As I’ve mentioned over the past few Off the Beaten Paths, many of us in engineering grew up playing with different kits from woodworking to chemistry to electronics that influenced us. As a radio engineer or someone working in the radio industry, you might have had the very popular Radio Shack 100 in 1 Electronic Project Kit (I still have mine from 1977!). Maybe you built a Heath Kit? If you’re older than 60, you might have played with a Knight Kit. There have been many.
This week’s OTBP includes a couple of companies that sell kits that just may influence the next generation of engineers. Note that you should research any company you buy from including information on the quality of their products. Please don’t consider any of the below as receiving an endorsement from myself or Radio World, they’re just some interesting sites with interesting stuff. I haven’t purchased from all of these sites, so do your research!
The Legendary 1977 Radio Shack 100-In-1 Electronic Project Kit
Innovative Toys & Educational Devices
I stumbled across Elenco one day and was impressed by the variety of toys & kits they have.
Crate Toys
KiwiCrate that makes some very interesting toys to assemble.
More Toys & Kits
Here’s another site with some really cool looking toys — ScientificsOnLine.com.
Pandora’s Box>
A broadcast dealer (thanks, Rob!) steered me to MonoPrice as a good resource for cables and some very inexpensive electronics (when you’re on a tight budget). Besides finding some cheap stuff, they have a good collection of kits. This link takes you directly to the kits.
And finally …
Unseen Scenes & Bloopers from WKRP
Through the years, we’ve seen how Hollywood perceives our industry and our jobs. From “NewsRadio” to the short-lived 1980 series “Six O’Clock Follies” (Never heard of it? Look that one up on IMDB), to the popular “WKRP in Cincinnati.” Here’s footage from outtakes and behind the scenes stuff from “WKRP.”
If you stumble across a good or unusual web site that might be of interest, please don’t hesitate to send me the link and any info you might have about it. My email address is dan_slentz@yahoo.com.
