[sdiy] Death of DIY?

[Oren B. Leavitt]

Right on the money Paul,

In today's age of 'cheap tech' it's too easy to settle for the path of least resistors ;-)

I've been into audio electronics DIY myself since about 1971 or so, got into synth a little later. I
was in grade school at that time. While the rest of my family was around the 'tube' I was up to
something in my room full of electronics - such as fixing *yet another* stereo receiver or amp that I
carted home from the flea market.
Well, I didn't have to save for a stereo - I was once given a nice Fisher receiver that "didn't work
anymore" - all it needed was a new power switch. But I did make sure to save a little money when my
Popular Electronics subscription renewal date came up.

...Looking now at the cover of a February 1964 issue (35 cents) of Popular Electronics:...

NOW! Build Single-Transistor Ignition
Simplified Frequency-Finder - Photocell-Controlled
Power Supply - How to Buy Resistors & Capacitors by
the Bagful - CB Dummy Load - Household Aplliance
Wattage Reducer - Four-Way Oscillator - TV Camera Kit

and the cover feature: BACTERIA GENERATE ELECTRICTY
...

Paul Schreiber wrote:

> <<note: I am an old fart>>
>
> The slow death is due to several factors, including:
>
> a) lack of the great "gee whiz!" factor in people under 30yrs old. I think many of the DIYers
> were in grade school in 1970 at the height of Moog Mania. A nice stereo was 8 months of saving
> (only doctors and RICH PEOPLE had credit cards). Ham radio was still a large DIY community.
>
> b) affluent parents. All you young pups have computers by the time you are 12yrs old. You are so
> ingrained with Nintendo/PS/etc that you can't even comprehend an Evans & Sutherland graphics
> cabinet that used to cost $1.3million, and have LESS power than a GeForce2. You get cell phones,
> MP3 players ,and cracked copiesof  Reason. The parents of us old farts had NOTHING. You had to
> EARN (gasp!) money, and at $1.25/hr DIY was looking good. I was estatic in1977 when I gota job
> for $4/hr and could send Digikey like $15/month for parts to build Electronotes circuits.
>
> c) lack of patience. Stuff doesn't work, and you are actually better off to fix it. There is one
> WONDERFUL thing about eBay: it totally destroyed the 1980-2000 era of rip-off test equipment
> dealers. Tek 465s for $150? GET ONE!! Put it on Daddy's VISA card :)  A friend just bought a
> $3400 HP freq counter (new in 1985) for $45 and it works *perfectly*. Pre-eBay, I personally
> spent over $46,000 on test equipment. The *exact same* equipment today on eBay is roughly $2,000.
>
> Paul S.

--
Oren Leavitt
oleavitt at ix.netcom.com