Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Electronics Magic. What Excites You Now?

T

Tony

Jan 1, 1970
0
Lets See. Now we all know what the dumbest thing you ever did with electronics
was. Some of those responses were quite interesting if not hilarious. Maybe we
should have a vote for the dumbest.

And we also know now how most of you got into electronics in the first place.
Most it seems, like myself had a genuine interest or love at an early age.

Back then there was this certain magic to electronics. Just the glow from a
tube radio sitting in the corner playing distorted humming music seemed
magical. Simple construction projects like a neon lamp relaxation oscillator
were entertaining. More "advanced" projects, be it a one tube radio or one
transistor radio, a simple amplifier, maybe even a multi tube or multi
transistor radio or for those daring enough maybe even a tranceiver were highly
rewarding. And with all the electronics magazines there was always something
new and interesting to try. One like 101 Electronic Project For Under $10 (or
was it $15) could give you ideas for months.

Now we take a MCU chip, containing upwards of a million of transistors,
connect a few things to it, write some code and we are done. Theres no magic in
that. The code does most of it. Once you have done it several times, especially
if its part of your job, its boring.

Now I have a work bench in my basement filled with scopes, meters, power
supplies, signal generators, soldering equipment, parts drawers overflowing
with parts. Looks real nice. All the things I never had in the early days. On
one wall I have a 7ft X 15 Ft shelf unit filled with all kinds of radios (they
actually have those prehistoric dials on them), old test equipment (even a tube
tester) and you name it I probably got one on there.

I find though that unless I'm using the bench to fix something, I have nothing
to do. Sometimes I'll just sit there for an hour trying to think of something
interesting to do. With all the equipment and all my knowledge of electronics
one would think I could come up with something. Cant do it. It seems pointless
to make something like a radio. Been there, done that, too many times. Even if
I had not I have at least 50 radios on my shelf - Am only, AM/FM, AM/FM/SW,
AM/FM/UHF AM/FM/URANUS etc. Programming a MCU to turn my lights on or control
my heating system or flush my toilet for me does not turn me on.

I'm bored. Need some magic. Lets hear it. What excites you now. (Related to
electronics PLEASE)

Tony
 
R

Roy McCammon

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tony said:
Lets See. Now we all know what the dumbest thing you ever did with electronics
was. Some of those responses were quite interesting if not hilarious. Maybe we
should have a vote for the dumbest.

And we also know now how most of you got into electronics in the first place.
Most it seems, like myself had a genuine interest or love at an early age.

Back then there was this certain magic to electronics. Just the glow from a
tube radio sitting in the corner playing distorted humming music seemed
magical. Simple construction projects like a neon lamp relaxation oscillator
were entertaining. More "advanced" projects, be it a one tube radio or one
transistor radio, a simple amplifier, maybe even a multi tube or multi
transistor radio or for those daring enough maybe even a tranceiver were highly
rewarding. And with all the electronics magazines there was always something
new and interesting to try. One like 101 Electronic Project For Under $10 (or
was it $15) could give you ideas for months.

Now we take a MCU chip, containing upwards of a million of transistors,
connect a few things to it, write some code and we are done. Theres no magic in
that. The code does most of it. Once you have done it several times, especially
if its part of your job, its boring.

Now I have a work bench in my basement filled with scopes, meters, power
supplies, signal generators, soldering equipment, parts drawers overflowing
with parts. Looks real nice. All the things I never had in the early days. On
one wall I have a 7ft X 15 Ft shelf unit filled with all kinds of radios (they
actually have those prehistoric dials on them), old test equipment (even a tube
tester) and you name it I probably got one on there.

I find though that unless I'm using the bench to fix something, I have nothing
to do. Sometimes I'll just sit there for an hour trying to think of something
interesting to do. With all the equipment and all my knowledge of electronics
one would think I could come up with something. Cant do it. It seems pointless
to make something like a radio. Been there, done that, too many times. Even if
I had not I have at least 50 radios on my shelf - Am only, AM/FM, AM/FM/SW,
AM/FM/UHF AM/FM/URANUS etc. Programming a MCU to turn my lights on or control
my heating system or flush my toilet for me does not turn me on.

I'm bored. Need some magic. Lets hear it. What excites you now. (Related to
electronics PLEASE)

Tony


money, barbecue, good company
 
R

Rick

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tony said:
Lets See. Now we all know what the dumbest thing you ever did with electronics
was. Some of those responses were quite interesting if not hilarious. Maybe we
should have a vote for the dumbest.

And we also know now how most of you got into electronics in the first place.
Most it seems, like myself had a genuine interest or love at an early age.

Back then there was this certain magic to electronics. Just the glow from a
tube radio sitting in the corner playing distorted humming music seemed
magical. Simple construction projects like a neon lamp relaxation oscillator
were entertaining. More "advanced" projects, be it a one tube radio or one
transistor radio, a simple amplifier, maybe even a multi tube or multi
transistor radio or for those daring enough maybe even a tranceiver were highly
rewarding. And with all the electronics magazines there was always something
new and interesting to try. One like 101 Electronic Project For Under $10 (or
was it $15) could give you ideas for months.

Now we take a MCU chip, containing upwards of a million of transistors,
connect a few things to it, write some code and we are done. Theres no magic in
that. The code does most of it. Once you have done it several times, especially
if its part of your job, its boring.

Now I have a work bench in my basement filled with scopes, meters, power
supplies, signal generators, soldering equipment, parts drawers overflowing
with parts. Looks real nice. All the things I never had in the early days. On
one wall I have a 7ft X 15 Ft shelf unit filled with all kinds of radios (they
actually have those prehistoric dials on them), old test equipment (even a tube
tester) and you name it I probably got one on there.

I find though that unless I'm using the bench to fix something, I have nothing
to do. Sometimes I'll just sit there for an hour trying to think of something
interesting to do. With all the equipment and all my knowledge of electronics
one would think I could come up with something. Cant do it. It seems pointless
to make something like a radio. Been there, done that, too many times. Even if
I had not I have at least 50 radios on my shelf - Am only, AM/FM, AM/FM/SW,
AM/FM/UHF AM/FM/URANUS etc. Programming a MCU to turn my lights on or control
my heating system or flush my toilet for me does not turn me on.

I'm bored. Need some magic. Lets hear it. What excites you now. (Related to
electronics PLEASE)

Tony

Tinkering with high power lasers is somewhat exciting, and they are
relatively cheap used if you know where and how to look. Lots of
electronics related things to twink, repair, rearrange and add. Lots of ham
radio rf type knowledge applies when working with rf excited CO2 lasers (it
takes hundreds to thousands of watts of rf to drive them). 10 to 100 watts
of CO2 laser light sure is not very boring, especially when focused to do
usefull work.

High power visible lasers are fun also. For diode pumped solid state lasers
(dpss) there are considerations of ultra stable high current sources,
temperature feedback/regulation, q-switch driving (again with the rf), and
power monitoring. For a more thrilling experience you can work with lamp
pumped lasers where the electrodes of the high voltage high current arc lamp
are actually immersed in cooling water! (deionized of course).

Rick
 
S

Sir Charles W. Shults III

Jan 1, 1970
0
Robotics- that's where the real magic is now. Take some motors and parts
and some junk, turn it into a machine that goes and does things by itself.
Bring it a little life.
While I agree that much of the "magic" is gone from electronics, and that a
couple of chips can make anything you can imagine now, I still make things using
transistors and bits and pieces. People looking at it are still just as
impressed, there is a greater sense of control and satisfaction, and you can
reach that little "Zen" state while the solder is melting and the pieces are
shaping into some new thing.
I derive a great deal of satisfaction from taking junk and making something
cool or unique from it. My kids, fortunately, are also so inclined- creating
makes them happy. Maybe that is where the magic can be found.

Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip
 
A

A E

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tony said:
I'm bored. Need some magic. Lets hear it. What excites you now. (Related to
electronics PLEASE)

Strange, exotic, usually unheard-of technologies from the past, like tunnel diodes,
snap diodes, and sampling bridges. Gunn diodes, TDR, etc...
 
J

James Meyer

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm bored. Need some magic. Lets hear it. What excites you now. (Related to
electronics PLEASE)

Tony

Robotics. You have to add some mechanical skills to your electronic
ones. Tou could make the mechanical part as little as 10% of the project or 90%
depending on what interests you.

Jim
 
P

Paul Camilleri

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm only a beginner but I am totally fascinated by electronics generally.
Having said that, I tend to utilize external circuitry which 'supports' a
project centered on an MCU (in my case - PIC). My current project involves
several MCU based controllers talking to each other via a 7 bit 'bus' and I
found the development of a protocol particularily absorbing whilst knowing
it to be something which will allways have the potential for adjustment and
improvement. Complex robotics are a prime candidate for this project and
that is where I want to go with this eventually.
 
C

CFoley1064

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm bored. Need some magic. Lets hear it. What excites you now. (Related to
electronics PLEASE)

Tony

Is it possible that what's missing is not the enthusiasm, but the context?
Engineering is a profession whose end result is creating things to help people.
There's plenty to do out there in the "private sector", even though a lot of
it is volunteer/"charity" work. I know that free advice and $2.50 will get you
a cup of coffee at Starbucks, but if you expand your horizon a little you'll
find many arenas where the talents of a real engineer will be enthusiastically
welcomed. If you're the type, stick around for a few minutes after the sermon
and ask the pastor if he needs any help with the sound system. Take a look at
the abysmal lack of organization and automation at any food pantry. Lots of
ideas out there -- a thousand different places -- in fact, they're begging for
solutions. One or two jobs like that start cluttering up the bench in no time.
It's the people that keep things fresh.

Sorry to bend your ear from the soapbox -- no offense meant, and hopefully none
taken.
 
G

GC

Jan 1, 1970
0
I'm bored. Need some magic. Lets hear it. What excites you now. (Related to
electronics PLEASE)

For me, it's watching and helping my 7 year old play with exactly the
same stuff that I used to - a handful of components, and building crystal
sets, LED flashers using multivibrators etc. All the little circuits that
I cut my teeth on. From a POV of my own projects, it's probably still the
small elements that give me the most satisfaction, as I don't have the
time these days to launch myself into the large ones. I have an ongoing
design for an all-bands, all-modes HF amateur transceiver, but finding
the time to turn it into reality is the problem.

Gary
 
P

Paul Burridge

Jan 1, 1970
0
Robotics. You have to add some mechanical skills to your electronic
ones. Tou could make the mechanical part as little as 10% of the project or 90%
depending on what interests you.

I'll second that. Just the caveat that the mechanical skills take a
fair bit of time and effort to master and I for one have a long way to
go yet. But yeah, robotics really hits the spot!
 
B

bruce varley

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tony said:
Lets See. Now we all know what the dumbest thing you ever did with electronics
was. Some of those responses were quite interesting if not hilarious. Maybe we
should have a vote for the dumbest.

And we also know now how most of you got into electronics in the first place.
Most it seems, like myself had a genuine interest or love at an early age.

Back then there was this certain magic to electronics. Just the glow from a
tube radio sitting in the corner playing distorted humming music seemed
magical. Simple construction projects like a neon lamp relaxation oscillator
were entertaining. More "advanced" projects, be it a one tube radio or one
transistor radio, a simple amplifier, maybe even a multi tube or multi
transistor radio or for those daring enough maybe even a tranceiver were highly
rewarding. And with all the electronics magazines there was always something
new and interesting to try. One like 101 Electronic Project For Under $10 (or
was it $15) could give you ideas for months.

Now we take a MCU chip, containing upwards of a million of transistors,
connect a few things to it, write some code and we are done. Theres no magic in
that. The code does most of it. Once you have done it several times, especially
if its part of your job, its boring.

Now I have a work bench in my basement filled with scopes, meters, power
supplies, signal generators, soldering equipment, parts drawers overflowing
with parts. Looks real nice. All the things I never had in the early days. On
one wall I have a 7ft X 15 Ft shelf unit filled with all kinds of radios (they
actually have those prehistoric dials on them), old test equipment (even a tube
tester) and you name it I probably got one on there.

I find though that unless I'm using the bench to fix something, I have nothing
to do. Sometimes I'll just sit there for an hour trying to think of something
interesting to do. With all the equipment and all my knowledge of electronics
one would think I could come up with something. Cant do it. It seems pointless
to make something like a radio. Been there, done that, too many times. Even if
I had not I have at least 50 radios on my shelf - Am only, AM/FM, AM/FM/SW,
AM/FM/UHF AM/FM/URANUS etc. Programming a MCU to turn my lights on or control
my heating system or flush my toilet for me does not turn me on.

I'm bored. Need some magic. Lets hear it. What excites you now. (Related to
electronics PLEASE)

Tony

You could abandon yourself to software. Buy a good C++ environment like
Borland C++ builder and get into it. There's a universe waiting to be
discovered, don't think that everything has already been done. Software is
zero marginal cost aside from your time and setting up, it takes up minimal
(no?) room, it's infinitely recyclable, you can't stuff it by accidentally
connecting the power backwards. Good software design is a huge intellectual
challenge, you'll never stop learning.
 
T

Terry Pinnell

Jan 1, 1970
0
[snip]
I find though that unless I'm using the bench to fix
something, I have nothing to do.
[snip]

I often feel rather the same, Tony. And an increasing proportion of my
bench time is fixing one of my many old projects (some now *very*
ancient). That includes trying to understand exactly how they work,
despite usually having the documentation prepared at the time.

Also, that often also leads to digressions, such as building or
re-building some test instrument with which to diagnose a fault. And
that in turn sometimes leads to a seies of 'nested digressions',
particularly if my curiosity is piqued by some theoretical or
practical issue about a section of the circuit (or the test
equipment!).

But occasionally I will get some idea and then get engrossed in it. I
find those projects that involve some mechanical aspects the most
absorbing, even if the associated electronics is relatively trivial.

So, yes, the magic is still there. It's just that (like sex?) it just
doesn't happen quite so often <g>.
 
W

Watson A.Name - 'Watt Sun'

Jan 1, 1970
0
Tinkering with high power lasers is somewhat exciting, and they are
relatively cheap used if you know where and how to look. Lots of
electronics related things to twink, repair, rearrange and add. Lots of ham
radio rf type knowledge applies when working with rf excited CO2 lasers (it
takes hundreds to thousands of watts of rf to drive them). 10 to 100 watts
of CO2 laser light sure is not very boring, especially when focused to do
usefull work.

High power visible lasers are fun also. For diode pumped solid state lasers
(dpss) there are considerations of ultra stable high current sources,
temperature feedback/regulation, q-switch driving (again with the rf), and
power monitoring. For a more thrilling experience you can work with lamp
pumped lasers where the electrodes of the high voltage high current arc lamp
are actually immersed in cooling water! (deionized of course).

Rick

You have all these things? Looks like one should avoid coming around
your neighborhood! Like are the walls of your lab covered with red
WARNING LASER stickers?

--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
 
W

Watson A.Name - 'Watt Sun'

Jan 1, 1970
0
Robotics- that's where the real magic is now. Take some motors and parts
and some junk, turn it into a machine that goes and does things by itself.
Bring it a little life.
While I agree that much of the "magic" is gone from electronics, and that a
couple of chips can make anything you can imagine now, I still make things using
transistors and bits and pieces. People looking at it are still just as
impressed, there is a greater sense of control and satisfaction, and you can
reach that little "Zen" state while the solder is melting and the pieces are
shaping into some new thing.
I derive a great deal of satisfaction from taking junk and making something
cool or unique from it. My kids, fortunately, are also so inclined- creating
makes them happy. Maybe that is where the magic can be found.

So do you call your robots your 'kids'??
Cheers!

Chip Shults
My robotics, space and CGI web page - http://home.cfl.rr.com/aichip


--
@@F@r@o@m@@O@r@a@n@g@e@@C@o@u@n@t@y@,@@C@a@l@,@@w@h@e@r@e@@
###Got a Question about ELECTRONICS? Check HERE First:###
http://users.pandora.be/educypedia/electronics/databank.htm
My email address is whitelisted. *All* email sent to it
goes directly to the trash unless you add NOSPAM in the
Subject: line with other stuff. alondra101 <at> hotmail.com
Don't be ripped off by the big book dealers. Go to the URL
that will give you a choice and save you money(up to half).
http://www.everybookstore.com You'll be glad you did!
Just when you thought you had all this figured out, the gov't
changed it: http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/binary.html
@@t@h@e@@a@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@m@e@e@t@@t@h@e@@E@f@f@l@u@e@n@t@@
 
A

Andrew VK3BFA

Jan 1, 1970
0
I can relate to most of what you say - most of the time I spend fixing
things for a living, so the complex homebrew projects rarely get
finished. But there is still magic, the thrill of something long dead
bursting into life, the cheap toys that can be modded to something
else, the hard rubbish computers that have the potential of high
current DC supplies for my ham gear, the trashed radio at the hamfest
that is slowly ressurected, being a volunteer teachers aide at the
local high school looking for the kid you can mentor and encourage,
the friends and comradeship of my local AR club, complete with lunatic
projects, tower parties, junk trading - its still magic, and I cant
see it stopping to be magic. There is so much to learn, so much to do,
this internet has widened the people I can talk to and learn from,
(and have crazy political arguments with), there is so much surplus
commercial UHF/uwave gear that can be reworked into something, radio
comms via satellite with recycled MDS receivers, homebrew
downconverters, the $50 satellite dish - experiments with patch
antennas as uplink systems, --- enough?
Andrew VK3BFA
 
M

Michael Black

Jan 1, 1970
0
GC said:
For me, it's watching and helping my 7 year old play with exactly the
same stuff that I used to - a handful of components, and building crystal
sets, LED flashers using multivibrators etc. All the little circuits that
I cut my teeth on. From a POV of my own projects, it's probably still the
small elements that give me the most satisfaction, as I don't have the
time these days to launch myself into the large ones. I have an ongoing
design for an all-bands, all-modes HF amateur transceiver, but finding
the time to turn it into reality is the problem.

Gary

I think this is a significant point, maybe not so much to the thread but
to the hobby of electronics in general.

On one side, we have oldtimers (and obviously older people) lamenting
that the hobby is dying. But their perception of electronics in this
world is clouded by being around the hobby for a long time (as a hobby,
I suspect most come into it when in their early teens or earlier),
and being well into adulthood at this point. (In certain sub-hobbies,
like amateur radio, I suspect this is reinforced by people who come into
the hobby at a much later age, completely missing out on that early
initiation).

So they've forgotten what it was like to be a kid and exploring something
on their own. The thrill of actually getting something to work. To
me, there was a lot of auxilliary stuff, such as the reason I went downtown
by myself was to visit an electronic store, and the fact that I was doing
stuff before I was in high school that wouldn't really be covered in high
school, and being in an adult world early because the hobby magazines
weren't deliberatly aimed at 11 year olds.

Unless all of that can be remembered by the oldtimers, it will be impossible
to convey that to young people, and impossible to lure them into the hobby.
"How can young people be interested in building things when there is all
this neat electronic equipment available already, and there's the internet
and video games?" If you start with that premise, the game is over before
it even starts.

If I think about being 11 and getting into the hobby, I think the same
feelings could apply today. I was young, and just about anything to do
with electronics was new. A ten year old today would still be starting
out at that same level, and there is so much to eat up. Who cares if
the only things they can build at the beginning are really simple crystal
radios and simple oscillators? The thrill is in exploring, and actually
getting it to work. The thrill is in doing something that you know the
other kids at school aren't capable of, aren't even interested in.

And I don't think any of that has changed in thirty years.

Michael
 
C

Chris Carlen

Jan 1, 1970
0
bruce said:
You could abandon yourself to software. Buy a good C++ environment like
Borland C++ builder and get into it. There's a universe waiting to be
discovered, don't think that everything has already been done. Software is
zero marginal cost aside from your time and setting up, it takes up minimal
(no?) room, it's infinitely recyclable, you can't stuff it by accidentally
connecting the power backwards. Good software design is a huge intellectual
challenge, you'll never stop learning.


Of course, you could also get quality compilers and development tools
for just about every language you can think of for free, if you would
prefer to choose to save your money.


Good day!


--
_______________________________________________________________________
Christopher R. Carlen
Principal Laser/Optical Technologist
Sandia National Laboratories CA USA
[email protected] -- NOTE: Remove "BOGUS" from email address to reply.
 
P

Paul Burridge

Jan 1, 1970
0
You have all these things? Looks like one should avoid coming around
your neighborhood! Like are the walls of your lab covered with red
WARNING LASER stickers?

It'll probably transpire that this is the guy that lives over the road
from News2020. :)
 
K

Kevin Aylward

Jan 1, 1970
0
bruce said:
You could abandon yourself to software. Buy a good C++ environment
like Borland C++ builder and get into it.

Ahmmm...

Unfortunately 99.9999999999% of all C++ is done with M.S. Visual C++, so
Borland is non starter. Oh..please don't give me all sorts of rational
reasons on why such and such is technically best etc...etc... non of it
matters.

Kevin Aylward
[email protected]
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.
 
Top