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

[Dave Kelley]

Oops. I have been licensed 46 years, not 56. Not that I'm showing my age.

On 9/16/2023 2:02 PM, Dave Kelley wrote:
>
> Very similar story to mine. When I was 8 years old, my parents gave me a
> crystal radio kit for Christmas 1972. I built it, ran the antenna wire
> to a tree outside, and could hear only Top-40 radio from the AM station
> that was about half a mile away. It was magical. I fell in love with
> radio to a background of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," Carol
> King's "It's Too Late," Elton John's "Rocket Man," and Hot Butter's
> "Popcorn." (Does anyone remember the last one?)
>
> I've now been licensed for 56 years and teach electrical engineering at
> a small university. No regrets and a lot of happiness.
>
> Thanks for a great story, Wayne.
>
> 73,
> Dave
> ND3K (ex-NB4J)
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wayne Burdick <n6kr at elecraft.com>
> Sent: Sep 15, 2023 7:33 PM
>
> 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
>
>
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