[Elecraft] Suggestions for Introducing a 10-year-old to Amateur Radio and Electronics

[Don Wilhelm]

After a period of experimenting with basic circuits, a good step is to 
find an older copy of the ARRL Handbook.  I studied the "Electrical Laws 
and Circuits" section of the handbook until I had a good understanding 
of what the components did.

That is the source I learned from at the age of 15.  By the time I 
graduated from high school, I was designing my own elementary 
transmitters and receivers.  Then I went to college and learned the 
theory behind what made it work - so I sort of "did it backward" from 
many engineers.  I know "how it worked" first, and then I learned "why".
It gave me a lot of practical experience that aided me tremendously 
throughout my career.

10 may a bit too young for that, and that content is a bit better 
introduced when the student has some grasp of math - at least enough for 
parallel and series resistors, capacitors, and inductors - so he should 
be familiar with at least fractions, multiplication and division.  Once 
he comes to the realization that the fraction bar indicates division, he 
should be ready for those kind of calculations.

I am talking of analog stuff here.  Digital is a whole other world, 
although voltage levels and current drawn by devices are in the 
never-never- land between digital and analog.  TTL and CMOS devices in 
DIP format are still available, and simple gates are essential starting 
points for understanding digital operation at the circuit level.

73,
Don W3FPR

On 10/17/2017 4:44 PM, Alan Geller via Elecraft wrote:
> Here is one more approach:
> 
> I took a pine 1X2 and cut it into 3” pieces ; then screwed a couple of Fahnstock clips into the
> tops of each one near the ends. I then selected an assortment of 2 node components plus a
> pile of 6” cut copper wire pieces.
> Whoopee…we could then make stuff…doorbell plus switch, simple diode rcvr, then one with a
> single transistor audio amp plus speaker (needs 3 NODE block), morse code key and buzzer
> etc etc