[avocollector]

I repaired stuff for a hobby from the age of 11 onwards when I got my first multimeter and soldering iron- books were great, valves were still king although transistors were coming in (1963ish). Managed to keep up through transistors then integrated circuits (digital and analogue) until smd's when you needed exotic things like heat guns etc. But recently you tube videos have sparked my interest in the latest smd stuff again and although I wear glasses, I can use a microscope happily enough. The great improvements IMHO have been the internet and you tube videos - it is rare you cannot get some ideas of the practicalities of doing a diagnosis/repair from them. Annoyingly I kept my Chinese made 1k per volt multimeter in good nick until the mid 90's when I loaned it to a now ex-friend who wanted to check his motorbike wiring - needless to say he managed to burn it out and returned it without telling me. Fortunately by then it was my backup but was infuriating to go for it one day and find it dead.