Ham Radio Dealers Australia

[Victoria Steigerwald]

Ihave hired extra equipment such as radio mics ( mainly the Sennheiser EW 100-ENG G3) and now I am very interested in buying some lectrosonics wireless systems, as I heard they are the best. However, I am highly confused at what I should buy and have a few questions for other Australian based sound recordists or anyone who can answer my general questions about Lectrosonics and which wireless systems I should purchase.

Also I noticed I can't order from B & H (America based company) for transmitters or receivers even if they have the same frequency blocks as Australian based models. I assume it's because it needs to have some kind of Australian standrad compliance or something. Has any other Australian based sound recordist had this problem and still used gear that hasn't got AUS standard compliance, with no issues ?

As I could probably get a friend to purchase the items in the US then send them over in the post, just as people sell second hand gear made in the US to AUS based sound recordists on these forums.

Besides John Barry in Sydney where else can I buy some brand new lectrosonics wireless systems?

Thank you all in advance for your help and your answers, I really appreciate it!

Cheers!

We folks suggest you visit and make friends with one of your local dealers for advice about major purchases like this, if at all possible. Also, rent some options to see which best suits your needs...

The lower cost Sennheiser Evolution series is both popular, and capable, and a good fit with your current kit, that could easily remain useful even as you become more experienced --and you do seem to need more experience-- , and more demanding and move to even more capable equipment.

The government has already laid out the info on what frequencies will be dedicated to unlicensed RF users such as ourselves but its important to keep in mind that the other higher power RF sources that are currently operating in the spectrum may also come down to the space that we will be using and we may be left with very few / specific frequencies that are left over for us.

Speak to Georgina from John Barry's or Ross from Lemac, If you are needing to buy immediately; Don't waist much time because you may be able to procure some of the stock from when our dollar was good.

Products sold in the USA and Australia are identical (AFAIK) but due to manufacture restrictions from Lectrosonics; Dealers are not allowed to sell products across international borders, This is why you can't buy Lectro Gear from B&H (or any other dealer from another country)

If you really want, you could have an american friend send you the units but I would advise against this, Australian Customs could charge you a fee for duty, GST and other fines and it will end up being much more expensive, In my experience John Barrys and Lemac have been very competitive with USA RRPs and in most cases will sell you the product for the exact same amount (Converted into AUD) plus you are getting easy access to warranty, support and free loan units while your's is being repaired.

I recommend the Sanken COS11 Lapel microphones, These will fit right into your budgeted amounts. I have 6 of them and they are great, Most sound recordists use these because of their profile makes them easy to conceal, they are rugged and they are sound great.

Breaks down like this, okay: its legal to buy it, its legal to own it, and if you're the proprietor of a sound shop and it has a C-tick, its legal to sell it. It's illegal to use it, unless you have site licence, but that doesnt really matter 'cause, get a load of this, if you get stopped by the cops in Sydney, it's illegal for them search you.

RadioShack (formerly written as Radio Shack) is an American electronics retailer which was established in 1921 as an amateur radio mail-order business. Its parent company, Radio Shack Corporation, was purchased by Tandy Corporation in 1962, shifting its focus from radio equipment to hobbyist electronic components. At its peak in 1999, Tandy operated over 8,000 RadioShack stores in the United States, Mexico, and under the Tandy name in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.

The 21st century proved to be a period of long decline. In February 2015, after years of management crises, poor worker relations, diminished revenue, and 11 consecutive quarterly losses, RadioShack was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange and subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[3][4] In May 2015, the company's assets, including the RadioShack brand name and related intellectual property, were purchased by General Wireless, a subsidiary of Standard General, for US$26.2 million.[5]

In March 2017, General Wireless and subsidiaries filed for bankruptcy, claiming that a store-within-a-store partnership with Sprint was not as profitable as expected.[6] As a result, RadioShack shuttered several company-owned stores[7][8] and announced plans to shift its business primarily online.[9]

RadioShack was acquired by Retail Ecommerce Ventures, a holding company owned by Alex Mehr and self-help influencer Tai Lopez, in November 2020.[10] Currently, RadioShack operates primarily as an e-commerce website with a network of independently owned and franchised RadioShack stores, as well as a supplier of parts for HobbyTown USA.[11] On March 2, 2023, Retail Ecommerce Ventures announced that it was mulling a possible bankruptcy filing.[12] In May 2023 RadioShack was purchased by Unicomer Group, a company based in El Salvador. Unicomer Group is one of the largest franchisors of RadioShack, with stores based in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.[13]

The company issued its first catalog in 1939[15] as it entered the high-fidelity music market. In 1954, Radio Shack began selling its own private-label products under the brand name Realist, changing the brand name to Realistic after being sued by Stereo Realist.

During the period the chain was based in Boston, it was commonly referred to disparagingly by its customers as "Nagasaki Hardware",[16][17][18] as much of the merchandise was sourced from Japan, then perceived as a source of low-quality, inexpensive parts.

Tandy Corporation, a leather goods corporation, was looking for other hobbyist-related businesses into which it could expand. Charles D. Tandy saw the potential of Radio Shack and retail consumer electronics, purchasing the company in 1962 for US$300,000.[25]At the time of the Tandy Radio Shack & Leather 1962 acquisition,[26] the Radio Shack chain was nearly bankrupt.[27]

Tandy's strategy was to appeal to hobbyists. It created small stores that were staffed by people who knew electronics, and sold mainly private brands.[28] Tandy closed Radio Shack's unprofitable mail-order business, ended credit purchases and eliminated many top management positions, keeping the salespeople, merchandisers and advertisers. The number of items carried was cut from 40,000 to 2,500, as Tandy sought to "identify the 20% that represents 80% of the sales" and replace Radio Shack's handful of large stores with many "little holes in the wall", large numbers of rented locations which were easier to close and re-open elsewhere if one location didn't work out. Private-label brands from lower-cost manufacturers displaced name brands to raise Radio Shack profit margins;[citation needed] non-electronic lines from go-carts to musical instruments were abandoned entirely.[29][citation needed]

Much of the Radio Shack line was manufactured in the company's own factories. By 1990/1991, Tandy was the world's biggest manufacturer of personal computers; its OEM manufacturing capacity was building hardware for Digital Equipment Corporation, GRiD, Olivetti, AST Computer, Panasonic, and others. The company manufactured everything from store fixtures to computer software to wire and cable, TV antennas, audio and videotape.[33] At one point, Radio Shack was the world's largest electronics chain.[34]

In June 1991, Tandy closed or restructured its 200 Radio Shack Computer Centers,[35] acquired Computer City, and attempted to shift its emphasis away from components and cables, toward mainstream consumer electronics.[36] Tandy sold its computer manufacturing to AST Research in 1993,[37] including the laptop computer Grid Systems Corporation which it had purchased in 1988.[38] It sold the Memorex consumer recording trademarks to a Hong Kong firm,[39] and divested most of its manufacturing divisions. House-brand products, which Radio Shack had long marked up heavily, were replaced with third-party brands already readily available from competitors. This reduced profit margins.[33]

In 1992, Tandy attempted to launch big-box electronics retailer Incredible Universe;[40] most of the seventeen stores never turned a profit. Its six profitable stores were sold to Fry's Electronics in 1996; the others were closed.[41] Other rebranding attempts included the launch or acquisition of chains including McDuff, Video Concepts and the Edge in Electronics;[40] these were larger stores which carried TVs, appliances and other lines.[42]

Tandy closed the McDuff stores and abandoned Incredible Universe in 1996, but continued to add new RadioShack stores.[43] By 1996, industrial parts suppliers were deploying e-commerce to sell a wide range of components online;[44] it would be another decade before RadioShack would sell parts from its website,[45] with a selection so limited that it was no rival to established industrial vendors with million-item specialised, centralised inventories.

In 1994, the company introduced a service known as "The Repair Shop at Radio Shack",[46] through which it provided inexpensive out-of-warranty repairs for more than 45 different brands of electronic equipment.[47] The company already had over one million parts in its extensive parts warehouses and 128 service centers throughout the US and Canada;[48] it hoped to leverage these to build customer relationships and increase store traffic. Len Roberts, president of the Radio Shack division since 1993, estimated that the new repair business could generate $500 million per year by 1999.[49]

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