2 Feb
2006
2 Feb
'06
4:07 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
Nor do I buy the argument that it's not worth
homebrewing as you can
buy a better unit for less. Firstly what you buy ready made is often
not better than that which you could build.
For suitable values of "you". I don't think my teenagers could
put together a radio (without quite a bit of guidance) and I
bet it would not support RDS :-) I wasn't much better at their
age either.
Secondly,
there are
plenty of things you can't buy.
Like what? Please restrict yourself to something a kid would
want to build. I'll even allow you to aim for something I
would have wanted to build as a teenager _before_ I wandered
into electronics.
And thirdly, nothing
(IMHO) compares
with the feeling when one of your homebrew designs works.
Agreed. And that probably applies to almost any building activity.
Even getting my first flat-pack cupboard to stand upright many
years ago was a source of some satisfaction :-) But I certainly
didn't start out thinking that I would enjoy the feeling of
successfully building something. For me it was mostly because
I had a couple of friends who were into electronics plus I
enjoyed anything scientific anyway.
And what about programming? 20 years ago (or so), most
people who
bought a home computer learnt to program, at least in BASIC. Many
went on to learn other languages. Now, I'll bet that most computer
owners have never written a line of code in their lives. Even though
computers are a lot more common than they were 20 years ago, I
suspect the total number of amateur programmers has decreased. And
yet the programming tools
are now even eaier to obtain than they were 25 years ago (there are
free versions of most ocmmon languages, home computers are powerful
enough to run said free versions).
But most of the computers sold today are tools (to get on the net,
to play games, to write letters etc.). I guess gaming played a
part too even back then, but you were much more likely to be
exposed to programming if you had to type in a listing from
a magazine before you could blast your aliens!
That said, though, there are not that many model
engineers or amateur
clockmakers in the UK. Just as there are a few, but not that many
electronics hackers. And I think one of the reasons is simple. Most
kids have realised that there is no point going into
science/engineering. There are no good well-paid, satisfying jobs in
those areas.
There are still model engineering clubs around. There's one in north
Oxford, they even display their home-built trains on a purpose
built track. Last time I was there (which was a few years ago now)
there were even some younger members (late teenagers, early twenties).
And there are a few of us at work who can pick up a soldering iron
without leaving burn marks on skin. Not that any of us are actually
_paid_ to do that though. Job satisfaction is still to be had in
those areas (I enjoy my job, for example), the problem is convincing
the anyone that it's true and will remain true for long enough for
them to get started on the career ladder.
Well paid jobs (at least in the UK) seem
to reserved
for those who can kick a football or strum a guitar.
I won't argue that some of them are not well paid, but a
fair few of them don't seem to be able to _consistently_
kick a ball well :-)
Antonio
--
Antonio carlini
arcarlini at iee.org