开云体育

Hi Adrian

I think I must be a few years younger than you as I was born in !957
I started learning with the Philips electronic kits think it was called EE8 at the age of 10 but already dismantled a TV during one holiday when I was about 6

Regards Paul located south coast England

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Adrian Nicol
Sent: 19 March 2022 19:32
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: BS, was Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] Spread the word -- Swap Meet Returns!

I also grew up in the UK and was at secondary school (age 11-16) in the early 1960s and had the same experience as Paul, because I went to a village college we also had 2 hours a week of what was known as 'Rural Science' added to the other practical subjects, we had just over half an acre of cultivated land, a small fruit orchard and a couple of large glasshouses where we got to put farming theory into practice (and took our share of the fruit and veg harvest home!). All practical subjects were taught with the view that we would likely be getting jobs that would need those skills for real too, so we got 'work experience' weeks from time to time where we were sent off to local companies for a week and worked on the shop floor. The result was mostly a whole bunch of very employable 16 year old kids leaving school with the basic skills and confidence to set us up for life.

Oh yes, my first soldering was done with a fire-heated iron too, Dad gave me a crystal set kit for my 8th birthday and we sat up building it that night, heating the iron on the kitchen coal fire. Strange, that must have been March 1957 and I still remember that night so clearly!

Adrian

On 19/03/2022 18:41, Paul Bicknell wrote:

Hi Dave regarding good quality tools and how to use them

In the UK when I was at school we had a minimum of 1 and a half
hours per week of Metalwork , Woodwork , Technical drawing (total 5
Hours minimum ) this all changed and a new subject called ICT
relapsed it all with less than 2 hours a week by a teacher that was
not able to do the subject

So we ended up with a generation that never learnt how to use any
tools until they went to collage subsequently we have a generation
between 33 to 40 that are dangerous with a tool I also had to teach
several electronic and mechanical graduates that had their degree how
to solder

Personally I had a screw driver in my hand from the age of 5 and
bought my first electric soldering iron with my 10 birthday money as I
had difficulty soldering Jack plugs with an iron I had to worm up on
the gas stove

And by the time I was 19 it was worn out and I replaced it with a
Weller that is still good 40 years later ( several new parts ) I must
admit it is difficult to convince someone 10 sets of plyers in my
draw will cost ?600 to replace when they think they are worth ?30 and
?40 would be to expensive

Regards Paul





-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Dave
McGuire
Sent: 19 March 2022 15:54
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: BS, was Re: [HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment] Spread the word -- Swap Meet Returns!

On 3/19/22 01:55, Alexandre Souza wrote:

Hey, bad-mood-Dave!

Well it's good to be known for something, at least. :-)

Children takes the bad quality chinese crap because of price. I was
(still I am, surely) a very poor guy and had to use bad quality tools
in my childhood. And suffered the effects on that. When I went "pro"
I understood the value of good, quality and expensive tools. My first
weller soldering iron I got when I was 15, and I still use it!

:-)

But for hobby...not everyone can afford an E8285A. I have one just
because I got it for free. Around $2000 here in Brazil, too expensive
fot 98% of all us Brazilians

I am happy children are buying crap tools. In the past theu couldn't
afford anything. Been there...

I see your point. I think (and my thoughts on this are evolving with the help of this conversation) that the biggest problem I have is the younger folk not understanding or believing when/if these cheap Chinese instruments are inferior.

"Hahahaa, you're dumb, you spend thousands of dollars for an oscilloscope, but I got one for thirty bucks!!" They're all equivalent in the eyes of many of these people, it seems.

My thinking is that, whenever possible, we should be mindful of WHY people like us have respect for high-end equipment, and impart that knowledge to the younger generations, so they can appreciate them too.

-Dave

--
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA