I was looking for some interesting news sites for electronics as I do from time to time. Not much out there… well at least none with articles that were of immediate interest to me.
I came across this article and nearly commented but it was from 2007 with zero comments, so there wasn’t much point:
http://electronicdesign.com/archive/whatever-happened-electronics-hobbyist
I’m an amateur radio operator/builder, I like building embedded systems and I’ve built a robot, so I guess I get to fit into all three of his “types” of electronics hobbyists of the future. I think he’s probably right on with the separation of electronics hobbyist .. unless you count students; I wouldn’t. Is that a big deal? I don’t think so. Technology had made it difficult to take the old “easy” kits to offer to youth to spark some interest. Who knows how long AM will be around? Give it a decade and someone will be leaning heavy on the FCC to shut it down and sell off the spectrum. AM isn’t making any money these days. This article also feels a little “back-in-my-day” which gets eye rolls from anyone under 40.
So my only real beef with this article is his opinion that QST is a quality magazine that supports electronics hobbyist… I totally disagree. QST isn’t worthy of toilet paper in my opinion. It’s the ‘US Weekly’ of electronics magazines. All Ads, back-in-my-day articles, and sponsored reviews. QEX on the other hand is an EXCELLENT magazine, we are in agreement there. I would recommend QEX from non-hams if they’re looking for more reading material as there are plenty of projects that could be re-purposed.
If anyone coming across this happens to have some “favorite” generic hobbyist news feeds drop me a comment. I’m always looking for interesting articles.
