Sidebar Sidebar
  • You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.

CB shops in or around San Antonio Texas

L

LiL John

Member
Jan 27, 2021
42
13
18
65
Hello, i have been in radios for some time but i have not for the last few years Medical problems, but now been wanting to get back on, been asking questions about things but i been looking for a good radio shop near me, there is only 2 near me, Clay's and Charlies, i think they are more of your basic radio shops, is there any radio shops other than them around here, there were a bunch at one time but i guess times are a changing, no CB or ham shops here anymore, anyone know of any.
Thank you
LiL John
Mighty Mite
 

I only know of Clay's CB shop, he does good work though. All the other radio shops that used to be here are long gone.

Do you have a set up now? There are quite a few locals here on 36, 38 and 39 LSB. Different crowd on each. Not sure if there is an AM channel used here.

What are looking to get done?
 
I closed my shop down in 95 (got a daytime job) and worked out of my house in the hill country until 2010 but haven't done any work for other than my self and a few close friends in the last 10 years. Used to do a lot of work for the breakfast club on 39 and also 36 but a lot of those guys have died off. Even though the 2 groups don't get along, they didn't mess with me because I was the radio tech, LOL. I know a few guys that work out of their homes that might be sweet talked into doing some radio work.

Is there anything in particular that you need help with?

73

Dr_DX
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: undertaker, codeman and Shadetree Mechanic
Hey, if anyone knows Clay well, see if you can sweet talk him into doing Consignment sales. I have a ton of gear and antennas that I need to move and I don't feel like doing the fleabay thing. He doesn't know me from Adam, but when I called and asked a year ago or so, he said he didn't. I know his main clientele is drivers but if he had Consignment sales he would get a lot more local customers for sure.

When Craig still had the HAM shop in San Antonio on Evers and then later over by the airport, he did do consignment sales and I think it helped him get additional foot traffic into the store. I know I bought some gear from him in the past.

Maybe when I retire in 5 or 6 years, I might open up something to the public, we'll see. The mind is willing but the health may not be.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Eldorado828 and Shadetree Mechanic
Dr_Dx, you know the radio shop in that hotel along I 10, it is now called Charlies and it use to be Radars cb shop or something like that but charlie now runs that shop, i am not sure as to how good he is, i sold him some radio stuff last year, he is pretty cheap, well the stuff was pretty old,did not have do any radio work on anything i have, when i met him he said he had got computer school and needed a job and stared working with radar but something happened with radar, got i to some kind of trouble or something but he gave the shop to charlie with all the radio equipment and everything went with it ole radio the whole deal but i have no idea whats his work like, and Clay i only dealt with him on time, do'nt remember what.
 
Clay seems to be pretty reputable just from people I've know that have dealt with his shop. His work speaks for itself and I've seen and heard it. I've personally never bought there but would without hesitation. I remember around early 2000's when I was running the oil patch a lot, he had set up all of the Halliburton radios which all worked very well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: codeman, Slowmover and Shadetree Mechanic
John Arredondo said:
Dr_Dx, you know the radio shop in that hotel along I 10, it is now called Charlies and it use to be Radars cb shop or something like that but charlie now runs that shop, i am not sure as to how good he is, i sold him some radio stuff last year, he is pretty cheap, well the stuff was pretty old,did not have do any radio work on anything i have, when i met him he said he had got computer school and needed a job and stared working with radar but something happened with radar, got i to some kind of trouble or something but he gave the shop to charlie with all the radio equipment and everything went with it ole radio the whole deal but i have no idea whats his work like, and Clay i only dealt with him on time, do'nt remember what.
Click to expand...

I am familiar with both Clay's and Charlie's "hotel room". I haven't been in either. Radar used to visit my shop on Austin Highway in the indoor flea market before he had his shop.

If Charlie is a Hispanic man in his mid 50's, then I may have known him when he first started out doing radio stuff. Back in the mid 80's there was a good friend of mine that opened up a cb shop in the abandoned tire repair shop that was across I-10 from the Petro. He had some decent electronics training and did a fairly good job repairing and tuning radios and the normal installations for the drivers that would come in. Most of his business was selling radios, amps, and noise toys. I would go and hang out with him and help him. We worked on radios, amps, tube amps, etc. He had a big GP (I think it was a Sigma 4) that he used a Maco 750 on and I could hear him all the way out to Kerrville. He used to lock down the Petro when he wanted to.

Anyway, about this time Charlie came along and wanted to learn radio stuff. He seemed most interested in the noise toys and roger beeps. At the time, he didn't really get into the repair of radios. He was fine as long as the radio worked. That may have changed after I left and started my own shop when my friend closed his down. I heard that Charlie had rented a room at the hotel and was working out of there.

My shop wasn't on an Interstate so my clientele was locals only. When that is the case, you can't afford to screw up or your reputation is shot. By 1995, I had pretty much saturated the local cb market and I also got a different job so my partner and I split the assets and shut down.

BTW, there was another tech called Rubberball that was in a RV as I recall out on I-10, I used to get a lot of his work in my shop. If I shook the radio and it rattled, I knew he had worked on it.

Trip down memory lane...

73

Dr_DX
 
  • Like
Reactions: NZ8N, Shadetree Mechanic and Slowmover
Dr_DX said:
I am familiar with both Clay's and Charlie's "hotel room". I haven't been in either. Radar used to visit my shop on Austin Highway in the indoor flea market before he had his shop.

If Charlie is a Hispanic man in his mid 50's, then I may have known him when he first started out doing radio stuff. Back in the mid 80's there was a good friend of mine that opened up a cb shop in the abandoned tire repair shop that was across I-10 from the Petro. He had some decent electronics training and did a fairly good job repairing and tuning radios and the normal installations for the drivers that would come in. Most of his business was selling radios, amps, and noise toys. I would go and hang out with him and help him. We worked on radios, amps, tube amps, etc. He had a big GP (I think it was a Sigma 4) that he used a Maco 750 on and I could hear him all the way out to Kerrville. He used to lock down the Petro when he wanted to.

Anyway, about this time Charlie came along and wanted to learn radio stuff. He seemed most interested in the noise toys and roger beeps. At the time, he didn't really get into the repair of radios. He was fine as long as the radio worked. That may have changed after I left and started my own shop when my friend closed his down. I heard that Charlie had rented a room at the hotel and was working out of there.

My shop wasn't on an Interstate so my clientele was locals only. When that is the case, you can't afford to screw up or your reputation is shot. By 1995, I had pretty much saturated the local cb market and I also got a different job so my partner and I split the assets and shut down.

BTW, there was another tech called Rubberball that was in a RV as I recall out on I-10, I used to get a lot of his work in my shop. If I shook the radio and it rattled, I knew he had worked on it.

Trip down memory lane...

73

Dr_DX
Click to expand...
had some good radio times when I lived there...
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.


      Top Bottom
      Back