At this time, you can hopefully see how important it is for the hacker of invisible worlds to have a good education in the art and science of electronics (not to mention other disciplines; including parapsychology). This not only includes theory, but also applications and the use of test equipment. I recall when I first started in electronics the Waldenbooks and B. Dalton bookstores in local shopping malls had a large "technical book" section that was full of electronics books. As the years went by, the selection shrunk, and became the "science & nature" section where everything from electronics to ecology was lumped together in one small section. B. Dalton is out of business now, and Waldenbooks still maintains a miniscule "science & nature" section in their stores. Things evolve however, and 21st. Century electronics students have two sources where they can acquire electronics books. The first is the Internet, where online booksellers such as amazon.com will ship you whatever you want. The second is the two major bookstore chains Borders and Barnes & Noble. Both of the big two bookstores maintain an engineering section with a selection of electronics books, although the selection will vary from store to store. While for the most part I'm not impressed with the selection of electronics books in the two major chains, there are some good texts that can be often be found in their store stock. Both store chains will also special order books for you, getting it to you within a couple weeks. One of the best electronics tutorials is available free from the US Navy. It is the 24-module Navy Electricity and Electronics Training Series (NEETS) self-study course for use by sailors in electrical and electronic-related ratings. The NEETS course provides beginners with fundamental electrical and electronic concepts. While each module is a couple hundred pages long and takes some time to download, this is a "must-have" especially given the price. Once you get through this course, you will have a good grounding in electronic principles and test procedures. The NEETS course is available from the Navy at http://www.advancement.cnet.navy.mil, via my website, or elsewhere on the Internet.

So far, you have gone through a few thousand pages of material without spending a dime on other than maybe a box of paper and a few printer cartridges. Now you can go on over to your local bookstore and check out their technology section and get utterly confused. A number of the electronics books you will find at the local Borders or Barnes & Noble are overpriced garbage containing the identical information you have already learned reading the free NEETS course. There is a reasonably priced exception that you might find at the local bookstore. Chances are however, you will have to go to an amateur radio dealer or get it via mail order. This book is The ARRL Handbook For Radio Amateurs. If you purchase the current year's edition new it will only set you back $35 for a nice 1200 page reference that will complement the information in the NEETS course. If you go to a hamfest you will probably find a used recent (within the past couple years) copy for about $15-$20 depending on age and condition. What you should really do is acquire a copy going back every 10 years or so for a few decades as the information in them changes as technology advances. You will find applicable "older technology" information in earlier volumes that is not printed in later ones.

One good author whose books you should have in your library is Forrest Mims III. This gentleman has been writing about electronics almost as long as I've been alive. He has written for Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics, and Modern Electronics magazines. His work is a good combination of theory and practical circuit examples. Not only is his material very good, it's also readily available. His Engineer's Mini-Notebooks are available at Radio Shack, and his Circuit Scrapbooks can be purchased Barnes & Noble and Border's Booksellers. The current version of the Engineer's Mini-Notebooks available from Radio Shack are $6 each. The two I consider to be "must-haves" are Science and Communication Circuits and Projects, and Electronic Sensor Circuits and Projects. They are digest-sized and about 140 pages in length. Older versions are still digest-sized, but smaller in length, about 40-50 pages per volume. They were about $2 each. It appears that Radio Shack combined the volumes of the older versions into a smaller number of bigger-sized volumes. The Mini-Notebooks are just the right size for throwing into a tool kit. Mims has also published a full-size (8 ½"x11") version called The Engineer's Notebook containing a lot of the information that is in the Mini-Notebooks, as well a two volume set, The Forrest Mims Circuit Scrapbook, which contains different information as well as more background data than does the Mini-Notebooks. My personal opinion is to acquire recent versions of the Engineer's Mini-Notebooks from Radio Shack, and then pick up the two-volume Circuit Scrapbook set from wherever.
The late Joseph J. Carr is another good author to have in your reference library. He has authored numerous books, but the ones in my library that stand out are the five volume Electronic Circuit Guidebook series, and the excellent two volume set Radio Science Observing. Other books that you may wish to consider are listed below.
· Build Your Own Laser, Phaser, Ion Ray Gun and Other Working Space-Age Projects, by Robert E. Iannini
· The Basement Buggers Bible, by Shifty Bugman
· Electronic Projects from the Next Dimension, by Newton C. Braga
· Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits (several volumes), by Rudolf F. Graf
These books stand out because they have a lot of useful information, and circuit examples. They also serve, in my opinion, as a benchmark with which to judge other books for addition into your collection.

Periodicals are more limited in their selection for the underground electronics hobbyist. There used to be a few out there: Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics, Modern Electronics, Computers & Electronics. Even Byte Magazine had the column Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar. These days there are four magazines that cover electronics. They are 73 Magazine, Poptronics, Circuit Cellar Ink, and Nuts & Volts. All of them are pretty good periodicals, and the beginning enthusiast would do well to subscribe to all of them for a year to see what he/she prefers. Each one has a slightly different focus on how they cover the topic.

One of the best electronics periodicals is 73 Magazine. It also happens to be one of the hardest to get. It is primarily amateur radio oriented, but as you're aware by now there is quite a bit of crossover from ham stuff into underground electronics. Due to issues with big-time periodical distributors that have sales policies bordering on fraudulent, you won't find it on most newsstands or major bookstores. To get this one you will have to either subscribe or find it at a ham radio retailer. You can also contact them directly. Subscriptions are $25/year sent to: 73 Magazine, 70 Hancock Rd., Peterborough, NH 03458. You can also call (603) 924-0058 for more information. This is one magazine I have consistently had a subscription to in spite of the fact that there are three ham stores within driving distance that carry it.
Poptronics is a modern combination of two magazines I used to read regularly when I first started in electronics: Radio Electronics (a/k/a Electronics Now), and Popular Electronics. I personally feel that its ancestral publications were much better when I read them in the 1980s. Radio Electronics magazine during the mid to late 1980s had all sorts of good articles on cable TV de-scramblers, stun guns, laser microphones, TV transmitters, and "radar speed gun calibrators". It used to be sold right off the newsstand at the local supermarket next to the TV repair shop where I worked during my misspent youth (The supermarket is still there, but the TV shop is long gone.). Every month I'd head down there and check out the latest copy, usually coming home with it. If you have the opportunity to come across back issues of Radio Electronics from this era, they are a good read. Poptronics is available at most newsstands and book stores.

Circuit Cellar Ink is an expansion of a column written by the famous Steve Ciarcia in Byte magazine. For many years Steve wrote Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar, a hardware hacking feature that made Byte magazine worth buying until the column stopped in the late 1980s. Fortunately, the material that made Steve's column so cool is now available in the size of a whole magazine that has been published since 1988. Circuit Cellar Ink contains much more advanced information in it than Poptronics or any of the other electronics magazines. As the information on their website http://www.circuitcellar.com/ states "Circuit Cellar, The Magazine for Computer Applications, is the only magazine that is focused on the needs of hands-on designers, engineers, and programmers of microcomputer hardware and software. Circuit Cellar magazine presents tools, techniques, and creative solutions that are of immediate, practical value."

Nuts & Volts Magazine originally started as a classifieds paper for electronics parts and surplus, kind of like a Shotgun News for geeks. Over the years, it has expanded into a full-fledged electronics magazine with how-to articles and information on a variety of electronics topics in addition to the ads for all sorts of interesting electronics. This tabloid-sized periodical averages 96-100 pages in length each month, and it's a bargain for only $25 a year. If you need to find something electronics-related you'll probably find it within a couple months of looking through the ads of Nuts & Volts. This periodical is readily available, and their web site at http://www.nutsvolts.com/ has a list of places where it is sold.

Now you can amass a wealth of knowledge on electronics by reading books and magazines, but there are some things, such as soldering and making circuit boards, which are better learned by being taught by an instructor. Many schools and colleges offer courses on electronics. If you are still in High School you may wish to avail yourself of this opportunity if it is available. Many vocational/trade schools and colleges offer electronics courses, but will charge you to take the course. This cost could run from nominal to exorbitant. The practical value of some of the courses also varies form school to school. There is one way to get some practical education in electronics at either no cost, or at a very nominal course.

Amateur radio clubs throughout the United States offer free or low cost "license classes" for individuals who wish to obtain their amateur radio license. Typically when a cost is involved it is simply for the cost of materials used in the course. There is even a national club, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), who among other things acts as a clearinghouse for information on how to get your ham license, and what ham clubs are in the area that can help you by offering classes. I have been a licensed ham since age 15, and have found it to be an enjoyable aspect of my electronics hobby. Even if you decide you do not want a ham ticket for whatever reason, the practical information taught in the class is useful. The ARRL maintains a list of affiliated radio clubs on web site at http://www.arrl.org/, and many of these clubs either offer license classes or will be able to point you in the right direction.

For those who have yet to become aware of this fact, test equipment can be an expensive proposition. Most of us who aren't rich buy used, scrounge from wherever, build it, or improvise. With these four techniques, you can over a period of time put together a decent test-bench for about 1/3 of what it would cost you if you bought everything new. When I first started electronics as a hobby, one of my regular haunts was Radio Shack. Radio Shack actually catered to electronics enthusiasts back then, and their employees were not only friendly and helpful, but knowledgeable as well. "Rat Shack" was always putting things on clearance, and their dumpster was a regular source of interesting items. The employees are less knowledgeable, friendly and helpful towards "hobbyists" these days, but when they put something on clearance it is often marked down as much as 75%. You can often find bargains on test equipment and "consumer electronics" items that can be modified to be used as test equipment. I don't understand why, but when they do come out with a product that's useful, it usually winds up being discontinued within six months to a year. Items I have bought from The Shack on a greatly marked down clearance have included a nice "Portable Power Station" with multiple voltage outputs from 1.5V-12V, wireless "VCR Rabbits", a 20 MHz. "pen" type Oscilloscope that interfaces to a PC, multimeters that do the same, a number of "telephone accessories" that have served useful functions, a portable 2 GHz. frequency counter, DTMF tone generators, a digital thermometer, small "baby monitor"-type RF transmitters, and boxes of electronic components.

By and large, the number one source for test equipment and components is going to be the used equipment market. This is comprised of "hamfests" (electronic flea markets catering to ham operators and other technological enthusiasts), online electronics classified ads, used equipment dealer web sites, and online auctions such as Ebay. The nice thing about all this is that eventually you will find what you are looking for. The bad things are that it sometimes takes a while, and some of the sellers think their stuff is made of gold. There is another segment of the used equipment market that is often untapped by most enthusiasts. It is the alternative sources such as (non-techie) flea markets, tag sales, pawnshops, and "charity stores" (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.). You will sometimes find actual pieces of test equipment at these places for reasonable prices. This is because the people who "work" there are unaware of what it is and put a low price on it because they think it is "just another piece of electronic junk". Other times they will think it's something valuable and put an outrageous price on it, but more often than not the former occurs than does the latter. When searching the alternative sources you will find real test equipment finds to be few and far between. What you will find at those sources is consumer electronics equipment that can be modified or cannibalized for parts in order to build test equipment.

I feel scrounging is one of the defining factors of a technological hobbyist. Scrounging is the means of acquiring materials and equipment for free from various sources. This includes, but is not limited to dumpster diving, and school/work freebies. Successful scrounging is a combination of tenacity, location, and luck. You have to keep doing it if you eventually want success. You have to be near adequate resources. Urban areas seem to be better than suburban and rural areas. Luck also has a lot to do with it. I've known people who lived in what would be considered a less than optimal area, only scrounged once in a great while, and always came up with something. On the reverse side I've known people who've been in optimal areas, were always scrounging, and 90% of the time came up empty-handed.

I hope everyone who reads this book is familiar with the art and science of dumpster diving. According to the hacker group Phone Losers of America, dumpster diving is: "The practice of raiding the dumpsters behind buildings where producers and/or consumers of high-tech equipment are located, with the expectation (usually justified) of finding discarded but still-valuable equipment to be nursed back to health in some hacker's den." While corporate dumpsters are typically the common place to search, I've had more than occasional "finds" just keeping my eyes open for stuff left on the curbside during trash-day. Usually though, most finds been via the corporate dumpster. Dumpster diving is one of those legal gray areas. In Connecticut, there is a law against "corporate espionage" that specifically mentions dumpster diving. In some other places, you might be arrested (or threatened with arrest) for trespassing. Chances are you will not find working test equipment from dumpster diving. What you usually find are components and salvageable items that you can sometimes improvise or build with.

Locating places to dumpster dive can be done via two methods. The first is to find all the industrial parks in your area. You can then systematically go through the industrial park checking out every company's dumpster for neat stuff. The second is to do a Yahoo Yellow pages search for every company that deals with electronics and/or computers within a certain radius of your location. You will often find businesses that are not located in industrial parks that might have interesting dumpsters. As of late, the feasibility of dumpster diving to acquire parts or potentially useful equipment is becoming questionable for two main reasons. The first is a post September 11th. increase in sensitivity towards security. The second is that contemporary "consumer electronics" are becoming lower in quality and not as salvageable component-wise. These two factors are causing many to refocus efforts away from dumpster diving, and towards other scrounging avenues.

When I was in high school and vocational school, the schools were always getting donations of stuff they didn't need. This usually accumulated in some storage room until the quantity became unmanageable; at which point it was disposed of. Once I became aware of this, I asked my instructor and was granted permission to take any equipment the schools' didn't want. I had a similar arrangement with my first "real job" at a local TV repair shop. Customers would decline an estimate, and ask if we could just "throw it out". I'd salvage electronic parts and semi-working consumer electronics equipment I knew I could cheaply fix later. Throughout various tech jobs I've had over the years, I'd be instructed to "dispose" of something, and if it was salvageable it would wind up in the trunk of my car instead of the dumpster. Even during the "non-tech" jobs I've worked, I'd encounter some service person doing an equipment upgrade. They would go to dispose of the de-installed equipment, and I'd tell them "Don't worry, we'll throw it out for you." Recently, the school I now attend just discontinued their electronics program. A couple inquiries got me in touch with the head electronics instructor, and I walked away with an Oscilloscope and Function Generator. In some situations the keys to school/work freebies are keeping one's eyes open, being on good terms with your boss/administrative staff, and not being afraid to ask. In other situations, they are making sure the item is definitely being thrown out, and knowing when it's best not to ask and just do it.

By now, you've read up some on electronics, and have acquired a closet (or room, or basement) full of stuff. You should also have basic tools and test equipment such as a Volt-Ohm (VOM) Meter. To give you an idea of some of the things you can homebrew, you can surf on over to Green Bay Professional Packet Radio web site over at GBPPR where they have information on how to build all sorts of interesting test equipment. For more entry-level projects, there is a very good book called Fishing Groom Lake. It contains some nice schematics for all sorts of sensor and test equipment. The focus of the book was for "black project" enthusiasts who were checking out the famous Area 51 test site. It is mostly about the area around the test site, and the radio frequencies one can listen to around there, but the schematics make the book worth the price even if you never visit Nevada. The book is available for $20 + $5 s/h from Wolfe Design Group, P.O. Box 19375, Sacramento, CA 95819. As mentioned previously, Rudolf F. Graf's Encyclopedia of Electronic Circuits volumes contain many useful schematics.