[ARC5] where is a new generation?

[aa9il at sbcglobal.net]

Hello all - a little bit late in my response but here is my $00.02
If I missed this in some elses posting sorry for the repeat - I have seen interest growing again in technology in the form of the Maker community.  Its a varied group of builders and experimentersand is a perfect place to reintroduce ham radio.  I am aware of that taking place in Maker Faires 
so that is the chance to cultivate interest.
Side note - there is a community: steam punk, - which depicts a Jules Verne/Victorian science conceptof technology melded with lifestyle - well, its alot of costumes, brass gears, goggles and you looklike you are off to a presentation of the Royal Academy of Sciences - but what better placeto show off classy old tube radios with meters, black wrinkle paint, and knobs to adjust.  Its a 
little post victorian but very retro....
Anyway, Ive been slowly dispensing of my equipment - at least I have a say in the matter then - it would be great to find some new generation to play with ARC 5 gear or build a 6L6 transmitter73MikeAA9IL



    On Saturday, November 21, 2015 1:32 PM, Leslie Smith <vk2bcu at operamail.com> wrote:
 

 Hello Jim,
Three things interest me in your reply.  The first is a quality that is
a mixture of curiosity and fascination.  The second is knowledge.  The
third - you don't mention this in your reply - is the initial source of
your interest.

Many answers here give personal accounts about the moment the writer was
"hooked" on radio.
At Westlakes radio Club, no-one gives a better account of that moment
than my friend Dave Meyer. 
No need to repeat Dave's story here - his key point depends on the idea
of curiosity, excitement and sense of wonder.
That sense of wonder is of the same quality as the sense of wonder shown
by Richard Feynman (for science in general) in "The Feynman lectures". 
I'm not embarrassed to suggest that a common person can experience this
sense of wonder - like Feynman.  The difference is he was lucky enough
to inherit great ability and circumstances that allowed him to satisfy
that curiosity, and after that make public virtue out of curiosity by
lecturing about it in university halls all over the world.

So - Jim - your experience led you to "solder away all night".  This is
a common theme, and I hoped for this sort of reply when I posted my
question.  When I say "hoped for this sort of reply" - I had already
heard Dave Meyer tell of the moment he became interested in radio.  Your
story has that same quality; only the circumstances are different.  We
have this phrase "sense of wonder".  I have to discover how to ignite
this.

Turning to my second point - knowledge.  You mentioned your age - 10
years.  Hmmm.  Very interesting.  By the age of 16 I left behind a trail
of non-working projects.  I could have become discouraged and given up. 
I suspect my experience is common.  Nearly all failed from my lack of
understanding about the detail (and attention to detail) necessary to
make something "go".  That's my first point - lack of understanding at a
requisite level of detail.  This idea of "lack of understanding" leads
consider all the things necessary for success.  A successful
"home-brewer" (or fixer of radios) needs knowledge of many things (ohms
law, resistor colour codes ....) access to a work-shop (and basic
work-shop skills), an ability to find faults (this type of knowledge is
different from basic theory) and (even today) some money.  You can add
to my list - I'm simply making the point that a good bundle of abilities
and knowledge lies behind every working radio (however simple that radio
may be).

Taking these two ideas further, it seems to me that there is an
unmentioned "elmer" in your account.  That certainly is true for me. 
Actually not just one "elmer".  I can think of three.  Ditto for Dave
Meyer's account.  His story includes an element of humor - how as a
child he saw "radio" as a thing so great and mysterious he was almost
reticent to speak to some-one who owned a SHED full of radios.

Now to the third point of interest in your posting.  You were "up to
your arm-pits" in radio at the age of 10.  What sparked your interest? 
That's a key point I want to understand.

For all the others who have contributed to this thread - I intend to
collate the different key points and make a summary here.  I'm certain
well all read the various contributions with interest.  Thanks to
every-one so far for their contribution!

 
  73 de Les Smith
  vk2bcu at operamail.com

On Sat, Nov 21, 2015, at 12:18, Jim Falls wrote:
> Started for me as a 10 year old. I'd stay up all hours on the weekends
> listening to west coast stations at night. 
> 
> Discovered SWL in the early 1980s after restoring an old Zenith console.
> Stayed up literally all night drinking coffee and soldering away getting
> it running, and was rewarded with Channel Africa and HCJB Voice of the
> Andes. There was a strange red glow in the sky to the east when I
> finished. It was the sun coming up. 
> 
> Good times!
> 
> Cheers!
> Jim K6FWT

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