I think I was able to grasp the whole WBann, except the words in bold. Could you rephrase that sentence?

It's an American coloquialism (at least I think it stems from here). Basically, "unreal" means something that is real, but is so good it seems like it can't be. So if you were to ride the best roller coaster you've ever been on, you might get off and say, "That was unreal!"

 

Thinking of the hobby in ten years time, I asume that a hobbyist should be able to:

1 - learn to simulate well the intended circuit using the best circuit simulator (available to him).

2 - Go straight to a PCB that by that time should be not very expensive to produce AND easy to produce. (Everything is relative compared to...)

3 - Understand that reworking the PCB would be most probably a necessary step, maybe more than once. I wish we could hear how many successful / completed (hobbyst) designs were done in the original PCB without any additional connection/component. Not many, I guess.

My biggest concern is the "barrier to entry" that has built up and is continuing to build higher and higher. Many (not all, by any means) people that got into electronics did so indirectly -- they wanted to talk to someone half way around the world, they wanted to save money on auto repairs, they wanted to make a better (clock, radio, stereo, computer, etc.) than was available commercially at an affordable price. So they set out to build one and, along the way, discovered that electronics was fun and fulfilling. But if they hadn't been able to start tinkering without learning a bunch of stuff that wasn't immediately moving their project along or had to put out even a modest amount of money above and beyond the parts for their project, they might well have bagged the whole idea. This is especially the case with younger folk who have very limited resources and lots of other things vying for their interest and time.

 

Figures.............I've been put out of one-too-many jobs either by automation or advancing technology.... Retirement is nice, but I guess it's time to load up on basic thru-hole stuff