Was there a MAD scientist in your neighborhood?

[Phineas]

When I came up, even in what is affectionately known as the "hood", there were always old people doing scientific things. Some would work on cars, some on their house, some messing around with Electronic music, etc.... There was always someone doing something.

I can remember what got me interested in Chemistry for example. There was this old man who was always blowing something up in his back yard. Very smart old man. He had one of those cool looking labs like you would see in the movies with all of the flasks and Alcohol burners...etc.... Come to find out later that he was making HomeBrew Liquor....but man did he know his Chemistry. Help me with my High School Chemistry. Died before I went #to college.

There was another one who was the Electronics/Radio/Computer guy. He had a lab that was cool looking with all of scopes, meters, antennas and dishes. This old guy was a little off though(Crazy). Worked on satelites, then eventually opened a record shop. Learned alot about Physics, and Electrical theory from this guy. He would always throw you a curve to see if you on your toes. Even help me pass my tech test when I was 12 way back in the day...lol

There was another old man that had a music studio in his garage.(Equipment was quite expensive back then!!!! ) He had all of the latest Synthesizers, and had his share of Signal generators, etc....trying to reproduce string and horn sounds electronicly. I would up learning about midi, and keyboard repair good enough to work part time at a keyboard repair place in Universal City Ca.

Then there was my Step father (George) who was a truck driver. Never took anything to a mechanic. A general do all fix all type of person. had every tool and jack known to man minus mills and lathes....lol

I can go on and on, but this is before all of the molestation scandles. I would love to be a role model like the ones I mentioned. I am a combination of all of them. These days, the lack of community, and the danger of getting fingered for abuse has kept me very distant from young people coming to me asking questions. I think these and many others are why things like radio dont spark an interest like they use to. Older people just keep things to themselves, and don't even bother to encourage young people to get more involved(There are exceptions...but I am talking about as a whole. ). Often cut young people down. This is truely sad coming from the same people that are watching a hobby die with the silent keys.

Are you the neighborhood mad Scientist/Elmer, or did you grow up with one? Tell me your story.

Phineas
MAD Scientist/Elmer Jr.
KC0LSC

[kd7nqb]

I suppose that even though I am only 15 I am that mad scientist. I have several people with this same atitude but they do not live in my neghboorhood but coincedently they are all hams.

[N7VUR]

I am now 25 and have become the neighborhood mad scientist. It all starts with my grandfather, N6FV Sandy (who is now silent key). Growing up I remember it all started with a Hi-Fi stereo, the whole neighborhood really thought there was a train coming down the street. From there it was the space shuttle transmissions, then my first ham radio contact with my grandpa as control operator. I still remember that day very well; we were in Armagosa Valley NV (about 150 mi NW of Vegas) and he called a friend in Long beach CA; (K6RT Richard who is also silent key). Now it is me who all the neighbor kid pester, especially when I am in the car on the mobile. All the same questions I used to ask, what are you doing, where is that guy at, how do I get in to the hobby. I feel that it is now my turn to become the Elmer and help the new wannbe hams. Thank you very much for the story, I also would like to hear others stories about how it all happened for them.

Jeremy
N7VUR

[k0hzi]

A guy in my neighborhood just a few years older than I, he liked to repair broken Televison sets (tube type!http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif. Found out many years later that he would connect his "grid dipper" to the outside Televison antenna at his house and "sweep" across the local Televison channels. The neighbors would call him and he would take the Televison for a few days and then return to the owner with a bill for service. I put up a two element 20. 15 & 10 meter beam on my parents house. One of neighbors would call my mother on the telepone and tell her that "her son" was interfering with her Televison reception. I was either at school or working when the calls came to my mother. I often think that it was the "sweeper" causing the interferance, but the beam was very "visable".

I am that mad scientist !
In the 60's, for my High School science project, I built a 6 Foot Tesla coil that used a 15,000 Volt neon sign transformer as the power supply. Threw 3 Ft lightning bolts and wiped out radio and TV reception for blocks. Took 1st Place!

In the 70's I designed and built my own computer using an Intel 8080A with 4K (wow) of Static RAM, and fixed CB radios for anyone who would ask.

In the 80's I got into Ham Radio. Strung the backyard full of wire and odd looking antennas. Earned the "Worked All Neighbors Award"

In the 90's, it was computers. Building, Loading, Fixing, Programming, Etc, Etc.

Yeah, I'm the Mad Scientist allright, and they may laugh at me, #but guess who they come looking for when their Nintendo breaks !

[W5ATX]

I grew up in the projects in North Jersey (that's "low income housing apartments" for you suburbanites hi hi!). I had an "invisible" stretch of #24 wire going from my bedroom window to a tree that "nobody" could see. Worked great on 80 and 40 too I might add.

This was during the CB boom, and I remember all the broken CBs and 8-track players that seemed to find their way to my house - all owned by the "nobodies" who couldn't see my wire!!!!! I wired a lot of CB mics in the day, fixed some radios and TVs, and basically tried to keep everyone who couldn't see my antenna from ripping it down when I worked the neighbourhood TVs!

Now I have the only satellite dish in my complex and nobody thinks a thing about it. I think it's the old Mazda in the parking space with the antennas on it that gets the attention. But I leave the rigs on in the car and sometimes the neighbour lady downstairs tells me "your car was talking last night." Nobody thinks I'm a mad scientist (if only they knew!!!!), but most think she's nuts. Little do they know, she really DOES hear my car talking!!!!

73,

Chris

[w4pqk]

No mad scientist, just a couple of kids having fun - Don (later w4tfz, SK) and myself (w4pqk in 1949 at age 14). #We lived a couple blocks away from each other. #Enjoyed reading the Tom Swift series. #Found some fine wire (#30??), layed it in gutter for a telephone line (sound powered). #Worked briefly. #Had to repair at intersections. #Then the street sweeper wiped us out. #Should have seen him scratching his head - where did all the wire wrapped around his brush come from? #Next came the experimental Model T spark coil CW mobile on a bicycle. #It hurt when the antenna fell across your back when the key was down. #After a few weeks of that a local ham, Angus, w4ikd, contacted Don's dad Elmo (later w4te) and introduced us to ham radio. #Angus loaned us a code oscillator (117L6 ? tube operated), rented an Instructograph code tape machine, studied, passed 13 WPM code and class B license test with required schematic drawing (and class A test a year later) at the Norfolk, VA FCC office - no VECs then. #When I received my ticket, the newspaper office had to call and ask if I was going to deliver papers that afternoon - had completely forgotten. #Worked for Roland in the Radio and TV shop until college and did a lot of self study (reading) and got 1st Class Radio Telephone license before going off to college (Va Tech, Electrical Engn). #Worked mostly 40 cw until went to college and still love CW. #Wish more of the new hams would learn CW well enough to use it a while - think they would also like it. #Ham radio must be the greatest hobby yet. #73, Jess http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[du1ms]

Here in our place I'm the mad scientist I'm 23 years old and I used to build my own HAM equipment also. I still remember when I homebrew a huge 42 ft. YAGI on 20M my neighbor asked me "Hey what is that ? how come you have a very huge antenna ?" I said well I need that antenna for better reception because we just bought a new 24 inches TV and it works very well so you should homebrew your antenna too.... and guessed what after 3 days i saw my neighbor measuring some aluminums hahaha he's going to use it for TV too. #

I guessed most of the HAMs are MAD SCIENTIST...:D

VERY good point. #I, too, am a product of the all the MAD
scientists I met through the years. #No one ever molested me
or made me feel uncomfortable. #They were just nice, darn
people who were smart and wanted to share it. #What was the
old Roman adage? #Divide and Conquer? #Think about it.

[KirbenTech]

My Mad Scientist experiences of long ago usually consisted of burning things. #For example, I once ran out of gas a few miles away from the nearest gas station. #Not wanting to spend the time walking or trying to hitch a ride, I went to the trunk figuring I'd have some flammable liquids I could pour in the tank. #A small container of isopropyl alchohol got me most of the way. #A few glugs of acetone in the carburetor bowl got me the rest of the way.

Then there was the time my fuel pump died... #so I stuck the neck of a propane torch down the carburetor.

On the electrical side, when I was in third or fourth grade, my brother and I found a few spent 'D' cell batteries in some sort of battery case. #The case had two terminals, just the right thing to attach an old lamp cord to. #I don't know what we were trying to accomplish, but after we attached the lamp cord to the terminals, we plugged the cord into the wall socket. #The last thing I remember was everything blowing up. #So much for 'quick charge'...
Kirby (anybody need an elmer?!http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif) #abØrf

[ke4cij]

I really enjoyed reading all these very well put posts. I am not a mad scientist, but, I love to tinker with things. Most never work but I try at any rate. My first example of Amateur Radio was at age 5. I can barley remember it now. But I wish I still had that imagination of seeing cities in a vaccum tube.
It took me several years after seeing my first station to get my ticket due to one thing and then another but I am here now and have been for almost 10 years. I to wish that younger hams would take the time to at least learn CW #even if they don't like it, and to learn about Amateur Radio from its roots. Those old Mad Scientist have so much to offer all of us. I learned from several older hams and have enjoyed knowing them all, and I wish we all acted like those gentel old guys. I know, if we did then we would have no problems on the air. Well keep it up guys and keep those great posts coming some of us enjoy hearing these kind of stories.
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[N3BIF]

On a sad note you are right in protecting yourself from exposing ( no pun intended) yourself to a situation where your deeds could be very easily misinterpreted, everyone is looking over their shoulder and should be wary of how things might look if you appear to be to friendly, or even take an interest in kids,,,,, I would suggest though that if you are sincerely interested you could contact any one of a number of schools , clubs, service organizations etc. and let them know your willingness to come to a meeting and share your hobby(ies) and followup with further meetings and education if there is a interest, all done with more than one adult present, never one on one , ....
As to the "madness" I guess it is inherent in us all, I am given to constantly playing with wire my neighbors must think I am nuts to be constantly in the yard with my slingshot, ropes, ladders, poles, not to mention all my trips up onto the roof and were talking 5'11" 300 plus pounds, on a two story house, they must wonder if i will ever get that thing to work as i am sure they think it should have been done by now, and the worse the weather the more i am out there,,,,the only other "mad" guy in the "hood" is my neighbor and he must be a computer whiz cause he is always hauling hardware inside and has old pc paraphenalia out at the curb on trash day, oh yeah he is a ham too, go figure...

[kb3eqa]

I'm only 17, but I've gained the reputation of "Neighborhood Mad Scientist". I have all the traditional antennas in the yard. 2m and 440 quad, 6m verticle, 2m and 6m yagi, etc.

I also have the reputation for blanking out TV's in a large radius. I do alot of tinkering with HV/pulsed energy discharge, which wreaks havoc with local radio/TV. My flyback HV supply and tesla coil can produce a profound buzz on any radio within 500', and my 3kj coilgun creates a very loud POP on radios when I fire it.

I don't think the interference makes people wonder as much as the light shows and loud noises eminating from my backyard. I'm in a large suburban neighborhood (Large by rural PA standards http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif hi hi) with large open backyards. When my 5kw Jacobs ladder is running I can light up the entire yard, and the spark gap on my disc repulsion system sounds like a shotgun blast when it triggers (Ever tried to explain something like that to the police? http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif). After the first year, people stopped calling 911 and started coming outside to watch. Now they just ignore the interference, because I'm willing to repair any electronics that might be broken.

Now I'm starting to draw local kids to watch, a few have even started to get into ham radio and electronics. I'm more than happy to help, and parents don't seem to mind. I suppose I can avoid the ever present suspision because I'm still a kid myself.

I think I enjoy the aspect of helping other kids more than I do operating by myself. IMHO, thats one of the things that the hobby is all about.

Dave Marshall
KB3EQA
http://kb3eqa.fsn.net

[n9kpn]

I plead guilty to being the mad scientist when I was a kid. #Imagine neighbors bringing their broken lawn mowers, radios, appliances to me to be fixed; #when I was less than ten years old. #When playing with CB radios in high school I knew more than 99% of the adults out there in CB land. #I disproved the "fact" that coax could not be longer than 18 feet for a good SWR. #(I still do not believe the number of people that tell me this when I'm buying cable at truck stops or Radio Shack.) #I made a long wire antenna for my "barefoot" 23 channel mobile CB and out performed most stations (even some people with linears). #Made all sorts of interesting circuits (strobe lights, TV jammers, FM microphones, VOX, high voltage oscillators, electronic combination locks) . #Pulled numerous discarded electronics from the trash and made them work again. #Retuned FM broadcast band radios to receive the aviation band. #Rewired/fixed house wiring when I was twelve. #I know I must have driven my parents crazy.

[kg4kkn]

If the label fits... my problem has always been executing the ideas in my head. Somehow it almost always goes wrong. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

My parents would probably have been happier if I had not "broken" every clock in the house just to see how it worked, at age 7.

One of my regrets, also from about age 7, is that I got my hands on a blood pressure cuff machine, complete with Mercury. Well, it didn't stay IN the machine for long. Of course I played with it. What else is a kid going to do with this liquid metal? Probably have Mercuriy poisoning from it hi hi.

Other than that, it's been a long string of fixing TVs and radios and appliances, running CATV wires (imagine a kid carrying rolls of RG-59 and tools on a public bus), fixing house wiring, phone lines, etc etc. Eventually got into playing with computers... some people pay you to work on those things. Amazing.

This past weekend I dug up my driveway to lay antenna wire conduit. YL demanded no more wires across the pavement or looped on the grass. I don't see what the big deal is. Oh well. Dig we must. Going to hire a contractor next time though. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[KG4JYA]

I beleive I might fit the criteria of being a Neighborhood Mad Scientist.

I, like so many others have disected many an aparatus to see how it works.

My experiences began almost as far back as I can remember. Being a little more then 5 years of age, my curiosity got the better of me when I stuck a paper clip into a wall socket.

Indeed I did get shocked, and it was the most interesting sensation that I have ever experienced in my life at the time. I never cried out, I just somehow fell back.

While coping with the lingering shock in my arm, I couldn't help but compare how the feeling somehow equated to the sounds a fly makes when it is buzzing around.

For the next undisclosed length of time I would look and wonder at every wall socket I passed by. A little more cautious, and ALOT more curious.

From that point on I wanted to know how things worked. Anything really. Even to this day.

My real mad scientist work didn't start until my early 20's. I've built Tesla coils, fired up magnetrons without shielding in idiotic bliss, and started playing with electrolosis.

Electrolosis not only amused me, but it was also realativly quiet enough not to discourage the neighbors and my Father's addiction to having a clear television signal;)

So off to work I went.

I really knew nothing at the time about electrolosis other then electricity makes water separate into hydrogen and oxygen. That was good enough for me. I paid no attention to polarity or the effects of tempreture, which we will see gets the better of me.

I rummaged around the garage for some componants to use in my experiment. I came up with some old extensions cords, a few 6 inch bolts, a jar to hold water, and an old 880Vac transformer of unknown origin.

Enter the circuit that was doomed to failure. As a testiment to the limits of my 12th grade natural science education, I cobbled together a circuit that took the output of the transformer and delivered the voltage to the two electrodes suspended in the jar of water.

The moment of truth came. I plugged in the transformer. No fuses popped, and there was bubbles collecting around the electrodes. "This is great!", I thought. I touched the transformer and nothing seemed hot to the touch.

After about 30 seconds of running, I noticed a small flash in the jar. In my dim witted ignorance of physics, I thought "Cold Fusion?!?!"

It was at this point, I noticed the sound that the floresant light was making. It was humming. Then I thought about the polarity in the jar. There was alternating current presant. The circuit is making both hydrogen and oxygen on BOTH electrodes. Somehow it reached a breakdown point and created a spark igniting the mixture.

I thought this to be so neat that I sat by and watched the circuit go. I ran in to fetch my mother to withness what I imagined was an awsome deed.

The tiny explosions were happening more frequently. Soon it got to the point that it sounded, almost like a small motor. The jar putted happily across the workbench, in a merry fashion I thought, not unlike the first steam powed cars.

My mother's patience was wearing beyond thin. Wondering why such creativity was being wasted in the garage when it could be slinging beef at the local Arby's to fit my car insurance bill.

Now we arrive at the most fatal flaw I did not foresee in my little experiment. Tempreture.

You see as these little explosions were occuring in the jar. The water, by nature, was heating up. As it heated up, its resistance started to drop. This started to draw more current from the transformer. More and more current was being used to make the jar dance an even faster jig. Till finally. BOOM!!!

The transformer blew, and most of my neighbors by now knew it. The circuit breaker tripped, and lucky for me my father wasn't home at the time;)

During the entire episode of trying to usher my mother out of the garage to get away, she found enough time to literally beat me sensless.

Needless to say the very next day I went out and got a job<smirk>.

I learned alot of lessons, the hard way in such
ill-planned moronic experiments. Both myself and my family look back and laugh on them all. My mother has expressed her joy, knowing that I now have my own garage to perform such things in. I, myself have since learned my lesson;)

In my opinion, anyone with the curiosity to learn why things work they way they do has a little bit of mad scientist in them, or so it seems. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[K4DTI]

When the six 12 Year Old "Hardy Boys" of Lexington Kentucky got intrigued with Ham Radio, by watching in awe as a Neighborhood Dr., a Professor, and a Lawyer, all within walking distance were working the World we were immediately SMITTEN! #So off we went by Bus to Cincy Ohio to the Federal Building to pass our General Class Tickets after 5 months of being Novices. #My call K4DTI was issued adacent to my best friend, who got K4DTH. #If we had requested that we all know it would never have been done. #Charlie Clark (Whereabouts unknown) who was the aforementioned K4DTH, lived one block behind me and several houses down as well as across the Street that he lived on. #We secured thousands of feet of No. 30 laquer coated wire, and proceeded tp string it from my upstairs Shack down the fences behind my house, across a yard that was across the street from Charlie, and then up in the air through two Pin Oak tree, high enough for trucks to clear, and ultimately down in the basement of Charlie's house where his Shack was located. #We then hooked up 2 Army Surplus Field Phones with Ringer Cranks using Ground as one side of the circuit, and guess what ..... By God we had our own Neighborhood phone system, and it was immune from RF so we could talk and compare notes while on the Air. #Then came the day that I rang Ole Charlie up, and unbenownst to me, his Mother answered, as she was in the basement doing Wash, just in time to hear me say: "SO WHAT'S GOING ON ASS HOLE?" #I spent 30 days getting invited back to Charlies house for Lunch or Dinner, and wasn't sure I wanted to eat what his Mother had fixed. # STORY NUMBER ONE OF AT LEAST 1000 MORE. #73'S NICK K4DTI.

[KG4JPP]

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Ah what fond memories.... The day I became a "mad scientist". Of course I was one of many.. both my father and grandfather had also been mad scientists.

It started one fine day in 1965 when my father took me to the local Lafayette Radio Electronics in Scarsdale NY to buy my first soldering iron. I had burnt myself many times with his, and was now an expert at flicking the excess solder on my moms carpet, so he figured I was entitled to my own.

We arrive at Lafayette without incident, took a number from the number machine which was in use in those days, and began to stand in line. A short time later the counter person took the number from the open Lafayette catalog on the counter and proceeded to the back room to see if the Ungar was in stock.

A short time later he came back out with my brand new iron. We proceeded to the checkout line, paid a few bucks and headed for the door. As most 7 year old kids I was VERY EXCITED to get home and plug my brand new iron in to the AC! As we exited Lafayette, a strange thing happend. ALL THE LIGHTS WENT OUT!. Not just in Lafayette, but all over. At the time we figured it was a local problem, got in the car and headed for home which was about 15 miles away.

Funny thing was... as we drove, we continued to notice that ALL THE LIGHTS were out. As you may have guessed by now, my brand new soldering iron was purchased on the eve of the great 1965 black out that darkened the entire east coast. It wasn't till the next day that I got to plug it in. And that for the sake of history is one mans entry into the realm of "Mad Scientist:"

KG4JPP 73's [B]

[kd5gqf]

Yea. Kinda. Visit my webpage...http://home.bellsouth.net/personalpages/pwp-observations......... and comming soon..............www.mississpiipgulfcoastsetistat ion.com.....73's


KD5GQF