[Elecraft] OT: High school drafting class, ~1975

[Dave Sublette]

My relationship with drafting class goes back to before I was born.   My
Dad, born in 1918, took drafting class in 1936. After he died, I found a
pen and ink drawing of his from that class. It was a schematic of two
different crystal sets.  As a teen, Dad was the neighborhood radio
technician. He strung wire antennas and repaired headphones for folks.

I had that schematic framed and built one of the sets.  I entered it in the
antiques section of the county fair(with a note that the radio was not the
antique).  I won a Blue Ribbon and was considered for the grand champion
ribbon.  I have the drawing and the set on my mantle.

At almost 80 years of age, my memories are increasing in value.

73,

Dave, K4TO

On Sat, Apr 24, 2021, 4:00 AM Joe K2UF <joe at k2uf.com> wrote:

> In 1955 we were the cool guys with a slide rule in a leather case hanging
> from your belt and india ink stains on your hands.
>
> 73  Joe K2UF
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
> [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Wayne Burdick
> Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2021 1:09 AM
> To: Elecraft Reflector
> Subject: [Elecraft] OT: High school drafting class, ~1975
>
> OK, I've really dated myself now.
>
> Anyone remember "drafting"? A favorite class in high school: blueprints,
> mechanical drawings, schematics, straight edges, hand lettering,
> projections
> and elevations. We invented things to draw that weren't real, but looked
> like they should be. Did all the math by hand -- on a slide rule, if
> necessary. Day-dreamed about what we might one day build.
>
> 45 years later, we're using tools we couldn't have imagined. Modeling
> circuits and objects with millions of parameters and vectors, realizing
> them
> in virtual space, manipulating them in real time. Testing finished products
> before they're even assembled.
>
> The transformation is mind boggling. Yet the best part now, as it was then,
> is the occasional burst of creative energy that propels an idea forward.
> The
> feeling of pieces falling into place. Or forcing them into place out of
> sheer necessity.
>
> Most of the time, we think of our new tools and techniques as advances in
> the state of the art. Things we can't live without. But those same defining
> moments happened just as often in simpler times.
>
> Case in point -- my first real project, a rendition of W7ZOI's
> Micro-mountaineer. Carefully documenting it took several sheets of
> 4-squares-per-inch grid paper, which may still be in my cellar, beneath a
> lifetime of such drawings. With the schematic, I took a lot of pride in
> making the circuits look well-organized, as if that would somehow improve
> my
> odds. On the PC board, I drew large traces and pads with the etch-resist
> pen, as if that would somehow appease the electrons.
>
> I etched the PCB, soldered two dozen parts, and connected a 12 V lantern
> battery. Thanks to my paranoia about what would happen if I did it wrong,
> I'd taken my time and done it right.
>
> I was rewarded with a hiss of band noise and a few CW signals on 40 meters.
>
> Here's to those moments, and to that timeless pursuit: turning abstractions
> into reality.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
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