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Is amateur electronics a common hobby in your country?

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hsieh

Wed Oct 27 2010, 04:35AM

Registered Member #1412 Joined: Thu Mar 27 2008, 04:07PM
Location: Taipei Taiwan
Posts: 278

I live in Taiwan.When I tell other people that my hobby is electronics,they think I'm crazy.Even if I'm now major in EE,my classmates told me that my hobby is weird.My classmates said that they major in EE only because this can help them get a high income job.

So, I'm curious about the situation in other countries.In your country,is amateur electronics be considered very weird by other people too?

thanks

Arcstarter

Wed Oct 27 2010, 04:50AM

Registered Member #1225 Joined: Sat Jan 12 2008, 01:24AM
Location: Beaumont, Texas, USA
Posts: 2253

Hi, and welcome to the forum

It depends on what exactly you do, whether or not it is considered weird. If you say you make sparks for a hobby, it may be considered weird, though not in a bad way of course.

It is not too terribly common, most people seem to just take the things that make our life civilized for granted. When you tell someone you muck with electronics, they likely do not know exactly what you mean. For example, they may think it is just fixing computers.

hsieh

Wed Oct 27 2010, 04:56AM

Registered Member #1412 Joined: Thu Mar 27 2008, 04:07PM
Location: Taipei Taiwan
Posts: 278

Arcstarter wrote ...

Hi, and welcome to the forum

I told people I make simple devices such as AM radio or counter.Even if I didn't mention HV related experiments,they think I'm weird.

Dalus

Wed Oct 27 2010, 05:01AM

Registered Member #639 Joined: Wed Apr 11 2007, 09:09PM
Location: The Netherlands, Herkenbosch
Posts: 512

We are weird, aren't we. No but for real years ago electronics was a hobby of people mostly because it was cheaper to built things yourself. Now these days it is the other way around it is more expensive to build your own amplifier. That is why it isn't as popular as it used to be. So the few that kept it as a hobby are doing it for gaining experience and learning new things. If others think this isn't important then yes they'd say we are weird. But then again is it a problem to be weird? Think everyone I know in the HV lab here at the uni has it's weird things

dmg

Wed Oct 27 2010, 05:02AM

Registered Member #2628 Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627

Hello, and welcome to the forums

No matter where you go, whatever country, people will have different interrests then you, it just happens to be that this hobby is not that common, Id agree with what arcstarter said about what is it that you do, there are many people who mess with electronics, be it anywhere from fixing computer, audio, or making sparks for fun.

This is whats great about this site, there are many people here with this interest, where you have an online community to share your ideas, or hear others, etc. people here do this wierd hobby

hsieh

Wed Oct 27 2010, 03:38PM

Registered Member #1412 Joined: Thu Mar 27 2008, 04:07PM
Location: Taipei Taiwan
Posts: 278

What disappoint me most is that even my classmates who also major in electronics engineeringsaid my hobby is weird.

TheMerovingian

Wed Oct 27 2010, 05:21PM

Registered Member #14 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 01:04PM
Location: Prato/italy
Posts: 383

Here in italy it is not very common hobby but it is not considered weird. Of course sparking and coilgunning is considered weird and even rejected. Just to not get unwanted attentions from other persons/authorities I put the more "controversial" electronics into personal higher-lever clearance cathegory, meaning that only parents,girlfriend and a few more persons are aware of those. The less controversial electronics (such as wind power, sensors, anemometers, power converters) are the only that I want to show .

Sulaiman

Wed Oct 27 2010, 05:50PM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3141

I think that electronics as a hobby is not at all popular nowadays,
- just look n your local newsagent for electronics related magazines.
(admittedly if your into electronics your on the web - but so are fishermen, caravanners etc.)

Even when I was studying electronics at uni. most of my peers did not do electronics as a hobby, and that was the early '70's.

Hon1nbo

Wed Oct 27 2010, 06:13PM

Registered Member #902 Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: Pacific Northwest USA
Posts: 1042

where I am it is not common, and somewhat weird but it is interesting to most people I know. After they see some of the stuff I've built, every now and then one comes along and asks how he can get started.
Usually, people I know say that they'd like such a hobby but they aren't smart enough for it. It's hard to convince someone otherwise nowadays with high school science labs driving the notion that serious chemistry can only be done in a professional lab, and DIY columns such as the Amateur Scientist ceasing.

My school did an article about my hobby in the school Alumni magazine. A lot of people think I might be the reason for so many in my class, a whopping 25 out of 40 (yes, my grade sizes are that small) are going into Engineering, Science, or Physics - a record for the school. Some of them liked the sparks, others the ability to make my own electronics, and others just think that it's fun.

As stated above, the biggest source of misinformation is what you let those around you assume you do. I like to show them, and I tend to get helping hands on projects at the same time.

-Jimmy

Adam Munich

Wed Oct 27 2010, 07:54PM

Registered Member #2893 Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242

Where I live most people don't see it as weird. Either they will say "what's that thing?" when I'm playing with or designing something, or they'll say "that's f*ckin awesome" when I show them stuff like MOT's. I can't remember ever being called "weird" in regards to electronics.

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