Well because I was young and stupid.
It started out by accident. I noticed when testing the ignition for the Yamaha that it would cause problems with the TV. Although only if the TV was no more than 20 feet away. That gave me the idea of making a proper transmitter with a lot more power. Our next door neighbor was an old woman who hated everything and everyone, especially me. And she hated motorcycles and those who rode them with a passion. She spent much of the day either watching TV or calling the mothers of the neighborhood children to complain about them. So to get back at her, I would after getting home from school, turn the transmitter on. My mother eventually found out what I was up to and took it away.
And John, I too made Ammonia triiodide crystals. I would put the crystals on the sidewalk and as people walked by and stepped on it, bang! I then moved on to making black powder. One time I had the chemicals to make nitro glycerin . My father explained the dangers of making that and I never tried to do it.
At the time my father was working for a company building a factory to make RDX for the US military. He had all the technical manuals for any explosive the military used. Almost all were impossible to make at home without killing yourself.
Serious credibility there Bruce, world away yet the same driven young man/men, mantra. Witnessed a Nitrate mixture go bad, hospitalised young bloke whom did not fully appreciate the chemicals he was using, ie a not gifted person using information well above his capabilities, like to think you Bruce and myself while chemical and electrical dangerous attractions with a modicum of outcome awareness. Reads your dad was a dad of much worth to you, crucial guidance.
One of the better USA style do it big explosions for amateurs was on a Myth Busters show, a large cement truck with a load that had set hard, loaded with a form of high explosive, filmed about a mile away. the truck just vanished. Then of course there is my favourite DVD, Atomic Cafe... have the pdf version for "Swords of Armageddon" not exactly a book for reading, insight into the two labs of the day creating devices to remove the face of the earth. Did at one stage have the documents for how they created the electrical and electronic protection and triggering devices for nuclear devices, had electronic devices listed that were unknown to me, like many documents in the day, most are not available any longer on the WWW, a good and bad thing in one.
Ignition, just ordered 5 devices from ST, all in one inductive discharge controller, control and current limited output driver in one thermal package.
$5 each, as the old device in the Mazda 929 failed or more likely i killed it. $150 for an "igniter"....."i'll Noo be paying for that" in mangled Scottish accent. Running one of my 1995 CDI iis slave boards, at this time... still like experimenting to this day. j
........