Electronics newb (kinda)

[notbob]

Wow! I musta missed this group, but it's jes what I need. Been
hanging out over on sci.electronics.design, which is waaay over my
head. I'm jes a retired geezer hobbyist whose finally found the time
to actually learn formal electronics theory.

I've tried to learn electronics a couple o' times, but always got
bogged down in the math (which I can do) and sidetracked earning a
living. I guess I wasn't dedicated enough, plus mechanics has always
come natural to me. I finally did work my way into a
electro-mechanical tech position and got pretty good at tracing
circuits, soldering, troubleshooting, etc, but never really understood
the deep theory that would allow me to design any but the simplest
circuits and test fixtures. Anyway, Arduinos caught my eye and I'm
now deep into it, learning theory off the web and buying components
for experimenting, etc, as my fixed income allows. Keeps my dusty ol'
brain from degenerating too quickly. No doubt I'll pop in now and then
with some really dumb question.

For the first time with electronics, I'm having fun.

notbob

--
vi --the heart of evil!

 

[Winston]

notbob wrote:

Wow! I musta missed this group, but it's jes what I need. Been
hanging out over on sci.electronics.design, which is waaay over my
head. I'm jes a retired geezer hobbyist whose finally found the time
to actually learn formal electronics theory.

I've tried to learn electronics a couple o' times, but always got
bogged down in the math (which I can do) and sidetracked earning a
living. I guess I wasn't dedicated enough, plus mechanics has always
come natural to me. I finally did work my way into a
electro-mechanical tech position and got pretty good at tracing
circuits, soldering, troubleshooting, etc, but never really understood
the deep theory that would allow me to design any but the simplest
circuits and test fixtures. Anyway, Arduinos caught my eye and I'm
now deep into it, learning theory off the web and buying components
for experimenting, etc, as my fixed income allows. Keeps my dusty ol'
brain from degenerating too quickly. No doubt I'll pop in now and then
with some really dumb question.

For the first time with electronics, I'm having fun.

Excellent !bob

Welcome to the group.
We hope to learn a lot from you.

--Winston

 

[Tom Biasi]

On 19 Apr 2012 23:48:02 GMT, notbob <notbob@nothome.com> wrote:

Wow! I musta missed this group, but it's jes what I need. Been
hanging out over on sci.electronics.design, which is waaay over my
head. I'm jes a retired geezer hobbyist whose finally found the time
to actually learn formal electronics theory.

I've tried to learn electronics a couple o' times, but always got
bogged down in the math (which I can do) and sidetracked earning a
living. I guess I wasn't dedicated enough, plus mechanics has always
come natural to me. I finally did work my way into a
electro-mechanical tech position and got pretty good at tracing
circuits, soldering, troubleshooting, etc, but never really understood
the deep theory that would allow me to design any but the simplest
circuits and test fixtures. Anyway, Arduinos caught my eye and I'm
now deep into it, learning theory off the web and buying components
for experimenting, etc, as my fixed income allows. Keeps my dusty ol'
brain from degenerating too quickly. No doubt I'll pop in now and then
with some really dumb question.

For the first time with electronics, I'm having fun.

notbob
Welcome. Dumb questions are not dumb to the person who wants an

answer.
I have seen your nic before but can't remember where.

Tom

 

[T]

In article <slrnjp194i.2k3.notbob@nbleet.hcc.net>, notbob@nothome.com
says...

Wow! I musta missed this group, but it's jes what I need. Been
hanging out over on sci.electronics.design, which is waaay over my
head. I'm jes a retired geezer hobbyist whose finally found the time
to actually learn formal electronics theory.

I've tried to learn electronics a couple o' times, but always got
bogged down in the math (which I can do) and sidetracked earning a
living. I guess I wasn't dedicated enough, plus mechanics has always
come natural to me. I finally did work my way into a
electro-mechanical tech position and got pretty good at tracing
circuits, soldering, troubleshooting, etc, but never really understood
the deep theory that would allow me to design any but the simplest
circuits and test fixtures. Anyway, Arduinos caught my eye and I'm
now deep into it, learning theory off the web and buying components
for experimenting, etc, as my fixed income allows. Keeps my dusty ol'
brain from degenerating too quickly. No doubt I'll pop in now and then
with some really dumb question.

For the first time with electronics, I'm having fun.

notbob

The math really isn't all that difficult. Basic algebra is about all
that is necessary.

And there are a few handy formulas to remember, thigns like Ohm's law,
and maybe Kirchoff's law among others.

If you want to do RF, I strongly suggest getting your amateur radio
ticket and buying the study guides from the ARRL. You'll love learnign
about the various oscillators (Hartley, Colpitts and then you'll learn
about phase angles and all sort of fun stuff.

The Arduino platform will get you thinking though. You can do all sorts
of things with it.

 

[Michael Black]

On Thu, 19 Apr 2012, notbob wrote:

Wow! I musta missed this group, but it's jes what I need. Been
hanging out over on sci.electronics.design, which is waaay over my
head. I'm jes a retired geezer hobbyist whose finally found the time
to actually learn formal electronics theory.

I've tried to learn electronics a couple o' times, but always got
bogged down in the math (which I can do) and sidetracked earning a
living.

What math? Yes it's there, and one way to describe things, but a lot of
things can be taught without math. And oddly, the one thing that has
changed in forty years is that math for practical reasons, such as
figuring out the proper value of a resistor to bias a transistor, is just
a matter of having the formula and putting it in a calculator with some
values. In the old days, that sort of math was often missing from the
mainstream books (you'd have to get other books for that, at least in
hobby circles), because it required too much from the reader, in the days
before calculators.

Michael


I guess I wasn't dedicated enough, plus mechanics
has always > come natural to me. I finally did work my way into a

electro-mechanical tech position and got pretty good at tracing
circuits, soldering, troubleshooting, etc, but never really understood
the deep theory that would allow me to design any but the simplest
circuits and test fixtures. Anyway, Arduinos caught my eye and I'm
now deep into it, learning theory off the web and buying components
for experimenting, etc, as my fixed income allows. Keeps my dusty ol'
brain from degenerating too quickly. No doubt I'll pop in now and then
with some really dumb question.

For the first time with electronics, I'm having fun.

notbob

--
vi --the heart of evil!

 

[notbob]

On 2012-04-20, Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> wrote:

What math? Yes it's there, and one way to describe things, but a lot of
things can be taught without math.

A fact I learned when I weaseled my way into the electro-mechanical
field. Prior, my forte was high vacuum, which got me into the module
test dept. With much previous experience in soldering and assy of
cables/wiring/termination, and a passing knowledge of omns law, I
began to learn computers and elec/mech circuit troubleshooting. I
gained a lot of practical knowledge in those days.

In the old days, that sort of math was often missing from the
mainstream books (you'd have to get other books for that, at least in
hobby circles), because it required too much from the reader, in the days
before calculators.

Boy, howdy! My fist exposure was in the service, correspondence
classes in electronics. While I had a good grasp of algebra, I never
learned to find square root by long division (the slipstick days).
Whew. And a simple LED 4-5 function calculator (what you now get in a
box of cereal for free!) were jes hitting the market at $400-500 ea.
This correspondence course was ALL theory and math oriented. Nary a
resitor or wire or battery to be found. I burned out, quickly.

I tried again, much later in jr college, but that course was just as
weird. By my second semester, I found myself sitting in front of an
oscillascope, but had yet to learn even Kirchoff's law or fully
understand an RLC circuit.

Now, with the internet in full bloom, the world is my oyster. I can
pick and choose the things I need to learn or may be fuzzy on and go
to a zillion sources to find out any little thing. If I don't learn
from one webpage cuz the material is presented a bit too dry or
without enough graphics fer my pea brain, I can find 20 other better
pages, with everything from gif graphics to java to flash to full on
youtube videos. Brilliant! Learning has never been easier and fun.

Plus, online, there's whole communities of like minded folks, young
and old, rabid to help poor poor pitiful me. How cool is that!?

nb

--
vi --the heart of evil!

 

[notbob]

On 2012-04-20, Tom Biasi <tombiasi@optonline.net> wrote:

I have seen your nic before but can't remember where.

Likewise. Your last name rings a bell.

I learned about usenet early and have always preferred it to forums.
I've posted over 25K articles on usenet in the last 10 yrs, everthing
from BBQ, beer brewing, guns, computers, to wrenching motorcycles and
playing guitar. No doubt we've crossed paths more than once.

nb

--
vi --the heart of evil!

 

[Fred Abse]

On Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:34:02 +0000, notbob wrote:

a passing knowledge of omns law

Zen Buddhism?

--
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence
over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."
(Richard Feynman)

 

[Tom Biasi]

On Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:30:31 -0700, Fred Abse
<excretatauris@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:34:02 +0000, notbob wrote:

a passing knowledge of omns law

Zen Buddhism?
Do you think he got it Fred

 

[notbob]

On 2012-04-22, Tom Biasi <tombiasi@optonline.net> wrote:

On Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:30:31 -0700, Fred Abse
excretatauris@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:34:02 +0000, notbob wrote:

a passing knowledge of omns law

Zen Buddhism?
Do you think he got it Fred

Yeah.... though I am running low on incense.

nb

--
vi --the heart of evil!

 

[Winston]

notbob wrote:

On 2012-04-22, Tom Biasi<tombiasi@optonline.net> wrote:
On Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:30:31 -0700, Fred Abse
excretatauris@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:34:02 +0000, notbob wrote:

a passing knowledge of omns law

Zen Buddhism?
Do you think he got it Fred

Yeah.... though I am running low on incense.

I have some.
Be Here Now.

--Winston
--

ni. The heart of Unix!