How old were you guys when you started in Electronics? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / beginners

author: VladKEasternTiger
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2010, 09:24:33 am
content: Hi everyone, Dave I loved your latest video, I was watching Daves video on when he was young and tinkering and taking electronic devices apart and the projects and stacks of magazine collection he had as a young boy. Im 25 now and only recently about the begining of this year found an interest in Electronics after seeing some guy replacing resistors on a circuit board. When I was young I used to take the motors of my RC toys and make fans, and torches with lights and take my walkman apart and do funny things with it with the rubber band and motor. But my family we were brought up not with the technical skills, I went to university and did a Business studies subject. Like I said watching dave talk about his young days with electronics makes me feel terrible. So guys how old were you all when you began and how many hours do you spend a week or did you in your hobby, Assuming you all work in non electronic related fields do you still have time to read and tinker and make projects? Any advice for me or is it too late as im 25 now.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 05, 2010, 10:19:50 am
content: Like many electronics nerds pre-internet I pretty much spent most of my childhood tinkering with, reading about, and thinking about electronics. Because, well, there weren't too many other distractions. The computer boom (still pre-internet) ended up sucking a lot of that time eventually.Sad really, but it gives you one hell of a grounding!Who else was picked on at high school for sitting in the corner of the playground reading electronics mags?Dave.

author: Anders
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2010, 11:25:41 am
content: No internet? I started with tubes in the late sixties and built my first computer (no tubes) mid seventies from a kit.I learned calculating with a slide-ruler in school, there where no calculators until the last year.

author: Polossatik
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2010, 12:04:55 pm
content: I was about 10y when I got one of those Tandy/radio shack -solar labboxes...That was the beginning of the end..Seen my parents did not had the money to buy me one of the bigger boxes I started to scout the garbage rounds/dumpsters for electronic things I could take apart and saved for a multimeter (like one of those analog ones you now can get for 3 usd) and soldering iron.Ordered a few electronic books in the locale library, and started messing around. Got a dead C64 system that i repaired, this kicked in the "computer" virus..when 13 I got a few broken IBM PC XT's from a friend's dad.Manage to make one working of those , started with making parallel port I/O stuff and soldering other stuff to itt... then slowly the PC software side (I just loved OS/2) started to creep in .That and less time seen other interesting stuff (girls..beer...) came along, reducing the amount of electronics until I followed degree in electronics - was not interested in shool and that was stuff I already knew for the biggest part, so easy choise - while other students where making stuff like Power supply's or hifi amps and so I made a ISA video grabber (non realtime) card - the computer still heavy in the picture.Seen I didn't manage to get a decent job in electronics and I could get a software job seen I knew OS/2 in's and out's I went for that.the rest is history

author: A-sic Enginerd
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2010, 04:36:33 pm
content: I dunno.....3rd grade maybe? Got the 200:1 kit as a hand me down from a yard sale. Can't tell you how many times I'd take apart and rebuild the motors on my slot cars from my AFX track. Various other little things. Nothing so major as a lot of guys here, like sitting in a corner of the schoolyard reading geeky mags.Went to school, got a BS, and now design chips for a living (~15yrs). Only recently have I started revving up the hobby side of things.

author: Zad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2010, 06:30:37 pm
content: I'm told that the 3rd word I could say, after Mama and Dada, was Coodaiba (screwdriver)...Maybe schools in Yorkshire are different to Aus, with a stronger tradition of engineering. I never got picked on for reading electronics or computer magazines. Pretty much the opposite really, if I built a breadboard radio or a binary counter etc there would usually be some schoolmates who wanted to see it

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2010, 08:30:36 pm
content: I started with tubes too (FM band) EL504 EL84 6146 etc etc , I was sixteen years old ( 1985 )Three months later I was invited to work at the shop that I was shopping parts, as an trainee at the repairs facilityStayed seven years at this shop, and become Class 1 repairman .

author: kc1980
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2010, 10:13:51 pm
content: I started in 1989, when I was about 9yo. I used to get those Forest Mims books and electronics kits from Radioshack, but that's was about it. I definitely wasn't as passionate as some of you were growing up. I didn't have access to things like multi-meters and magazines. There were no mentors or peers to push me along. Early childhood access, exposure and mentorship are very important. Did any of you have parents and/or family friends that mentored you in electronics or programming?

author: DavidDLC
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2010, 10:19:38 pm
content: I started by accident, in middle school back in Mexico, carpenter workshop was very popular, I wanted to be there as many others, it got full fast and the school staff signed me on electronics lab.Before that I had no idea of what Electronics was about, I felt in love, I was 12 years old, now I'm 42, so 30 years dealing with electronics in one way or another (studying, making projects and work related).

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 06, 2010, 12:26:05 am
content: Quote from: kc1980 on May 05, 2010, 10:13:51 pmNot me, I had zip. That's why the magazines were so important. Just me alone in my backyard shed for hours on end.Now with the communications revolution it's trivial to find all the support you need.Dave.

author: TheDirty
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2010, 01:22:39 am
content: I was about 28 to 30. I started getting into it through my interest in race cars and engine management. Now I'm married for a few years with kids, the cars are pretty much gone, but I still play with electronics. Mostly digital, but I'm straying into analog.

author: Zad
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2010, 09:42:04 pm
content: I was very lucky, my dad was a TV repair man, with boxes of components, service manuals and RS catalogues to devour every few months! His dad in turn had been into electronics since he was a kid (I still have one of his notebooks somewhere) and grandad on my mum's side was senior fitter at the regional mining engineering centre. I have to say though, it would have made a HUGE different if the Internet had have been around.

author: kc1980
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2010, 10:09:36 pm
content: Yes, the internet is so amazingly powerful. We are lucky to have experienced the birth of the Internet or Information Age. It is truly a revolutionary thing.THAT'S WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT TO PROTECT NET NEUTRALITY!!!!!!!!

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2010, 05:43:31 am
content: Quote from: kc1980 on May 06, 2010, 10:09:36 pmI will agree too , but at 2010 I will replace the word "have" with the word "Had".The quality of the information had be sacrificed this days,the " Information " had become an marketing tool.Example :Just a bit of information at the front door , just enough to get you interested, and then I send you in my shop, so to buy !!The service manuals , another tool that had turn to become an aggressively priced merchandise.We need to turn back , and organize Internet community's , by having in mind the old useful way of "free sharing of the information".Personally I am trying to make this to work, on this forum , by exposing my own small or big technical ideas , so to pass the message to all , that any one are welcome to do it too, plus it will help us to socialize a bit more.I am aware that some of the pack , acts more as hunters of the free quick information,that rescues them for their temporally problem, and they never contribute back so to help others,the classic shellfish individual.Its up to us , to fight back this negative turn out, and to even learn from the start to say " Thanks and congrats to its other " so to force the young ones to start born ideas than simply replicating others,and transform again , all those Internet forums or blog's , in to something productive and useful.Huh, I had just overdid it again, had write too much, but I had to do it , so to let the steam out

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2010, 12:50:51 pm
content: Quote from: shafri on May 07, 2010, 11:10:42 amLOLNo I have not such plans ... I contribute so to make new friends and socialize in a worldwide scale.I would do the same even if we had " inter - planetary " WEB connection ..Sharing technological tips with Klingons could be fun too .. LOLAnd I can not complain either for my success in the communication level ,I had find med to high educated people , that had return this respect and friendship back to me ,by helping me in Praxis , if I ever need anything as favor. ( books - parts - special info )

author: saturation
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2010, 03:00:49 pm
content: I started around 14, with one of those electronics labs. Starting young you start learning the trade and tricks early in life plus seem to have an 'attraction' to it plus a special driven motivation to learn different than someone who is "interested."Paul Horowitz, of Art of Electronics, at 8:However, younger still around 8-10, my real passion was my chemistry set.The ones built in the 60s you could make some pretty interesting stuff that is banned today in most chemistry sets.

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2010, 04:05:21 pm
content: Wow I has hopping for real pictures, of our own members..Here is one example... He is called as radio-pirate ( e legal transmission at the FM band 105MHz )Range about 100Km , Greek pop and foreign pop music all day.Sound mixer , amplifier , turn table , cassette decks and CDs ,hand made transmitter with tubes , hand made antenna 19 meters high from the ground level.At the morning , music and telephone calls from young lady's ,asking for an specific song, or a "new friendship".At night , all the radio-pirates of the city , was tune to its other , and had long conversations on air ,about sound adjustments , or if the transmitter has any issues like hum in the modulation,or just saying jokes and teasing its other..I was just 17 (1987), but still I am unable to forget all that technical Fun - Music - Girls - and be together with so many people of your age , we was getting known in the Air , and then we was had coffee all together in local coffee shops .Arguing and debating for hours , about who has the best range and modulation, not to say that many times we was helping its other in technical issues.The few American and Italian books , about such matters , was our only source of knowledge.

author: Kiriakos-GR
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 11, 2010, 10:50:12 pm
content: All that I can think of, are that your project are related with the wave length VS distance.Also I am not aware of the max speed of digital data, that could be modulated in the unit of time.Thats the job of the D/A A/D converters.Any way if you need help about Girls , I have more to tell about them...

author: Zed
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: June 12, 2010, 04:47:54 pm
content: I was about 12, I asked for (and got) an electronics set for Christmas, it was called Electronics 1 which was the simplest one they did and I wore it out building radios and oscillators etc with it. I wish I had looked after it better and still had it now 30 years later.

author: wd5gnr
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: June 13, 2010, 02:46:03 pm
content: When I was born there were no ultrasounds and the like. The doctor told my mother to expect twins. However, the first delivery was not my slightly older sibling, but a regenerative shortwave receiver I had built in vivo. I was relieved to get out of there. Reception was poor as you'd expect. And soldering... well....;-)