RadioShack is closing. It is the end of an era. A company that started almost a century ago in Boston selling electronic parts and ham radio equipment to electronic experimenters successfully made the transition from a small concern to a national chain and a place on the NYSE. For years RadioShack was the company that brought new technologies to the mass market; CB’s in the 70’s and computers in the 80’s. Do you remember the TRS-80?
 
As time went by the company lost its way. It forgot its mission and lost sight of its most valuable asset, the employees who understood technology and loved to help people. In an effort to recover past success RadioShack chased dreams and copied tactics from other retailers, and in the process lost its corporate culture.
 
Rather than leading the cell phone craze it was late to market. In the final days RadioShack pursued the Maker community. The strategy could have worked, but the company no longer had the staying power or the assets to embrace a strategy that would make it successful in that space. In the end RadioShack’s cost structure made it non-competitive with vendors serving the maker market through the web.
 
RadioShack copied the Sears model of selling maintenance programs and drove profitability by adding accessories to sales and offering batteries with everything. In the more recent years the focus became the search for a buyer. The major effort was driving metrics that would make it more attractive. No amount of lipstick was able to make the company attractive to suitors. What did RadioShack offer that you couldn’t get at Best Buy, from other retailers or on the web?
 
Yes one can still order product from RadioShack.com and there still are some stores listed on its website. But these are mostly resellers and they don’t carry the full line of products that the old stores did.
 
The story of RadioShack will make an excellent study for a dissertation at Wharton or Darden. It is a story of a company who lost the ability to achieve longevity largely by forgetting how to manage change.
 
Robert Pattison holds BS in Education and an MA in Political Science from The Ohio State University. He currently provides Consulting Services in mission critical technology sales and Fund Raising. He spent five years inside the RadioShack system.

My friend Stu (W4PR) and I have been attending hamfests together for thirty years or more. During that time I have been fortunate enough to win at least three door prizes and Stu, well Stu hadn’t won any. As a matter of fact Stu was starting to wear it as a badge of honor or view it as a curse. He often said, “I’ve been going to hamfests for fifty years and I haven’t won anything!” Being the eternal optimist I would urge Stu to view it as he hadn’t won anything yet. But as time wore on it was as if he just stopped listening to the announcements and looking at the screens at the Hamvention® to see if he had won. After all why waste the time?
 
Sure there was the time when he answered a DX question correctly at the ICOM both and won the little piggy, but that didn’t count because it was a test of knowledge not the luck of the draw.
 
Each year we would go to the Hamvention and each year Stu would come home without a prize. After all even though they had the most prizes to give it was the place where the odds were the longest because 24,000 + other people were in the drawing. One year we even stayed for the closing. This is when all the folks still there crowd into the arena and the unclaimed prizes are redrawn. If you are in the arena you could win! Still no joy!
 
Then one day as we were about to go from Hara Arena out to the flea market I suggested that we stop and check the monitor to see if we had won a prize yet. Stu mumbled something like “Yea sure, go ahead.” I looked at the monitor and looked at my ticket. Stu’s ticket number was one number higher than mine. There it was. Stu’s number on the screen. I said “Stu, you won!” By this time Stu had stopped even looking at the screens when we made these stops. “Yea sure! He replied. “No, really your number is up there,” I said. We waited for the screen to recycle. Stu stood there and stared in disbelief. He was in shock. I thought I was going to have to call the medics. Time slowed down. It was surreal. I guided him to the prize area where he waited in line to show his ticket and get his prize. The photos are amazing. We walked outside to the flea market. I took some more photos. After about ten minutes it set in. The drought was finally over. My friend Stu could no longer say, “I’ve been going to hamfests for fifty years and I never win anything.” He was a winner! But then I always knew that.
 

I met Harry Dannals the night I presided over my first meeting as the president of the Albemarle Amateur Radio Club. We had corresponded before that night. This was back in the days when people exchanged letters through the US Postal Service. Email was still a few years off. As president elect I conducted a survey of the membership in an effort to discern what members were looking for. Harry who was soon to move to Charlottesville from Dix Hills, NY sent some feedback. Most of us who had been involved in the hobby for some time knew who W2HD was, Past President of the ARRL, and at that time President of QCWA, but I had not met the man before that night.
 
Put yourself in my shoes. My first meeting as president and there in the front row sat the Past President of the ARRL. I would be less than honest if I did not say that I was a little nervous. The meeting went well and that night we became fast friends and remain so to this day. We have taught amateur radio licensing classes together, served as VE’s together, presented ham radio to scouts, school children and the civil air patrol as a team.
 
For several years Harry hitched a ride with me to the Dayton Hamvention. On those trips Harry would share stories about his life and friends in amateur radio. Often my friend Stu W4PR would ride with us. One year my oldest son Shawn KD4WXY came along for the ride as well. It was a lesson in the history of amateur radio and good friends sharing adventures in this hobby that we love.
 
I have some observations about Harry. Amateur radio has been his life, he loves it and he is deeply committed to advancing ham radio and inviting others to join in the fun. Harry has a clear concept about how the radio art should be practiced. He is always helpful and willing to guide others but never condescending. While Harry is proud of what he has accomplished he is humble. Harry also has firm opinions. He will still stand to defend principles that he holds dear and will not hesitate to contest a position that he believes could be harmful to our hobby or to the organizations whose purpose is to advance the radio art. Ever urging others to try something new, Harry is an encourager.
 
When I became president of the AARC I modeled my conduct after John Gray W6UZ, another one of Harry’s friends. Harry was very active on the repeater when he moved to Charlottesville. He would greet newcomers, answer questions and put their info in his log. In the beginning it was not unusual for people after talking with Harry on the repeater to get a call from John who would ask, “Do you know who you were just talking to?” After hearing this happen a couple of times Harry called John on the phone and asked him to refrain from telling people about his past positions. “I just want to be known as Harry” he would say.
 
After QCWA filed its comments with the FCC about amateur radio license restructuring and “No-Code” licensing which were heavily influenced by Harry’s vision, I drafted comments that were filed on behalf of the AARC. Later, unknown to him, I placed his name in nomination for the Dayton Hamvention® Ham of the Year. He was both surprised and pleased to receive the honor that year.
 
Harry and I share a love of antennas. When we conducted licensing classes we offered to advise the new hams on antennas. We called it the Dannals-Pattison Antenna Consulting Service. We asked people to make primitive sketches of their property noting shack location, power lines, trees and which way was north, and we would take it from there. Our pay was helping another ham get on the air.
 
When the time came to replace my Cushcraft A4 beam Harry suggested that I wait until we went to Dayton before making any decision. When we got to the show Harry introduced me to his friend, Lew McCoy W1ICP. Lew spent more than an hour with me asking questions about my operating goals and preferences then he took me over to the Sommers booth to meet Alf. I still have the XP-706 Beam that I ordered that day.
 
Then there was the time that the FCC announced that because of the changes in the license classes and requirements, a paper upgrade to general class would be possible for technicians who were licensed before a certain date. Since our VE coordinator at the time was hesitant to hold a session on the date this became available, Harry and I decided we would run a session for that purpose. More than fifty people showed up! It was great fun and it was fulfilling to be a part of helping these hams make the jump from Technician to General.
 
One of Harry’s life goals was to go to the ARRL 100th anniversary convention. When the time came Jim Owen K4CGY, Jim Wilson, K4BAV and W2HD climbed into my car and we motored off to Hartford. The ARRL Centennial Convention was a great joy for Harry. It was a chance to see old friends and make new ones. Throughout the visit I could see the joy on Harry’s face. He was home with people who shared his love for our great hobby. To make certain that Harry was able to get around during the convention a wheelchair was obtained. It wasn’t long before I got the reputation as the only person who ever pushed W2HD around.
 
No story about Harry would be complete without mentioning the other love in his life, his wife Kay. When he accepted the Ham of the Year award at Dayton the speech he gave was a thank you to Kay and his family. All of this was only possible because of Kay who patiently shared him all these years with us.
 
Today Harry resides at Our Lady of Peace in Charlottesville. We still travel to club meetings, VE sessions, QCWA meetings and the Wednesday “lunch bunch” together. Since our trip to Hartford I have encouraged him to plan a return trip to the Dayton Hamvention. He is thinking about it. It will be a great joy to share one more trip to Dayton with Harry.
 

People who come to my ham radio station often comment about the desk. It is quite beautiful. The desk was designed and built by my friend Mike Gilmore, K8RVR. During the design process Michael worked up several engineering drawings. In one of them there was a silhouetted man standing behind the desk. Since my desk fits in the corner of the room at times it is necessary to crawl under the desk and work in the corner. Thus becoming the man behind the desk.
 
The base of the desk has three pieces and the shelves are in three sections. Michael did the initial design and we made several modifications during the build. During construction, the desk took over the Michaels’ garage and family room. Mike honed his cabinet and furniture building skills under the tutelage of a New Hampshire furniture craftsman. Through the desk I have become the beneficiary of his talent and skill. Mike is somewhat a perfectionist. He takes the time to make certain that everything is just right. This means it takes longer, but one ends up with something that is very well built.
 
One of the most difficult decisions to make was the height of the shelves. I wanted to be able to place some of the transceivers under the deck but I did not want the top shelf to be so high that I would get a stiff neck. The fact that I have been contemplating adding a classic station, made this decision more complex. The choice of stains was one that took time too, we finally settled on Minwax Gunstock.
 
The project took several months mostly because we had to fit the work in between Michael’s course work and family duties. And there was a lot of sanding. Michael’s wife Dawn is convinced that his purpose in life is to make sawdust. The shelving for the power supplies was added near the end of the project. That freed up more space for the operating equipment. A second set of shelves is in the plans. Did I mention we did a lot of sanding?
 
The LED lighting under the shelves really highlights the surface of the desk and the equipment during late night operations. We can even set them on red for a “Run Silent, Run Deep” atmosphere.
 
I am grateful to Michael for his friendship and the talent and time he has put in on this and many other projects.