Electronic Archaeology Field Guide #1: Where Do You Find This Stuff in 2026?

By Cliff Potts, CSO, and Editor-in-Chief of WPS News

Baybay City, Leyte, Philippines — June 26, 2026 — 12:30 p.m.

Before this series goes any deeper into capacitors, coils, vacuum tubes, soldering irons, meters, and old radio circuits, we need to stop and ask a practical question.

Where do you find this stuff anymore?

That question matters because the world has changed.

In the 1970s, a student learning electronics might walk into a local electronics shop and buy resistors, capacitors, solder, switches, wire, knobs, sockets, tubes, and tools from a person behind the counter who knew what those parts were. RadioShack was still alive. Local supply houses existed. Repair culture still had a storefront.

In 2026, that world is mostly gone.

The information is easier to find now. The parts are often harder.

A beginner today may have to search Shopee, Lazada, DigiKey, Mouser, eBay, surplus sellers, ham-radio groups, or old repair shops. In the Philippines, especially outside Manila, the problem becomes sharper. You may find a cheap resistor kit online, but the description may be incomplete. The seller may not know the difference between similar parts. Shipping may take time. The package may arrive with parts that are good enough for practice but not good enough for serious repair work.

That is not a reason to quit.

It is a reason to plan.

For Electronic Archaeology, the first practical skill is not buying parts. The first practical skill is learning to recognize parts.

A resistor has a body and colored bands or printed markings.

A capacitor may be a small ceramic disc, a plastic film box, or a cylindrical electrolytic can.

An inductor may look like a coil of wire.

A transformer usually has iron laminations or a heavy core.

A diode often has a stripe marking one end.

A relay looks like a small switch operated by electricity.

Once you can recognize components, dead electronics become educational material.

Old radios, broken computer power supplies, dead UPS units, discarded televisions, chargers, speakers, fans, and small appliances may contain parts worth studying. Not all of them should be reused. Some may be unsafe. Some may be damaged. But they can still teach you how electronics was built.

That matters because the old electronics world was not built by people who always had the exact right part. It was built by people who understood enough to test, substitute, repair, and improvise.

For a basic electronics bench in 2026, a beginner does not need a laboratory.

The first tools should be simple.

A digital multimeter is the most important tool. It measures voltage, resistance, and continuity. Without a meter, you are mostly guessing.

A soldering iron is next. For basic electronics work, a temperature-controlled soldering station is better than the cheapest plug-in iron, but a modest iron is still better than no iron. For small electronics, something in the general 30- to 60-watt range is usually enough. The goal is controlled heat, not brute force.

You also need solder. Rosin-core electronics solder is the normal choice for circuit work. Plumbing solder and acid-core solder should not be used for electronics. The flux matters. Acid flux can damage electrical connections over time.

Other useful tools include small screwdrivers, needle-nose pliers, wire cutters, tweezers, a magnifying glass, a small lamp, electrical tape, heat-shrink tubing, and a notebook.

The notebook is not optional.

Write down what you test. Write down resistor values. Write down part numbers. Write down mistakes. Electronics rewards documentation because memory lies.

Some tools can wait.

An oscilloscope is useful, but it is not the first tool a beginner needs.

A bench power supply is useful, but batteries and simple adapters can teach the basics.

A signal generator is useful, but not necessary for the first stage of this series.

The first goal is not to build a professional repair bench.

The first goal is to stop being helpless in front of a circuit.

Parts can come from three places.

First, you can buy them.

Online marketplaces such as Shopee and Lazada may have starter kits, resistor assortments, capacitor assortments, breadboards, jumper wires, soldering irons, and multimeters. These are useful for learning, but the buyer must be cautious. Cheap kits are good for practice. They are not always good for precision work.

Second, you can order from professional suppliers.

DigiKey and Mouser exist for people who need specific, traceable parts. They are closer to the modern version of the old electronics supply house. The advantage is accuracy. The disadvantage is cost, shipping, payment, and the fact that ordering one small part internationally can feel absurd.

Third, you can salvage.

Salvage is the archaeological method.

A broken radio is not only trash. It is also a lesson in layout, components, power supply design, switches, speakers, coils, and signal flow. A dead power supply may contain capacitors, transformers, inductors, connectors, and useful wire. A discarded appliance may contain switches, motors, relays, and fasteners.

Salvage has limits.

Old equipment can be dangerous. Tube radios and old televisions may contain high voltages. Capacitors can hold charge after power is removed. CRT televisions are not beginner projects. Mains-powered equipment should be treated with caution. If you do not know what a section of a circuit does, do not touch it while powered.

This series is about understanding first.

Repair and construction come later.

Vacuum tubes are their own problem.

In the 1950s and 1960s, tubes were ordinary replacement parts. In 2026, they are specialty items. Some are still manufactured for audio equipment and guitar amplifiers. Others exist mostly as old stock, surplus, collector parts, or salvaged components. Tube sockets, high-voltage transformers, and matching parts can be harder to find than the tubes themselves.

That means tube electronics must be approached differently.

We can study tubes.

We can read old manuals.

We can understand how they worked.

We can examine old circuit designs.

But building tube equipment from scratch is not the starting point for a reader on a limited budget in the Philippines.

The realistic starting point is a basic electronics bench, a few low-voltage parts, a multimeter, and the habit of learning one component at a time.

That is enough.

Electronic Archaeology is not about pretending we can walk into 1976 and buy parts over the counter. We cannot.

It is about learning how the older world worked while dealing honestly with the world we actually live in.

In 2026, the beginner has more information than any student in 1976 could have imagined. But the beginner also faces a strange problem: the knowledge is everywhere, while the physical parts may be scattered across online marketplaces, overseas suppliers, junk boxes, repair shops, and dead machines.

That is the new supply chain.

So before we move on to capacitors, remember this:

The first electronic tool is not the soldering iron.

The first electronic tool is recognition.

Learn what the parts are.

Learn what they do.

Learn where they hide.

Then the old machines start talking again.

If this work helps you understand what’s happening, help me keep it going: https://www.patreon.com/cw/WPSNews

For more from Cliff Potts, see https://cliffpotts.org

References

DigiKey. (n.d.). DigiKey Philippines: Authorized electronic parts and components distributor. https://www.digikey.ph/

Lazada Philippines. (n.d.). Electronics components kit. https://www.lazada.com.ph/tag/electronics-components-kit/

Mouser Electronics. (n.d.). Mouser Electronics Philippines. https://www.mouser.ph/

Shopee Philippines. (n.d.). Electronic components. https://shopee.ph/list/electronic%20components