Memories of electronics..

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I thought,

It might be nice to have a thread that people can post memories of their electronic youth..Pehaps stories of experiments or builds..Or how they got into building electronics?
It could be (My first project)..

Even first experiences of the hobby...Perhaps a bit of nostalgia..

The smell of burning circuit board and solder...Short Wave radio or the first amp build..:D Just like football YES YES YES Awwwww..as the fuse blows for the 100th time...The days of reading Practical wireless or electronic comics...something about the smell of old amps and tubes glowing through the mesh...the transistor amps built from "carefully" selected parts..The first circuit board that you etch so carefully after hours of work... only to find you have photo etched it backwards and the parts only fit on the copper track side..:D

I remember distinctly my first electrical experience..5 years old and my fathers push Bike lamp had broken so he pulled it to bits (Not an engineer) and tested the lamp with a metal spoon on the strange shaped battery looked like two D cells side by side..he just said look from a distance and gave me the parts..it took me a while to get the lamp to light....and that was it...followed by Triang train sets<<<I guess many people learned a lot from them electrically..

The next thing that was interesting the hum from the 78 record player (HMV) that seemed alive when you were close to it and the smell of the tolex cover (light tan) and the HMV logo that was like a small painting on the inside of the lid..When did you get your (first soldering iron)?
The Phillips electronics kits...with BF194 transistors and tropical fish capacitors...0.01 was an interesting colour..push fit with spring terminals on card circuit templates..including a radio...wind your own coils...



Regards
M. Gregg
 
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What nice memories ...
The first transistors, Toshiba 2SB54/2SB56
Soldering them was a PITA...
In this part of the world, everything comes late.:D

Bad idea
In my childhood I took a screwdriver saying "max 10 KV"
I thought, well that's enough, and approached to TV's high voltage rectifier... a few feet further, back on the floor, I learned that 10 KV was not enough !!!:hot:
 
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TV repair,
Remember to be carefull of the anode cap..as you look over the TV at the screen to adjust the horizontal hold...at the age of 14...I didn't do that one again..I remember getting up after an extended lie down and feeling sick to get "back to it"..learn by doing...:D Good job it was B/W not colour.

My first transmitter,

Using OC71 and OC45 transistors with a mic out of a hearing aid..built on a piece of perspex and tag strip..the first soldering Iron was bought when I could not get away with twisting components togeather at about 11..
Practical Wireless was the comic at the time...The sinclair micromatic radio in kit form...

What was your first project?

Regards
M. Gregg
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2010
Anyone remember,

The Ladybird book of electric projects ..make a motor..make a lightbulb..<<I tried for ages to get it to work...:D and each time the wire would seem to break...or the battery went flat...
I guess it was my first home made fuse:D

Regards
M. Gregg
 
My first radio
I do not remember if before or after enjoying the high voltage, I built my first radio.
It did not work, but when there was lightning storm, was heard over the speaker, then to avoid ridicule, not a radio, was a "sophisticated lightning detector":D
 
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Joined 2006
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Did you need an extended aerial? Diode or crystal cats wisker?:)

Regards
M. Gregg

Yes - we did need the antenna - long piece of wire is all with that. It was the old crystal cats whisker type - Later we built one with the variable capacitor tuning circuits.

After that it was off to a couple of years of electronics tech school in da Navy.

My exposure to good quality stereo wuz while I was in the Navy. A buddy and I built a 15 wpc Heathkit and hooked up some Koss cans to it. Man!!!! I've been hooked every since...
 
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Disabled Account
Joined 2010
Yes - we did need the antenna - long piece of wire is all with that. It was the old crystal cats whisker type - Later we built one with the variable capacitor tuning circuits.

After that it was off to a couple of years of electronics tech school in da Navy.

My exposure to good quality stereo wuz while I was in the Navy. A buddy and I built a 15 wpc Heathkit and hooked up some Koss cans to it. Man!!!! I've been hooked every since...

Heathkit were very good...I remember Hart amps as well...Sinclair did a modular HIFI that just bolted togeather for the bodge it guys..it even had a Grafic EQ...:D

Regards
M. Gregg
 
I got my first taste of electronics when attempting to fix an old black and white TV.
My father had some spare valves lying around so I swapped some in and got the TV working again.

In the 1980's I got involved with disco equipment and built my own disco from Maplin kits. It all worked very well. This was amazing as i had little clue as to how the electronics worked then. A little care and a little luck go a long way.
 
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Joined 2010
Philips electronic engineer kit. I built the AM TRF radio (4 transistors?), then wound a new coil to get Trawler Band. About the same time I began to read Practical Wireless (I think I was about 13 at the time); I learnt a lot from that. Later progressed to Wireless World and RadCom.

The Phillips engineer kit,

Was this the one with a perforated chassis and you pushed the spring retainer through the holes with a spring on the other side.. you depressed the spring to put the component legs in?

Regards
M. Gregg
 
Disabled Account
Joined 2010
I got my first taste of electronics when attempting to fix an old black and white TV.
My father had some spare valves lying around so I swapped some in and got the TV working again.

In the 1980's I got involved with disco equipment and built my own disco from Maplin kits. It all worked very well. This was amazing as i had little clue as to how the electronics worked then. A little care and a little luck go a long way.

Yes I built a couple of maplin kits,

One of them was a fet amp that you could bridge to get double power..DC protection board and relay..They advertised it as bomb proof just like the best valve amps..:D

Regards
M. Gregg
 
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This old topic is closed. If you want to reopen this topic, contact a moderator using the "Report Post" button.