International Contest - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ChrisGreece52
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: January 15, 2013, 07:13:57 pm
content: Do you know any contest that takes place on an international leve?I live in Greece i have no money a crappy soldering iron (that plugs into the wall socket) no multimeter , no oscillosope,and not even a helping tool for soldering.Please i need to win some stuff because i am a student and i cant afford anything because of the crappy economy here.Thank you

author: Amarbir[Lynx-India]
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 01, 2013, 05:19:33 pm
content: Quote from: ChrisGreece52 on January 15, 2013, 07:13:57 pmWell,You Have Something That noo can take from you .You know what that is ?

author: Stiege
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 12:11:30 am
content: Quote from: ChrisGreece52 on January 15, 2013, 07:13:57 pmYou've got pen and paper to do designs, computer to simulate and a soldering iron to prototype it. I'm not sure what else you need.

author: adam1213
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 01:58:42 am
content: What sort of things would you like to make? For a lot of things expensive tools are not required. Though having a multimeter can be useful.

author: XynxNet
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 05:25:51 pm
content: What about your school? Surely they have a physics department. Maybe they have some old gear for you or you can use their lab.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 06:26:26 pm
content: Look, I'm sorry to say it, but if you're resorting to such messages maybe you're not really motivated or interested enough to learn about electronics.You don't need an oscilloscope to make some simple circuits and practice, you don't need helping tools to do SOMETHING.A solder iron of the "firecracker" style is not great, but it works. A digital multimeter can be very cheap, could cost even 2-3 dollars on eBay or some local small markets:http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=multimeter+830b&_sop=15If the fact that you're poor stopped you from getting such a basic tool as a cheap multimeter, maybe it's like I said.. maybe it's not something you should do.You don't even have to pay for parts - just go to some malls that have recycling boxes and pull out some broken power supplies, chargers etc and you have capacitors and resistors and basic components.. go to your local trash dump and talk to the people there to let you take some old tvs or radios or something like that.Go to some tv repair people, these have unrepairable electronics they keep for spare parts , they may be willing to give you components for freeSee some second hand computer stores, sometimes they get a shipping container of old computers or a truck load and find some very old computers they can't sell (pentium 1, 485) and they may be willing to give you for free or for a few dollars (take out parts off video cards, power supplies etc)I'm in Romania.. we have poor people, I was also poor for a long time, my parents aren't rich... My folks were so poor that I was ashamed to take money from them for university, so I was working while I was there and managed to graduate university.Luckily I was very passionate about programming, learned programming at school and I'm doing well as a freelancer now and I can now afford to buy equipment but even when I was poor in school, I could put some money aside and buy every few months something.Greece isn't even as worse as Romania.. you guys have better climate, you work less, you had more holidays, holiday bonuses and all that, so don't tell me you can't afford to spend 3-4$ on a multimeter.Participating at contests is just stupid and it's like lotteries - you have to participate in 50-100 contests to win once and win what? Something you won't afford to pay customs taxes because you don't have money in the first place?

author: jancumps
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 04, 2013, 07:27:37 pm
content: Quote from: mariush on February 04, 2013, 06:26:26 pmrespect

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2013, 10:42:21 am
content: Quite similar situation as in Poland. Here I'd say that like 30% of university students work part- of full-time to support their education.When you live in relatively poor country, you have to be much more resourceful than people from US or western EU. You can actually build all the stuff for the lab yourself from scrap, and this is no overexaggeration. Cheapest Zhaoxin soldering station costs 15€. Cheap meter costs 5€ max. Obviously that will be chinese crap, but it will do for a beginner.Anything maybe apart from scope and spectrum analyzer can be built out of salvaged parts plus maybe a few euros worth of some missing parts. You can actually build basic multimeter yourself without a problem. It probably won;t be autoranging, and maybe it will even have completly separate current and voltage measurements, but it'd definitely be usable. Power supply, soldering station, reflow oven, hotair tool, cnc mill, 3d printer, pcb fabrication equipment and many more things can be made out of junk. I'd even say, that such approach gives you much more insight in how different things worth, than if you were able to buy JBCs, Flukes, Metcals and Agilents for learning how a transistor works.

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2013, 02:18:54 pm
content: Use the uni's lab. I had asked for a special license from the lab supervisor to let me use equipment. He told me that I could use any equipment I like that wasn't set up for specific experiments or exercise. No license needed. Of course you must prove your self that you want destroy anything expensive.I also was working at a moving crew (the one people use when moving from house to house. Don't know the exact term).Alexander.

author: poorchava
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2013, 07:04:08 am
content: Heh, I used to work in a car wash and then for 3 years as pizza guy (surprisingly good money for a student, given it's a non demanding part time job + tons of pizza for free).

author: Ferroto
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2013, 04:30:17 am
content: Quote from: ChrisGreece52 on January 15, 2013, 07:13:57 pmAs an aspiring hacker who lives on an island that has never had much of an electronics industry and thus a lack of used gear, here's my ultimate Thrift Shop lab.Soldering iron: you already have one and for though hole stuff a cheap wall one is fine.Multimeter: a cheap won-hong low one is better then nothing just don't measure high energy circuits with it.Arduino: This is basically your Swiss army knife, it can act as a logic analyzer, low frequency signal generator, and a frequency counter. There's also alot of free code out there for it.(Logic Analyzer)http://letsmakerobots.com/node/31422(Signal Generator)http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Waveform-Generator/(Frequency Counter)http://www.instructables.com/id/Frequency-Counter/Power Supply (warning high voltage project): You can convert an old ATX PSU into a bench PSU, if you know someone who does PC repair you might be able to nick a used one for free.http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Computer-ATX-Power-Supply-to-a-Lab-Power-SupplyOscilloscope: Your PC sound card can be a crappy and I mean CRAP oscilloscope and signel generator with a bandwidth of ~20khz. It can also do FFT analysis in the audio spectrum range.http://www.zeitnitz.de/Christian/scope_enFunction Generator: Build your own that's the fun of electronicsAs for money when I was in high school i used to go in the woods, collect beer bottles and bring them to the recycling place.

author: michaelym
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2013, 04:43:03 am
content: Although this is not electronics related but I suggest you watch this video, gave me a great lesson in life.

author: brainwash
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2013, 08:21:05 am
content: I'm not sure if the OP is trolling or not.Nevertheless, I'm sure quite a few people would like to see a 5$ multimeter shootout.Future advice for people trying this stunt: show us your project made with aluminium foil and used batteries. Show how you spent your time collecting old electronics books for free and ripping out parts from throw-away devices to build your own design.But I'm sure if you already did that someone already noticed you and provided you with access to missing tools.Just venting, I hate people asking for free stuff just so they have another thing sitting unused around the house.Some great musician has a nice text on his facebook profile: "Hey, I won't answer to tabs requests anymore. You already have an instrument separating you from the music, why add a music sheet ?"

author: Rodville
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 09:04:01 pm
content: I have no formal training. I have a $5 multimeter. I have a $10 plug in soldering iron. And I have fixed several DVD players. 2 TV sets, and I am working on replacing the bad caps in my monitor. Granted I am not at the level of most of the people here but I am trying. I ask friends and family to hand over old electronics instead of throwing them out. I have made a computer for each of my kids (granted they are old and running WinXP) but they have them to use for school. And my collection of old cell phones is in my opinion impressive.Point is no matter what you have in resources pales in comparison in what you need in drive. The want/need to learn is the most important tool in your tool box.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2013, 09:34:27 pm
content: Quote from: ChrisGreece52 on January 15, 2013, 07:13:57 pmbut ! you have kalamat olives, fresh feta cheese , toss in some salad and tomatoes. put some sheep on hot charcoal add a slice of pita-bread. some tzatziki and tamara and the world will envy you. especially of you do it besides the clear blue water on a white painted , sunlit covered terracce somewhere in the egeian sea...

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 08:26:16 am
content: Quote from: free_electron on March 23, 2013, 09:34:27 pmSoon m8, soon!Although the big pressure from the economic war, almost everything you mentioned will be present in the vast majority of the Greek tables (in ~30 day) for the celebration of the Cristian Orthodox Easter.Alexander.

author: kxenos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 24, 2013, 09:16:07 am
content: Quote from: ChrisGreece52 on January 15, 2013, 07:13:57 pmluck, god, santa and the like are not going to help you in anything. PM me and maybe we can find some things for you. Also, there is a hackerspace in athens. Maybe they have some equipment you can use.You can also try to find a local repair shop or an electrician and work there for free. You will learn and maybe use the equipment for your own work too. I did just that when I was 15 and it was fun!

author: ResR
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 06:32:14 pm
content: Keep your head up, mate. I have even worse situation than you have. I live in Estonia, I work as an electrician full time and get barely over 400€ per month (not week). The economy is so worse here that you can compare it to african countries, no offence intended. I have a soviet 1970's plug-in-wall soldering iron (fire stick, it burns wood), that I connected smaller 3mm copper rod with iron wire to keep it running, i builded my "workbench" into 1970's wooden case found in a garbage bin, my multimeter is cheapest Welleman analog, that is hold together by cable tie, because it's case broke and it has a malfunctioning, I can't measure at 100 ohm region, fuse burned out with a resistor. And still I fixed a 1990's Samsung 21" TV, I have 300+ soviet vacuum tubes, street light fixture SKZR-250-U1, 15+ 250W mercury discharge bulbs, Philips AS-305 rescued from garbage site, pair of Radiotehnika S-30's, Radiotehnika: T7111, U7111, MP7210 and Romantika MP-225S in working condition, Tesla concert speaker G6004 with amplifier Disco 240 H also. I built TDA1558Q audio amplifier into case of a Majak found from the forest using broken casette-radio transformer as a power supply and high voltage generator made from old soviet junk. I got most of the stuff from junkyard, I have whole basement cell still filled with electronics circuit boards for spare parts and other stuff. I'm not be able to get an oscilloscope too, it's not a must-be. Go look around near garbage bins, go ask people at electronics waste site or electronics repair facilities, they give or sell for few € some unrepairable stuff, you don't believe what people throw away, mate. And be positive, it's not an end of the world.ResR, Estonia EU._

author: brainwash
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 07:30:28 pm
content: That's still a good salary, probably worse than Greece but better than other Eastern European countries.My father earns around 300E per month, maybe a bit less, as a full-time electrician and that is a decent income. In a more "civilized" country that same work would pay more than ten times.Income disparity is huge throughout the world which is why I still cringe and >300$ multimeters when 10 years ago I was making 150$ a month AND it was considered a decent income.On the other side the cost of living is usually paired with the income (though not fairly). Scarcity pushes innovation and limits which is why you see a lot of inventions/hacks coming from East Europe, former URSS and China.The only thing that will never change is that quality equipment will never be affordable to low-income population. However all the other stuff can be had by anyone with access to water and electricity, which is why I ranted at the OP.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2013, 08:11:52 pm
content: Resr, if you want to move you can come to live here.

author: ResR
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2013, 06:16:40 pm
content: That would be a challenge to get there with all this stuffThanks for offer.I tried to cheer him up a little bit, I don't know how successfully though, I had same experience of not having what I needed the most - soldering iron and multimeter, lived that cycle through, he probably was in desperation shock or similar to that. It can happen to anyone from low-income family getting into electronics on their own and then problems start to overwhelm. Keypoint is: never lose hope, whatever the current situation._

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2013, 07:02:57 pm
content: 1,2 containers that otherwise would be deadheading back to China are dirt cheap to ship from EU to ZA, you can fill them. Language may be an issue though.

author: Stonent
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2013, 01:23:20 am
content: Sometimes I think that resourceful=smart.There are a number of people in the US that choose to not work their way through school and instead get a student loan. Then they go to a really expensive school and end up with a job that was nowhere near what they had expected in pay. Now they have a very expensive loan to pay off that they will be paying on for 10 maybe 20 years or so.Whereas when people work their way through school, in my opinion, they end up debt free for the most part and end up supporting a more local school which helps keep the costs down for local students.I think many of the big private schools (Harvard, Yale, Stanford) know that nobody can afford to go their schools completely on their own except for the extremely rich, so they can charge more because they know you'll just get a grant or a student loan.But again, that's my opinion.Quote from: poorchava on March 06, 2013, 10:42:21 am

author: echen1024
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 26, 2013, 08:25:52 pm
content: I remember when I was 10 years old. Even though my parents both had very good jobs working as programmers, the one most important thing they taught me was to be resourceful. I managed to build some pretty good stuff out of salvaged components, a $10 Weller soldering iron, and a downright dangerous, fuseless DMM I got for free on black Friday. as Stonent said, being resourceful = being smart.

author: rr100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2013, 08:40:01 pm
content: Come on, nowadays if you don't complain about I don't know, lacking food and shelter (or having to stay in line all day long to get some drinking water) you should be able tomakea lot of things. You can easily find the information you need and you can build stuff from what people throw out; if you're still missing something you can usually get it for very, very few euros or dollars shipped from China (like the mentioned under-5$ digital multimeters, including shipping!).And really, what is the minimum wage in Greece, crisis or not, 700 euros or so? There are a bunch of countries in Europe with wages of 100 something euros, a couple even in the EU! My first salary was about 25$, as a full engineer (and no, I'm not 100 years old). I had to save money to buy a stupid diode (<500V <1A). And nobody would throw out anything, not even for example a broken black and white transistor TV, 20+ years outdated.

author: Tepe
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 07, 2013, 09:03:42 pm
content: Quote from: rr100 on August 07, 2013, 08:40:01 pmPer week, or?Quote from: rr100 on August 07, 2013, 08:40:01 pmFor what amount of time?

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2013, 12:26:12 am
content: My first salary about 12 years ago was around 35-40$ in today's money. Back then the average salary was about 120-200$, now the average salary here is about 250-400$.I was 17 years old before the last year of highschool, worked for a month in a shoe factory placing shoes in boxes, boxes in crates, crates in trucks etc etc ... so I was basically a packer with no qualifications.I actually got paid more than the workers in the warehouse, because while they had bigger wages, they also paid taxes and fees for retirement, health insurance, union fees etc etcNowadays my monthly salary I pay to myself (I work as a freelancer) is in the tens of hundreds of dollars range..

author: rr100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2013, 06:11:12 am
content: Quote from: Tepe on August 07, 2013, 09:03:42 pmEverything is per month, as I assume most (all?) of the figures quoted in this thread are. And of course for full 8h/day+1-2h lunch break (which wasn't usually a break). And that was in fact good because Saturday used to be a working day as well not that long ago!

author: KJDS
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2013, 08:13:20 am
content: A cardboard box? you were lucky, we had to sleep in the middle of the road. Get up at the crack of dawn, walk for 21 hours to get to school, where we'd be caned all day, gruel for lunch. Walk 21 hours home. ...

author: brainwash
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 08, 2013, 10:47:47 am
content: Pff, we used to walk at least double that, barefoot in snow, uphill, both ways.But seriously, everyone coming from a former communist country will understand that this is exactly the truth. Luckily, most of them have chosen to ignore the OP complaints.http://www.stevemacdonald.org/lyrics/wiwab.html

author: smoothtalker
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 08, 2013, 04:42:20 pm
content: Quote from: ChrisGreece52 on January 15, 2013, 07:13:57 pmDude. your hands and your brain are your greatest assets! start making something and sell them! or even go give tuition to your juniors to earn some cash. good luck

author: scientist
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 07, 2014, 08:33:06 pm
content: Quote from: ChrisGreece52 on January 15, 2013, 07:13:57 pm?????,?? 2012.? ???"?"?? (www.sparkfun.com)? ?????? 2014.?? ?????,???

author: CaptnYellowShirt
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2014, 07:28:48 am
content: My biggest strides in personal development were always made when I had the least to work with.

author: TheBorg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 19, 2014, 03:11:22 am
content: Quote from: CaptnYellowShirt on February 15, 2014, 07:28:48 amI'm gonna quote you on that (if ya don't mind), it's very true!