So many toys vying for affection

5/7/2011 5:24 PM EDT

This afternoon I took my son to a used-book store for research on his high school project. At the checkout we were told that today's special was a free comic book. I took a quick flip through the box of used comic books.

Found a 1986 edition of "Archie's Ham Radio Adventure". That's right, Archie Andrews and Jughead, Big Moose, Betty and Veronica, Reggie, and of course Dilton was the ham operator. Surprisingly, so was the rich Mr. Lodge. The small print indicated the comic was a "joint educational project by members of the amateur radio business community in cooperation with the ARRL" and was distributed free of charge.

Front and rear pages have info on ham licensing and Morse code. I have to wonder how many school kids were inspired to get into ham radio and then into electronic engineering as a result.

Then I asked my son if there was a radio club at his high school. No. There is a science club, their main activities last year were a T-Shirt contest and a poster contest. He does belong to a small robotics club which actually did put some hardware together that didn't work.

The last science fair I visited (years ago) all the displays were poster boards except for another son's Tesla coil which he was not allowed to operate since it was "too dangerous". When I was a school kid the science fairs had real working gadgets, beakers of hydrogen that actually blew up with a nice loud bang, hovercrafts, magnetic levitation, breadboarded electronic circuits, Tesla coils that roared and emitted lovely long arcs of corona and created oodles of ozone to get high on, all hands-on real goodies instead of posterboard displays.

So am doing some more wondering. How many readers have kids in a school that still has a radio club? Do today's schools still attempt to foster an interest in the techniques and science behind radio communications? Or has it become "too easy" with the proliferation of over-the-counter cell phones?

5/7/2011 8:53 PM EDT

I remember in my high school physics class the teacher got the Van de Graaf generator and picked the girl with the longest blonde hair, got her on a rubber mat next to it and got her to put her hand on the top. Fired it up and eventually all her hair was standing straight out. Can you see them doing that these days?

And the time I nicked a thumbnail sized bit of sodium from the chem lab. Had it in my pocket all the way to a friend's house, where we chucked it in the pool and watched it whizz around, and eventually blow up showering us with water. if it had ignited in my pocket I would probably have lost a leg..... That WAS dangerous and if I'd been found out I would (rightly) have had my ass tanned...

I have a workmate who is a radio ham. He has a few flash looking transceivers but wouldn't think of building one himself. I have lent him a comms textbook and we are going to build ourselves some GDOs (Grid Dip Oscillators) but I think he finds the theory intimidating. Still, he is better than most of the population, who take all the magical technology we have now as a given, and want it to do even more without even wondering how we got it as good as it is.

5/7/2011 9:17 PM EDT

"Gate Dip Oscillator" unless you really do use a vacuum tube instead of a FET. I still have a Heathkit GDO that uses a 6CW4, and it still works, or did the last time I turned it on.

Good thing that sodium did not blow up in your pocket. (Radioactive Balls is better than Noballs) I think many of us can remember youthful episodes in which we were darn lucky to survive, or at least to not get caught by the cops.

As for the girl with the long blond hair, today the parents would be crying "Sue, Sue, Sue" - and her name is not Sue...

That's progress.

5/8/2011 2:09 AM EDT

The answer to the leading question in the article is very hard to call. For me, I had my General class amateur license as well as a Class D license to be a commercial radio announcer before I had an engineering degree :-). I as able to play with stuff in kit form, or scrounge through radio parts at a local store to try and build something, or better yet...getting hold of some military surplus radio gear and modifying it. Because of the hobby, I was given the opportunity to resurrect and modify an ancient Gates AM transmitter with 250W triode tubes to become a CONELRAD transmitter for the local radio station. Talk about fun when that thing finally came back to life! Who remembers CONELRAD and what it was for?

So for me, the hobby clearly lead to an EE degree, but the interest in all things electric/electronic pervaded all.

5/8/2011 7:37 AM EDT

Radio HAM is a good hobby related with communication technology. Those who have interest in circuits building testing and communicating with HAM family can easily enter into this and leisurely develop their skills. It needs a percentage of your earnings spent in the begining stage for a couple of years to establish strongly.

5/8/2011 5:42 PM EDT

The author is lucky to have an interest he can share with his dad, and the dad is lucky to have such a rich common ground to share with his son. With all that radiated power, I would recommend paying close attention to the exposure of the author and the father to the electromagnetic energy (which, since a site assessment is mandatory nowadays for hams, according to ham radio safety rules, the author already knows about!).

5/9/2011 7:31 AM EDT

I liked the story especially the moonbounce.

5/9/2011 10:23 PM EDT

Stuff like these, we can only watch in some clunky movies. The classrooms and labs have all gotten cleaner with a/c and neat set of drawers with prefabricated devices. Just plug them into the circuit and check the waves on the oscilloscope. that's lab for you.

5/10/2011 2:42 PM EDT

I grew up on a dairy farm and was in 4-H (though I preferred the electricity side to the dairy cow side). There was a wonderful freedom in my elementary, middle, and high schools. I have many of the same stories of things I did that were questionable :-) I also have many stories of useful, valuable, educational things that I did that are not allowed or are difficult to do today.

Our pursuit of apparently 100% safety is often an obstacle. People do not learn if you wrap them in bubble wrap and lock them in a padded room! They don't call it "the school of hard knocks" for nothing...

HOAs are an obstacle (to antennas, construction of scientific gear, and to many other things that do not conform to a particular aesthetic).

There is also a social pressure not to do certain engineering/scientific/geeky/uncool/unpopular things simply because it is less normal. And why is that? Because it's harder to do! There is a Catch-22 here. And it's a matter of opinion, by the way...

To answer the original question...both are true. But it seems to be harder to be both :-)

5/11/2011 10:09 AM EDT

For me I got the EE bug watching my neighbor use his ham gear and send code at +20 wpm, an amazing thing to watch using a double key. I stayed on the EE track, never getting my ham license (yet, at 55, at least). I learned the most about radio not from school or books, but from friends who were avid hams, and by working in the college radio station under ham-knowledgable tutaledge(sp?). As far as schools today, my opinion is best expressed in this lecture: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

5/12/2011 11:08 AM EDT

Not all kids today are as sheltered. My 17 yer old has been a science fair junkie for several years. Lately my role has been as financial adviser and parts collector! Here is video of his latest contraption where he built a jet engine. Had to smile signing his safety paperwork. Risk of fire, check; risk of electrocution, check; risk of explosion, check; risk of loosing one hearing, check... the list was fairly long. Now that is what I call a good learning exercise!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOeQMVDiSMY

5/12/2011 3:31 PM EDT

I heartily approve of the ear and eye protection...
Yes, a great exercise.

Both of you should be grateful that you can do that in your neighborhood without all hell breaking loose (it WOULD be an issue in mine...I need to move...).

5/13/2011 2:51 PM EDT

Pretty good article!

Dr Jim Stevenson, PhD PE
K8PZL, ex W7FGV

5/14/2011 7:15 AM EDT

I did enjoy the article and comments as well. I am now a ham operator, N8QVS, extra class, but I was interested in electronics long before that. Of course, building all sorts of projects from assorted discarded TV and radio sets was educational. Presently it would be very challenging to collect usable parts from current consumer electronics stuff. Custom chips and surface mount parts are both less useful and much harder to recover for re-use. As for the safety concerns, I agree that the current attitude toward the elimination of the possibility of all risks has become stupid. Of course we meed to be careful and pay attention, but living in constant fear has got to be a fairly horrible existence.

5/16/2011 8:48 AM EDT

It works both ways, I think. I was tinkering from the age of 9-10, and then got a book about ham radio, found a local club (they had a stand on a local Air Show), and it kept me in electronics (I was building one receiver after the other and then transceivers). We also had a club in secondary school that I run for some time after the leaving the school. My first boss was my teacher (ham also). Got my second job because of good knowledge of radio circuits. What is important is that this hobby builds a network of people and they're all technical - kind of good for your EE career :)
What ham radio does (for some at least) is that it teaches by doing and in my opinion experience is the key.
Oh ... one of my teachers always said that radio circuits are the hardest of all so if you can build them you can build anything. :)
73! sq2ahr

5/16/2011 1:28 PM EDT

Ham radio definately got me into electronics and my EE degrees. With the internet and cell phones, ham radio has taken a back seat. But when all else fails, hams radio operators are still there. The comm systems are so complicated they don't take much to fail. (Check out the cell phone failure at an Ohio State game due to system overload) I know some ham friends who worked down in N'Orleans and Miss.. 'cause all the com and police towers were down. These trunked radio systems are wothless in an emergency. Everyone wants to be on the air so nobody can get through. Simplicity has great advanages for reliable communications.
I also have a big problem with "I should be able to do anything I want with anything and it's not my fault if I get hurt" syndrome. No risk no gain no learning. My mother gave me my old chemistry set with all of these "dangerous" chemicals in it. I'm saving it for my kids and grand kids so someday they be able learn something interesting with it.

5/23/2011 2:57 AM EDT

I am sure there is some correlation between the exposure to ham radio and a future in engineering and/or science. I believe there is a greater correlation when a person is passionate about his interest and is willing to share that passion/interest/expertise to inspire a young mind.

I had three great science teachers. My junior high science teacher was a quantum physics buff and demonstrated the experiments conducted by J.J. Thompson and others of that era. He would set up the experiments in his free time and run them for anyone who was interested in seeing them.I never missed them. (He also let me mix and test different solid rocket fuels.)

In high school,I was involved in a pilot project to learn nuclear science (using radioactive materials)and had a teacher who worked on the A Bomb. What a great opportunity to learn science and hear the history first hand. Mister C. submitted my name for an Explorers Post in Electronics at a local instrument lab. I never missed a meeting. (Remember the days when industry wasn't afraid to open their doors to permit hungry young minds to explore?)

Another science teacher was a Ham and sponsored the Radio Club. Members learned code and theory and obtained their Novice License. The club was more of a science club for the free exchange of ideas. We also constructed electronics projects. (I was in High School when the teachers were unafraid of using "real" chemicals, tesla coils, and high voltages.)

Those three teachers went above and beyond their required scope to inspire. (I regret that this experience was never repeated in college.) I cite the name of these three teachers and my experiences with them every time my nine year old son asks me how I became interested in science and electronics.

5/24/2011 3:44 PM EDT

Two of my friends and I got licensed while in high school. The two of us that became EEs are still licensed. Is it why we became EEs - Yep! I wanted to understand my hobby better, and get paid for it. Didn't quite work out that way, I've been a computer designer my entire career instead of building radios. That was a good thing too because it allowed me to still enjoy radio as a hobby.

As for where we are today - there are several comments about the Science fairs not being up to snuff compared to the "Good ol days." Well - science fairs are for scientists, not engineers. That's why a Tesla coil is a LOUSY science fair project, but "which brand of Paper Towels absorbs the most" is an acceptable project. There is experimentation involved in the latter, but not the former. (Note - my son won his 3rd grade science fair with that topic.;-)

He is also a ham and turns 18 today. He is off to college in a far-away place soon. I expect him to join the ham club for comradeship more than his interest in radio. After all- it has that aspect to it too. He is pursuing a degree in film making, so the technical part of the hobby never really grabbed him.

Summary - I think hams make great EEs - but it isn't a necessary or sufficient reason to follow a technical degree. You gotta have a passion for what you study.

5/31/2011 8:46 PM EDT

My highschool, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, was designed from the ground up to turn out engineers and had a long-lived and thriving radio club. Last time I checked, the club's no more and the call, W3CDI, is held by the an alumni club.

And so it goes ...