Electronics

Where can a person learn basic electronics? I have tried every resource I can think of to no avail. Can any of you guys offer some advice?

Ta
Joolsburger

 

tandy used to do basic electronics kits where you could make 101 different basic circuits by pegging bits of wire and components together on a board, along with a book to explain what was going on. not sure if there is an equivalent from maplin or rs as tandy seem to have evaporated.
cheers


julian

 

Hi,

You could try your local college of F.E. to see if they have any courses.

There are plenty of books & stuff on the net to get you going.

Have a look here for a starter.


SCIDB

 

GCSE and A level courses are available (I did both before my degree), both of which pretty much start from the beginning (A level does not require GCSE.... just reasonable level of maths and physics). However, both are quite practically based, and may require facilities that you don't have or wish to acquire (eg oscilloscope, bench psu, function generator, device programmer, etc), so a college or similar is probably your best bet.

As a text for learning electronics from the beginning, I recommend Electronic Systems by M V Brimicombe. The electronics "bible" is The Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill, but this is a more advanced book and nothing like as accessible. A great reference though.

 

Thanks for that I have already checked with all the local education sources and there are no courses available.

Bah..

Books it is then but it's never as good as having a real person teach you.

 

if your a complete beginer one of the gcse course books is a good start,ive a copy of "electronics for you" by micheal mc loughlin that i still refer back to.starts with the basics but builds on this to cover simple transistor circuits op amps and even some digatal stuff

 

Or you can join the Air Force for electronics maintenance like I did in 1966... :beamup:

 

I did GCSE electronics but it was quite basic. It just tought you how to make PCBs, build basic circuits such as 555 timer controled devices, darlington pair transistors etc. I wanted to do it at A level but hardly any where offered it.

 

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Thanks to all who responded. It seems my self built valve amp dreams are some way off yet!!

 

I know what you mean amazingtrade, I was all set to do an AS level in Electronics to fill in the gaps at college. Turned up for the first class, only to find the course had been cancelled due to insufficient numbers, and nobody had bothered telling the students or amending the timetable

I just don't think it's seen as important to most people here anymore, they seem to think it's all best left to the far east

 

Shouldn't be. You don't have to attended Art school to do a paint by numbers, and most kits are exactly the same. Just practice your soldering skills.

I recommend buying some of the cheap kits from Maplins as a practice and then build up from there.