The STEM Degree SCAM, etc

Some different perspectives on what the tech job scene is like these days, and then some other random things. Honestly I am not sure what has happened in my feed today.

Propagation of electricity

Thanks to Craig for referring me to Brian Haidet’s AlphaPhoenix channel.

I found the following four videos on the AlphaPhoenix channel explaining various aspects of the propagation of electricity, which goes some way to explaining how the high impedance headphone might work in my 10in1 2/10 project.

While watching the videos I discovered that Brian’s oscilloscope is a Siglent SDS1104X-E (100 MHz) Oscilloscope, a pretty nice looking bit of kit!

Morse Code Oscillator | Project 2/10 | Maxitronix 10in1 | In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I do the second Maxitronix 10in1 Electronic Project Lab project: Morse Code Oscillator.

In this video when I’m talking about the tuning capacitor I say that 0.001uF is 1,000 picofarads, but of course it is 1,000 nanofarads; I would have put a correction into the video but I didn’t notice the error until I had already published it.

There was some follow up discussion about topics raised in this video over here: propagation of electricity.

Stay tuned for the upcoming projects. If you’re interested in seeing them don’t forget to subscribe!

Also, if you’re interested in getting any of these Maxitronix kits yourself the best place I know to look is on eBay. Let me know if you find them somewhere else!

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe!


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha L-shaped ScrewdriverThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

Morse Code By Light | Project 1/10 | Maxitronix 10in1 | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I do the first the Maxitronix 10in1 Electronic Project Lab project: Morse Code By Light.

Stay tuned for the upcoming projects. If you’re interested in seeing them don’t forget to subscribe!

Also, if you’re interested in getting any of these Maxitronix kits yourself the best place I know to look is on eBay. Let me know if you find them somewhere else!

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe!


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha Magnetic Claw Pickup ToolThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

Introducing Maxitronix 10in1 | Maxitronix 10in1 | Learning Electronics In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I introduce the Maxitronix 10in1 Electronic Project Lab. This kit has 10 projects which we will be working through in future videos.

I did check out the URL listed on the manual: www.maxitronix.com — but there’s nothing there any more, it is simply listed as for sale. I tried looking in archive.org but I only found some default content from the hosting provider.

Stay tuned for the upcoming projects. If you’re interested in seeing them don’t forget to subscribe!

Also, if you’re interested in getting any of these Maxitronix kits yourself the best place I know to look is on eBay. Let me know if you find them somewhere else!

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe!


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

ZKETECH EBD-A20H Electronic LoadThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

Channel News #2: Announcing Maxitronix Xin1 Projects Feature | In The Lab With Jay Jay

This post is part of my video blog and you can find more information about this video on this show’s homepage which is here.

You can support this channel on Patreon: patreon.com/JohnElliotV

In this video I announce the new “Xin1” feature of the show. In the Xin1 feature we will work through the various Maxitronix electronic project labs that I own. We will be working through the following project kits, one after the other:

  • 10in1
  • 20in1 (actually branded “Sensor Robot 20”)
  • 30in1
  • 59in1 (actually branded “Electronic Digital Recording Laboratory”)
  • 60in1
  • 130in1
  • 200in1
  • 300in1
  • 500in1

That’s 1,309 projects to do!

As I mention in the video each time I start a new project kit I will do an introductory video to cover the front matter in the manual and to give an overview of the projects in the kit. Then I will make one video for every project in the kit. The project videos will be in this form:

  • Project introduction
  • Project construction (in the booth)
  • Demonstration and testing (on the bench)
  • Conclusion and review

And starting today the plan is to have a new video on the channel every day. So let’s see how I go with that! :)

Update 2024-05-10 jj5 – it turns out daily videos were way too ambitious. My new goal is three videos per week. Also standby for updates to the video format, I am thinking I will add a circuit simulation in LTspice and maybe an actual circuit build on a PCB designed in KiCad and manufactured by PCBWay.

If you’re interested in getting any of these Maxitronix kits yourself the best place I know to look is on eBay. Let me know if you find them somewhere else!

Update 2024-05-10 jj5 – I also found many of these kits are available at Altronics.

John's collection of Maxitronix electronic project labs

Thanks very much for watching! And please remember to hit like and subscribe!


Following is a product I use picked at random from my collection which may appear in my videos. Clicking through on this to find and click on the green affiliate links before purchasing from eBay or AliExpress is a great way to support the channel at no cost to you. Thanks!

Yum Cha Craft Knife SetThis is an image of the product.notes

Let’s go shopping!

6 Horribly Common PCB Design Mistakes and AppCAD

Today I enjoyed watching 6 Horribly Common PCB Design Mistakes and the follow-up video Design Mistakes You Must Avoid on Your New Electronic Product.

In the first video I learned about AppCAD Design Assistant which is a free tool which boasts a broad bunch of features (and, particularly, it can help you design an antenna on your PCB):

  • S-Parameter Analysis and Plotting
  • Active Circuit Bias Design
  • Cascade Noise and IP3 Analysis
  • Transmission Line Analysis
  • Signals and Systems
  • Complex Math Engineering Calculator

I haven’t used AppCAD yet, but I will check it out soon.

Learning Kdenlive: Audio Normalization

I’m slowly learning how to use my video production tools.

Yesterday I discovered the 2 pass audio normalization feature in kdenlive.

You seem to need to apply this effect to each clip separately.

This 2 pass effect is much easier to configure than the other normalization option, which requires more configuration settings.

With the 2 pass audio normalization you just nominate your desired volume, click Analyze, and you’re done. You need to do that for each clip.

Now that I know how to do this the audio on my videos shouldn’t be as terrible as it has been. Getting better. Slowly.