentric" end of the spectrum. [The museum is in his private house] Hearing him talk about the old times is at least as interesting as any of the exhibits. Also, he is not always as "Merkan friendly" as he might be. He complains [when there are no Merkans present, of course] that they often talk in loud voices [he is not in very good health and he does not like loud voices], they often seem only interested in the $$$value of the items - a topic he considers tedious and uninteresting, and they often leave no contribution after a personal guided tour lasting hours. Be sure to phone first. Visits are by appointment only. (From Mike Collins and Martin Ackroyd) 7. Diverse Devices 75 Priory Rd St Denys, Southampton SO17 2JQ England (+44) [-0]1703 584680 Proprietor Nigel Cook stocks obscure/obsolete components, second hand test equipment, schematics. HOLLAND 1. Eindhoven Secondhand Willy Strijpsestraat 37. He has over a hundred tubed radios, a lot of them from the thirties. 2. Eelde I used to attend a great flea market held monthly in Eelde (between Assen and Groningen). I picked up a few nice sets there and still have some of them. Not quite as cheap as Gerard's 'junkyard' but still very worthwhile and a very big market with lots of variety. (Jonathan Warburton-Brown) 3. Zeist Recycle Shop. In fact you cannot really call it a shop; it is more like an attended junkyard. People go there and donate things they don't want any longer but that are too good to throw away. The keepers try to get rid of the stuff by selling things in a comparable rate; especially vintage radio gear is quite cheap. After all, their main goal is to recycle, not to make money. (Gerard Tel) 4. Ijmuiden BACO Kromhoutstraat 36-38 Phone: 0255-511612 This is a general military surplus place with clothing, shoes, etc., but also with a significant electronics and BA section. There were numerous interesting items such as German field phones, a strange (to me) German military radio system consisting of several components on a small roll-around cart, etc. There's also a section for modern electronics as well as a good assortment of laboratory glassware, stainless steel medical tools, etc. Three stars, worth a visit, Skyking sez check it out. (Dick Dillman) 5. Rotterdam P.M. Quakkelstein Westhavenplaats 28 3131 BT Vlaardingen (near Rotterdam) Phone: 010-4344523 As often happens in these expeditions, we arrived here just five minutes before closing so had to do a very quick recon. Several US military sets of post WWII vintage in the window boded well. Inside, the friendly proprieter, one assumes Mr. Quakkelstein himself, presided over one of those places crowded with shelves and bays with almost no place to walk (mind the 1" step in the floor half way back). Contents ranged from RT-68s to a "modern" 1k ship's transceiver, but mostly odd parts, components, tank coils, tubes, etc., etc. Once again, three stars, worth the visit. One thing about shopping of any kind in the Netherlands is the prevelance of English. Another thing to be mindful of when BA shopping is that national law apparently required that a license of some type be produced before a transmitter can be sold. My Dutch companion in this trek seemed to think that a ham ticket would do, so bring yours along if you have one and intend to acquire an sender of any type. (Dick Dillman) --