Old Electronics Kit

Years ago I had one of the Tandy 200-in-1 electronics kits. I followed most of the projects in the book but never got around to creating my own circuits. I lost interest after accidentally wiring a transistor incorrectly and it blew the top off. My interest in electronics was revitalised when I bought a Raspberry Pi 3 and soon after got one of the many electronics starter kits which came with a breadboard and a set of components.

A few years ago I was looking for some components on ebay when I saw one of the old Tandy kits for sale. This was a late 60s kit and pre-dates affordable LEDs. It had a selection of resistors and capacitors, a single bulb, transistors metal casing and a few other bits. A lot of the projects are of their era and less suitable for modern times (such as ones which connect to a car’s electrics!). The ones aimed at radio hams aren’t much use for the average person either.

I tested the resistors and capacitors and they seem to be ok. The solar cell also still works. I have tried a few of the experiments with mixed results. The water purity meter, which measures conductivity, seems to be ‘all or nothing’ and reads either zero or maximum conductivity. A morse code circuit has a very harsh sound. I will try to repeat some of these with new components to see if the results are different.