Unscientific Poll

[Sandy Blaize]

> What can today's kids do?  If they take apart their Gameboy, what do they
find inside?  A
> LQ display, a keypad, and a chip.  Big deal.  Who's gonna do anything
with that?


I have a question I often ask of some of the "newbies" in ham radio
who think that the old stuff should be scrapped and the thought of
discrete parts banned!


My question goes like this:

Find an old tube type TV set, preferably a "pre-pc board" model.
Next, buy a brand new Kenwood TS-999 (or whatever the latest
and greatest is!)

Reduce both of them to components!!  DON'T mix the stuff from
each though!  Now you have two piles/buckets of parts.

Next construct something entirely different for each batch of parts.
i.e.: a simple or multistage CW ham transmitter, a regenerative
receiver, a code monitor, a "phono" amplifier, etc.

Which pile do you think will yield the most possibilities?

So much for modern, "hitech", integrated circuit solid state
technology!  A PRIME example as to the "usefulness" of modern
circuits can be gleaned from any hamfest by the plethora of
outdated and useless computer boards and chips by the
bushel basket full!  They are almost impossible to "recycle"!
I come from the "ultimate recycling" generation, where Coke
bottles got reused, milk bottles got refilled, and almost
nothing really got thrown away.  The garbage in the "country"
was fed to the livestock, burned or plowed into the garden.

Yup!  The kids don't have a whole lot to do where they can really use their
ingenuity.
73,
Sandy W5TVW

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