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Welcome to the ARRL's Certification/Continuing Education course on Analog Electronics! I hope you'll enjoy learning some of the basics of electronics. "Analog electronics" means circuits that use continuously varying voltages and currents. This is the way all circuits behave at their most basic level, so even your "digital" computer is really analog at the level of the individual transistors. Most radio circuits are analog, so you'll find a lot of what you learn in the course to be immediately useful around the shack and shop. Ready? Let's go!
Who is This Course For?
This course is designed for the electronics student that is comfortable with the fundamental concepts of electricity and electronic components, such as resistors, capacitors, transistors, and so forth. You'll be reading some simple schematics, as well. You will need to know Ohm's Law and the relationship between power, voltage, current, and resistance. You'll need to be able to handle basic math equations--no more than simple algebra. I assume that you're comfortable with the notions of frequency and phase, as well as impedance and reactance--the resistance to the flow of ac current. (If you're a little shaky on these last few ideas, you might want to spend some time browsing the first few sections of Chapter 6 "AC Theory and Reactive Components" in the ARRL Handbook or pick up a copy of WR1B's "Understanding Basic Electronics.")
What Will You Learn?
Here is the list of topics for each lesson. When you complete this course, you'll have been exposed to nearly all of the most common analog electronic circuits and design problems.
Is There a Textbook?
No, but here are a list of good reference books that you may either already have, can purchase, or borrow from a friend or library:
I will refer you to "extra reading" in these and other references that help explain the topic or provide supplemental information. Don't forget about the ARRL's Technical Information Service that lists many useful and interesting articles on the ARRL Web site at http://www.arrl.org/tis/.
Each lesson begins with some background on the topic for the lesson. I'll present any interesting history and explain the circuit's relevance and the characteristics that make it useful. Once introduced, we'll cover the fundamental equations and relationships that determine the circuit's behavior. With these tools, you'll then be shown how to design the circuit based on some initial required characteristics, such as gain for an amplifier or frequency response for a filter. I'll present useful ways to apply the circuit to common needs.
Each lesson concludes with a five-question quiz and a set of exercises. The exercises take three forms. First, you will have a design problem to work out with pencil and paper. Next, I'll present the part of the exercise that requires the minimum amount of test equipment. Finally, if you have a fully equipped workbench, a more complex experiment can be performed. You are encouraged to do whichever set of exercises for which you are equipped--doing so greatly increases your understanding (and confidence!).
What Equipment Do I Need?
To perform the experimental portions of the exercises, you'll need to have some basic electronics test equipment. These will also be very valuable around your shack beyond the class. If you don't have these now, you won't regret buying them for troubleshooting and testing your own gear.
Let's start with the minimum equipment that will enable you to perform the simpler portions of the experiments:
The Global Specialties "Protoboard Workstation" includes both a 5 V dc power supply and a function generator (see below). It's available from RadioShack as 910-4093.
The more complex portions of the experiments will require equipment that can generate and measure ac signals. This equipment is optional. If you expect to be building and testing analog circuits on a regular basis, it would be a good idea to borrow or purchase this equipment. You can get by without it for most of the activities in this course.
Where Can I Get This Stuff?
Here are a few of the distributors for components and equipment that I've found to be reliable vendors with good quality products:
There is a list of additional vendors and resources at my "Hands-On Radio" page on the ARRL Web site. Scroll down to the FAQ section for a discussion of purchasing used test equipment.
Safety
None of the circuits you'll encounter involve hazardous voltages or currents, but that's not an excuse to get sloppy at the workbench. If this is your first hands-on experience, now is the time to develop good working habits. Your working area should be clean and well-lit. If you have a soldering iron, keep the cord out of your working area. Keep an eye on test leads and cords for tangles. Double check power connections before turning on the supply. When in doubt, use the voltmeter to check it out! If you're more experienced, use this course as an opportunity to break a bad habit or pick up a good one.
Enough preparation--let's get going and learn some analog electronics!
