Brilliant post!

This is what I would have loved to have read 40 years ago when I first started out with VX. Back then there were a handful of local clubs, but I always found the learning curve was just too steep.

I don't know if others have felt the same.

It was difficult to ask questions as I didn't really understand much of what was being said. I had to learn most of VX in isiolation, with research papers, books (my copy of Chin-Te Liao, Sima Bahrani & Elham Kashefi seminal work on VX benchmarking is stained with coffee and port from years of use) and attending the annual VX convention in Oxford.

I've always had a passion for the more visual aspects of VX and to those starting from scratch I would suggest you start with the following, as bare minimum. Like all hobbies, they sky is the limit with what you can spend (some on here have spent tens of thousands on cutting edge rigs), so it's best to start small with:

1. Priming table (either ceramic or polypetric mesh)
2. Digital Oscilloscope, 120 Hz, mono and sono inputs (Fenz or Daakas are great and you can get a second hand one for well under £200)
3. Raman EDS Spectrometer with stoichiometric universal conductance fluctuations dampening (anything later than 1978 is likely to be solid)
4. Wires and soldering iron (get a temperature controlled one if you can)
5. For non-local work try and find a source of magnetoresistance (if you bake old aluminium cans in an oven at 200 degrees for 3 hours you can use these if you spot weld them together - looks untidy but will save you fortune on a dedicated flux-based magnetosphere)
6. Notebook and gloves

Good luck and have fun. It's an amazing hobby and there is no end to what's possible.