William Sommerwerck wrote:
The decline of electronics magazines seems to have been caused by the
falling interest in electronics as a hobby, and by the decline of the US as
a major manufacturer of electronic products. The fact that most electronic
products have become so complex (and cheap to manufacture overseas) that you
can no longer buy kits (Heath, Allied, Lafayette) doesn't help, either.

The thing that made Heathkit possible was the large surplus of WWII
electronic components that were obsolete by the time of the Korean war,
but still very useable. Vaccum tube technology lasted in general
electronics well into the 1970's, and discrete components well into
the 1990s.

Now if you want to build something that is not SMT, you have to find old
components, many of which are no longer useable, or have them made for
you because the companies that make current production electronics don't
use them.

Occasionaly I see a copy of Elektor Magazine, which used to be published
in Holland, and is now published in the U.K. The last magazine I saw
was pretty interesting, but all the projects were solder chips on a board
type of project. The days when radios were litterally made on a breadboard
and coils were bell wire wound on lollipop sticks are long gone.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM