This is the story of the State of Electronics, a channel about the art and science of electronics and how Australia contributes in the field with many world changing innovations.
Australia produced such inventions as The Blackbox Flight recorder, The Cochlear Ear Implant, The Electronic Pacemaker, Ultrasound, Distance Measuring Equipment for Aircraft, revolutionary software that would become Google Maps and WiFi to mention just a select few! In this series, we take a look at the extraordinary tale of these and other inventions, how they have effected our lives and look at trends in electronics. We don’t repair things that break anymore, e-waste is an enormous issue, complexity has created a high barrier to entry. Sleek black boxes contain the magic that we all desire but who among us really understand what goes on inside? So who will invent the future? This channel is dedicated to the discussion on electronics and where its going.
I went to the Waitara showroom in early 1982 and put my name on a waitling list to buy a MicroBee. Owen Hill himself wrote my name in the book. They haven't called me yet. Actually I ended up buying one (in kit form) by mail order a few months later. It was a great machine.
Hydrogen and mercury thyratrons, door knob HV capacitors, 18" long xenon flash tubes, x-ray power supply, Spelman HV supplies, 3 meter FM pirate radio exciters, RF amplifiers, homemade transmission line filters, obscure Industrial and Gothic CDs, Classical and Jazz CDs, S&M and black leather toys all lost to storage warriors like pearls before swine.
I tried to change with the times. Too many things changed. Too many investors tried to rip me off instead of investing in marketing my idea. I had banana boxes with all kinds of parts that I got at pennies on the dollar. Plates, rods and tubes of aluminum and steel, resistors, capacitors, series trigger transformers, lasers, RF amplifiers, KT88 tube audio amplifiers... All liquidated. I can never recoup what I had. I used to repurpose things and solve people's problems. Some people called me a hoarder but I had the parts on hand to build the project at 3 AM even if I didn't have the money. I also usually gave away the finished product so I was not a hoarder. You need real estate to store all of this stuff. When you become homeless, a lot of people come around to "help" you. They have ideas on how they can haul away all of your stuff to the metal recyclers after they have picked through it. Thieves, tweakers, recyclers and landlords, they are all vultures. Let's scrub the land of all of the old cars up on cinder blocks. Let's make everything pretty and sterile. Let's all support capitalism and buy it instead of making it. I know that I sound like an old man shouting at the clouds. It might be my own damn fault for not rolling with the changes but I have untreated ADHD and have too many coping mechanisms. I'm also pretty naive and let too many people take advantage of me. Thanx for listening. I've vented enough for now.
I used to work at and buy from a surplus company in California called Halted (started by Hal and Ted. You could buy discreet components as well as surface mount by cutting them off of a reel. I owned a stereo zoom microscope and a hot air pencil. After a while Radio Shack closed, so did Halted, so did Weird Stuff. You could buy stuff mail order but you needed a credit card and a paypal account. I got old. I moved back to Michigan and got COVID, went into a coma and almost woke up dead. Things have changed. I was at ground zero and didn't realize it. I lost my collection of parts to storage locker laws and storage war mentality. I would love to continue to invent and make but have lost my spark, not to mention my ability to walk.
Meh, kids today don't have hobbies. They just want to make Tiktoks or become a programmer, coding some stupid flappy bird phone app. Honestly, SMD is not as big of a hindrance as this video makes it seem. Then again, I started out using surface mount so I'm biased. Through hole on a bread board is still convenient and still accessible. People have just lost interest. They're too busy with the shiny new thing, the "iPhone 98S plus max" or whatever it is now.
I would say it is better than ever. I can have any component or tool I want for dirt cheap from AliExpress. Devboards, toolchains, MCUs are all available to the public for peanuts. $5 protoytype boards, 3D printers. I don't long after the days of Radio Shack catalogs AT ALL.
Repairing electronics or creating our own equipment is difficult to rationalize when we can buy something ready made from China for less than our cost of components. Hobbyists may have limited access to brick and mortar electronic stores which might have been sources of inspiration for previous generations BUT they do have unlimited access via the internet - both for incredibly cheap components and incredible on-line tutorials. I must admit that I rarely create circuits from scratch any more, it is TOO EASY to just meld "modules" together to produce a workable tool or appliance. The introduction of dirt cheap micro-controllers and micro-computers has allowed using me to successfully complete projects that would have required an extensive knowledge of electronics to produce prior to their existence. And now there is AI, things are happening too fast for comfort. We might be on the verge of developing technology as dangerous as the nuclear bomb.
Yes, electronics as a hobby has had it's best time a few years ago. In my home town there was one shop that sold electronics parts, when the shops had to stay closed for the Chinese Flu, many shops did not survive. Now the electronics parts shop is gone. I think this is very sad, I loved to go there and listen to the latest jokes, and he tried then to order the rare parts I needed. Ordering in China is not the same, sometimes you do not get what you paid for. Sometimes the parts are fake, sometimes there is wrong information, sometimes used parts are sold as new.
Much of the decline is due to the fact that software development as a hobby has exploded over the past forty years, and the two hobbies appeal to the same sort of person.
No, I hate to say it, but Radio Shack was just changing with the times. Even if they were selling parts, they still go under. Times have changed, The world has changed.
@@joyange1 I disagree. When they were still open they were selling less and less components, and what they did have was old, outdated, and insanely expensive. Later it was all just cellphones and crappy Chinese kit electronics, just cheap junk or consumer electronics. Seems like they sold out instead of truly changing to meet the needs of their original customers. I would have LOVED to see new SMD components, processors, etc., not 30 year old dusty RCA jacks. Then again, I think people are just lazy now and cheap thrills abound. People don't have hobbies now, they have Tiktok.
Interesting video. My electronics interest as a kid became my career that served me well, yet my kids do not want to know, most children do not want to try to understand the world around them, just the latest fad on Social media. Education has failed to inspire, and the western governments have disowned electronics, except for their military, that is so controlled by Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean capability, the USA is now desperate to restore the balance for FABs outside of China and the amazing Taiwan tech.
for me I thought when less people play this electronics field then it's more easy to success. If only big player left. it's mean they move slowly than small business. like this example. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-StHvADwO8sY.html
It is practically impossible today to make amateur electronic circuits due to the increasingly smaller size of the components and their replacement by complex chips.
People are involved with drones, networking (software), building PCs, vehicle electronics, micro-controllers and their software (small board computers like Arduino) and building custom electronics - it's all changed.
All the electronic shops in my town closed down in the ( u.k.) in the late 1980's. I think youngsters prefer playing solely on there p.c. or smart phone. The only people i know into electronics nowadays are people in their 80's. I used to work for an electronics firm and around the middle of the 80's it became a throwaway society & my skills of fault finding went out the window.
those shops closed because they were overpriced and you can buy cheaper and better quality chips from online ecommerce, you sound old and bitter attacking what you call youngsters for their hobbies, i can say that there are quite a bit that enjoy hobby electronics its just that is different form what you grew up with, things nowadays are mostly unrepairable unfortunately but as i said this hobby is different now, using microcontrollers, designing pcb and having them custom manufactured for like 10€, this hobby is simply different and you choose to be stuck in the past complaining about the new generation and how we like to spend time and do things
@@Cnaoens820 observing " phone zombies " doesnt make me bitter or old. I am aware ( and statistics also prove) that many kids today have depression & some sort of mental health issues, most of which comes from social media AND the lack of real social skills. We also were not baffled as to what gender we were. Screens are addictive, period. A lot of young kids ( like yourself)would much prefer to " play" on there phone than go and construct a kit for either some electronic device or build a kart with an engine or even go out with there mates. A lot of online shops do compete with high street shops which is why many have closed down. The electronic shops in my area were not that expensive & most of us could afford what we wanted. Amazon Ebay & smart phones have caused a major shift in society.
Yep, Funway 1 and 2 is where it all started for me, and I still have both the books. It was 1986, grade 5 in primary school. Now 48, I'm still building the occasional Jaycar and Altronics kit as a hobby, amongst repairing all sorts of electronics, electrical and mechanical stuff in my day to day work. Thanks Dick🙏👍🇦🇺
Here in England I can’t think of any electronic shops that sell components. I buy all my components from car boots and auto jumbles. Or I just de solder them from old junk. 😅
I joined AWA in 1973 the year prior to Ian. I was very surprised when this came across my feed. I left in 1982 when turbulence was making itself felt and left under not so great circumstance's. Ian has summarised the AWA experience down to a tee. I kept in touch with him and sold him some audio gear some years later. It would be interesting to touch base with ian if anyone knows where he can be contacted as i have lost touch from a lot of people back then. I was 18 when i joined, have just turned 68 and now retired. Would be great to see you again Ian. Regards John Finn
Globalization was an economic trick invented by bankers to rob the west of it's wealth. Then they filled us with various types of guilt propaganda so that we'd shut up and not complain.
My teachers always told me, find your area where you find meaning in happiness in challenges and the knowledge that every day you learn something new. I also see it as a unique personal selling point. With the older generation who grew up with an ingrained understanding of the circuits now retire or die in western Europe, being a 27 yo Electronics hobbyist and computer engineer, it will 5-10 years from now pay of. Or in the least I will teach the next generation to understand the tech they use every day. I have grown up being different, my peers not understanding me or what I do I've come to realize is usually a sign of health in a broken world. We are spoiled in the west, I am among the most spoiled. But between golfing and electronics, which has even the slightest hope to change the future? But I guess in the end it comes down to engineeeing not being considered a valid hobby the same way as arts is. Even though it is a art, and craft
@@davidcarlsson1396 yes. I love electronics and think it's an artform too. Im a computer engineering student, so I want to specialise in electronics as it relates to computers and digital systems. I find that field challenges me, and it's also great to do as a hobby because designing unique devices to be used with computers is a lot of fun and practical. Im actually in the process of creating a radio circuit to be used with my commodore 64's user port. I'll have to code the drivers as well, which I'll do in 6502 assembly. If you haven't already, you should try tinkering with those old computers because their ports are very simple to understand so it's easier to create your own electronics for them
The analogy I like to use is that it is like someone who enjoys cooking. You can always just buy ready made food from a store or go to a restaurant, but some people derive pleasure from the cooking process itself. I think most people can relate to this. Even if they don't personally enjoy cooking, they probably know someone who does.
I would say the success of the Arduino and Raspberry Pi ecosystems has brought it back to some extent. I dug out all the hobby electronics from my childhood around 2017, mixing microcontrollers with classical logic ICs.
We will end up losing the know-how of anything tech related on the very broad social level, of course 0.001% of people will be involved in bulding some cutting edge quantum ICs in picometer scale, but most people won't even know what a capacitor is or how to setup your own server, this will be a very depressing feature, people will be constantly 'stuck' because of lack of knowledge or waiting for tech support to solve the issue for them...
I've read all of the comments. Interesting views. In my humble opinion I think one should pursue whatever brings you enjoyment. The field of electronics is always changing and always will. Nothing wrong with through hole components or smt or programming an arduino etc.Key word in the video HOBBY electronics. Have fun and learn something, that's the ticket. It all has to be better than sitting around watching sitcoms. Peace
I've got a background in Electronics that started off when I was 13 years old, my dad and stepmum bought me a Funway Into Electronics set for Christmas and I learnt a lot about electronics from it, I'm 54 years old now.
I read that the Sydney fab closed in 2021 due to the compulsory acquisition of the land for metro rail construction. I understand that there is a new facility in Browns Plains which is a suburb in Brisbane.
20 years ago I too knew that the function of electronic repairers was going to disappear. because you should know that robotization in industry had allowed overproduction and a drop in prices. all manufacturers are now introducing planned obsolescence. All products have become single-use again like tissues. but things will change and the feedback from repairers is visible in the field of smartphones. because a smartphone has become too expensive again and often suffers breakages..an 800 dollar iPhone no one dares to throw it away.. then the introduction of switching power supplies is very fragile because of urban power supply. there are two niches that will bring DIY enthusiasts back to electronics. the smartphone and the switching power supply 😊🇩🇿🇩🇿
My parents bought my 16 year old brother a Microbee personal computer in 1985. He sold his first code the next year and was written up in a computer magazine. Today, he is 54 and a computer programmer/systems analyst for the Australian Stock Exchange. His first born son, who is 29 now, followed in his shoes and works for Qantas Airways.
The first computer I purchased in 1982 was the Microbee. It cost a fortune. I learnt a lot about software from that point on. Thanks to Owen Hill for having a go at starting a PC industry in Aus. It’s a pity we could not keep it going.
