Electronic science kits, did you have any?
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 7:39 am
I had a couple of the "springies" types which I think were rebadged Radio Shack ones.
Looking at it with the benefit of hindsight two similar things were probably more important. I remember having a kit that did electrical experiments rather than electronics when I was about 9 or so, and that taught me a lot because it had 'proper' electronics rather than just building to a pattern, stuff about current and serial parallel resistors, even though the results were less exciting on paper.
The other thing is the Ladybird book "How to make a Transistor Radio" https://www.petervis.com/Radios/making-a-transistor-radio-ladybird-book/making-a-transistor-radio-ladybird-book.html though I never did get the regenerative circuit to work. I always fancied rebuilding it though the parts are very hard to get.
People make fun of Ladybird books these days but it's a quite astonishing book given that it's aimed at children.
It's a microcosm of the X16 concept. The arrival of the ZN414 meant radio design was much easier (and a barrage of radios in things like matchboxes and tictac cases, but with one of those designs you don't have much idea what's going on underneath)