" while nowadays he would be able to buy a quite decent set with a week work"
I don't know how much you make in a week but I couldn't get anything decent nowadays with a weeks pay.
"DIY was just cheaper way of getting something, I think."
I partially agree but for me DIY is mainly about learning and also having the satisfaction upon completion to know I built it with my own hands.
I don't know how much you make in a week but I couldn't get anything decent nowadays with a weeks pay.
"DIY was just cheaper way of getting something, I think."
I partially agree but for me DIY is mainly about learning and also having the satisfaction upon completion to know I built it with my own hands.
I was impressed with the 3D printer in the RS demo..........perhaps?
They should have a "Class D" station, complete with how-to books, a collection of big ol' caps, Bridges, a collection of "D" modules, bare PCBs.
Imagine a young super-geek kid shuffling in listening to his phone with ear-buds....he pauses at the un-populated class "D" boards, then glances over at the "pre-made" modules. He starts devouring the architectural design of the module, reading the "tech" text proudly displayed.........................He ponders the modules in a chassis he could create via the 3D printer, his imagination goes wild.
There is hope indeed, if RS does it right.
_________________________________________________________Rick.........
They should have a "Class D" station, complete with how-to books, a collection of big ol' caps, Bridges, a collection of "D" modules, bare PCBs.
Imagine a young super-geek kid shuffling in listening to his phone with ear-buds....he pauses at the un-populated class "D" boards, then glances over at the "pre-made" modules. He starts devouring the architectural design of the module, reading the "tech" text proudly displayed.........................He ponders the modules in a chassis he could create via the 3D printer, his imagination goes wild.
There is hope indeed, if RS does it right.
_________________________________________________________Rick.........
I used RS lifetime tubes often way back when I used to service guitar amps. Fender Bandmasters could eat a set of 6L6GC's in a few months of daily use at high volume, so the RS tubes were a deal. The local RS store gave me several free sets over the years. Too bad they didn't sell EL34's because Marshall's really liked to eat them!
The store is across the street from the Motorola plant where I have worked for 41 years. Myself and a lot of other engineers went there often, since that store had parts, lots of parts. The guy who ran the place warned me when the program ran out they would replace a dead set of "lifetime" tubes with a set of their new tubes which only had a 90 day? warranty. A few years later they quit selling tubes altogether.
Well after the tube sales had ended I got a Bandmaster in for repair that had RS lifetime tubes in it. I don't honestly know whether I installed them or not, but I took the tubes to RS and said "what now?"
The manager of the RS who knew me said that he was authorized to refund the original purchase price IF I had the original sales receipt. I found a receipt where I had purchased a pair of 6L6GC's, and I got a refund. This was probably 20+ years ago. Good luck today.
Back in the late 90's (when the economy wasn't screwed up like it usually always is) in Silicon Valley there were several parts shops. Some had tubes. Places like Alltronics, Hal-tek, Halted, and maybe one other I forgot. Some closed down when the landlords demanded large rent increases in store leases.
Old Allied Radio & Electronics Catalogs
Need even more time to kill?
Similar to the RadioShackCatalogs website, here's a website of old Allied Radio & Electronics Catalogs - All the way back to 1929.
Enjoy!
Need even more time to kill?
Similar to the RadioShackCatalogs website, here's a website of old Allied Radio & Electronics Catalogs - All the way back to 1929.
Enjoy!
Went into one a few years back looking for a radio antenna. They didn't have any; seems they discontinued them. I suggested it was time to drop "Radio" from the store name. Obviously they decided to continue perpetrating the lie.
Tell me about it. Once, I guess 2006 (?) I took a day trip to the Dayton Hamvention while attending Morphicon. I ain't no spring chicken by any means, but it looked like I was one of the youngest Hamvention attendees. One older guy spots my con badge, and thought it was a QSL card. When I explained it was a con badge for Morphicon, he was a bit disappointed that I wasn't a new ham.
I asked if he knew where I could get some decent 807s, and he asked what I wanted 'em for if I wasn't a ham. I told him audio finals. He said: "At least you're building something" as he lamented that the hamvention was just growing grayer and older year after year. Also complained about the same thing: people too passive, too lacking in curiosity, too little interest in math and science these days.
Pathetic. A once young and dynamic country has gotten as long in the tooth as the British Empire as it declined. We're going out the same way, and will be edged out by hungrier, more competitive, up and coming powers like India and China.
Finally, I can say with conviction that America's best days are all in the rear view mirror.
Do you think those who are semi-regular posters in the tubes forum represent a good portion of the people building tube projects (using the information found on the forum.. not talking about random internet-less people out in the world)? Or are we just chatty, and maybe there are 100 more building something for each of us who posts?
Since this is on a new page I'll mention it's in reference to peoples perception of the decline of electronics hobbyists.
I don't think local clubs or conventions are a good meter. I think a lot of younger people wouldn't go to that type of thing, but still be very in to the hobby.
There's no doubt the general population is getting further away from caring how things work or fixing them, but the number of individuals who get into it and take it as a hobby is hopefully increasing..
PCB sales might be a good meter for new interest in the hobby.
Since this is on a new page I'll mention it's in reference to peoples perception of the decline of electronics hobbyists.
I don't think local clubs or conventions are a good meter. I think a lot of younger people wouldn't go to that type of thing, but still be very in to the hobby.
There's no doubt the general population is getting further away from caring how things work or fixing them, but the number of individuals who get into it and take it as a hobby is hopefully increasing..
PCB sales might be a good meter for new interest in the hobby.
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I guess I am pretty lucky in that I have quite a few friends who are into scratch building. I belong to a local tube focused audio group full of builders, unfortunately I think our youngest members are now in their very early 30's - so no youngsters. I am also one of the most active builders in the group which would surprise few here.. lol
I'm 60 years old and tube sense of the sound is my new old world...I have a very young friends /16-25 years old/, that have the same hobby...to build from scratch with awesome enthusiasm.
That's when you go to the local hardware store,and get a doorbell transformer. 😉 Parts are out there,ya just gotta be crafty,and know where to look!
I don't know, when I watch American TV everyone looks like an idiot but maybe they're just happy. Yeah, happiness is the beginning of the end. Hahahahaha.
If the number of 'audiophiles' surpasses the number of tinkerers then you can say that we're doomed. Not yet.
If the number of 'audiophiles' surpasses the number of tinkerers then you can say that we're doomed. Not yet.
What about Fry's? Has anyone been in one of those lately? I worked on the west coast quite bit in the early 00's. The Fry's in San Jose had a pretty good selection of discreet components, small hardware, etc. They opened one in Atlanta, where I was living at the time, sometime around 2004 maybe? Still had a good selection. Of course you could also buy a washing machine or refrigerator there.
I went to the local RS last Friday on the way home from work. They are just down the hill from where I work and when weather is nice I walk there and back for exercise at lunch time.
I picked up the last aluminum "Bud Box" they had. They had one each of a couple of 12V and 24V transformers, and a few proto boards but not much else.
We had two RS stores in town when I moved here over 30years ago when the town was less than half the size it is now. Today there is one, and one each in Bristol and Kingsport (the two nearby largest cities). The nearest town Elizabethton does not have one. Our regional population is supposed to be over 1,000,000 people and there are three stores to support them.
Fortunately, there is one remaining electronics store in town that truly carries a nice assortment of discrete components. I just wonder how long they will hold out. They don't see many young kids coming in to buy anything.
Around 14 years ago when my son was in High School, he and a few friends dabbled in electronics a little. I think his generation was the last to buy stuff from RS and actually build with it.
So sad to see things go this way.
I picked up the last aluminum "Bud Box" they had. They had one each of a couple of 12V and 24V transformers, and a few proto boards but not much else.
We had two RS stores in town when I moved here over 30years ago when the town was less than half the size it is now. Today there is one, and one each in Bristol and Kingsport (the two nearby largest cities). The nearest town Elizabethton does not have one. Our regional population is supposed to be over 1,000,000 people and there are three stores to support them.
Fortunately, there is one remaining electronics store in town that truly carries a nice assortment of discrete components. I just wonder how long they will hold out. They don't see many young kids coming in to buy anything.
Around 14 years ago when my son was in High School, he and a few friends dabbled in electronics a little. I think his generation was the last to buy stuff from RS and actually build with it.
So sad to see things go this way.
About 1/3 of the people who contact me about my boards have not heard about this forum. Of course a lot of people found the forum first via a Google search, then found out about my boards. Random hamfest discussions related to tube stuff in general, especially among older people reveal no knowledge, or interest, in this or any other internet tube audio forum in about half of the people.
My 41 year engineering carrer at Motorola is ending and I am preparing to move about 1200 miles. I have been hitting the hamfests selling, donating, or giving away all the stuff that I don't want to move. I just returned from the Orlando hamfest where I met a couple of diyAudio members, and a couple of people who knew about my boards who weren't members. As a few members here can attest, I have been giving away tubes and other parts to people who I believe will actually use them.
There was a young man Saturday that was going to a local college learning electronics. He described the usual classrom situation of a teacher who has never built ANYTHING his entire life attempting to describe electricity with complex math. He was a guitar player that thought tube amps were cool, so I got him to call his father to bring a car. For $40 I filled the entire trunk with tubes, transformers, capacitors, and resistors. I told him about this and a few other web sites, and wished him luck in his endeavors.
I can tell you that there is a small but growing group of people who still want to build stuff. The DIY hobby or "makers" as they prefer to be called are about evenly distributed from about 12 years old to 60 years old. As you guys have surmized, audio or ham radio is not the main focus any more. The explosion of microcontrollers along with the simple programming methods like Arduino have created a new world of "mechatronics." It is now possible to screw together something like a simple robot, CNC machine, or even a 3D printer with off the shelf modules, and program it through USB. This is where the future of DIY is heading, and if it provides an avenue for young people to learn what isn't being taught in school, GOOD!
The Arduino programming environment is a "dumbed down" version of the "C" programming language, however the compiler will eat any standard C or C++ syntax, so an expert coder can use it. You can get simple 8 bit boards for $15 and a 32 bit 80 MHz Microchip powered Arduino compatible board with about 60 I/O lines for $50. Intel also has a 400 MHz "Pentium Class" Arduino compatible that is WIFI and Bluetooth capable for about $50 (the Galileo) but it is rather short on I/O. As it says on the front of the Intel box.....What will you build today? Do you think I haven't stuck one of these things in a guitar amp yet? Of course.....all the controls and "stomp box" controls are in the guitar.....wireless, of course.
What else are young people building....quad copters with GPS, and GoPro cameras are popylar, but I have been following the "controllerism" world since it relates to music generation, and performance.
This is how I started in DIY: getting a lot of stuff of someone who was decreasing his personal stash 🙂