On 11/04/2020 19:35, John wrote:
I haven't touched a soldering iron for about fifty years, so I thought of
using this shutdown time to get geared up for a bit of tech activity. Got
myself a USB scope, a couple of multimeters and a dual stabilised DC power
supply so far. I have loads of new components in the loft (or at least
they were in 1970 - 1980) left over from various commercial/military
projects. I hope all this will keep me interested for a while. I started
building a novel design for a human presence/movement detector in 1976,
but shelved it because of work commitments, so I will probably continue
with that for starters.

Sorry, I am just rambling in my old age.


Like yourself, my electronics construction is in abeyance.

Your old components should all be OK apart from the
electrolytic capacitors.

In expectation of a revival in interest, I have been
sidelining my 40 year old components and building up
a stock of SMD, in particular the largest 1206 sizes
before they disappear. (0201 anybody?)

But what I will not be re-awakening is my Henley Solon
soldering irons because several of any size of SMD
will fit on their copper bits!

Perhaps something to stimulate a 50 year old interest
is the PDP11 and PDP8 emulator kits ...

https://obsolescence.wixsite.com/obsolescence