Dick Smith talks about how he got started, the early Dick Smith Electronics days, his round the world adventures in a helicopter, balloon, and plane, and how amateur HAM radio played a huge part in his adventures and saved his life.
He also discusses Dick Smith foods, the loss of Australian manufacturers, and some old products like his "big dick" power supply!
Shot at the Manly-Warringah Radio Society, Nov 19th 2014
http://www.mwrs.org.au/
NOTE: Reposted from my 2nd EEVBlog2 channel, as a lot of people would not have seen it.
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He also discusses Dick Smith foods, the loss of Australian manufacturers, and some old products like his "big dick" power supply!
Shot at the Manly-Warringah Radio Society, Nov 19th 2014
http://www.mwrs.org.au/
NOTE: Reposted from my 2nd EEVBlog2 channel, as a lot of people would not have seen it.
Forum: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/dick-smith-amateur-radio-adventure/?topicseen'>http://www.eevblog.com/forum/blog/dick-smith-amateur-radio-adventure/?topicseen
EEVblog Main Web Site: http://www.eevblog.com
The 2nd EEVblog Channel: http://www.youtube.com/EEVblog2
Support the EEVblog through Patreon!
http://www.patreon.com/eevblog
EEVblog Amazon Store (Dave gets a cut):
http://astore.amazon.com/eevblogstore-20
T-Shirts: http://teespring.com/stores/eevblog
Donations:
http://www.eevblog.com/donations/
Projects:
http://www.eevblog.com/projects/
Electronics Info Wiki:
http://www.eevblog.com/wiki/
💗 Likecoin – Coins for Likes: https://likecoin.pro/ @eevblog/dil9/hcq3
Done.
Excellent interview. Dick is a legend of ham radio and electronics in Australia. His stories are riveting and a great laugh. Thanks Dave.
I've watched this talk from Dick Smith nearly 50 times now, still love it like crazy & it's in my 2nd favourite talks of all time, next to Denzel Washington motivational speeches (No3), Tony Robbins (No4) & the sermons from Jesus as described in Matthew being my No1.
Dick is an amazing individual who I could listen to for hours.
God bless you Richard Harold Smith for what you have done not just for amateur radio, not just what you have done for electronics but for what you have also done to bring the glory & fun back into electronics & engineering with your unique style
I'm not Australian nor have I really encountered Dick Smith's products or stories before but I thoroughly enjoyed this talk. Really interesting and entertaining.
What an inspiration, and a thoroughly interesting and great guy. Got me into electronics, the ‘fun way’ (I’ll always remember my trips as a kid to our local DSE store in Perth (William St) to buy bits & pieces) and was a good inspiration into getting my pilots license too. Not been around the world in a small aircraft though!
I decided to give this a quick watch, but just couldn't stop. What an inspiring story teller. I didn't initially recognize him and it was only half-way through that I realized I was watching THE Dick Smith that flew around the world in a helicopter. I recall reading about his adventure in FLYING magazine in the 80s, and never, ever expected to hear details of his adventure from himself. Many, many thanks for posting this.
fantastic
The luck he was having, he should of tried his luck and flew over area51 in nevada, on his first flight. lol
Lol, at his story, what an adventure to have.
On his first flight he must of been shitting himself so many times.
Its amazing, he was not shot down, like he said, going over restricted air space, or top secret areas. I wonder can he remember all his first flight, or was there anything too frightening to remember for him. Like he said, doing that first one, there must of been many a moment when he thought he was going to die.
Another example of humans using reason, and faith to do something amazing.
The leap of faith that so many people had to do, to just be that first person, is amazing.
I think when your scared at that level, you just say fuck it, whether i live or die, i just need to keep going. Thats when your really scared, as no real rational thought can make you calm. You just say, fuck this, i am just doing this, and keep going.
I wonder how many times on his first flight, he may of been literally shitting himself, and just existed on faith alone really?
When your scared as much as a human can be scared, you just say fuck it, just leave it to chance, and your faith to come through. There is no real reason in the human brain then, and your just so scared, that you cannot think rationally, your just leaving it to chance, or faith that you will get through.
Most people will probably never get to feel fear like he would of done on his first trip. I doubt he can really explain, how humans when they are so scared, just say fuck it, and leave it to chance, or faith they will get through.
Its a good example, of no matter how well prepared for something humans are, when they are at supreme fear and limit of being scared, your brain just have to say fuck it, just leave it to chance, or your faith you will get through.
He probably knows how lucky he was to get through that first trip. He was very lucky back then he was not shot down, going places he should not of been.
When your so scared, you cannot really think, and you leave it to fate, or your faith that you will get through. Thats something most humans never experience, so he can appreciate how fortunate he was to get through that first trip.
But it shows you how the leap of faith is enormous somethings, for a human to be that first person to do something.
You have to take your hat of to him. I have never heard of him, but to go round the world on a helicopter, without todays gps is a very big task.
Amazing.
I am glad he lived to tell the tale, and tell the world how scared he was. I bet he was, to the limit of a human being scared, and he had no other choice, but to leave it to his faith, and chance.
Good for him. Amazing what he did.
Super Australian! Deserved Aussie of the year when he was awarded it.
Great video and a good story about Dick Smith and how he got started… A must watch!! I was in a helicopter flying over Sydney harbour a few years ago and Dick called traffic on the radio, and I’ve never heard soooo many come backs ever! Even a few double mikes of pilots falling over each other to say G’day to Dick Smith (and yes he was flying his Helicopter) A true Aussie legend!
One of many pioneers that I would like to meet in person. Fortunate that I met L. B. Cebik (antenna expert), and Wayne Green (80 Microcomputing, Byte and Compute! magazines, and 73 Amateur magazine prior to their passing.
Such a joy to watch, not only a good bloke but a bloke with a great heart. Sadly there are few and far between.
Bloody Aussie Legend!
This guy would love being an astronaut, just say 'NO' to this helicopter mission.
I vaguely remember a catalogue from Australia.. I think it was called Dick Smith Electronics. It had a kind of a "comic book" look to it, which I found to be interesting…(it reminded me of the UK "Mr. Digwell" instructive garden "comic strip" format approach) and I surmised this to be sort of the Lafayette Radio/Radio Shack of Australia… is this correct?
Dick Smith my Boss
The old Dick Smith, he's actually a pretty good raconteur.
The internet has spoiled amateur radio. There was something special about getting contacts around the world without the phone bill. I still love it though. 2M1VFO.
Wow thanks for sharing.
Thanks Dave really enjoyed that.
Dick Smith for PM.
Love this video, there should be more!
Awesome story…
Very nice story, threw a like.
Well public school sucks and states are pain in ass. War, for what it's good for?
Also wasted years in public school, later realizing what waste that was, and only education really got was self taught and from private sources.
Also history, so big emphasis in public school. History actually teaches we live the way we never supposed to live and this way does not work, socialism does not work. :S
Growing up in the 80s as a teen into computers and electronics I still remember the brief period in the mid 80s when DSE expanded into the U.S. market before fading away a couple years later. Somewhere I still have the old catalog packed up in boxes of old magazines and catalogs from the time and ordered a number of parts from them that year for my robotics science fair project.