Preorders Live! The updated version of the AM Tech Beginner Electronics Kit is officially available for preorder on our site www.theamtech.com. More details coming soon!
If you start, as a youth, teaching yourself electronics you will be miles ahead of the competition for the rest of your life. It's never to early to learn! I too started learning electronics by tearing into radios people had thrown out before I was a teenager. I made a secure and interesting career in electronics and now at age 81 I keep my tools and test equipment to do practically anything, but mostly I repair antique radio and hi-fi equipment for fun.
From a retired electrical engineer and former electronic circuit designer: Excellent video!! Especially about using breadboards, learning to read schematics, and using data sheets! Those are the key first steps. I started out using 555 timers, too. They are very handy for experimenting with logic circuits. Excellent introduction!
Don't suppose you know of a link or anyone that knows how to cause a noise on a noisy neighbours speakers and sub that they deliberately keep on 24/7. Have tried all options of speaking, complaints NOTHING works I need sleep. Or something I can cause interference with their speakers during the middle of the night. I think I will be dead soon if I don't sleep.
@@bazzaporter6990 nobody is just gonna tell you, thats literally making a high emf/small emp generator which is pretty illegal afaik but im dont really know the law on those types of things, and anyway its pretty hard to cause enough interference to do anything to the speakers, especially if they are wired (most likely) but even wireless it would still be hard, the walls seperating you will do a lot to block anything that you do manage to produce
@@bazzaporter6990 Generating white or pink noise over speakers or even the sound of an air conditioner may help but I am not sure what level or quality of the noise you are exposed to, it is worth a shot
I’m a 62 year old retired carpenter who studied electronics around 1982. Chose carpentry to make living but now I want to pick up where I left off in electronics. Saw your video and I am in.
I've been working with electronics for about 30 years, and I started with these kits as well. This is one of the most honest videos on getting started. Thank you!
I started off with arduinos and learned more than I could ever imagine, I was told to buy one from my mentor who has been an electrician for over 40 years and trust me it does work
Just getting into electronics after messing about with Arduino for years. Bit of a top down approach, but much easier than starting from scratch. Had projects that worked, now finding out the lower level nuts and bolts. Bit like studying grammar after you learn the language. Thanks for really helpful video.
As a CS student, starting with a more software focused microcontroller appeals more to me but the hardware stuff is pretty cool. Assembly programming got me curious
I have an Associates degree and a BSEET in Electronics. I regret that I never used most of my Electronics knowledge and pursued a career in firmware and software. Now, I design microcontroller circuit boards and I write firmware and software to bring my creations to life. I am much happier designing and building prototype circuits in a lab.
Electrical Engineering previously was about designing and laying out discreet components. Now chips have just about everything integrated and all you have to do is write software to make the components do what you want them to do.
I also want to work in the same field as you are working . Currently I am doing my BE in Electronics and Telecommunication engineering Second year . Please suggest a roadmap or resources I should utilise get into this field.
Yes, I think you would find many people do not know what they are looking for because they don't know what to ask. Therefore, developing something that would help a beginner (like me) would be incredibly useful and favored over time.
So glad to hear you say this. When designing the AM Tech Electronics Kit, I took a lot of time to make sure that it was perfect for beginners. Everything from the box design to the booklet has been carefully crafted to maximize the ease with which beginners can enter electronics. If you're interested, check out our campaign: www.kickstarter.com/projects/theamtechkit/the-am-tech-introduction-to-electronics-kit?ref=d91sue
Agreed! I've done basic soldering, but designing a circuit is, oddly, over my head. I'm not sure what I'm missing, or where to start. Eager for your kit(s)!
You have tapped into a viable niche. Your intro at the beginning of the video about not needing college courses is encouraging to the growing population of self teaching enthusiasts. I wish you success in expanding your TH-cam reach. I am subscribed and hope that you will stay true to the objective you laid out.
My Physics teacher was Mr. Treadwell and he taught me Ohm’s law. I built a Radio Shack FM receiver and brought it into class. Some of my classmates laughed when they saw it but you should have seen their faces when they heard music come out of that earpiece.
I honnestly dont do electronics, nor im interested in it, just not my field. but seeing you being so cheered up about teaching it and explaining your past mistakes makes me happy :)
Back in 89, My brother got a kit. This thing had Everything in it. Fighting all the time over it. That kit offered a lot more than now. We got books in the mail through the subscription that came with it. I too want to develop a kit, or even a store like RadioShack. Everyone in small town America, forced to ordering from amazon or driving a couple hours for common components. It makes me sick. Anyhow, keep the good spirits. God gives us everything we need, when we need it. It IS up to Me to use what He Provides. There is no better feeling, taking two things that don’t match, and make something “outside the box” and it works. No Higher Feeling of Success. Keep up Friend. God Bless.
Love the idea of a beginner kit. I had to chuckle at the Radio Shack kit. A little difficult to source these days lol. I have an antique Radio Shack soldering kit (fixed temp iron, stand w/ tip cleaner, spool of .050 rosin core solder, and sucker) that I keep around for nostalgia. I used to love going into Radio Shack as a teen and buying components from those big binned cabinets at the back of the store. Memories...
Not boring at all! I remember those Radio Shack kits and could never decide which one I wanted. My dad bought me a Heathkit AM radio kit that taught me how to solder, but in the end, it didn't work. My dad sent it back to Heathkit for troubleshooting. They added an obvious jump-wire with no explanation, but at least the radio worked. A friend of mine in high school very much wanted to be a radio broadcaster so he learned how to build a radio transmitter and built it from salvaged parts from old radios and TVs and such. No breadboard, he put it all together on an 18 x 20 piece of plywood. He had me run it from my attic bedroom and rode his bike around the neighborhood to see what kind of range and signal strength we could get. I love your idea to put together parts for a few specific projects to teach basic principles.
Ah, the algorithm managed to let me find this video. I'm a first-year Computer Science major, but I want to learn everything and be a jack of all trades. Thankfully, I stumbled upon this video to help guide me toward this path in the field of electronics.
Putting together a basic kit is a very good idea, back in the day when I was first getting into electronics these kits were really common but as you point out now the only kits are microcontroller based which is way too complex for a beginner to learn any basics as it all needs to be highly modularised. The kit you showed was by far the best type. A bread board surrounded by input/output components. This is what your kit needs to be, just some way for beginners to simply test their basic circuits without any other test kit so it's nice and self contained. Those types of kits got me hooked and I ended up doing electronics at college and finally getting a degree and a career in electronic engineering.
@@TheAMTech_Official IF I can get the Starter Kit (not available now); do you have more advanced ones to graduate to, afterwards? You come across as trustworthy, so I thank you for this service you have provided for people who want to learn!
As a former electronics student that didn't learn much just as you say how it goes and now I'm an electrical / mechanical design engineer, I like your viedo and you are spot on with how you souldn't and should learn electronics. Don't forget to mention a meter and an O-scope and learn how to use those as well........good luck in your career choices.
Forrest M Mims. Not only an inspiration to learning electronics, but an inspiration in good penmanship, clear diagrams and the use of graph paper. His books are gold. For those who didn't see, the Radio Shack kit's book is written by him, he's also written a book "getting started in electronics" which is IMHO by far, the best beginners guide ever written, even for young audiences.
Guys I’m nine years old and I know almost everything about electronics because of this video my dad is an engineer. He told me all his snap. I’m even getting a kit and I know programming.
Well done! When I got started, I asked a lot of questions of my Dad. He answered what he could, but I soon discovered that Dad didn't know everything. ;-) Right after I got to that point, he came home with a book or two, authored by Forrest Mims III, the same guy who wrote the book you just flipped through. He is good at explaining so much for beginners -- if I remember correctly, he was self-taught, too, so that's the best perspective to have when starting. You've done a great job, and I hope your videos inspire many more people to learn basic electronics.
Getting into amateur radio is also a great way to get into electronics and you rub shoulders with others who will be able to guide and advise you in learning about electronics with a purpose. Whether you are making up a simple circuit or trying to repair something it helps to have others you can turn to who can pass on their experience & expertise.
Started the same way in the mid 70's. Something like a 75 in 1 electronics kit. Looking back on that kit now it was very good at the projects that it had. I also took a lot of things apart, like model trains, radios etc. Good a taking them apart and testing how they worked, not so good at putting them back together, as my father would attest to, but he had no problem doing everything that he could do to send me to Engineering School.
I had a EE class that spent an entire month on the physics of diodes without ever just coming out and saying that the practical use of simple diodes is that they block current in one direct and pass it in the other direction. The practical knowledge I had gained as a 10 year old kid playing with a kit saved my ass in that class. In the university lab I found myself teaching the other students how to bias transistors. (They asked me, I didn't volunteer). I suspect that some of them turned in what I wrote as their homework.
The arduino kits are amazing not only do the cake with massive amounts of resistors transistors and ics, but they also come with sensors and an arduino allowing you to not only experiment with hardware but software. Also they are half the price of you kit.
My dad got this kit for me instead of a games console for my birthday. I was petty and never touched it. Now, many years later, I find myself wishing I had. In fact, I recently bought an arduino kit like the one you said not to get. Needless to say, my pettiness didn't pay off. I ended up getting into software, and that's where I work now, but my knowledge of hardware today could've been much greater if I had spent the time to go through that book and build those circuits. Granted, I think I was a bit young for it at the time, and I didn't get much help when I did try to play with it. I most likely have it somewhere CIB; I should dust it off and use it. Teach my children with it someday.
I started studying electronics in high school at 16 years old, now I'm doing a PhD on radio frequency integrated circuits. Electronics is just so fucking cool and has so many different sub-categories, it's an endless highly intricate world
"The problem with trying to learn basic electronics with an arduino is that you are transforming every single hardware problem you are trying to solve into a software one" Well said. I agree with everything here except conflating microcontrollers with microprocessors, a minor point. I will add to your point re fewer rather than more learning projects ... perhaps the best way to learn quickly is to have one or two real life projects in mind to make for yourself in your real life. Something that interests you, some task to automate, some small dc motors to drive, etc. I hope you come back and post more videos, looks like a great channel
I teach high school electronics and I do bread boarding of transistor circuits, 555 timers and counters and op amps to name a few. I have lessons all day and it’s a tough gig with classes of 25 pupils all having their own breadboards 5 times a day. They enjoy it and learn a lot more than just soldering components to a pcb. I can cover so much more and they enjoy the fault finding as much as I do. You can’t beat the MAKE electronics books I even still use the cmos cookbook. I teach H bridges, logic and microcontrollers too: just starting out with the Picos doing physical circuits with them so it’s my next challenge. All my circuits are also built in circuit wizard a great package for schools.
I started out in the last days of vacuum tubes. An old guy who served as a radio/electronics guy in the Marines during WWII started showing me around in the vacuum tube world. I was about 10 years old. Since I had no education on the subject, semi-conductor theory was hard for me to understand. Then, I found a manual that explained it differently. I started working on TV's, Radios and everything electronic. As the years went by, I ventured into the PDP series computer world using dumb terminals and punch tape. When cheap home computers came to be, I bought my first Commodore 64. I started writing BASIC and assembly language programs, but it had to be --- I joined the PC world, then industrial electronics and PLC's which was a combination of everything I had learned so far. Until this point, I had never had any official education (except for PLC's). I was already into my career when I got certified in UNIX and WINDOWS servers, Email servers, firewalls (using UNIX) and ancillaries. I trained on UNISYS and IBM AS/400 mainframes and on and on. I am retired now, but I still "pittle" around with PLC's and Computer systems. I have a thing for 555's and 4017's as well for the old 2n2222. I still have most of my old equipment including my old Tektronix Oscilloscope and Fluke meter. I also have a sh** load of IC's, Horizontal output transformers, chokes and capacitors. I'm '67 and still truckin! I highly encourage you who read this to learn all you can in electronics and beyond! You will never be bored -- I promise. Note: @jamesclark6382 reiterates first things first.
At 9 years old, I had a jar of DC motors, a box of PCBs, some AC-DC converters, and a shitty 15W soldering iron. I took apart every already-broken electronic appliance just to see how they worked and to make crazy contraptions whenever I could. Once, my dad brought some old CD players for me to take apart. I then used some simple components and plastic parts to build something resembling a "Zip Shot Foam Disc Shooter," but with CD discs. A 6-volt DC motor powered with 12V and a mechanical launching system using a small lever and small rubber bands. The power of this contraption was enough to shatter these CD discs on impact. In the end, I had a working CD disc launcher, a damaged wall from launching these discs, and a scar on my hand that hasn't faded much to this day. I became more interested in computer engineering when I turned 11 but picked up on electrical engineering 5 years later in college. I worked on my electronics projects at the college's lab often enough to befriend some of the teachers who were eager to show and aid me with my projects. My college at the time was going through upgrading their equipment since they finally got the funding for it. Old, yet operational equipment had to be removed from their inventory to make way for the acquisition of new equipment, thereby enabling the financing of the new items to be included in their annual budget. In short, they had to make the old equipment "disappear" before taking inventory. I composed a separate electric cabinet and made the wiring for my systems. I am yet to learn how to program this PLC I have (MIAC-60-2) to use in my electrical cabinet. At the end, I graduated from college with a full electronics lab and a towering server rack for homelabbing.
that radioshack kit really looks incredible and massively educational! i would DEFINITELY buy an electronics kit from you especially with that impressive thing as your inspiration! getting into electronics still as a noob, the whole "every kit includes arduino" thing had me really confused for awhile actually... i didnt understand why i needed that. thanks for going over these few things, they were more helpful to me than you might think
This video is just what I've been looking for. I'm mechanical trained but want to get started with electronics and honestly had no idea where to begin. This is exciting and I think I'll get my 12 year old daughter involved from day one 👍
You can modify a fork to fit perfectly into a wall outlet. Use this trick to trip the circuit breaker and you won't have to guess which one you're on. That's how I got my start!
I bought a pi4 because i enjoy open source code for lights and automation. But I started out in elementary school helping the radio shack owners kid because I came into the shop so much. Ended up fixing 20 inch crt tv's in the shop with them. Curiosity drove me, and those radio shack kits with smoking transistors taught me a lot about current limits.
I received my AM TECh beginner's electronic kit. It's truly awesome! Quality, from the packaging to the manual, it's all top quality and easy to learn with. 👌
4:56 The "SunFounder Electronic Fun Kit with LCD 1602 Module, Basic Electronic Starter Kit with Detailed Tutorial, Breadboard..." for $22.49 on the right actually looks decent. I see an IC, a 14-pin DIP at a guess, resistors, what are either diodes or inductors, capacitors, what I think are transistors, LEDs, cables, switches, buttons, what looks like 2x20 characer LCD, maybe 2x16, a single digit 7-segment display, and a few other bits and bobs I can't quite identify from the picture. The breadboard looks to be a 400-pin one, so a bit weeny for anything beyond a simple clock or a few logic gates built with transistors, but it is just a $22.49 kit after all. Of course, if you are completely unfamiliar with electronics then you have no way to tell what's a decent started kit.
I think there is another important point nowadays which helps for the understanding of electronics circuits a lot. This is circuit simulation. I personally use LTSpice since a long time, because it is very easy to use and very powerful. When I try a new circuit I start to build it up step by step in a circuit simulator and test its modules under different conditions in order to find out how they react on changes of operating parameter, how stable they behave. After this I go into breadboard testing in the same way. I build up the circuit step by step testing the modules before I let them interact with another. It helps also to think in functional electronics modules and their interaction with another. You can also learn on retroactive effects of modules.
I grew up reading every little book written by Forrest Mims. I bought them from Radio Shack from the 70's to the present. I still have them today. I highly recommend them.
As a high school electronics instructor I had my students use the Chaney 33-In-1 Deluxe Electronic Kit. Experiments 1 - 11 in Grade Ten. Activities 12 - 22 in Grade 11. Activities 23 - 33 in Grade 12. As a forty year shop teacher, instructional materials do not get better than this. Thank goodness I kept one set for myself. Breadboarding fun where you actually build some neat electronic circuits. Really good stuff. Yes, my students would build and engineer some pretty serious stuff as well. We took seventeen medals at the Skills Canada electronics competitions in twelve years. This Chaney stuff is excellent teaching/learning material. Was I connected to the factory ? Only in the way I would regularly purchase stuff for the shop.
Would you say those were is glitter a lot better than the RadioShack kits? And more importantly, are they still available? I know the RadioShack things had actual specialized resistors, capacitors and all the other real hardware, so it was a great way to learn the basics. Just looked it up, they are still available.
@@mybrotherkeeper1484 C6709 - 33 in 1 Deluxe Exploration Lab is available from Electronics Goldmine. The best learning tool for my thousands of high school students. I have lots of Radio Shack kits. They scare me away just when I open the box. Just remember to use needlenose pliers when inserting the components. The components and breadboard will work better and last longer.
very good points! the thing of "few projects where you can learn a lot" is 100% true. Arduino, and its IDE, does indeed separate you from actual electronics.
Found your kickstarted via this video. I'm now a backer because it is exactly what I need! I don't want to get my son into programming quite yet, but he does have an interest in circuits. This is going to be a great resource for both of us. Thank you!
I got that exact kit as a birthday present when I was a kid. It was a really good kit and it's one of the reasons I went to college for EE. That and my grandpa teaching me some and saving electronics and appliances for projects until I was up there so we could disassemble things or help with a project of some kind.
I'm just getting started out in electronics, the reason I went for the arduino kit is most stuff today has some form of computer doing something, coffee machines read bar codes to know how much water to pump through for example so my thoughts were, these kits give me the chance to learn both building circuits using the bread boards and programming the arduino to make the project work, that's where my thoughts were when thinking about getting started. Great video though, being able to read a schematic was on my mind as well.
Yeah, this is super old school. Most things folks want to do today involve ICs. No one designs a radio from scratch, they buy a 3 dollar 5mm x 5mm radio and an antenna and stick it on a PCB. Same with a 555 timer, why build a 555 time where virtually every microcontroller has a built in clock? Learning real time operating systems, the various hardware protocols, reading data sheets, bills of material, and yea, circuit diagrams is far more useful for things you'd want to do.
How I started in electronics? Back in the early 80's, I would take walkie-talkies apart. And learn (go to libraries) which component was and what it did. I learned I could boost the range about 20ft.
I think its a great idea, I would totally buy one. I've recently graduated in electrical engineering and I am currently developing a product and the entry level of electronics is so high it took me about a month just to get an idea of what to put on a breadboard.
As someone who has been obsessed with accelerated learning all my life, I think mentor-student relationship is one of the fastest. Personally I read through dozens of books on birds, fishes, trees, insects... but after using an app that lets you identify these species (acting as virtual mentor) my learning exploded. Of course electronics is different. But I can only imagine the immersive knowledge one has shadowing an electrician and what not. There are of course various routes to learning.
i started by pluging a multimeter to the AC 240V right after I bought it and turned the wheel, it made BOOM and I had to buy a new one and start from batteries and learn how to use multimeter :)
i've been loosely starting electronics back in ~2018 and its only now that I've been starting to take it more seriously (due to having more time). Being in my late 20s makes it a bit tougher to learn this stuff but its great, nonetheless.
Great Video! I just started playing around and learning programming an Arduino for a self-made flipper project we do in school. Now I want to go deeper into the basics of electronics, because not only do I find it interesting it can be also beneficial for my apprenticeship I do rn. Glad that I found your channel and that your kit launches soon, so I can get a good beginners-set!
1:40 - IT REALLY DID CHANGE THINGS. I buy and donate computer stuff to a local it place. A few moths ago they showed me the ratioshack kit and I immediately fell in love . I have learned so much since then. When I was a kid I had the snap circuits and I totally agree that it’s very limiting and doesn’t really explain what you’re doing. Great vid
Dude! This wasn't boring, it was just what I needed to hear. Yeah, I have started with the Arduino Super Starter Kit, and it IS so cool. But you are right, I look at videos and there is so much I don't get. You mention the 555 timer. I've heard of it so many times and I still don't get what is the deal. You got a new subscriber. :-D
@@TheAMTech_Official the thing is that the 555 chip is not something you actually find in modern circuits because everything now includes a microcontroller. That might be cheating but realistically that microcontroller is as cheap as a 555 chip and probably saves a lot of other components.
As a teenager I took electric shop in high school and we built real stuff and I know I learned a lot. We built real vacuum tube circuits and it turned out that a lot of vacuum tube had transistor equivalents. The transistors I first used were pnp. The positive battery terminal became circuits ground.
Man I tripped over this video. I now build robots and like you, I have been self taught. Now to do robotics you have to know electronics. In my time I bought and studied from courses and kits from Heathkit. Sadly now they are gone, but their approach of theory and build made me learn very quickly. This is an excellent video, and you hit on many points that are very important and necessary for all beginners. KEEP UP the great work you are doing. By the way my all time favorite ic is the 555, and I have about a hundred in my lab!!
I found one with most of the components at good will for 5.99 my son is 9 and seems interested but I am learning myself so I will keep watching your videos
From another just retired EE. I think you are giving good advice. I would add finding projects to breadboard involving transistors and fets as well as IC's. A good source for such projects would be older electronic magazines from the 70's say, and project books. Most used book stores have a section where you can find electronic project compilations. One title is "400 ideas for design" taken from electronic design magazine 1965 -1970 . Another is "Encyclopedia of electronic circuits". The titles I mention are a bit dated, as they have tube circuits as well as solid state, and tube circuits are perhaps a bridge too far for modern learners. (in the 1960's when I was a kid learning electronics tubes were the thing, mostly). One of the funnest circuits I ever built as a kid was a super het receiver based on a single tube from a 1950's popular electronics magazine. Learn how to bias transistors and make them amplify, oscillate and switch. Also learn about basic test equipment. Learn how to use every feature on the voltmeter. Get your hands on an oscilloscope and learn how to look at digital signals and measure frequency and amplitude of sine waves with it. Get radio receiver kits, and learn about radio and antennas. The soft rock line comes to mind. Also as you point out, software is not electronics, its logic. Of course microcontrollers are all over electronics. There is hardly a product I was involved in since 1979 (I got my degree in '77) that didn't have a uC somewhere. So while microcontrollers are part of the electronics world, building projects with them doesn't have much classic electronics in them. PS you are spot on about data sheets. Learn how to read data sheets. Another clue... when on an interview and you are asked to comment on a schematic placed in front of you look for the title block, usually in the lower right.
Dude, tremendous information. I hope this young buck takes you up on it, and creates more and more advanced kits, as he is able. It almost seems like “they “ don’t want the regular person having even the Opportunity to learn this stuff anymore. Like it’s a control issue. But I’m a little untrusting, to say the least.
I started as a little kid with those small kits with two alligator clips a DC motor a small light bulb and switch all for about 1 dollar it's a really good start
I know it's a bit cheesy, but the redstone stuff in minecraft actually help as well, especially with getting the inspiration/motivation going and getting a lot more used to the idea of circuits and stuff.
Well I'm a self taught electronics engineer and I hardly used a breadboard when I started ^^ Just a soldering iron, wires and salvaged components from old electronics is all I had back in the day (30 years ago) ^^ But yeah having one would have made my life a lot easier I'll give you that ^^
Any video on explaining the circuit diagram of transmitter and receiver module , how data transmission takes place between the transmitter and receiver module . What to read for basic understanding of radio control , how the data transmission takes place between the transmitter and receiver circuit of the RC toys etc.
I have that same Radio Shack kit. I just re-dug it out recently. I didnt dig too deeply in electronics, but every now and then I get the bug to fiddle around with an idea. I can follow along with Ben Eater well enough, but watching Uncle Doug re-bias a vintage tube guitar amp is pretty bewildering, but I get the gist of it. The kit is nice because so many basic components are built in..ordering small numbers of parts online isnt much bang for the buck, but having to buy 100x of somthing you only need 5 of is discouraging.
I had the same/a similar RadioShack kit that I got after my brother showed no interest in it. Some of the stuff I learned tinkering with it I'm still drawing from in my electronics class. It was so nice, I wish I knew where the hell it was.
I had a 200-in-1 Electronic Project Lab that was a gift for my 8th birthday, and absolutely loved it. Pretty sure I destroyed all the capacitors and ICs through trying to experiment. A couple of years ago I wanted to try and have another go at learning electronics for real and I remembered seeing the '300-in-1' version of the same kit. As luck would have it, (at least here in Australia) you can get the '300-in-1 Electronics Project Lab' by Maxitronix which seems to be almost identical to the one in your video. I'm still only just dabbling as I get sidetracked easily but I figure if anyone wants something like it, it's still available :) I'll be checking at the AM Tech kit too :)
As a kid i pllayed with these lego style denshi blocks with contacts on all four sides for connecting to each other on a base that would hold them in place. They were clear plastic and anyone could understand how they work very easily. The blocks consisted of resistors, diodes, caps etc and you could arrange them in any way to make any simple circuit such as a morse code transmitter/receiver. It was called EX KIT 150 and was good fun.
I can attest to what he said. Along time ago I got a RadioShack kit such as you described. In my excitement, I showed a friend who already knew about electronics. He accidentally took a few of the pieces home. RadioShack no longer made replacement pieces. It basically rendered the whole kit useless to me. The guys attitude was very cavalier, as well. He tried to find replacement resistors and such but they weren’t the same type that were in the kit, so they were no help. He laughed it off, but I was hoping to learn something to get me out of the manual labor field. Here I am still doing unskilled labor! And he is working with his mind still! P.S. I still have him at arm’s length ever since. I tried to explain years later what that cost me. But He has no idea what that meant to me. It’s tough when your body breaks down, and a guy who had a father and all kinds of advantages just doesn’t understand. The problem is I KNOW what it cost me. So here I am, trying to get started again after raising kids and working umpteen hours for 30 years.
There's many other pathways to learning electronics. If you really wanted to learn it you would have found one of those ways. That kit is just a product, nothing more. How do you think engineers learned it in the past lol You put the burden and the blame of you not doing this onto your friend over a simple mistake, because you're lazy, you fell for the marketing, and would rather point the finger than move on and find a different way to achieve your goals.
I have no qualifications but I do have very recent experience! I dove into the world of electrical engineering headfirst about 3 years ago... started with a microwave and all of it's treasures! After about a year of frustration I took a hiatus, wondering how I'd ever rekindle the passion... Three weeks ago the simplest answer just hit me....basics! I kept assuming that it would all fall into place as I moved forward with the difficulty of the projects but it only made me realize how little I actually knew. TL:DR Great advice! I learned the hard way. I really want one of those RadioShack kits 😢
Just found your channnel and I ust wanted to say I appreciate your modesty and your approach. I've wanted to go into college since I was younger, now I'm 27 and it seems like it's too late. Thank you for keeping my head up for another day and for your ability to further peak my interests in electronics and (software) computing.
brother if you feel like its to late, your going to be saying the same thing when your 37 and wishing you had started when you were 27. its never to late to start, just start somewhere NOW. itll all work itself out.
I started electronics by soldering things together. Nowadays I first design the projects on paper, then on computer, then on a breadboard and then on a pcb.
1:35 funny thing, I actually have that exact kit with two booklets {Basic Electronics Workbook 1 and Digital Logic Projects Workbook 2} inside that I got at a thrift store for around $10. thanks for reminding me of that kit...also just tested it, still works even though it had some battery acid in the battery compartment, Whoo! Hope you have a great day & Safe Travels!
That's an absolutely ridiculous bad faith interpretation. He states very clearly why you don't learn how to make hardware by using a software solution. The fact that he then plugs a potential future product is irrelevant and you're free to ignore it if you don't care for it.
@@nilsqvis1337 not a single thing I said was inaccurate nor a thing you said an argument to my statement. No faith required. It sounds like you didn't actually watch the whole video and instead just came to the comments to argue with strangers.
I wasn't even searching and your video popped up I've been interested in electronics for a while now, please build the kit I'm sure many people will benefit from it.👍😎💖🔥💯
I would also recommend building circuit on breadboard rather than using CAD simulators. CAD simulators are ideal..on breadboard, you might get hands on experience with real components that CAD tools might not. you can get a pocket oscilloscope and signal generator at cheaper price in your local electronics/electrical market or through online shopping. I would also recommend building circuits more from basic descrete components like resistors, diodes, capacitors, BJT's, MOSfets rather than pre built IC's as IC's are pre built circuits.
I’m just now stumbling onto this video and as a freshly graduated electrical engineer, I think I would’ve done much better in my classes if I had a kit like you’re describing! I don’t think I ever heard of a 555 counter until now, which is pretty sad considering the many uses it seems to have. I would definitely buy that kit if you ever actually made it
typing electronic component kit in amazon gives much much much better results. that coupled with a breadboard and some basic projects off the internet is where I would start.
I built my first radio at the age of ten with a 10 in 1 kit that had been given to me by a scientist that was a friend of my father. The basic radio was unpowered. It could also do a powered radio using a battery or a little solar panel that came with it. Even that the age of ten I immediately saw the power of electronics. That was over 50 years ago. In junior high I took a test to get into AP math and passed because what I had learned about binary logic from the kit. I'm a retired EE now.
For future wanna be EEs, the future is all about Digital Signal Processing (DSP) so make sure you become fluent in it. I hope they are still teaching machine language curriculums. That gives you the foundation to understand how microprocessors work.
@@mybrotherkeeper1484 there is a friend who is into radio who posted a TH-cam video recently, within the last year or so He went and visited their physical location ♡
I started from black paper. I asked my grandmother how a loudspeaker works. She said it works because it has black paper. I made a loudspaker from black paper, connected 2 copper wires to it, and it didn't work when I plugged in in cable radio socket. Then new neighbors moved in, their fireman father was a radio enthusiast. I learned much from his sons.
Radio Shack!!?? Where in hades did you find that!? Freaking cool! My first circuits were not on bread board, but on vero board. i'm working backwards and learning to use bread boards.
I'm an aerospace engineering student, but I feel like I'm desperately lacking in electronics knowledge. Teaching myself low level electronics while having to work with higher level controllers is definitely a weird experience. What first started it was when I realized I had no idea how to integrate a solenoid into a drone for a package release and give it the power it needs to function well. In my head I though "oh it will be easy all I need is a transistor a diode and a few resistors". Boy was I wrong. Still don't know how to get it working but it's been so fun, eye opening (and brain hurting) learning about electronics, something that I just kinda took for granted as working 😂
Preorders Live! The updated version of the AM Tech Beginner Electronics Kit is officially available for preorder on our site www.theamtech.com. More details coming soon!
The expected date
is March 2024 ?
@@abc33944crazy that it took 3 years
march 2024??? come on man
Hey, I', not from the US, but I'd like to preorder. Is it somehow possible? (Germany)
@@МолозинаДарья-р3х i want to preorder to from germany
If you start, as a youth, teaching yourself electronics you will be miles ahead of the competition for the rest of your life. It's never to early to learn! I too started learning electronics by tearing into radios people had thrown out before I was a teenager. I made a secure and interesting career in electronics and now at age 81 I keep my tools and test equipment to do practically anything, but mostly I repair antique radio and hi-fi equipment for fun.
Would you mind to create a TH-cam channel, Sir. It would be interesting and fun to learn from veteran.
ohh i was kinda wondering if you could be good enough to 'return' my old Radio that i accidentally threw out a few years back??? pleeeeze 🙂 Lol
what a legend
I second the idea said above, make a youtube channel !!
Would erasing an EPROM located on a Mercedes radio, potentially erase any critical data to keep the car from running or locks working properly?
From a retired electrical engineer and former electronic circuit designer: Excellent video!! Especially about using breadboards, learning to read schematics, and using data sheets! Those are the key first steps. I started out using 555 timers, too. They are very handy for experimenting with logic circuits. Excellent introduction!
I started with touch light graduated to speakers to buzzer then ne555 to inverter
Don't suppose you know of a link or anyone that knows how to cause a noise on a noisy neighbours speakers and sub that they deliberately keep on 24/7. Have tried all options of speaking, complaints NOTHING works I need sleep. Or something I can cause interference with their speakers during the middle of the night. I think I will be dead soon if I don't sleep.
@@bazzaporter6990 nobody is just gonna tell you, thats literally making a high emf/small emp generator which is pretty illegal afaik but im dont really know the law on those types of things, and anyway its pretty hard to cause enough interference to do anything to the speakers, especially if they are wired (most likely) but even wireless it would still be hard, the walls seperating you will do a lot to block anything that you do manage to produce
@@Fisheiyy I am sleep deprived because of selfish fuckers I am will to go to gaol.
@@bazzaporter6990 Generating white or pink noise over speakers or even the sound of an air conditioner may help but I am not sure what level or quality of the noise you are exposed to, it is worth a shot
I’m a 62 year old retired carpenter who studied electronics around 1982. Chose carpentry to make living but now I want to pick up where I left off in electronics. Saw your video and I am in.
Very similar here. I'm 61. I wont ever make a living at electronics but as a musician I'd love to learn how to design effects pedals for guitar.
@@agentcalmthat's a cool idea!
Go for it my man! Hope you have fun!
I love your spirit sir!
What made you go with carpentry over electronics
I've been working with electronics for about 30 years, and I started with these kits as well. This is one of the most honest videos on getting started. Thank you!
I started off with arduinos and learned more than I could ever imagine, I was told to buy one from my mentor who has been an electrician for over 40 years and trust me it does work
Just getting into electronics after messing about with Arduino for years. Bit of a top down approach, but much easier than starting from scratch. Had projects that worked, now finding out the lower level nuts and bolts.
Bit like studying grammar after you learn the language.
Thanks for really helpful video.
Great analogy! Glad you liked the video 👍
As a CS student, starting with a more software focused microcontroller appeals more to me but the hardware stuff is pretty cool. Assembly programming got me curious
@@michaelspianochannel Yes, you will do well with that approach. As the saying goes, "Everything is open source if your an assembly programmer."
I have an Associates degree and a BSEET in Electronics. I regret that I never used most of my Electronics knowledge and pursued a career in firmware and software. Now, I design microcontroller circuit boards and I write firmware and software to bring my creations to life. I am much happier designing and building prototype circuits in a lab.
Electrical Engineering previously was about designing and laying out discreet components. Now chips have just about everything integrated and all you have to do is write software to make the components do what you want them to do.
I also want to work in the same field as you are working . Currently I am doing my BE in Electronics and Telecommunication engineering Second year . Please suggest a roadmap or resources I should utilise get into this field.
@@b21hirejayeshnanaji71 c/c++, Linux OS, digital signal processing, microprocessors and FPGAs, control theory.
@@laughing5559 thanks for your suggestions
Yes, I think you would find many people do not know what they are looking for because they don't know what to ask. Therefore, developing something that would help a beginner (like me) would be incredibly useful and favored over time.
So glad to hear you say this. When designing the AM Tech Electronics Kit, I took a lot of time to make sure that it was perfect for beginners. Everything from the box design to the booklet has been carefully crafted to maximize the ease with which beginners can enter electronics. If you're interested, check out our campaign: www.kickstarter.com/projects/theamtechkit/the-am-tech-introduction-to-electronics-kit?ref=d91sue
Agreed! I've done basic soldering, but designing a circuit is, oddly, over my head. I'm not sure what I'm missing, or where to start.
Eager for your kit(s)!
@@TheAMTech_Official when will it be available again? I would like one!!
You have tapped into a viable niche. Your intro at the beginning of the video about not needing college courses is encouraging to the growing population of self teaching enthusiasts. I wish you success in expanding your TH-cam reach. I am subscribed and hope that you will stay true to the objective you laid out.
Well I wouldn't call myself a "self-teaching enthusiast" but I would definitely call myself poor.
@@LeviBulgerditto
GitHub + stack overflow + ChatGPT + arduino, seeeduino, etc = THOUSANDS saved in student loan debt :)
i started electronics in mr. pettibone’s ap physics class. he taught me everything i know
*Pettibone!*
My Physics teacher was Mr. Treadwell and he taught me Ohm’s law. I built a Radio Shack FM receiver and brought it into class. Some of my classmates laughed when they saw it but you should have seen their faces when they heard music come out of that earpiece.
I honnestly dont do electronics, nor im interested in it, just not my field.
but seeing you being so cheered up about teaching it and explaining your past mistakes makes me happy :)
What are you interested in , I’m curious ?
@@bennaarsongidi I know him, he's into ballet 🩰
Back in 89, My brother got a kit. This thing had Everything in it. Fighting all the time over it.
That kit offered a lot more than now. We got books in the mail through the subscription that came with it. I too want to develop a kit, or even a store like RadioShack. Everyone in small town America, forced to ordering from amazon or driving a couple hours for common components. It makes me sick.
Anyhow, keep the good spirits. God gives us everything we need, when we need it. It IS up to Me to use what He Provides. There is no better feeling, taking two things that don’t match, and make something “outside the box” and it works. No Higher Feeling of Success. Keep up Friend.
God Bless.
Thanks so much for your story and support!
Love your comment. I needed to hear that.
@@mybrotherkeeper1484 Love you name. I needed to see that. Thanks. God Bless.
@@jj74qformerlyjailbreak3 👍🙏
Love the idea of a beginner kit. I had to chuckle at the Radio Shack kit. A little difficult to source these days lol. I have an antique Radio Shack soldering kit (fixed temp iron, stand w/ tip cleaner, spool of .050 rosin core solder, and sucker) that I keep around for nostalgia. I used to love going into Radio Shack as a teen and buying components from those big binned cabinets at the back of the store. Memories...
Not boring at all! I remember those Radio Shack kits and could never decide which one I wanted.
My dad bought me a Heathkit AM radio kit that taught me how to solder, but in the end, it didn't work. My dad sent it back to Heathkit for troubleshooting. They added an obvious jump-wire with no explanation, but at least the radio worked.
A friend of mine in high school very much wanted to be a radio broadcaster so he learned how to build a radio transmitter and built it from salvaged parts from old radios and TVs and such. No breadboard, he put it all together on an 18 x 20 piece of plywood. He had me run it from my attic bedroom and rode his bike around the neighborhood to see what kind of range and signal strength we could get.
I love your idea to put together parts for a few specific projects to teach basic principles.
Ah, the algorithm managed to let me find this video. I'm a first-year Computer Science major, but I want to learn everything and be a jack of all trades. Thankfully, I stumbled upon this video to help guide me toward this path in the field of electronics.
Putting together a basic kit is a very good idea, back in the day when I was first getting into electronics these kits were really common but as you point out now the only kits are microcontroller based which is way too complex for a beginner to learn any basics as it all needs to be highly modularised. The kit you showed was by far the best type. A bread board surrounded by input/output components. This is what your kit needs to be, just some way for beginners to simply test their basic circuits without any other test kit so it's nice and self contained. Those types of kits got me hooked and I ended up doing electronics at college and finally getting a degree and a career in electronic engineering.
Same here! Couldn't agree more. We've actually released the kit on Kickstarter. Take a look at www.theamtech.com and let me know what you think :)
@@TheAMTech_Official IF I can get the Starter Kit (not available now); do you have more advanced ones to graduate to, afterwards?
You come across as trustworthy, so I thank you for this service you have provided for people who want to learn!
As a former electronics student that didn't learn much just as you say how it goes and now I'm an electrical / mechanical design engineer, I like your viedo and you are spot on with how you souldn't and should learn electronics. Don't forget to mention a meter and an O-scope and learn how to use those as well........good luck in your career choices.
Forrest M Mims. Not only an inspiration to learning electronics, but an inspiration in good penmanship, clear diagrams and the use of graph paper. His books are gold. For those who didn't see, the Radio Shack kit's book is written by him, he's also written a book "getting started in electronics" which is IMHO by far, the best beginners guide ever written, even for young audiences.
Forrest Mims changed my life! Hey look - the circuits in this book actually work!
Guys I’m nine years old and I know almost everything about electronics because of this video my dad is an engineer. He told me all his snap. I’m even getting a kit and I know programming.
nice!
Well done! When I got started, I asked a lot of questions of my Dad. He answered what he could, but I soon discovered that Dad didn't know everything. ;-)
Right after I got to that point, he came home with a book or two, authored by Forrest Mims III, the same guy who wrote the book you just flipped through. He is good at explaining so much for beginners -- if I remember correctly, he was self-taught, too, so that's the best perspective to have when starting.
You've done a great job, and I hope your videos inspire many more people to learn basic electronics.
Getting into amateur radio is also a great way to get into electronics and you rub shoulders with others who will be able to guide and advise you in learning about electronics with a purpose. Whether you are making up a simple circuit or trying to repair something it helps to have others you can turn to who can pass on their experience & expertise.
Started the same way in the mid 70's. Something like a 75 in 1 electronics kit. Looking back on that kit now it was very good at the projects that it had.
I also took a lot of things apart, like model trains, radios etc. Good a taking them apart and testing how they worked, not so good at putting them back together, as my father would attest to, but he had no problem doing everything that he could do to send me to Engineering School.
I had a EE class that spent an entire month on the physics of diodes without ever just coming out and saying that the practical use of simple diodes is that they block current in one direct and pass it in the other direction. The practical knowledge I had gained as a 10 year old kid playing with a kit saved my ass in that class. In the university lab I found myself teaching the other students how to bias transistors. (They asked me, I didn't volunteer). I suspect that some of them turned in what I wrote as their homework.
The arduino kits are amazing not only do the cake with massive amounts of resistors transistors and ics, but they also come with sensors and an arduino allowing you to not only experiment with hardware but software.
Also they are half the price of you kit.
My dad got this kit for me instead of a games console for my birthday. I was petty and never touched it. Now, many years later, I find myself wishing I had. In fact, I recently bought an arduino kit like the one you said not to get. Needless to say, my pettiness didn't pay off. I ended up getting into software, and that's where I work now, but my knowledge of hardware today could've been much greater if I had spent the time to go through that book and build those circuits. Granted, I think I was a bit young for it at the time, and I didn't get much help when I did try to play with it. I most likely have it somewhere CIB; I should dust it off and use it. Teach my children with it someday.
I started studying electronics in high school at 16 years old, now I'm doing a PhD on radio frequency integrated circuits. Electronics is just so fucking cool and has so many different sub-categories, it's an endless highly intricate world
How did you start
God you are a fking nerd… I mean I love this stuff.. but damn I know how to enjoy football too.
"The problem with trying to learn basic electronics with an arduino is that you are transforming every single hardware problem you are trying to solve into a software one" Well said. I agree with everything here except conflating microcontrollers with microprocessors, a minor point. I will add to your point re fewer rather than more learning projects ... perhaps the best way to learn quickly is to have one or two real life projects in mind to make for yourself in your real life. Something that interests you, some task to automate, some small dc motors to drive, etc.
I hope you come back and post more videos, looks like a great channel
I teach high school electronics and I do bread boarding of transistor circuits, 555 timers and counters and op amps to name a few. I have lessons all day and it’s a tough gig with classes of 25 pupils all having their own breadboards 5 times a day. They enjoy it and learn a lot more than just soldering components to a pcb. I can cover so much more and they enjoy the fault finding as much as I do. You can’t beat the MAKE electronics books I even still use the cmos cookbook. I teach H bridges, logic and microcontrollers too: just starting out with the Picos doing physical circuits with them so it’s my next challenge. All my circuits are also built in circuit wizard a great package for schools.
I started out in the last days of vacuum tubes. An old guy who served as a radio/electronics guy in the Marines during WWII started showing me around in the vacuum tube world. I was about 10 years old. Since I had no education on the subject, semi-conductor theory was hard for me to understand. Then, I found a manual that explained it differently. I started working on TV's, Radios and everything electronic. As the years went by, I ventured into the PDP series computer world using dumb terminals and punch tape. When cheap home computers came to be, I bought my first Commodore 64. I started writing BASIC and assembly language programs, but it had to be --- I joined the PC world, then industrial electronics and PLC's which was a combination of everything I had learned so far. Until this point, I had never had any official education (except for PLC's). I was already into my career when I got certified in UNIX and WINDOWS servers, Email servers, firewalls (using UNIX) and ancillaries. I trained on UNISYS and IBM AS/400 mainframes and on and on. I am retired now, but I still "pittle" around with PLC's and Computer systems. I have a thing for 555's and 4017's as well for the old 2n2222. I still have most of my old equipment including my old Tektronix Oscilloscope and Fluke meter. I also have a sh** load of IC's, Horizontal output transformers, chokes and capacitors. I'm '67 and still truckin! I highly encourage you who read this to learn all you can in electronics and beyond! You will never be bored -- I promise. Note: @jamesclark6382 reiterates first things first.
At 9 years old, I had a jar of DC motors, a box of PCBs, some AC-DC converters, and a shitty 15W soldering iron.
I took apart every already-broken electronic appliance just to see how they worked and to make crazy contraptions whenever I could.
Once, my dad brought some old CD players for me to take apart. I then used some simple components and plastic parts to build something resembling a "Zip Shot Foam Disc Shooter," but with CD discs. A 6-volt DC motor powered with 12V and a mechanical launching system using a small lever and small rubber bands. The power of this contraption was enough to shatter these CD discs on impact.
In the end, I had a working CD disc launcher, a damaged wall from launching these discs, and a scar on my hand that hasn't faded much to this day.
I became more interested in computer engineering when I turned 11 but picked up on electrical engineering 5 years later in college.
I worked on my electronics projects at the college's lab often enough to befriend some of the teachers who were eager to show and aid me with my projects.
My college at the time was going through upgrading their equipment since they finally got the funding for it. Old, yet operational equipment had to be removed from their inventory to make way for the acquisition of new equipment, thereby enabling the financing of the new items to be included in their annual budget.
In short, they had to make the old equipment "disappear" before taking inventory.
I composed a separate electric cabinet and made the wiring for my systems. I am yet to learn how to program this PLC I have (MIAC-60-2) to use in my electrical cabinet.
At the end, I graduated from college with a full electronics lab and a towering server rack for homelabbing.
I have that exact Radio Shack kit... It's literally amazing. It taught me 100x more than any other source.
that radioshack kit really looks incredible and massively educational! i would DEFINITELY buy an electronics kit from you especially with that impressive thing as your inspiration! getting into electronics still as a noob, the whole "every kit includes arduino" thing had me really confused for awhile actually... i didnt understand why i needed that. thanks for going over these few things, they were more helpful to me than you might think
thank-you for your video. This motivates me because I have always loved electronics and I love working with my hands. This was informative.
This video is just what I've been looking for. I'm mechanical trained but want to get started with electronics and honestly had no idea where to begin. This is exciting and I think I'll get my 12 year old daughter involved from day one 👍
You can modify a fork to fit perfectly into a wall outlet. Use this trick to trip the circuit breaker and you won't have to guess which one you're on. That's how I got my start!
I bought a pi4 because i enjoy open source code for lights and automation. But I started out in elementary school helping the radio shack owners kid because I came into the shop so much. Ended up fixing 20 inch crt tv's in the shop with them. Curiosity drove me, and those radio shack kits with smoking transistors taught me a lot about current limits.
I received my AM TECh beginner's electronic kit. It's truly awesome! Quality, from the packaging to the manual, it's all top quality and easy to learn with. 👌
So glad you’re loving it!
4:56 The "SunFounder Electronic Fun Kit with LCD 1602 Module, Basic Electronic Starter Kit with Detailed Tutorial, Breadboard..." for $22.49 on the right actually looks decent.
I see an IC, a 14-pin DIP at a guess, resistors, what are either diodes or inductors, capacitors, what I think are transistors, LEDs, cables, switches, buttons, what looks like 2x20 characer LCD, maybe 2x16, a single digit 7-segment display, and a few other bits and bobs I can't quite identify from the picture. The breadboard looks to be a 400-pin one, so a bit weeny for anything beyond a simple clock or a few logic gates built with transistors, but it is just a $22.49 kit after all.
Of course, if you are completely unfamiliar with electronics then you have no way to tell what's a decent started kit.
When I was a little girl in the 90s I had a little book that taught about simple circuits. That toy of yours is awesome.
I think there is another important point nowadays which helps for the understanding of electronics circuits a lot. This is circuit simulation. I personally use LTSpice since a long time, because it is very easy to use and very powerful. When I try a new circuit I start to build it up step by step in a circuit simulator and test its modules under different conditions in order to find out how they react on changes of operating parameter, how stable they behave.
After this I go into breadboard testing in the same way. I build up the circuit step by step testing the modules before I let them interact with another. It helps also to think in functional electronics modules and their interaction with another. You can also learn on retroactive effects of modules.
I grew up reading every little book written by Forrest Mims. I bought them from Radio Shack from the 70's to the present. I still have them today. I highly recommend them.
I'm 30 and just bought a used Radioshack electronics learning lab. I'm halfway through the firts book and really excited so far lml
This has been exactly the path that I followed and after studying electronic engineering I stand out above my peers. Very good tips!
As a high school electronics instructor I had my students use the Chaney 33-In-1 Deluxe Electronic Kit. Experiments 1 - 11 in Grade Ten. Activities 12 - 22 in Grade 11. Activities 23 - 33 in Grade 12. As a forty year shop teacher, instructional materials do not get better than this. Thank goodness I kept one set for myself. Breadboarding fun where you actually build some neat electronic circuits. Really good stuff. Yes, my students would build and engineer some pretty serious stuff as well. We took seventeen medals at the Skills Canada electronics competitions in twelve years. This Chaney stuff is excellent teaching/learning material. Was I connected to the factory ? Only in the way I would regularly purchase stuff for the shop.
pls where can i find this electronic kit
Would you say those were is glitter a lot better than the RadioShack kits? And more importantly, are they still available? I know the RadioShack things had actual specialized resistors, capacitors and all the other real hardware, so it was a great way to learn the basics.
Just looked it up, they are still available.
@@arinzechristabel3635 Hey. Did you get my reply on where to buy ? - Freddy Friesen
@@mybrotherkeeper1484 C6709 - 33 in 1 Deluxe Exploration Lab is available from Electronics Goldmine. The best learning tool for my thousands of high school students. I have lots of Radio Shack kits. They scare me away just when I open the box. Just remember to use needlenose pliers when inserting the components. The components and breadboard will work better and last longer.
@@freddyfriesen Much appreciated!
very good points! the thing of "few projects where you can learn a lot" is 100% true. Arduino, and its IDE, does indeed separate you from actual electronics.
An Arduino definitely can do this, but it can also provide controls and IO for analog circuits; at least, that's how I use them most of the time.
Found your kickstarted via this video. I'm now a backer because it is exactly what I need! I don't want to get my son into programming quite yet, but he does have an interest in circuits. This is going to be a great resource for both of us. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your support! I hope you enjoy the kit!
I got that exact kit as a birthday present when I was a kid. It was a really good kit and it's one of the reasons I went to college for EE. That and my grandpa teaching me some and saving electronics and appliances for projects until I was up there so we could disassemble things or help with a project of some kind.
I’m sure Grandpa Loved that as much, or more, than you, even!
“To give us more blessed than to receive.”
I'm just getting started out in electronics, the reason I went for the arduino kit is most stuff today has some form of computer doing something, coffee machines read bar codes to know how much water to pump through for example so my thoughts were, these kits give me the chance to learn both building circuits using the bread boards and programming the arduino to make the project work, that's where my thoughts were when thinking about getting started. Great video though, being able to read a schematic was on my mind as well.
Yeah, this is super old school. Most things folks want to do today involve ICs. No one designs a radio from scratch, they buy a 3 dollar 5mm x 5mm radio and an antenna and stick it on a PCB.
Same with a 555 timer, why build a 555 time where virtually every microcontroller has a built in clock? Learning real time operating systems, the various hardware protocols, reading data sheets, bills of material, and yea, circuit diagrams is far more useful for things you'd want to do.
How I started in electronics?
Back in the early 80's, I would take walkie-talkies apart.
And learn (go to libraries) which component was and what it did. I learned I could boost the range about 20ft.
I think its a great idea, I would totally buy one. I've recently graduated in electrical engineering and I am currently developing a product and the entry level of electronics is so high it took me about a month just to get an idea of what to put on a breadboard.
As someone who has been obsessed with accelerated learning all my life, I think mentor-student relationship is one of the fastest. Personally I read through dozens of books on birds, fishes, trees, insects... but after using an app that lets you identify these species (acting as virtual mentor) my learning exploded. Of course electronics is different. But I can only imagine the immersive knowledge one has shadowing an electrician and what not. There are of course various routes to learning.
Thanks bro maybe there is a virtual app that teachers one in the app store thanks bro
Do you mind telling me the name of the app? I've also read a lot about plants and birds and it would be nice to boost my learning.
I would like to know too
You are a role model for electronics enthusiasts like me. Keep innovating for us.
i started by pluging a multimeter to the AC 240V right after I bought it and turned the wheel, it made BOOM and I had to buy a new one and start from batteries and learn how to use multimeter :)
Just ordered, super excited for both myself and my kids.
How was it
i got gifted that radioshack board when i was very young, wow what a blast from the past i even remember that book's font
i've been loosely starting electronics back in ~2018 and its only now that I've been starting to take it more seriously (due to having more time). Being in my late 20s makes it a bit tougher to learn this stuff but its great, nonetheless.
You're in your 20s. The brain doesn't learn as fast as it did after 25, but if you know to focus well, it can be done
Great Video! I just started playing around and learning programming an Arduino for a self-made flipper project we do in school. Now I want to go deeper into the basics of electronics, because not only do I find it interesting it can be also beneficial for my apprenticeship I do rn.
Glad that I found your channel and that your kit launches soon, so I can get a good beginners-set!
1:40 - IT REALLY DID CHANGE THINGS. I buy and donate computer stuff to a local it place. A few moths ago they showed me the ratioshack kit and I immediately fell in love . I have learned so much since then. When I was a kid I had the snap circuits and I totally agree that it’s very limiting and doesn’t really explain what you’re doing. Great vid
They even gave me an Engineers Mini-Notebook
This is a great way to solve the problem of current kits
Dude! This wasn't boring, it was just what I needed to hear. Yeah, I have started with the Arduino Super Starter Kit, and it IS so cool. But you are right, I look at videos and there is so much I don't get. You mention the 555 timer. I've heard of it so many times and I still don't get what is the deal.
You got a new subscriber. :-D
Glad you found the video helpful! Yes, the 555 really is the "Hello World" of electronics. Perhaps the topic deserves its own videos though...
@@TheAMTech_Official the thing is that the 555 chip is not something you actually find in modern circuits because everything now includes a microcontroller. That might be cheating but realistically that microcontroller is as cheap as a 555 chip and probably saves a lot of other components.
It is not just "easier" to teach yourself, it is essential.
My first circuit board was an electronic software for the Commadore 64 SX (around 30 lb laptop).
You are wonderful! LOVE young-uns that LEARN stuff and DO something with it! Rock on!
As a teenager I took electric shop in high school and we built real stuff and I know I learned a lot. We built real vacuum tube circuits and it turned out that a lot of vacuum tube had transistor equivalents. The transistors I first used were pnp. The positive battery terminal became circuits ground.
Man I tripped over this video. I now build robots and like you, I have been self taught. Now to do robotics you have to know electronics. In my time I bought and studied from courses and kits from Heathkit. Sadly now they are gone, but their approach of theory and build made me learn very quickly. This is an excellent video, and you hit on many points that are very important and necessary for all beginners. KEEP UP the great work you are doing. By the way my all time favorite ic is the 555, and I have about a hundred in my lab!!
I found one with most of the components at good will for 5.99 my son is 9 and seems interested but I am learning myself so I will keep watching your videos
Boy I'm glad I clicked on this. I totally agree about the arduino statement, I'm glad you said that.
You got a good point. Keep up the good work 👍
From another just retired EE. I think you are giving good advice. I would add finding projects to breadboard involving transistors and fets as well as IC's. A good source for such projects would be older electronic magazines from the 70's say, and project books. Most used book stores have a section where you can find electronic project compilations. One title is "400 ideas for design" taken from electronic design magazine 1965 -1970 . Another is "Encyclopedia of electronic circuits". The titles I mention are a bit dated, as they have tube circuits as well as solid state, and tube circuits are perhaps a bridge too far for modern learners. (in the 1960's when I was a kid learning electronics tubes were the thing, mostly). One of the funnest circuits I ever built as a kid was a super het receiver based on a single tube from a 1950's popular electronics magazine. Learn how to bias transistors and make them amplify, oscillate and switch. Also learn about basic test equipment. Learn how to use every feature on the voltmeter. Get your hands on an oscilloscope and learn how to look at digital signals and measure frequency and amplitude of sine waves with it. Get radio receiver kits, and learn about radio and antennas. The soft rock line comes to mind. Also as you point out, software is not electronics, its logic. Of course microcontrollers are all over electronics. There is hardly a product I was involved in since 1979 (I got my degree in '77) that didn't have a uC somewhere. So while microcontrollers are part of the electronics world, building projects with them doesn't have much classic electronics in them. PS you are spot on about data sheets. Learn how to read data sheets. Another clue... when on an interview and you are asked to comment on a schematic placed in front of you look for the title block, usually in the lower right.
Dude, tremendous information. I hope this young buck takes you up on it, and creates more and more advanced kits, as he is able.
It almost seems like “they “ don’t want the regular person having even the Opportunity to learn this stuff anymore. Like it’s a control issue. But I’m a little untrusting, to say the least.
I started as a little kid with those small kits with two alligator clips a DC motor a small light bulb and switch all for about 1 dollar it's a really good start
I know it's a bit cheesy, but the redstone stuff in minecraft actually help as well, especially with getting the inspiration/motivation going and getting a lot more used to the idea of circuits and stuff.
Well I'm a self taught electronics engineer and I hardly used a breadboard when I started ^^ Just a soldering iron, wires and salvaged components from old electronics is all I had back in the day (30 years ago) ^^ But yeah having one would have made my life a lot easier I'll give you that ^^
Any video on explaining the circuit diagram of transmitter and receiver module , how data transmission takes place between the transmitter and receiver module . What to read for basic understanding of radio control , how the data transmission takes place between the transmitter and receiver circuit of the RC toys etc.
I have that same Radio Shack kit. I just re-dug it out recently. I didnt dig too deeply in electronics, but every now and then I get the bug to fiddle around with an idea. I can follow along with Ben Eater well enough, but watching Uncle Doug re-bias a vintage tube guitar amp is pretty bewildering, but I get the gist of it. The kit is nice because so many basic components are built in..ordering small numbers of parts online isnt much bang for the buck, but having to buy 100x of somthing you only need 5 of is discouraging.
Good video you identified good circuits that will build on other projects...identify your list of top 10 or 25 that are most common...
I had the same/a similar RadioShack kit that I got after my brother showed no interest in it. Some of the stuff I learned tinkering with it I'm still drawing from in my electronics class. It was so nice, I wish I knew where the hell it was.
I had that as a kid my uncle got it for me i remember making an led circuit and couple other projects
I had a 200-in-1 Electronic Project Lab that was a gift for my 8th birthday, and absolutely loved it. Pretty sure I destroyed all the capacitors and ICs through trying to experiment. A couple of years ago I wanted to try and have another go at learning electronics for real and I remembered seeing the '300-in-1' version of the same kit. As luck would have it, (at least here in Australia) you can get the '300-in-1 Electronics Project Lab' by Maxitronix which seems to be almost identical to the one in your video.
I'm still only just dabbling as I get sidetracked easily but I figure if anyone wants something like it, it's still available :) I'll be checking at the AM Tech kit too :)
As a kid i pllayed with these lego style denshi blocks with contacts on all four sides for connecting to each other on a base that would hold them in place. They were clear plastic and anyone could understand how they work very easily. The blocks consisted of resistors, diodes, caps etc and you could arrange them in any way to make any simple circuit such as a morse code transmitter/receiver. It was called EX KIT 150 and was good fun.
I can attest to what he said. Along time ago I got a RadioShack kit such as you described. In my excitement, I showed a friend who already knew about electronics. He accidentally took a few of the pieces home. RadioShack no longer made replacement pieces. It basically rendered the whole kit useless to me. The guys attitude was very cavalier, as well. He tried to find replacement resistors and such but they weren’t the same type that were in the kit, so they were no help. He laughed it off, but I was hoping to learn something to get me out of the manual labor field. Here I am still doing unskilled labor! And he is working with his mind still!
P.S. I still have him at arm’s length ever since. I tried to explain years later what that cost me. But He has no idea what that meant to me. It’s tough when your body breaks down, and a guy who had a father and all kinds of advantages just doesn’t understand. The problem is I KNOW what it cost me.
So here I am, trying to get started again after raising kids and working umpteen hours for 30 years.
There's many other pathways to learning electronics. If you really wanted to learn it you would have found one of those ways. That kit is just a product, nothing more. How do you think engineers learned it in the past lol
You put the burden and the blame of you not doing this onto your friend over a simple mistake, because you're lazy, you fell for the marketing, and would rather point the finger than move on and find a different way to achieve your goals.
I have no qualifications but I do have very recent experience! I dove into the world of electrical engineering headfirst about 3 years ago... started with a microwave and all of it's treasures! After about a year of frustration I took a hiatus, wondering how I'd ever rekindle the passion...
Three weeks ago the simplest answer just hit me....basics! I kept assuming that it would all fall into place as I moved forward with the difficulty of the projects but it only made me realize how little I actually knew.
TL:DR
Great advice! I learned the hard way. I really want one of those RadioShack kits 😢
First time in my life, i subscribed after watching just one video. Great information
Just found your channnel and I ust wanted to say I appreciate your modesty and your approach. I've wanted to go into college since I was younger, now I'm 27 and it seems like it's too late. Thank you for keeping my head up for another day and for your ability to further peak my interests in electronics and (software) computing.
brother if you feel like its to late, your going to be saying the same thing when your 37 and wishing you had started when you were 27. its never to late to start, just start somewhere NOW. itll all work itself out.
Polk County Georgia has a radio shack I thought they were done so glad to see one.
I started electronics by soldering things together. Nowadays I first design the projects on paper, then on computer, then on a breadboard and then on a pcb.
1:35 funny thing, I actually have that exact kit with two booklets {Basic Electronics Workbook 1 and Digital Logic Projects Workbook 2} inside that I got at a thrift store for around $10. thanks for reminding me of that kit...also just tested it, still works even though it had some battery acid in the battery compartment, Whoo!
Hope you have a great day & Safe Travels!
Tl:dw "the best way to start isn't the popular highly rated Arduino, the best way is to buy my product". Do what you like with that info viewer.
Damn bruh, thanks for saving my time.
Here, lemme like your comment instead of the video.
Many are mislead and end up having to learn to program MCUs.
It's totally skipping the basic fundamentals of electronics.
That's an absolutely ridiculous bad faith interpretation. He states very clearly why you don't learn how to make hardware by using a software solution. The fact that he then plugs a potential future product is irrelevant and you're free to ignore it if you don't care for it.
@@nilsqvis1337 not a single thing I said was inaccurate nor a thing you said an argument to my statement. No faith required. It sounds like you didn't actually watch the whole video and instead just came to the comments to argue with strangers.
Haha I love watching people fight who just complain about anything haha bwahaahahahahaaaaa
I wasn't even searching and your video popped up I've been interested in electronics for a while now, please build the kit I'm sure many people will benefit from it.👍😎💖🔥💯
I would also recommend building circuit on breadboard rather than using CAD simulators. CAD simulators are ideal..on breadboard, you might get hands on experience with real components that CAD tools might not. you can get a pocket oscilloscope and signal generator at cheaper price in your local electronics/electrical market or through online shopping.
I would also recommend building circuits more from basic descrete components like resistors, diodes, capacitors, BJT's, MOSfets rather than pre built IC's as IC's are pre built circuits.
I’m just now stumbling onto this video and as a freshly graduated electrical engineer, I think I would’ve done much better in my classes if I had a kit like you’re describing! I don’t think I ever heard of a 555 counter until now, which is pretty sad considering the many uses it seems to have. I would definitely buy that kit if you ever actually made it
typing electronic component kit in amazon gives much much much better results. that coupled with a breadboard and some basic projects off the internet is where I would start.
I built my first radio at the age of ten with a 10 in 1 kit that had been given to me by a scientist that was a friend of my father. The basic radio was unpowered. It could also do a powered radio using a battery or a little solar panel that came with it. Even that the age of ten I immediately saw the power of electronics. That was over 50 years ago.
In junior high I took a test to get into AP math and passed because what I had learned about binary logic from the kit.
I'm a retired EE now.
For future wanna be EEs, the future is all about Digital Signal Processing (DSP) so make sure you become fluent in it. I hope they are still teaching machine language curriculums. That gives you the foundation to understand how microprocessors work.
So glad I found your channel.
🥰 as a radio head, I can confirm that there is ONE Radio Shack store still open in 2022 in Pennsylvania ♡♡♡
This Video is fantastic!
Where, please? But how do they have the merchandise needed if their parent company is defunct?
@@mybrotherkeeper1484 there is a friend who is into radio who posted a TH-cam video recently, within the last year or so
He went and visited their physical location ♡
@@mybrotherkeeper1484 here is a link:♡
th-cam.com/video/KS0k-TY7aDY/w-d-xo.html
@@wild-radio7373 thanks. I’ll look right now. Merry Christmas
@@wild-radio7373 I looked. Sadly, no kits.
Get Don Lancaster's books! The TTL Cookbook. The CMOS Cookbook. The Microcontroller Cookbook.
I started from black paper. I asked my grandmother how a loudspeaker works. She said it works because it has black paper. I made a loudspaker from black paper, connected 2 copper wires to it, and it didn't work when I plugged in in cable radio socket. Then new neighbors moved in, their fireman father was a radio enthusiast. I learned much from his sons.
You deserve way more subscribers
Radio Shack!!?? Where in hades did you find that!? Freaking cool! My first circuits were not on bread board, but on vero board. i'm working backwards and learning to use bread boards.
Oh wow, 2:40 I didn't know Forrest Mims kept writing for Radio Shack up to 2000. I got started with his books in the 80s
I'm an aerospace engineering student, but I feel like I'm desperately lacking in electronics knowledge. Teaching myself low level electronics while having to work with higher level controllers is definitely a weird experience.
What first started it was when I realized I had no idea how to integrate a solenoid into a drone for a package release and give it the power it needs to function well. In my head I though "oh it will be easy all I need is a transistor a diode and a few resistors". Boy was I wrong.
Still don't know how to get it working but it's been so fun, eye opening (and brain hurting) learning about electronics, something that I just kinda took for granted as working 😂
i know nothing about electronics but it helped a lot this vid is far from "boring"
How about now