7 Top Electronic Sites for the Hobbyist

Electronics was a hobby of mine long before I obtained my degree in Electronics Engineering. I have worked in the electronics field for over 30 years and electronics is still my most favorite hobby. This is a list of 7 sites I feel will be useful to the budding electronics enthusiast to the more advance hobbyist.

Sites are listed for a variety of electronic sources. The sites are for electronic schematics, project kits and parts suppliers. There are other sites to be found that allow one to study electronic theory and learn about electronic instrumentation, which is beyond the scope of this article.

Rainbow Kits

Kit building is a good way to get started putting together electronic circuits for the hobbyist. The right parts for the project are gathered for you and instructions are provided. Rainbow Kits sells some really useful kits. The kits include pre-amps, power amp circuits, digital thermometers, receivers/transmitters and many other great projects.

Electronics Zone

Electronic Zone sells electronic project kits ranging from embedded systems to robotics. The site offers many electronic schematics where you can buy parts or use parts already at hand. It usually takes more skill and knowledge to get a device working when you have to assemble everything from scratch.

BG Micro

BG Micro sells kits and parts. The parts are reasonably prices and they have a good selection. If you build electronic kits and projects this site is well worth checking out.

Hobby Projects

Hobby Projects has a huge selection of electronic schematics. The site has a formidable listing of electronic tutorials for beginners to advanced. The electronic dictionary and new video section is very useful.

Hobby Engineering

Hobby Engineering is another site that provides more complex kits for the electronics hobbyist. These kits are geared more to electronics enthusiast on the advance level.

Jameco Electronics

Jameco Electronics has been in business for over 35 years. Jameco offers a large selection of parts at decent prices.

Digi-Key Corporation

I have purchased parts from Digi-Key for most of my electronics career. They offer a very thick paper catalog just for the asking. Almost any part needed can be found here, except for the more obscure parts. This site has a resource section that can be very useful. Data sheets are available on the site and the high quality service they provide is world class.

Used Parts

A good way to save money is to remove parts from broken or obsolete electronics. Old computer monitors, computers, power supplies, radios, and other devices are a gold mine of electronic components.

Use solder wick to remove the components to keep the lead wires as long as possible. The parts are ready to put into another circuit board. It would be wise to have the right instrumentation where the components can be tested to make sure they still function.

Conclusion

It is well advised for the electronic hobbyist to obtain a formal education in electronics. Those that work with electronics without a formal education should stay away from higher voltage projects.

Without real electronic knowledge the hobbyist may be putting themselves at great risk of electrocution. It doesn't take much electrical current to kill, so please be careful and learn what you are doing before working with electrical energy.

Sources: Personal experience working in the electronics field for over 30 years.