Step 1
Buy
soldering iron for 13th birthday.
Step 2
16 years later, get a yearning for an
FM transmitter to broadcast music from my PC to a radio anywhere in my house. Search Internet for such a device, but find none in Australia. Give up on idea.
Step 3
Find
FM transmitter ("minimitter") kit for sale at
electronics shop for $AU60. Purchase, and get to work on it. Get concerned by the number of items in the kit. Get more concerned at the existence of
surface mounted (SM) components, so tiny that they are barely visible. Get positively alarmed that some of these SM components must be soldered in in the correct orientation. Blithely go ahead with the operation anyway. Find it doesn't work. Blame my soldering iron, which has a tip the size of Uluru.
Step 4
Purchase much cheaper FM transmitter kit, from the shelf next to the original. It looks to be lower power and lower quality sound, but decide it would be good to practise on an easier kit. Build it, and find that it works. Celebrate, use it for a few days, then get bored with the whole concept.