My third soldering kit was a synthesizer kit (Mutable Instruments Shruthi XT), which was definitely useful as a functional digital synthesizer. It even taught me how to desolder after I installed a couple components backwards. Prior to that I'd put together a couple cheap practice kits, which I ultimately threw away because they were only useful for learning.

These days I have some practice PCBs I use if I need to try out different repair techniques.

There are many kits on ebay, a few of which I found useful afterwards.
I built a morse code decoder which I still use to this day, I built an oscilloscope which while it does work I find less useful these days as I bought a more "professional" one.

Most of the kits I bought were built and went into the junk draw to be fair. But there is one that keeps coming out as it is just an SMD practice board which I use with my hot air rework station.
I use it to try out new flux, new solder and just to practice my skills on as much now as I ever did.

I did build a clock once that I bought after I watched BigClive build it but Ive no idea what happened to it.

Here in Germany, electronic kits made by Kemo used to be popular.
https://www.kemo-electronic.de/en/

G-X wrote on 2025-05-12, 18:01:

So now the TLDR: Have you bought soldering kits that were actually useful? Or similar experiences where you had to populate a blank PCB with parts and want to share?

Nope, I've never bought any soldering kits precisely for the reasons you mentioned - many of them just seemed like something you'd only build once (for soldering practice, I suppose) and then chuck into a drawer. The only kit I have was already assembled (by someone else). I found it at a local flea market for $0.50. It's an LM317 -based linear voltage regulator - basically a "poor man's 'lab' voltage supply". I use it to find the "sweet spot" on PC fans - i.e. the voltage level where they are not too loud but can still move an acceptable amount of air. I do this because even after 20 years of doing electronics repairs, I'm still too cheap to buy a proper lab power supply. 🤣

On that thought... being too cheap is probably another reason I have stayed away from many of the kits. Probably not that much of an issue nowadays, but 15-20 years ago, some of these kits were too expensive for what they were. Then again, back then Ebay had not yet become a giant China e-mall. Meanwhile, Amazon was still a place to buy your books and textbooks from. And AliExpress... don't think it even existed back then. So what I did (and many kids from mine and the older generations) was to get a bunch of e-waste / electronic junk and just play around with it. Completely desoldering a (crappy) ATX PSU down to the smallest components was one of the very first and more advanced "projects" that really upped my soldering/desoldering skills. Also, all of the components that I saved from this later on allowed me to save/fix/repair no less than 10 other devices (my CRT monitor from '99, a 12V halogen PSU, 3 more ATX PSUs, an LCD monitor, my first RC car... just to name a few things here.)

But even nowadays, some of the kits seem really disconnected with what the current generation of kids could use these for. For example, a friend's kid I know bought an AM radio kit to try and get better at soldering and also to learn more about transistors. But he ended up destroying the board so badly that he just chucked it eventually. And even if that didn't happen, what would a millenial kid do with an AM radio? 🤣 I can't get him even remotely interested in getting a "proper" desktop PC (with software related to EE) and building up an mp3 collection, let alone collecting "obscure" media (CDs, tapes, vynil, etc.) AM radio? - not a chance he'd listed to that for more than 5 seconds tops. Heck, I can't even get him to check out other music places (NCS, Soundcloud, etc.) Spotify is all he knows and likes. So an AM radio is.... well... quite out of date, I think. FM radio might have been a better kit, but I digress here.

TLDR: I feel like many of these electronics kits are akin to game demos - sure may be fun for a few moments, but eventually you (quickly) outgrow them and soon want either the full thing (in the case of games) or something even better.

And even if that didn't happen, what would a millenial kid do with an AM radio?

Real AM radio or medium wave radio?
The people in North Amerika have that habbit to distinguish the radio bands by their modulation type.
The rest of the world uses terms such as Longwave, Mediumwave and Ultra Shortwave.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwave

I'm asking, because any receiver for amplitude modulation (AM) can pick up
frequency modulated signals (FM signals) via slope detection (or Flankendemodulation, "flank detection" in my language).

By using slope detection and the fine tuning knob, it was possible to listen via old AM CB radio to conversations done in FM modulation.
Old trick from late 70s/early 80s. Because we got FM in Europe for CB radio at the time, on the old AM channels.

Speaking of it, FM is now legal on 11m/27MHz CB band in the US, too.
https://swling.com/blog/2021/10/fcc-approves- … m-for-cb-radio/

Edit: And any AM radio can pick up CW and SSB signals by the addition of a BFO, a Beat Frequency Oscillator.
Gives old AM shortwave radios new life. SSB is still in use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_frequency_oscillator

Edit: Formatting fixed.

PS: It's not a bad idea to learn a bit about ham radio..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio

PS/2: It's possible to generate a radio signal with the Raspberry Pi.
A DIY radio can pick the signals up, if it can handle the given frequency.
Here's one of several programs for it: https://github.com/MundeepL/PiFM

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-05-12, 18:23:

My third soldering kit was a synthesizer kit (Mutable Instruments Shruthi XT), which was definitely useful as a functional digital synthesizer. It even taught me how to desolder after I installed a couple components backwards. Prior to that I'd put together a couple cheap practice kits, which I ultimately threw away because they were only useful for learning.

These days I have some practice PCBs I use if I need to try out different repair techniques.

With practice PCB's do you mean purchased blank boards with pads on them or just scrap mainboards etc? I think i've seen the YT channel SDG electronics and he uses these types of boards to experiment on. Might be worth looking into.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2025-05-12, 21:43:

There are many kits on ebay, a few of which I found useful afterwards. I built a morse code decoder which I still use to this da […]
Show full quote

There are many kits on ebay, a few of which I found useful afterwards.
I built a morse code decoder which I still use to this day, I built an oscilloscope which while it does work I find less useful these days as I bought a more "professional" one.

Most of the kits I bought were built and went into the junk draw to be fair. But there is one that keeps coming out as it is just an SMD practice board which I use with my hot air rework station.
I use it to try out new flux, new solder and just to practice my skills on as much now as I ever did.

I did build a clock once that I bought after I watched BigClive build it but Ive no idea what happened to it.

Might be worth for me to look into blank practice PCB's.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-05-12, 22:06:

Here in Germany, electronic kits made by Kemo used to be popular.
https://www.kemo-electronic.de/en/

Will have a look, thx for the tip!

momaka wrote on 2025-05-14, 14:13:

Nope, I've never bought any soldering kits precisely for the reasons you mentioned - many of them just seemed like something you […]
Show full quote

G-X wrote on 2025-05-12, 18:01:

So now the TLDR: Have you bought soldering kits that were actually useful? Or similar experiences where you had to populate a blank PCB with parts and want to share?

Nope, I've never bought any soldering kits precisely for the reasons you mentioned - many of them just seemed like something you'd only build once (for soldering practice, I suppose) and then chuck into a drawer. The only kit I have was already assembled (by someone else). I found it at a local flea market for $0.50. It's an LM317 -based linear voltage regulator - basically a "poor man's 'lab' voltage supply". I use it to find the "sweet spot" on PC fans - i.e. the voltage level where they are not too loud but can still move an acceptable amount of air. I do this because even after 20 years of doing electronics repairs, I'm still too cheap to buy a proper lab power supply. 🤣

On that thought... being too cheap is probably another reason I have stayed away from many of the kits. Probably not that much of an issue nowadays, but 15-20 years ago, some of these kits were too expensive for what they were. Then again, back then Ebay had not yet become a giant China e-mall. Meanwhile, Amazon was still a place to buy your books and textbooks from. And AliExpress... don't think it even existed back then. So what I did (and many kids from mine and the older generations) was to get a bunch of e-waste / electronic junk and just play around with it. Completely desoldering a (crappy) ATX PSU down to the smallest components was one of the very first and more advanced "projects" that really upped my soldering/desoldering skills. Also, all of the components that I saved from this later on allowed me to save/fix/repair no less than 10 other devices (my CRT monitor from '99, a 12V halogen PSU, 3 more ATX PSUs, an LCD monitor, my first RC car... just to name a few things here.)

But even nowadays, some of the kits seem really disconnected with what the current generation of kids could use these for. For example, a friend's kid I know bought an AM radio kit to try and get better at soldering and also to learn more about transistors. But he ended up destroying the board so badly that he just chucked it eventually. And even if that didn't happen, what would a millenial kid do with an AM radio? 🤣 I can't get him even remotely interested in getting a "proper" desktop PC (with software related to EE) and building up an mp3 collection, let alone collecting "obscure" media (CDs, tapes, vynil, etc.) AM radio? - not a chance he'd listed to that for more than 5 seconds tops. Heck, I can't even get him to check out other music places (NCS, Soundcloud, etc.) Spotify is all he knows and likes. So an AM radio is.... well... quite out of date, I think. FM radio might have been a better kit, but I digress here.

TLDR: I feel like many of these electronics kits are akin to game demos - sure may be fun for a few moments, but eventually you (quickly) outgrow them and soon want either the full thing (in the case of games) or something even better.

I agree with you when it comes to the fact that most of these kits are hardly "up to date" with the world we live in. Some leds arranged as a christmas tree would have been neat in the late 90's but not so much today. Perhaps i should look into actually modding or repairing existing things. I would like to mod one of my OG Xbox consoles with HDMI but these kits are quite expensive. Also i never play on these systems anymore anyway so tinkering/soldering for one afternoon might not be worth the cost of the board/chip. Oh well ... i'll wait till i get something that actually needs repairing :p.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-05-14, 17:33:

Real AM radio or medium wave radio? The people in North Amerika have that habbit to distinguish the radio bands by their modulat […]
Show full quote

And even if that didn't happen, what would a millenial kid do with an AM radio?

Real AM radio or medium wave radio?
The people in North Amerika have that habbit to distinguish the radio bands by their modulation type.
The rest of the world uses terms such as Longwave, Mediumwave and Ultra Shortwave.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwave

I'm asking, because any receiver for amplitude modulation (AM) can pick up
frequency modulated signals (FM signals) via slope detection (or Flankendemodulation, "flank detection" in my language).

By using slope detection and the fine tuning knob, it was possible to listen via old AM CB radio to conversations done in FM modulation.
Old trick from late 70s/early 80s. Because we got FM in Europe for CB radio at the time, on the old AM channels.

Speaking of it, FM is now legal on 11m/27MHz CB band in the US, too.
https://swling.com/blog/2021/10/fcc-approves- … m-for-cb-radio/

Edit: And any AM radio can pick up CW and SSB signals by the addition of a BFO, a Beat Frequency Oscillator.
Gives old AM shortwave radios new life. SSB is still in use.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_frequency_oscillator

Edit: Formatting fixed.

PS: It's not a bad idea to learn a bit about ham radio..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio

PS/2: It's possible to generate a radio signal with the Raspberry Pi.
A DIY radio can pick the signals up, if it can handle the given frequency.
Here's one of several programs for it: https://github.com/MundeepL/PiFM

Most of the AM stations are closing down now. Theyre still operating at the minute but there are plans to close them.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2025-05-18, 23:20:

Most of the AM stations are closing down now. Theyre still operating at the minute but there are plans to close them.

Sadly yes. In the night it's a bit better, though.
There's still something going on in SSB (single side band) on shortwave.
Commercial and military stations. Amateurs on 80m/40m/20m and the other ham bands..
An external BFO can provide an artificial carrier wave so AM radios can pick up SSB signals.

Some uses for AM radios..

An ordinary AM band radio for medium wave can be used to hear thunder and electrical interference.

A vintage set can be used as a cool looking amplifier (by using a low power AM transmitter).

Some museums do operate low-power AM stations (example).

The old maritime emergency frequency on 500 KHz can be picked up with an AM band radio (if it can tune below 525 KHz).
Especially if it has SSB capabilities. Communications radios had SSB and could hear CW signal using on-off keying (used by morse telegraphy).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-sideband_modulation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/500_kHz

Also, there a AM circuits like the regenerative radio that can pick up SSB/CW.

Building crystal radios is fun, too.
Especially the pretty ones, such as from far east. 😉
They're using a big coil as antenna (an frame antenna).

Here are frame antenna models :
https://www.b-kainka.de/bastel109.htm
https://www.crystal-radio.eu/set10/enset10.htm
https://www.japantrendshop.com/DE-gakken-crys … tem-p-1311.html

PS: Forgot to mention the FM band crystal radios.
https://www.eeweb.com/fm-crystal-radios/
https://worldgadget.wordpress.com/2007/09/18/ … -crystal-radio/

Jo22 wrote on 2025-05-14, 17:33:

Real AM radio or medium wave radio? The people in North Amerika have that habbit to distinguish the radio bands by their modulat […]
Show full quote

Real AM radio or medium wave radio?
The people in North Amerika have that habbit to distinguish the radio bands by their modulation type.
The rest of the world uses terms such as Longwave, Mediumwave and Ultra Shortwave.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longwave

Indeed we do. 😀
Well, unless you own a very old / classic radio (receiver), most radios from the last 30 or so years only have the option to receive "AM" or "FM".
Reading about it, I see only MW (medium wave) was used for AM reception in North America.

In any case, "AM" radio is pretty dead anywhere, especially where I live now - too many cheap SMPSes and LED drivers without proper EMI/RFI filtering, so it's nearly impossible to receive anything clearly. Cheap LED and CCFL bulbs are actually some of the biggest noise polluters.

Jo22 wrote on 2025-05-14, 17:33:

PS: It's not a bad idea to learn a bit about ham radio..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio

I had several people try to get me interested in that... but it just didn't catch my interest.
Always preferred to spend my time working on other electronics, like PCs, power supplies, and speakers / amplifiers / audio gear (but just not solely radios.)

I think the closest I got to getting interested in radio was pirate radio stations.
Then I found you can take one of those cheap car cigarette lighter plug-in FM modulators, open it up and connect a huge wire (antenna) to its output, and *BAM* - you have a much more powerful radio transmitter now. Just don't run it for too long / too regularly, or the FCC might not be too happy about it. 😉

G-X wrote on 2025-05-18, 18:25:

Oh well ... i'll wait till i get something that actually needs repairing :p.

Well, if you ever get the itch and there's nothing broken in your home, looks at your local classifieds. When I lived in the US, I used to regularly look into my local Craigslist section for broken electronics, especially if I saw listings that have been stuck for a few days or re-posted several times. Got some pretty interesting things from that. The best was my set of Sony GDM-FW900 monitors I picked back when CRTs were "not cool". One didn't power On, the other powered On but didn't work. The first just needed a few solder joints on the PSU board (G board) touched up to bring it back to life. The 2nd had its tube loose vacuum, so no fix for that one. :\

Anyways, this is how I picked up a good deal of my collectible PCs and audio gear. Most stuff (particularly with SMPS) just needed new caps. However for the ones with more complex problems, one has to get much deeper with the analysis and actively think how to isolate the problem, which is something soldering kits simply cannot teach you. Identifying problems and failures allows you to learn the mistakes (or shortcuts / penny pinching) of other designs, so you get to know what *not* to do when you make something on your own.

And lastly... fixing broken stuff tends to remove stuff from going to the landfill. Whereas soldering kits are more the other way around, as some of you noted here - once built, and if not very useful, they just tend to get chucked in the trash or sit somewhere (forever?) without use.

momaka wrote on 2025-05-19, 13:53:

I had several people try to get me interested in that... but it just didn't catch my interest.
Always preferred to spend my time working on other electronics, like PCs, power supplies, and speakers / amplifiers / audio gear (but just not solely radios.)

Understood, I'm not surprised.
Some of the folks mainly lament about shortwave radio, contests and morse telegraphy..

But aside from that, ham radio also has computer fans.
Not all hams are into talking, either. Some are electronic hobbyists or just listen.
In the 70s/80s they were working on their home computers a lot.
Apple II, C64 etc. For a while, amateur radio equaled computer hobby.

Retro Examples:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJVU1stPPlQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EERktEisDKY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW9IBYXC940

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPIoIiMzJ7E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rYcxBbmWnM

Nowadays, hams also have many digital modes, besides old Morse/RTTY..
Such as Packet-Radio/APRS and HamNet (a separate internet on WiFi radio links, operated by hams).
There are also ham satellites. ISS also has ham equipment up there. Some Shuttle missions had it, too.
Sometimes for talking (hams, schools), SSTV (analogue pictures) and Packet-Radio/APRS.

Polar stations are similarily equipped.:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWg4KMc-Uiw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QARUZmE-DcA

What also used to be a thing was using ham radio for R/C models.
Way back in the 1970s, I think, when model making was popular.
That when radio amateurs helped building receivers and remote controls.
Commercial stuff wasn't as good and tiny enough at the time.

Another side of the hobby is sports, things like hiking.
Geo Caching, use of GPS receivers etc.
Or foxoring (fox hunting, a form directional finding with beacons).

Anyway, just saying. The pubilicity of amateur radio isn’t best.
The stereotype is that of an old graybeard in his sparesly lit attic.
Dumbledore must been a ham, too. 🥲

PS: SSTV is used in the Portal games..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlIvnc-AZJQ

PS: That video is also a classic.

momaka wrote on 2025-05-19, 13:53:

I think the closest I got to getting interested in radio was pirate radio stations.
Then I found you can take one of those cheap car cigarette lighter plug-in FM modulators, open it up and connect a huge wire (antenna) to its output, and *BAM* - you have a much more powerful radio transmitter now. Just don't run it for too long / too regularly, or the FCC might not be too happy about it. 😉

That reminds me of that video here. A retro FM station using WinAmp..
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2RnBovNLJEI

I took up ham radio as a hobby and it's not for me.

Results will vary

twiz11 wrote on 2025-05-20, 02:22:

I took up ham radio as a hobby and it's not for me.

That's okay. Different people have different interests, which is good.
Would be boring if everyone was doing same thing..
It's just that ham radio has sort of a stigma of being outdated, which isn't entirely undeserved.
But that's just one side of it, radio tinkerers were the pioneers of electronics.
The ancestors of the makers who tinker with Arduino, Raspberry Pi etc if you will.

Way back in the 70s, almost all electronic hobbyists had a link to amateur radio of some sort.
A co-founder of Apple (Wozniak) had been a ham, too, for example.
In the 80s, many home computer magazines had ham radio projects, too.
In reverse, many ham magazines had home computer topics, too.

The special thing about ham radio is that it has so many people throughout society with different interests that come together.
Everyone likes some other aspect of the hobby/service.
In real life, some might be just barely into radio technology itself, but electronics. Or computers. Or sports etc. 😀

PS: If there's a colony on moon/mars eventually, then it surely has some form of ham radio, too.

Edit: Just saying.. I think I've said enough about the topic already. Hope you don't mind. 😅