Re: hobby electronics

On a sunny day (Wed, 3 Jul 2024 10:30:39 +0100) it happened Martin Brown
<'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote in <v635o1$24goj$1@dont-email.me>:

On 02/07/2024 17:28, john larkin wrote:

 
It's my opinion that there are few hobbyists that really work with
parts and make circuits, and most EE grads are EE/CE dual majors that
code more than they solder, and don't have instincts for electricity.

>
There are still a few, but it has become a very minority interest today.
Partly because everything is so heavily integrated and surface mount.
>
When I grew up you could get dead ICL 1900 boards full of TTL chips for
and bags dross coated transistors at start of line for pennies. Today
there is no equivalent source of cheap easily reused parts.
>
Back then there were also electronic kits for build your own computer etc.
>
A lot of it today is plugging new mass produced modules together.
Raspberry Pi has done a lot for that and to encourage electronics
hobbyists though so it isn't all bad news.

 
Here's a youtube on the subject:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLnolhyT5SI
 
Some of these guys blame surface mount, which seems wrong to me. There
are lots of thru-hole parts and parts kits around.

>
Surface mount has rendered modern kit all but impossible for the home
user to repair.

No, its even easier than say resistors with wires through holes
While back I replaced a surface mount resistor in a digital mulimeter.
It had evaporated.
The difficult part was guessing the value from the other surface mount resistors around it.
SMDs are easy to unsolder and remove and replace.

 

I cut my teeth mending transistor car radios back when
chassis earth was chosen randomly by each car manufacturer to be either
positive or negative and people blew up their brand new car radios.
>
The other big earner was mending teenage wannabe rock stars amplifiers
that had their output transistors fried or a pint of beer in them.

In those early sixties I designed and build a tube amplifier for the high school band,
years later I got a call from the guitarist who really liked the sound
if I could make some special effects stuff...
I grew up with tubes and 78 rpm records ..


 

I'd like to hire a few kids who love component-level electronics, but
they are hard to find.

>
Go looking at maker-spaces or whatever they are called in the US. Most
of them will be trying to make electric guitars but they will be showing
at least some skills with small pickup coils and low noise amplifiers.
>
Back in my day a lot of our physics practicals were essentially
electronics based - characteristics of a FET, various oscillators and a
substantial digital electronics and logic course with a finishing test
of making a digital dice (it may still be the same course even now).
>
I'm pretty sure the previous generation did the same experiments on
thermionic valves and relays but that was discontinued on H&S grounds.

Teachers, in electronics school we had an old teacher teaching us about transistors
and a student asked:
'Sir, what exactly is a complementary pair?'
Teacher got mad, thought it waa a sex joke, and asked the guy to leave the class.
Took all of us to convince the teacher that that was a valid question.

So, there but for what you learned yourself go you and I..

But I am a bit diffferent, knew more about radio at 5 years old than some profies.
Much I learend fron E Aisberg's books... Dutch for 'That is how the radio works':
 http://waij.com/oldbooks/radio_bestanden/Zoo_werkt_de_radio.pdf
Mother got it for me from the library, was too young to get it myself.
Later he also wrote 'That is how TV works', and 'That is how the transistor works'
French:
 https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne_Aisberg

I don't know if there ever was an English translation, but THAT is good stuff to teach kids...
I just downloaded the Dutch pdf, good memories! Still all valid!
He starts with electrons and protons, atoms, the book had an 'ask all' and a 'know all' person
in conversation about it all...
Asking the right questions and getting the right answeres is a great way to quickly learn.

I started learning French here ik kindergarten in the late forties..
Do English ever learn French? German?