I was 8 years old. My dad had bought me a Radio Shack Science Fair 8-Note Electronic Organ kit for Christmas, along with a soldering iron.
That night I built the kit, finishing at something like 11 PM, which was unheard of. I remember Dad looming over me in his green bathrobe, smiling, saying it was OK to say up late just this once. He could see I was in flow. Perhaps that validated his experiment. The organ worked the first time I connected the 9 V battery. But I had an ear for music, and after running through the notes, I could tell some were mis-tuned. Undaunted, I looked at the schematic and saw resistors. One per note. That had to be the problem. Thanks to Heathkit I had learned the color code that very morning. I also had a box full of resistors I'd scavenged from old radios and TVs. (Why?) I started sticking old resistors in parallel or series with the shiny new ones until I had the notes all in tune, at least by ear. At last I finished the job by bending the leads of the motley, oversized resistors until they all fit in the bottom of the plastic perf-board enclosure. Presentation was everything. (How did I know that?) I proudly demonstrated the hacked organ for my parents, then for my older sister, who was taking piano lessons. At best I got my hair ruffled. But still: that was the day. Wayne N6KR ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
