The Past, Present, and Future of the Electronics Hobbyist
Electronics hobbyists, just like all other hobbyists, could be anybody you pass on the streets. Some are aspiring beginners who don’t have any traditional training. Some are well educated, electronics professionals. Whether a beginner or professional, all of them love tinkering with electronics.
Some of these hobbyists got their start by taking apart televisions or old radios to figure out how they operate or had a DIY electronics kit. Either way, they enjoyed growing up around radios, robots, RC vehicles and various other do-it-yourself electronics. It seems that people’s imaginations are the only thing hindering electronics hobbies and inventions thanks to PCB manufacturing and other technological advancements.
Discover The Many Benefits of Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing
History of Electronics as Hobby
For most hobbyists of a certain age, Heath represented their hobby like no other name. Beginning in the 1930s, Heath provided many electronics kits through the mid 80′s. These kits would range from electronic ignitions to hobbyist computers to model airplanes to stereos. There were about 3 generations worth of fun and innovation provided by Heath.
At its peak in the 1960s electronics hobbyists numbered in the hundreds of thousands. The people who thought of electronics as a hobby in the 60′s later became the people who would invent and design many of our modern day electronic devices.
The Present and Future of Electronics Hobbyists
Now that electronics are so tiny, complex, and inexpensive there just aren’t that many people who think of tinkering with electronics as a hobby. Nowadays, it is simply less expensive to go purchase new electronics than try to take them apart and repair them.
We probably will not see electronics hobbyists go away all together. They are just adapting to the times. In the days when hardware was hard to come by, inventors focused on constructing new devices. Now that hardware is plentiful, people have been concentrated on the programming and software that drives it. Essentially, this has made today’s hackers the next generation of yesterday’s hobbyists.
Hobbyists who used to experiment by designing and building their own electronics have also adapted to the times. Instead of relying on companies like Heath to create kits for them to build, they are using today’s technology to fabricate their devices. They have begun to use computer programs like CAD to create custom PCBs to operate their new imaginative devices. Many PCB manufacturers have noted that there are just as many hobbyists out there requesting PCBs as there are big name electronics producers.
As the times have changed, so has the electronics hobbyist, but the spirit of invention is still very much alive.