RadioShack Used to Sell Kids This Madness (Amateur Radio Adjacent)

Oh, I remember that well, it was one of my favorite toys, if I remember it correctly though, I wasn't very successful at making it do what it was supposed to do.

I got a couple of these as a kid and played with them into my teenage years. I don't recall what ever happened to them (I think we gave them away at some point when moving?)

Edit: just remembered that I accidentally made a receiver of some sort messing about with some poorly-/un-shielded wire when I was around 13 or so. We could hear something in that tiny earpiece that came with the kit.

I've still got mine somewhere. It's a newer one that has a solderless breadboard in it.

Take a look at Snap Circuits. They're geared toward younger audiences I would say, but I had a set growing up that encouraged my interest in electronics. I picked up a new, bigger set recently to introduce to nieces and nephews when they are the right age.

My dad was a BSEE, we spent our Saturdays at Radio Shack (late 70's early 80's). I had all those kits, TRS80, Osborne, all the toys. I ended up a RF engineer.