AK4YG -- Sources for Parts

I'm putting up this page because there are some obscure places to find parts that you may not find on a quick Google search.

QRP Parts

For the common stuff, you really can't beat Mouser or Digikey. I like Mouser a little better, and I've heard that for small orders, you can leave a comment for them to ship it first-class mail even if there isn't a selection for it in the ordering process. For the more esoteric stuff, I like these guys:

Kits and Parts -- great for orders of toroids in quantity. They also have kits for low-pass filters, QRP building blocks, and a cool single-frequency 40M CW rig for $40.
Dan's Small Parts and Kits -- lots of stuff here that's worth a look.
Earl Andrews -- this is a retired guy in Canada who sells QRP-type parts. Great selection of hard-to-find semiconductors, reasonable prices for small orders of toroids, and very reasonable shipping. Recommended!
The Parts Place -- not as much selection as other places, but good prices on small orders of toroids and binocular cores, and very reasonable shipping.
FAR Circuits -- lots of PCBs for various projects from various sources. Prices aren't bad, and shipping is a flat rate for everything that fits in a priority-mail envelope. Note that these boards don't have thru-plated holes, vias, or solder mask, and that you may very well have to go through the boards with an X-Acto knife and clean up any traces that are joined together and shouldn't be.

Tube Parts

Weber Vintage Sound Technology -- this place is really tailored for guitar amps and tube audio, but the parts are useful for radio and priced very reasonably. They have nice ceramic tube sockets, cloth-covered wire, film and electrolytic capacitors, metal film and carbon comp resistors, terminal strips, and lots of other stuff too.
Play Things Of Past -- this place is really a goldmine for old-school components, especially variable capacitors. To order, you pick out what you want from a series of text files and email it to the guy who runs the business. There are very few photos, and you really have to know what you want, but you can get it here for a fraction of what you'd pay on eBay, especially for variable capacitors (transmitting, receiving, and trimmers of all types). They have other stuff -- transformers, chokes, tube sockets and caps, plate chokes, and coil forms.

Last updated 13 March 2013
by myself.