"Too_Many_Tools" wrote in message
oups.com...
I like many of you had my first experience with electronics through the
electronic kits that Radio Shack has had over the years. The versions
that spanned the 50, 100, 200 electronic experiments all come to mind.

My question is...how many versions and types of these kits have they
had over the years?

I would be interested in hearing which ones you recall.

I recall my first electronics kit consisted of a single hair pin (U shaped
hair pin)
i promptly applied it to the nearest power source i could find (which
happened to be a 120v outlet) nothing happened at first so i proceeded with
my experimentation of wiggling the hair pin so as to make contact, i
remember the lights flickering and then i recall a loud scream imminated
from my general locale and the rest blurs

my second electronic kit was radio shack am radio with ear plug phone it
scratched out some noise and occasional radio signal

my third project was a shock box (pop-mech kit ?) where i dug up some old
transformer from my dads shop that resembled the one in the design (same
shape & number of wires) and i applied either 6v lantern battery or couple
of D cells to the indicated wires then self-tested the output... i have no
idea what i put together but my arm ached and felt like jello for a short
while after the test.

4th came the 100 or 125 kit from RS where you had to build some of the
elments/switches/ variable capacitor ? ( eg. bunch of thin brass(copper)
sheets and some thin plastic wafered together with an adjustment knob? ) i
remeber lights, buzzers (elec keyboard ), meter ?,

I enjoyed it then but electronics interest faded quickly once the TRS-80,
TI-99-4a, timex sinclair, ataris and commodores etc became available for
play plus the video games of 70-80