"Whoot! I'm upgrading from greenhorn : D Ive been trying really hard not to get knocked on my ass. I only wish I could be half as good as y'all ; )
I am getting better though and may get there someday "
Well, I got started very VERY young, being born with an innate ability to take things apart, and put them back together again... and have them STILL WORK!
Always had an strong aptitude for electronics, had my first soldering iron at age 10, was playing with old amps ( tube and SS ) in my teens, watched my dad fixing TVs growing up, surpassed his abilities at 15ish.
In my sophomore and Jr years of HS, I took the Electronics course they had ( which I terrorized :p )
It was there that they had all sorts of fun donated old electron goodies, and where I learned a lot of the stuff I still use today, ( and got zapped quite a few times ) AND... found out the hard way, that a picture tube really CAN implode when you least expect it.
It was from this class that I found and kept ( saved ) my CTC-16XL, along with other rare items like, a Zenith transoceanic royal 1000 , A Sansui 9090 & 1000, 2 dynakit mark iii amps. uher 22 hi fi special.
NOOO, I'm not a electronic pack-rat..