{"id":6628,"date":"2012-04-03T09:53:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T23:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2012\/04\/03\/yi-yao-has-the-knack\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T21:23:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T11:23:25","slug":"yi-yao-has-the-knack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/2012\/04\/03\/yi-yao-has-the-knack\/","title":{"rendered":"Yi Yao has The Knack!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Hi Bill,<\/span>

I discovered SolderSmoke a few years ago by listening to another pod<\/span>
cast. Ever since, I have been hooked on this podcast and listen to it<\/span>
whenever I have time. I have finally caught up and finished episode<\/span>
142 today. I love the enthusiasm and spirit of discovery and creation<\/span>
that goes into the stories in SS.<\/span>

The first time I heard about amateur radio was in high school. It<\/span>
seemed to be a overly nerdy thing at the time and I wasn’t sure what<\/span>
it was. However, after I started listening to SS, I discovered that<\/span>
this is something that I wanted to do. So, on New Years Eve with the<\/span>
kind help of a local examiner (Ori, VA3XW), I wrote my basic and<\/span>
advanced exam and passed with honours. In Canada, we only have 3<\/span>
categories: basic, advanced and morse co<\/span><\/span>de. I am very excited about<\/span>
this and I am glad that SS made me make the jump.<\/span>

You know, every time the word knack comes up, it is portrayed in a<\/span>
negative way. Someone is “afflicted” with the knack or shows knackish<\/span>
“symptoms” as if it was a horrible disease. I would like to change<\/span>
this perspective.<\/span>

I hereby declare myself blessed with the knack. Ever since I was a kid,<\/span>
I disassembled various electronics around the house (to the dismay of<\/span>
my parents). I knew when I was doing something right when I could put<\/span>
something back together and it worked, or later, it worked better than<\/span>
before. Despite my parents’ persuasion to pursue other branches of<\/span>
non-technical studies, I made up my mind to study electrical<\/span>
engineering (must have been a teenage rebellion thing). Nonetheless<\/span>
I finished school and found a job doing electronics design which I<\/span>
love. Some of the people that you meet in this field are just<\/span>
phenomenal. It has been a good career decision and I think it is truly<\/span>
amazing. Thus, I see the knack as being a gift which I was fortunate<\/span>
enough to hold.<\/span>

I think one of the most important aspect of the knack is the desire to<\/span>
understand and have self reliance on what we use on a daily basis. I<\/span>
repair my own bikes and I’ve never bought a ready made computer.<\/span>
Having a home machine shop greatly helps in this regard too. My first<\/span>
oscilloscope I designed and built myself:<\/span>
http:\/\/yyao.ca\/projects\/oscilloscope\/<\/span><\/a>
I have also resolved to build my first rig instead of buying one.<\/span>
However, work is really busy these days, and it doesn’t look like I<\/span>
will be able to do this soon. One of these days, I will construct my<\/span>
own rig and wiggle the ether.<\/span>

I am currently visiting Silicon Valley here in California. There is<\/span>
much to visit and do here. For example, the De Anza Flea Market<\/span>
happens every 2nd Saturday (which is my first introduction to a swap<\/span>
meet):<\/span>
http:\/\/www.electronicsfleamarket.com\/<\/span><\/a>

The Computer History Museum is amazing:<\/span>
http:\/\/www.computerhistory.org\/<\/span><\/a>

For a limited time, you can see Jim William’s work bench at the<\/span>
museum. If you thought your workbench was messy, you haven’t seen<\/span>
anything:<\/span>
http:\/\/www.eetimes.com\/ContentEETimes\/Images\/EELife\/williams%20desk.jpg<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>
Now, imagine having the world’s most smartest electronics engineers<\/span>
having dinner together. That’s what the Analog Aficionados Party is about:<\/span>
http:\/\/www.edn.com\/blog\/Anablog\/41523-Analog_Aficionados_party_Feb_18_2012.php<\/span><\/a>
<\/a>
On top of that, there are a lot of trade shows which you can go to<\/span>
check out the latest and greatest of test equipment. They don’t have<\/span>
the same feel as some of my analog oscilloscopes, but they are shiny.<\/span>
As you can see, this is a paradise for anyone blessed with the knack.<\/span>

Anyhow, this email is long enough and I hope your eyes haven’t glazed<\/span>
over yet. My best regards to you, Billy, Maria and your wife.<\/span>

73,<\/span>
Yi Yao<\/span>
VA3YAO<\/span>
<\/span>Our book: “SolderSmoke — Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics”http:\/\/soldersmoke.com\/book.htm<\/a>Our coffee mugs, T-Shirts, bumper stickers: http:\/\/www.cafepress.com\/SolderSmoke<\/a>Our Book Store: http:\/\/astore.amazon.com\/contracross-20<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi Bill,I discovered SolderSmoke a few years ago by listening to another podcast. Ever since, I have been hooked on this podcast and listen to itwhenever I have time. I have finally caught up and finished episode142 today. I love the enthusiasm and spirit of discovery and creationthat goes into the stories in SS.The first … Continue reading “Yi Yao has The Knack!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,144,133,141,103,162,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canada","category-computer-history","category-hamfests-and-flea-markets","category-jim-williams","category-knack-stories","category-oscilloscope","category-soldersmoke-podcast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6628"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6630,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6628\/revisions\/6630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.homebrewradio.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}