The Future Of Hobby Electronics.

[jabatta]

I agree with mister e. It does seem that realistically a good contact is a lot more valuable than a good mind. (The real world taught me that.)

Seriously, though, if it all were invented...then why do I keep seeing potential for things that aren't out there? Why do R&D? You're telling me that you've never had a moment where you were like, "Wow, now only if they had something like that out there?" Right; the technology is out there. Surely, I'm wasting my time. Well, the next time you are sitting in traffic watching some cop direct traffic badly because the power went out when the whole thing could probably have been taken care of by a simple circuit and backup battery supply, don't say I wasn't right. (Then again, maybe cops need something to do). Maybe the technology is out there....but the applications for it sure as heck aren't.

Where does the hobbyist fit in to all these big ideas? They don't. They would only ever take care of the small issues and maybe enjoy it in the process. And I'm sure I'm not the first to have developed any typical circuit. "A multicell voltage alarm....whoopdeedo," you may have said...but that doesn't explain why it's not out on the market when there was a necessity for the item. And it was gratifying to have designed and built the darned thing on top of it. The fact of the matter is that I believe you'll always have people out there who can and like to take care of the small stuff; perfect niche for the hobbyist.

And if this a waste of my time, then by all means my time might as well be worthless. (Yea, I do Hallmark cards too).

[jabatta]

note: just to clarify...there are companies on the web that provide backup street light power....but once again....the technology isn't exactly out there...well at least not by me!

[T.Jackson]

note: just to clarify...there are companies on the web that provide backup street light power....but once again....the technology isn't exactly out there...well at least not by me!

Russ will either give you a bullet proof vest or a bow tie mate.

Trent Jackson

[Archangel]

Russ will either give you a bullet proof vest or a bow tie mate.

Trent Jackson

Bow ties don't get into your soup, and no one is going to yank your face into their knee with one either I think of them as SMT !

[T.Jackson]

Bow ties don't get into your soup, and no one is going to yank your face into their knee with one either

Better make ties (really long ones that are easy to grab) -- standard issue with the vests.

Trent Jackson

[RussMartin]

After I left Sony's broadcast division in Kansas City (no ties needed), I went to work for a television station here in Omaha.

Would you believe? --they required all (male) members of the engineering staff to wear ties when on shift!

Really unhandy and/or in the way when working at the bench, or soldering something, or poking around inside the back of a rack full of equipment . . .

Now I work for myself (over 5 years now) and, while my boss is a demanding SOB, he doesn't make me wear a tie to work.

[RussMartin]

If there is one thing that age does, it is to provide perspective. As King Solomon is reported to have said, "There is nothing new under the sun."

I got into electronics not only as a hobbyist but as a 12-year-old kid--in 1962.

And every decade or so, the discussion of "the future of hobby electronics" resurfaces, nearly always treating the subject as a crisis that should evoke loud wailing and much hand-wringing.

In the early 1960s, the "crisis" was caused by the transistor: It's so tiny! And sensitive (early germanium transistors could be damaged if they were dropped!--early silicon transistors didn't like the heat of a soldering iron!). And the average hobbyist couldn't quite understand how the damn things worked! (Electroncs that move, yes; but "holes" that move?)

The printed circuit board was also cited as marking the end of hobby electronics . . .

I recall reading an article in 1965 that predicted the death of hobby electronics within 10 years. Apparently the hobbyists didn't believe this.

The integrated circuit sparked the same woeful predication, and the microprocessor fired it up again.

But those stubborn, nefarious, insidious electronics hobbyists simply refuse to listen to the experts. In true Darwinian fashion, they adapt to the changes and evolve.

[mjmccarron]

I'd have to agree with Russ on this one. I'm not quite as old (I was -2 in 1962) but I can remember several of the panics created by new fangled technology. Even now with the popularity of surface mount boards there are guys making stencils for the solder paste with laser cutters and kapton sheets. Then fusing the parts in place using toaster ovens or hot plates. Where there is a will there is a way!

[T.Jackson]

It could be worse, at least you're not stumbling around in a bullet proof vest just yet.

Trent Jackson