“Toys” like this got me into making and building which got me into ham radio
Oh, I remember that well, it was one of my favorite toys, if I remember it correctly though, I wasn’t very successful at making it do what it was supposed to do.
I got a couple of these as a kid and played with them into my teenage years. I don’t recall what ever happened to them (I think we gave them away at some point when moving?)
Edit: just remembered that I accidentally made a receiver of some sort messing about with some poorly-/un-shielded wire when I was around 13 or so. We could hear something in that tiny earpiece that came with the kit.
I’ve still got mine somewhere. It’s a newer one that has a solderless breadboard in it.
Take a look at Snap Circuits. They’re geared toward younger audiences I would say, but I had a set growing up that encouraged my interest in electronics. I picked up a new, bigger set recently to introduce to nieces and nephews when they are the right age.
My dad was a BSEE, we spent our Saturdays at Radio Shack (late 70’s early 80’s). I had all those kits, TRS80, Osborne, all the toys. I ended up a RF engineer.
Good dad. Where would you take your kid these days? Most store stocks are online now :/
Honestly were on the sub, HAM meetings/fest/swaps. About the only true hands on group, everything else is throw away.
https://www.youtube.com/@Physicsduck
Great YT channel for all things geeky (and he just got his HAM license). But he can be a little raunchy in the short videos so maybe prescreen before showing the kiddos. He is really funny though






