The Future Of Hobby Electronics.

[T.Jackson]

One thing that I forgot to mention, it is possible that it might "bounce back".
innovators, highly skilled creative geniuses might save the day.

How?
By getting more people interested in it. The only way to do this is to come up with projects that just simply can't be bought pre-made. Projects that will dazzle even the most hard-to-impress people. Projects that will make a salesman run down the road to purchase a soldering iron just to build it...

Otherwise, I give it all 5 to 10 years. Within 5yrs there will be no magazines. Within 10 there will be no suppliers.

I rest my case.

Trent Jackson

[keithdoxey]

I think a lot also stems from the way kids "toys" have changed.

When I was a boy, you would have things like Train Sets and Meccano construction sets where you used your imagination to create something from the most basic of parts. As you got a bit older then you would get a chemistry set or an electronics kit and again start from first principles and create something from a pile of bits.

Now everything is available ready made from China for less than the cost of the parts, and in the case of electronic toys, often for less than the cost of one of the parts eg display. Kids sit in fron of video games for hours on end and have little or no interest in being "creative" be it woodwork, metalwork, electronics etc instead they just sit a destroy virtual aliens.

Even somethign a basic as a Lego set doesnt offer the stimulation it once did. Lego sets used to have brick in red or white, green baseboards and blue roof tiles. Apart from a few doors and windows almost everything needed imagination to create the finished work of art. Lego resided in a huge bucket that you rumaged through to find the bits you wanted. Now it is sold in small sets that are designed to create just one specific design, where is the imagination in that

[Melanie]

For the professionals there will always be component suppliers, but for the hobbyist there is a problem...

You want 4 x 1k 1/4W, 3 x 33k, 1 x 8K2 and sixteen other values... half a dozen capacitor and a couple of Transistors. You hand the list to the shop assistant and half an hour later he comes back with your $1.85 worth of parts whilst costing his employer $8 in Labour. The figures just don't add up anymore. A box of 1000 resistors costs under $5 but already I can hear the hobbysists and students on the forum rioting "but I don't want 1000 of the same value"!!!! So suffer... instead of that Resistor costing you 0.5 cents, you end up paying 20 cents for a 1-off. You won't pay the money, and stop going to the shop, the shop closes down and everyone moans that the hobby is dying....

[Jumper]

I just went to my favorite store. It is acctually 3 big supremarkets with several floors selling everything you can wish for over the counter in single units, surface mount to things used in the WW1 russian radios :-). Today's shopping list was:

5 pcs LM3940-3.3
2 pcs (two) 0.25W 22 ohm hole mounted resistors
2 pcs 5mW lasers
2 pcs 10 mW lasers
10 pcs 22k variable resistors
2 MicroSD card holders

total cost USD 12

I really can't see the problem and tomorrow I will order PCB's with a 7 days delivery time, but I could get it in 24 hours....

/me

[ronsimpson]

I got into electronics about when the old amateur radio operators were dieing off. My first short wave radios were home made using tubes. Back before PCBs I collected dead TVs and cut the parts out to reuse. The resistors and capacitors were point to point connected with long leads. The use of PCB really hindered my collecting used parts.

Twenty years ago I said I will get out of this business when my eyes are so bad I can no longer see the color code on resistors. They do not put color on resistors now! I hand solder parts the size of pepper. How can a hobbyist work with surface mount parts? Radio Shack does not sell resistors.

I feel sad there are no HAM / electronics clubs left where we build fun stuff. There are many kids writing PC code, maybe the creative minds are there or maybe they are watching “adult cartoons”.

Design jobs are hard to find so I have been doing ½ time plumbing and electrical for the same money. I hire engineers from Russia and China for 1/10 rate. I can see the writing on the wall---we are starting a new company with no electronics. I am very reluctantly giving up on my “hobby and business” of 35+ years. –I am feeling down today and this thread hit me wrong—sorry! I must pick my self up and finish that FPGA design.
Hobby electronics was powered by HAM radio and that has vanished years ago. Micro-computers and robots fuel hobby electronics. Our club is getting smaller—it will not die!

[T.Jackson]

For the professionals there will always be component suppliers, but for the hobbyist there is a problem...

You want 4 x 1k 1/4W, 3 x 33k, 1 x 8K2 and sixteen other values... half a dozen capacitor and a couple of Transistors. You hand the list to the shop assistant and half an hour later he comes back with your $1.85 worth of parts whilst costing his employer $8 in Labour. The figures just don't add up anymore. A box of 1000 resistors costs under $5 but already I can hear the hobbysists and students on the forum rioting "but I don't want 1000 of the same value"!!!! So suffer... instead of that Resistor costing you 0.5 cents, you end up paying 20 cents for a 1-off. You won't pay the money, and stop going to the shop, the shop closes down and everyone moans that the hobby is dying....

In Australia, Dick Smith Electronics - a very large supplier to the enthusiast is starting to pull out. Their power house outlets, once relying on the sale of resistors, kits, etc.. are now primarily focusing on consumer electrical. As Melanie pointed out, the cost of labor can sometimes place the employer in a situation of loss. However, this can of course occur in any business that relies on the sale of "mixed bag" goods. The sale of larger, more expensive items is what makes the ends meet.

I have often found myself walking into a store with the intentions of a specific $20 purchase only. After several minutes of browsing, something has caught my eye that I just had to have. So instead I walked of the store having spent $500! "Hmm, I only wanted parts but instead I now have a new CRO"

Sound like an all too familiar story?

Trent Jackson