I think back...
I wanted to do electronics, but had no luck. Everything that I tried to build didn't work. It could have been my "replacement" attitude - I'd swap a 220 ohm for whatever, it WAS a resistor after all (isn't that all that counts?
).
So, I turned my attention to cars. 1978, 12 years old and I acquired my first car to work on - 1970 Pontiac Strato Chief. 350, automatic (good for the pre-teen on the back roads) Ah, such memories...
Cars lasted a while (driven to get lucky in the back seat ). In the meantime, lotsa magazines - besides the hot rod mags, Radio Electronics was a favourite. Projects that I could dream about building... The local Radio Shack had very little in the way of parts, but you could order in the "good stuff". I remember building a negative ion generator for my sisters boyfriend. It used an ignition coil (from a '76 Ford Maverick, if I recall). I think it worked, but who knows - I wasn't going to touch that needle.
Speakers: Tearing apart old consoles and jukeboxes, building huge enclosures from cedar chests and closets even. Mammoth passive radiators using tractor inner tubes and plywood. Scrapping stock car radios for the meager amps, connected in parallel and running stuff off car batteries (in my bedroom!).
Then there is a big gap - marriage, kid, responsibly, repression of my DIY instincts... and... finally freedom!! Only to do the same again- marriage, kids (not mine), responsibility, repression, rebellion...
We is stupid, us men.
I wanted to do electronics, but had no luck. Everything that I tried to build didn't work. It could have been my "replacement" attitude - I'd swap a 220 ohm for whatever, it WAS a resistor after all (isn't that all that counts?
).So, I turned my attention to cars. 1978, 12 years old and I acquired my first car to work on - 1970 Pontiac Strato Chief. 350, automatic (good for the pre-teen on the back roads
) Ah, such memories... Cars lasted a while (driven to get lucky in the back seat
). In the meantime, lotsa magazines - besides the hot rod mags, Radio Electronics was a favourite. Projects that I could dream about building... The local Radio Shack had very little in the way of parts, but you could order in the "good stuff". I remember building a negative ion generator for my sisters boyfriend. It used an ignition coil (from a '76 Ford Maverick, if I recall). I think it worked, but who knows - I wasn't going to touch that needle. Speakers: Tearing apart old consoles and jukeboxes, building huge enclosures from cedar chests and closets even. Mammoth passive radiators using tractor inner tubes and plywood. Scrapping stock car radios for the meager amps, connected in parallel and running stuff off car batteries (in my bedroom!).
Then there is a big gap - marriage, kid, responsibly, repression of my DIY instincts... and... finally freedom!! Only to do the same again- marriage, kids (not mine), responsibility, repression, rebellion...
We is stupid, us men.
MJL21193 said:
John, could be we're siamese twins and it's just us two loudmouths.
Overhere we had Radio-Bulletin with Mr Toroid Menno van der Veen, A&T magazine and audio meets with John vd Sluis and a bunch of guys who went commercial mags later on, plus l'Audiophile in La Francia and their demo days.
Ah, the days of twistin your own wires, comparing industrial cables to fancypants wire, winding transformers, the endless fetishism search for the SOTA RCA plugs and terminals, good riddance. D..n, in those days, the only thing i did with my spare time was Awdio.
Merry X-Mass!I started learning electronics in the mid-1970s from the Ladybird Book of Electronics - my dad taught me to solder, and I built a couple of AM radios which actually worked, with OC45 and OC71 germanium transistors and a 30-metre antenna from my bedroom window. I then started reading the electronics mags (Everyday & Practical Electronics, and Elektor) and building things like bat detectors. At University I learned how transistors and op-amp circuits worked, but I had lost the interest somewhat, being far more interested in music making and female company. I only got into DIY audio later on, in my early thirties, I think, and built things from the Maplin Magazine and Electronics Today. The effect of the Internet, for me at least, has been as a source of informed opinion.
The big difference these days is the efficiency of parts suppliers - in my teenage years in the 70s I used to ask my mum to write a cheque for me to Cricklewood Electronics or Rapid Electronics, I would type out the order on my dad's typewriter, and two or three weeks later my bits would arrive by post. Now I click on the RS or Farnell website and my little package appears the next morning. That's progress! Mind you, custom transformer orders still take a month...
Alex
The big difference these days is the efficiency of parts suppliers - in my teenage years in the 70s I used to ask my mum to write a cheque for me to Cricklewood Electronics or Rapid Electronics, I would type out the order on my dad's typewriter, and two or three weeks later my bits would arrive by post. Now I click on the RS or Farnell website and my little package appears the next morning. That's progress! Mind you, custom transformer orders still take a month...
Alex
Too many to remember specially magazines most starting from first issue subscriptions like AA, GA, SB, TAS, Stereophile plus the newsstand rags. Finally about 10years ago I had to let go all that baggage…about a ton.
I did start building galena crystal radios as a kid, then in the 20’s with Dynaco kits… well times go by very quikly and now we have this wonderful site DIYA.
Happy new year to all our friends
I did start building galena crystal radios as a kid, then in the 20’s with Dynaco kits… well times go by very quikly and now we have this wonderful site DIYA.
Happy new year to all our friends
pre-internet, I knew a small group of guys into vacuum tube amplifiers and horn speakers. I heard my first audiophile tube amp setup back in the late 80s and then really got into them by '89. I started out modifying Dynaco gear. In '90 it was reading back issues of Glass Audio and AA.
Even back then the 7199 was a hard tube to score, so I converted mine to run 6U8As. Then I bypassed the tone controls on the Dynaco PAS. Lots of capacitor upgrades and tube swapping back then.
One of the original 'gurus' wowed us by completely ripping out the original circuit from a pair of Heath W5s and changing everything around - even converting it to use fixed bias. Heady stuff
Of course the early days of the internet - the Joe-List and rec.audio.tubes - helped out tremendously and it was then that I started making my first from-scratch gear.
Even back then the 7199 was a hard tube to score, so I converted mine to run 6U8As. Then I bypassed the tone controls on the Dynaco PAS. Lots of capacitor upgrades and tube swapping back then.
One of the original 'gurus' wowed us by completely ripping out the original circuit from a pair of Heath W5s and changing everything around - even converting it to use fixed bias. Heady stuff
Of course the early days of the internet - the Joe-List and rec.audio.tubes - helped out tremendously and it was then that I started making my first from-scratch gear.
jacco vermeulen said:
Well, you forgot the famous Dr. Blan in Radio Bulletin ! And of course we had the boys magazine Radio Blan, with for instance the well known jampot ontvanger (radio with OA79 diode in jam jar). In those days I went for 15 km on a bike to a shop to buy 1 OC71 transistor and 1 resistor, for my Pioneer kit (made by Philips).
I wished I had bought some Unitran transformers, Telefunken tubes, etc. in those days and stashed them away as an investment, then there would be no financial crisis or pension troubles nowadays
When I was born(1955) my Dad was worked as a TV repairman in a Mom & Pop Shop.
By the time I was 8 he was working as head of the regional tech for facility for Magnavox. I started tinkering back then as a summer job.
He started service/moonlighting when I was about 12 for my one of my Grandfathers small radio stations WOLI in Ottawa Il.
I used to go along for fun.
By 14 I forgot all about electronics and hanging out with Dad for the Garage Band thing. Though I built a lot of fun fuzz pedals and home made echoplexe's. I drifted farther and farther away for the tube art.
Without the internet, I most likely would have been buying instead of building.
By the time I was 8 he was working as head of the regional tech for facility for Magnavox. I started tinkering back then as a summer job.
He started service/moonlighting when I was about 12 for my one of my Grandfathers small radio stations WOLI in Ottawa Il.
I used to go along for fun.
By 14 I forgot all about electronics and hanging out with Dad for the Garage Band thing. Though I built a lot of fun fuzz pedals and home made echoplexe's. I drifted farther and farther away for the tube art.
Without the internet, I most likely would have been buying instead of building.
Richard Ellis said:
Cascade Surplus lives!!
www.cascadesurplus.com
I'm in there every other weekend,it seems. Those guys are some characters,that's for sure.
That Lafayette store 'died' long ago,it was still open up until a few years ago,but was nearly empty.I walked in and saw a couple of Mexican/Spanish fellas behind the counter.The selection of parts was dismal,basically some 9V battery snaps,and some hookup wire.There were a couple speaker cabinets around,that looked like they were dug out of a dumpster,nothing worth looking at.
I remember going in there long ago,and having my jaw drop from all the components.. I remember seeing a whole wall of crystals for scanners/CB's/amateur radios.
There's also R5-D3 out in Milwaukie,and Jamac speakers on Sandy blvd.
There also used to be Radar Electric down around 12th and Sandy(?
?),but I think they've vanished too.
Yeah I remember Radar Electric...still got one of their 'Catalogs' Thick puppy. They were hardcore & very professional, neat store, organized that is..unlike most Hobbyist types.
Then there was/is Norvac Electronics..It was in a small place south of Westgate theatre in Beaverton.
I distinctly recall the huge 30" electrovoice driver at Layfayette it was on display way up high..I would assume to keep curious fingers off the dustcap!
The speaker store Jamac? was out past the Grotto on Sandy Blvd the southside of the street.
Kinda wierd remembering these places as it has been at least twenty years or so...just shows all of us how these experiences have molded us in our hobby.
Then there was/is Norvac Electronics..It was in a small place south of Westgate theatre in Beaverton.
I distinctly recall the huge 30" electrovoice driver at Layfayette it was on display way up high..I would assume to keep curious fingers off the dustcap!
The speaker store Jamac? was out past the Grotto on Sandy Blvd the southside of the street.
Kinda wierd remembering these places as it has been at least twenty years or so...just shows all of us how these experiences have molded us in our hobby.
I used to walk three miles to the TV repair workshop and root through the pile of abandoned broken TVs with my Swiss army knife to salvage likely-looking capacitors and loudspeakers etc. Of course, these days, a thirteen year old with a knife is an entirely different proposition, and as for letting kids clamber over broken glass...
Ahhh, the adventure it was!
Plenty of tube TV's and radios to salvage, my subscription to Electronics Today International and Radio-Electronics magazines, ARRL radio handbooks and zeeero peer support, other than from Jack Darr of Radio Electronics by snail mail.
Radio Shack actually carried useful parts, the local TV man had everything else RS didn't carry and Vancouver had a *DOZEN* little electronic supply stores with little overlap of parts, for a true geek-hopping adventure of goodies.
Surplus places were in every town with tubes and chassis....
One of the most coveted publications, an RCA Tube Guide, would be bid on up to $50 (in 1979 dollars!) among hams and CB'ers.
If I had to do it over again with or without the net, I wouldn't change a thing
Cheers!
Plenty of tube TV's and radios to salvage, my subscription to Electronics Today International and Radio-Electronics magazines, ARRL radio handbooks and zeeero peer support, other than from Jack Darr of Radio Electronics by snail mail.
Radio Shack actually carried useful parts, the local TV man had everything else RS didn't carry and Vancouver had a *DOZEN* little electronic supply stores with little overlap of parts, for a true geek-hopping adventure of goodies.
Surplus places were in every town with tubes and chassis....
One of the most coveted publications, an RCA Tube Guide, would be bid on up to $50 (in 1979 dollars!) among hams and CB'ers.
If I had to do it over again with or without the net, I wouldn't change a thing
Cheers!
EC8010 said:
The U.S. was to switch to all-digital TV on February 17, 2009 but it seems that the retired, less wealthy and stubborn folks who own analog sets aren't prepared for the change-over so it will likely be delayed.
Once the change is made, expect to see analog sits clog up the dumpsters at your local recycling shops.
As the recession continues to work its way through the world economy a lot of stuff will come up surplus.
I think the analogue switch-off in our area of the UK is due this year, but you need a very old television for it not to have a SCART socket that would allow a stand-alone digibox to be plugged in. Nevertheless, the enthusiasm for smeary, blocky LCDs means there are lots of working CRT televisions to be had for peanuts.
I've just ordered a Tektronix MSO4054 mixed signal oscilloscope (4 x 500MHz analogue channels plus 16 digital channels) for work and managed to negotiate a very good discount - I blame the recession.
I've just ordered a Tektronix MSO4054 mixed signal oscilloscope (4 x 500MHz analogue channels plus 16 digital channels) for work and managed to negotiate a very good discount - I blame the recession.
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