New Member, Please introduce yourself

[hitachi8]

Hello ,
i live in Canada ( for the moment ) , i am a hobbyist/computer guy .
i love to make Some weird and surprising DIY project .

[jstarship]

Hello! New member here from Miami, FL. Hope I'm welcome here!

[AsciiSimon]

Hi, I'm Simon from NZ. I am a software person professionally. An ex-developer (I got better!) and now in QA and testing. I am a long time electronics tinkerer however and I usually have some mad projects on the go. I joined because I wanted to ask about my multimeter - a Fluke 19. I couldn't find any reviews online for it and the Fluke sites don't mention it. I saw mutterings about this being a disastrous model and was wondering why then I found the question was already answered by Dave here.

Can someone tell me exactly how they did fail? What was the symptom or symptoms? Mine still seems to work even though it is over 10 years old now (bought new from Dick Smith) but now I feel I can't really trust it. Perhaps I should send it to Dave for some, errr, testing!

Thanks!

Simon

[ThunderSqueak]

Hi, I'm Simon from NZ. I am a software person professionally. An ex-developer (I got better!) and now in QA and testing. I am a long time electronics tinkerer however and I usually have some mad projects on the go. I joined because I wanted to ask about my multimeter - a Fluke 19. I couldn't find any reviews online for it and the Fluke sites don't mention it. I saw mutterings about this being a disastrous model and was wondering why then I found the question was already answered by Dave here.

Can someone tell me exactly how they did fail? What was the symptom or symptoms? Mine still seems to work even though it is over 10 years old now (bought new from Dick Smith) but now I feel I can't really trust it. Perhaps I should send it to Dave for some, errr, testing!

Thanks!

Simon

So, it hasn't failed in 10 years? You could check it against another known good meter (or 2) to see if it has drifted far out of spec.  Anyway... welcome to the forum

[MrPlacid]

Perhaps I should send it to Dave for some, errr, testing!
Thanks!
Simon

Nahhh, do it like Dave sell it on ebay and take the money and buy a more trusting meter.

[longview]

Hello, my name is Robin, from Norway.

I will be starting my first year of EE this fall, having completed my certificate of apprenticeship in general electronics repair last month (without actually interning, we have a special system where we can do the exam right out of high-school).

I found this blog while looking for interesting hardware hacks.

I like to experiment with electronics, hopefully I'll have access to PCB drilling and etching equipment once I start college, as well as better microcontroller programming systems for doing more complex tasks. I like to collect old test equipment, my favorite instruments I use regularly include the HP 1740a oscilloscope (100 MHz dual channel) and a HP 427a voltmeter (1 MHz averaging AC voltmeter).

[electricalengineering]

Hi @all,

i am frank form good old Germany :-)

I stumbled here cause I searched new ways of getting informations about SMPS, I found EEVblog at youtube.

I work in a R&D Dept. in the Hardware Engineering Group.
I made an apprenticeship as an electronic technician.

I often feel like electrical engineering is a dead-end  job, isn't it`?
My problem is, I am not good enough by half as a programmer, but programming getting more and more important in every newer development.

What is your prediction for the future of electrical engineering.
Will be most of the jobs transferred to china or india, etc?

greetz,
frank

[MrPlacid]

i am frank form good old Germany :-)
...
What is your prediction for the future of electrical engineering.
Will be most of the jobs transferred to china or india, etc?

greetz,
frank

Greeting franks,

My prediction is that most electronic engineering jobs as well as programming will go to china and india. However, the good news is that electronics relating to the medical field won't. I don't think anyone want a pacemaker with "MADE IN CHINA" stamped on it.

Also since you are from Germany, that is another good news. The only reason why germany is more successful than most other european countries is that you guys are known to make high quality goods. Because of that most companies when deciding which equipments to use and they see "Made in Germany", they'll probably use that one. Because of that you'll keep churning out more quality goods.

[electricalengineering]

Because of that you'll keep churning out more quality goods.
[/quote]

"churning"
Do you mean trickery, don't you?

But I think your right, most electronic components in industrial, consumer, machine constitution products come from china.
And software components are from india and others.

It's like lego engineering. Buy components form all over the world and build it together to a working machine.
But i think in the old days we bought ICs form the US and build it together, nowdays it's more comprehensive.

You think only medical will keep in our hands?,
that's not good, many many jobs get lost.

What's about information technology, is this better for job secure, isn't it?

[MrPlacid]

"churning"
Do you mean trickery, don't you?

No, I didn't meant trickery. Produce instead.

Yeah, many many jobs will get lost until machines get so good that it's cheaper to use machines than cheap labor. Then we all will be out of a job. At that point we're probably won't be around.

The world is changing fast... I remember the good old days people walk around with pager

[jwright]

Hello, my name is Kalle and I'm an EE student from Finland with quite a lot of electronics experience prior to starting university. I'm generally interested in all things electronic (including computer stuff, programming etc.). Done some stuff with microcontrollers etc. and I've been especially interested in high voltage/current stuff (but not limited to) which includes tesla coils, other kind of high voltage supplies and induction heaters etc. I'm a pretty typical engineer-kind-of-guy who has lot of project ideas and designs but rarely gets anything finished, I just tend to lose my interest in project after some time (I've noticed this is very common in engineerish -type people). Currently I've been redesigning my induction heater:



Here is my website: http://www.dgkelectronics.com/ (haven't bothered to add that much stuff there yet) but you can find all kinds of pictures and stuff of my projects in: http://www.dgkelectronics.com/storage/electronics/

Now excuse me but I have to go and study for tomorrows circuit analysis exam...

Wow... very impressive! 

[Bonker]

Hi I'm Morgan. I'm in my last year of a BEET degree and just getting started on a two-term, team project. I'm mostly interested in the Space Race or: how I learned to make things do stuff millions of miles from here. In my spare time I tinker with guitar electronics, including amps and effects, and that's what led me to seek an electronics education, that and the tedium of 15 years of software development had taken it's toll.

Thanks so much for the video blog! It led me here and I'm certain I will learn a lot on the site as well.

[ChrisGammell]

My name is Chris Gammell.

By day, I work on electrometers, digital multimeters, source meters and picoammeters (DC test equipment).

By night I write at my site, http://chrisgammell.com. I focus on analog and often stray into the weeds of engineering topics such as learning.

I found Dave's site the same way that many others did. I got to know Dave a little while trying to interview him but he's pretty busy over here with EEVblog. I'll excuse him because it's great to see what a wonderful community he has on these forums. I'm truly impressed with the diverse talent of the audience here and am even more excited by the wide areas of the world people hail from. I've lamented in the past of not being able to find electronics-centric people online...but it seems like here it is!

Look forward to participating and/or watching the conversation move along.

[Ronnie]

My name is Chris Gammell.

By day, I work on electrometers, digital multimeters, source meters and picoammeters (DC test equipment).

Hello Chris,
  From your Resume at your site looks like you are designing electrometers? Since 1995 to present I’ve been working for Analog Devices in the Philippines as a test manufacturing engineer and we are using Keithley 610C (designed in 1969) electrometer to measure operational amplifier input bias/leakage current with 40 femtoampere typical value like the one on this link http://www.analog.com/static/imported-files/data_sheets/AD549.pdf. When it comes to measuring very low level current nothing compares to electrometers manufactured by Keithley Instruments 

[ChrisGammell]

@Ronnie, while I don't usually talk about my day job too much online, that's pretty awesome. The 610C is waaaaay before my time, but that's amazing it's still around and working. I use Analog Device products quite often and I really love the specs on many of your parts.

[TopherTheME]

Hello, my name Kris, I'm a mechanical engineering PhD student from Michigan (USA). I stumbled upon this place looking for multimeter reviews online and decided to check out the some of the other blogs and the forum. So far, I really like it.

I've only taken one EE course in my entire life (and learned nothing from it) but I've learned and done some electronics design for work and for hobby. I also have a habit of designing and building my own instrumentation for research projects at school.

Most of my electronics experience originated in controls and robotics but lately I've been doing a lot of precision analog design. I'm currently trying to get more familiar with the PIC32 so I can use it for some DSP applications.

[seanmatthew22]

Hey,

I'm Sean from Ontario Canada. I'm going into grade 11 next year, electronics have been a hobby of mine since my 200 in 1 kit form radio shack. Now im on a first robotics team making all kinds of things. Right now i just have a sweep function generator, a logic analyzer, a oscilloscope, and a variable power supply. Though im hoping to get newer equipment as i get a job. 

[avrfreaks]

I am Brian from Boise, Idaho.

I do a-lot of tinkering with electronics and own a share of the Maker Shed; write publications, Make Magazine. I also do Arduino + Robotics + Networking....

HP + Micron + Qwest + Datatel (ISP + Internet) are our number one electronics......

[rpark1231]

Hi everyone,

I'm a student in the San Diego, California area. I currently attend a local community college and will be transferring to a university. I would like to major in Computer Engineering or a comparable program (i.e. EECS). UCSD has accepted my transfer application for the fall 2011 semester. I'm thirty years old, definitely not a traditional college student and if you told me a few years ago that I would be doing well in college and accepted to a university I probably would have laughed at you. I'm pretty much just stoked to have found something that I have a real interest in.

[MrPlacid]

Hi everyone,

I'm a student in the San Diego, California area. I currently attend a local community college and will be transferring to a university. I would like to major in Computer Engineering or a comparable program (i.e. EECS). UCSD has accepted my transfer application for the fall 2011 semester. I'm thirty years old, definitely not a traditional college student and if you told me a few years ago that I would be doing well in college and accepted to a university I probably would have laughed at you. I'm pretty much just stoked to have found something that I have a real interest in.

rpark1231,

You're the kinda of student I cheer for, over 30 and found your true calling.

[baljemmett]

Figured it's probably about time I 'introduced' myself, having been reading the forum for a little while and chipping in occasionally...

I'm a software developer by trade, but had been mulling over getting back into electronics for a few years (having not done much since I was a young'un!).  Buying a house last year provided a great opportunity to do so -- I had a few itches to scratch when I set up the kitchen as a second zone on the living room hi-fi stack, so built an IR repeater and PIC-based remote control.  Having got those working and then stumbling over the EEVblog, the bug bit properly and now I've got all sorts of daft plans; the trick will be not to run before I get walking properly, of course.

Oh, and some of you may have bumped into me on the ustream chat, where I can be found occasionally boring people with my witterings.  I show up over there as microwavepizza, so hi to anybody who does recognise me

[smpowell]

Hi, my name is Stephen. Every ten years or so I dabble in electronics as a hobby, this would be my third time around.....

Back in the 70's I had took one 500 level electronics course as part of a metallurgical engineering degree. All I recall is a bunch of weird calculations involving imaginary numbers. Got to play with oscilloscopes in the lab though.

A couple of years later I was an induction hardening (heat treating) engineer; too bad they didn't cover anything remotely related to that in the course.

I built a lot of Heathkits back in the 1980's, I even still have one.

Back in the late 1990's I dabbled quite a bit, you can even read about it at http://octopus.freeyellow.com/ , the home of the "99 cent ESR tester".

Now I'm dabbling again....

[scrat]

Hi everyone, I'm Sandro from Italy (but don't think about pizza-mafia-mandolino, this is the North, near the Alps )
I apologize for making a number of posts before introducing myself.

At the moment I'm a PhD student (in a little university near home), and I work on Electrical Drives (especially on the control side).
Even if this is an electrical subject, I'm actually an electronic engineer, and I'm interested in all electronics. Unfortunately, time for taking it as an hobby is not so much...

I really like this forum, it's a stimulus for me. I'm really interested in how people work over the world, since my experiences do not include electronics industry, which I see is much more complicated than simply electronic design.
I hope this place will be good for sharing of ideas and knowledge... and, why not, to have some fun.

[Joy at MCS]

 I'm Joy .  I got involved in Electronics about 8 years ago while living in Orlando Florida.  I've moved to the UK a few years ago and am adjusting to all the rain here.    Where's the sun and palm trees? 

I've actually been considering going back to University for Design Electronics, but I think I'd probably need to speak to more people who do this for a living to find out what it's really like to be a Design Engineer.  I like the idea of putting a design together for something  and then working with a team to bring to reality ,but I'm sure there's probably much more to the job than that. .... Okay I'll stop babbling now :-)

 I really like this forum and the people on it. Everyone is very friendly and knowledgeable.

[Wayneo]

Hello Everybody!
My name is Wayne, Im 28 soon, I live in a small town in Wales, UK.
I have been interested in Electronics from a young age, I have learnt from family members, My uncle was an electronics engineer in the RAF, my other uncle has worked as an electronics tech in the local university for most of his life. Alot of it has been self tought from books and hands on experience.

After I left school I went and worked in a local electronics repair shop where I learnt even more interesting things, at the same time I spent 1 week of every month on a 3 year training course at the MOD, Aberporth  (More Electronics) 

After I worked there I decided to move on to computers and monitor repairs and all the software side of computers which I found quite boaring until later on in life!

Finally I have a house with my partner & 2 1/2 yr old son, where I have my own electronics workshop/lab, It may be small but It does me fine, everything has its place and is easily accessable, & when the missus is on one I have a place to escape!! 

You guys on here are great! and im so glad to see so many people like me here! and i'd just like to say thanks to Dave and his fantastic vids and motivation!
Wayneo