[Elecraft] OT: The day I found out I was going to be an engineer

[Wayne Burdick]

I was 8 years old. My dad had bought me a Radio Shack Science Fair 8-Note Electronic Organ kit for Christmas, along with a soldering iron.

That night I built the kit, finishing at something like 11 PM, which was unheard of. I remember Dad looming over me in his green bathrobe, smiling, saying it was OK to say up late just this once. He could see I was in flow. Perhaps that validated his experiment.

The organ worked the first time I connected the 9 V battery. But I had an ear for music, and after running through the notes, I could tell some were mis-tuned. 

Undaunted, I looked at the schematic and saw resistors. One per note. That had to be the problem.

Thanks to Heathkit I had learned the color code that very morning. I also had a box full of resistors I'd scavenged from old radios and TVs. (Why?) I started sticking old resistors in parallel or series with the shiny new ones until I had the notes all in tune, at least by ear. 

At last I finished the job by bending the leads of the motley, oversized resistors until they all fit in the bottom of the plastic perf-board enclosure. Presentation was everything. (How did I know that?)

I proudly demonstrated the hacked organ for my parents, then for my older sister, who was taking piano lessons. 

At best I got my hair ruffled. But still: that was the day.

Wayne
N6KR