Build your electronics at home

Like any DIY project, it helps you save money, keeps your mind occupied, and allows you to be creative. You also end up making new friends

Nothing is more satisfying than using a piece of electronic equipment built at home. Be it a pair of loudspeakers, an amplifier or a HAM radio set, the thrill is unique. Welcome to the world of hobby electronics, where people build things, for the pure joy of it.

This has been a popular pastime since electronics have been a part of human life. Back then, people build things with vacuum tubes (or valves), which made way for transistors and now they use Raspberry Pi computer boards. Of course, people still build valve-based amplifiers, albeit rarely.

Both, analog and digital hobby electronics have many takers. For those who find joy in even the smaller tasks like assembling your personal desktop, this might just be the hobby for you.

Apart from the thrill of having created something, hobby electronics helps you save money. All DIY projects are popular for the same reason. If you build a pair of loudspeakers, it would cost you only two-thirds the price of a branded speaker. The same logic applies to any repair work you might need done.

While building electronic items requiring a bit of learning, the process can become quite addictive. Unlike earlier, when ‘Electronics for You’ magazine was the only source of information for hobbyists, now, all the information you would need can be easily found on the Internet. In the current situation, with ample time on your hands and not many activities to do, this is a great way to spend your time. Hobby electronics, as with any DIY project, keep the mind occupied.

Electronic shops galore

In Bengaluru, SP Road and SJP Road (near the Town Hall) are popular electronics markets.

Though, now there are more electronic parts stores on these streets than discrete parts stores. A lot of what you need can also be easily found online nowadays.

Let’s say one has decided to build a transistor amplifier. The first job is to look around for circuits that suit the builder’s output power requirement.

Once the circuit to build is finalised, the builder would need to go to the local electronics shop to buy transistors, resistors, capacitors, the circuit board, wires, transformers, connectors, switches, knobs, fuses, a case to put it all in and many other related components.

The likelihood of a project getting stuck because one or two transistors were out of stock in the local store was a very common problem earlier.

The circuit board is then prepared and ready to be ‘populated’. Each component must be checked before being soldered onto the board.

If this is not done right, the circuit will just not work. It might take many days and sleepless nights to find the culprit.

Make new friends

Sometimes even when you have done everything right, your circuit might just refuse to work.

This means checking and re-checking everything till it is rectified. Sometimes, the DIYer will just not be able to figure out the fault.

This is when fellow hobbyists come into the picture. Whether it is talking it out on the phone or discussing on online forums, fellow hobbyists are always there to help.

When everything is fixed and you have a working gadget, you get bragging rights, which is yet another advantage.

Nothing beats the pride you feel when a visitor says that the amplifier or loudspeaker you built sounds great.