[sdiy] Learning electronics now - was Real cause of DIY death

[R. D. Davis]

Quothe jared, from writings of Mon, Jul 18, 2005 at 02:42:02PM -0500:
> I'm a budding 18-years young and i'm a total electronics nerd. I tend to 

Excellent!  Don't forget to help support hamfests to keep that
tradition alive... one doesn't see too many people under forty at
hamfests, alas... that's both good and bad... good so we can get our
hands on more toys, but bad since the hamfests may go away if more
young people don't get more involved soon.  One would think that
electrical engineering students would be interested, but it's
surprising how many apparently aren't; I knew one who'd actually never
even built anything electronic!

> consider myself an old man, but I should probably rethink that, seeing 
> as you're all, what, thirty-somethings? It's kind of irrelavent, anyway.

Well, some of us were once in our thirties... but some of us also
realize that age is also a state of mind, so, I can be in my twenties
whenever I want to.  Of course, I've also heard some women say that
men don't really even reach their twenties, they stay much younger in
their minds (I rephrased that so it sounds more complimentary). :-)

> As for the "black arts," it's frustrating to start out because if you 
> don't get it 100% right, you get it 100% wrong.

Actually, it's never really 100% wrong (or right)... every bit that
you get built is an accomplishment, and when you don't get it right
the first time, and have to do some troubleshooting, you learn that
much more... so, the failures and mistakes are really good things. :-)

The worst that can happen while learning about electronics is that you
can short things out, blow things up and get electric shocks... but
hey, such experiences are great for helping us all to learn.  

> 	isn't it nice when things just.. work?

Sometimes.  It can also fun to have to take things apart and repair
them.  ...which reminds me, I've got to get back to putting a
multitrack tape drive back together before I forget what goes
where... it had a @$%*#!!! intermittent open circuit caused by a cold
solder joint on its motherboard (I thought it was a loose connection
since my previous "repair" worked for quite some time), but it turned
out to be more than that; that ckt board was fun to get to and remove
after taking half of the machine apart.  Then it will be time to fix a
cassette deck with a bad capstan belt that Teac wants $12 for.... $12
for what amounts to little more than a wide rubber band, but it's a
great sounding deck and deserves to be repaired... then my bench will
be free for some synthesis-related hardware hacking... ummm, well,
perhaps after I modify and repair an old tube guitar amp.  :-)

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