Where to start learning?

[TonyDuell]

Everyday Electronics certainly ran beginner's courses, I seem to remember they were called 'Teach In <year>' There was also a series (1972-ish) of 'Demo circuits' in that magazine.

[Refugee]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

I started (at the age of four) with a LEGO lighting up brick, (a bulb in a LEGO brick) two wires and a battery, it all went upwards from then.

I have seen one of those LEGO bricks not long ago.
I will keep an eye out for it because if I find it again and the bulb is still all right I will do a photo.

[[ARAU]rt49]

Thank you very much everyone for your replies. A lot of very useful information indeed!

For those asking, I am not very young! I'm in my forties. I happened to develop an interest in radios, starting in my childhood, listening to shortwave on my own at the age of 6. I have never owned a tube radio (but did own a tube guitar amplifier). I am interested in technical stuff in general, and enjoy doing simple repairs and maintenance on cars/motorcycles/bicycles/etc. I also write code for a living.

Electricity/electronics, however, have always been a mystery to me.

I ordered this book that begins with the very basics of electricity and continues on to more advanced radio related topics.

Is it correct to say that a beginner should start with transistor radios rather than tube radios, for safety reasons? (is that only correct for battery-operated transistor radios?)

Thanks again everyone for your advice, I really appreciate it.

[Radio Wrangler]

Starting with battery powered transistor stuff is definitely safer, though it leaves you with the task of changing your habits later when you meet valve stuff and live chassis.

Plenty of us are of an age where we had to start with valves. We survived... or maybe the logic is the wrong way round? The only ones you'll meet are the survivors There weren't headlines about the death-toll of playing with radios, but then there wasn't the safety/blame culture we have now. We learned to be careful. It's still a necessary step if you handle mains-powered gear.

David

[MrBungle]

I nearly killed and smoked myself out of a room numerous times on valve equipment when I was a kid. Transistor radios are definitely safer. When you develop your skills with low voltage equipment, treat it like it high voltage equipment anyway as there are other side effects which benefit from the processes and non contact approach. Such as high impedance points and static. Confidence and skill will build in time.

[[ARAU]rt49]

Thanks for the tips.

Did I say I'd never owned a valve radio? Well, now I do! Got one this afternoon from a bloke in Redcliffe. I will probably need to start another thread. In the meantime, I will be careful not to plug it to mains, just dust it off.

[The Philpott]

....and always remember that Capacitors can hold a dangerous amount of charge after the power has been disconnected. I forgot this. Once!

[G8HQP Dave]

A good book to start from is Foundations of Wireless by M G Scroggie. There are various versions, which may come up on ebay from time to time. Any of them will be useful.

[Junk Box Nick]

You'll find a lot of good advice on this forum.

It is wise not to plug a newly acquired unknown item into the mains. A big bang and worse may result! Some old radios have a live chassis. Learn the precautions you need to take. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

To learn about what is now vintage electronics the Van Valkenburg, Nooger & Neville books Basic Electronics and Basic Electricity are good for basic principles. They start from scratch and use a lot of illustrations so are not as dry as many text books. They were sets of volumes designed for the US Navy and date from 1955 and thus only cover valves but they are a great primer. They crop up second-hand but an internet search will soon find you some PDFs.

There are some radio repair manuals on the 'net in PDF form.

Welcome to the hobby!

[Craig Sawyers]

Originally Posted by The Philpott

....and always remember that Capacitors can hold a dangerous amount of charge after the power has been disconnected. I forgot this. Once!

Yup. We all do it once. For me it was a high voltage capacitor bank, made up of 24 hockey puck ceramic capacitors between two plates. Charged to 20kV.

I cheerfully discharged it through a resistor chain (and then disconnected the chain), and put it aside. Came to reassemble, grabbed the capacitor bank - and pow. Got one hell of a belt.

Dielectric relaxation. Being at 0V after discharge, the ceramic continues to give up its stored energy and partially recharges the bank. Don't know what the voltage was - I reckon a good few hundred volts, maybe a kV.

So life is full of gotchas - I learned the dangerous way. Should have remembered the SIDE rule (Switch off, Isolate, Dump and Earth). I did after that!

Craig

[John10b]

That book gets good reviews, should make good reading.
I can highly recommend you take a look at the Radio workshop I mentioned in my earlier post.
There are basic training videos on all aspects of radio etc, also service manuals.
Cheers
John

[Oldcodger]

Yonks ago ,Winter 1980, a mag called ETI ( I think)produced a set of electronic circuit design mags that would make interesting reading for a newbie.
local library might be a good place to look for basics . Never forget that a lot of componants can dish out shocks, even those at low voltage working. Someone mentioned capacitor banks. But at low voltage, a decaying inductor field of a few Henries can generate a lot of volts ( albeit at low current).

[[ARAU]rt49]

Originally Posted by John10b

That book gets good reviews, should make good reading.
I can highly recommend you take a look at the Radio workshop I mentioned in my earlier post.
There are basic training videos on all aspects of radio etc, also service manuals.

Hi John,
I found the Radio Workshop website you suggested exceptionally informative. I even got in contact with Ray re the membership required to get access to the videos. My concern was whether his videos are aimed at absolute beginners like myself or more advanced skills are required. He reckons the videos are ok for beginners.

I will still start off with the basics from the book I ordered though. I don't feel comfortable following posts or videos that mention "capacitors", etc, when I don't know how those components work or what they are meant to do.

In the meantime, while learning the basics, I may ask some questions here.

Thank you for your advice!

Cheers

Do ask away, I for one love passing on stuff learned, keeps the hobby alive.

[John10b]

Ray is a wealth of knowledge, good luck and enjoying the fascinating world of electronics/Radio etc.
Cheers
John

[Nuvistor]

I found this Australian training course, it may interest you.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com...ralia-1967.pdf

[John10b]

I took a look Frank and yes it does make worthwhile reading. The adverts also are interesting.
Cheers
John

[Radio Wrangler]

Where to start learning?

Anywhere!

Reading things and doing things moves you along. No one place is a one-stop-shop that will work for everyone. You'll find you 'just don't get' some things and the explanations in whatever text you're reading won't help. You'll need to see it from a different viewpoint, maybe two or three at once and then something will just click in your head. What was once hyper-difficult becomes "Oh, is that all it is?"

You're on the way, and there's plenty of help here for the lumpy bits in the road.

David

[dseymo1]

I agree!
Don't just read, though - try things too. Extend the principle of what you've grasped into new territory, and just play. Most modern components are cheap enough to answer the question 'I wonder what would happen if...' So what if the magic smoke escapes? It's cost a few pence to learn something worthwhile, provided you take the time to try and understand what went wrong.

[[ARAU]rt49]

That's a great find, Frank. Will definitely read it.

Cheers,
Diego