INTRODUCTION



These scripts are not for anyone trained in electronics. It is designed for those who come to the hobby from experiences out side formal electronics training. For those who have trained related to amateur radio I would hope that you read these scripts with reminding yourself of the principals you learned in school and are not practicing. When you run across a topic that you believe makes it to simple or shortchanged, keep in mind whom the book is directed to, new hams. When you find a mistake, note it and forward a correction so that in a later update it can be corrected. KD4EFT at ARRL.net



I can identify with the electronic deficient as I spent 30 years teaching in the public schools at the elementary level. My dad was an electrical engineer of some note, but I didn't want any thing to do with that field as a teenager. I wonder how many other can relate to that. After retirement I decided that I wanted to know just what made electronic devise operate and attended a vocational training school for two years and found that maybe, just maybe, I had chosen the wrong career, at least one that never paid me what I thought I was worth.

While attending class at the Manatee Vocational School I was introduced to amateur radio by the instructors and encouraged to get my license. Wanting to shine the apple a little, I completed the course and got my tech ticket and began to enjoy the hobby. (I am still a tech )



The following subjects are the result of a perceived need that I identified. I found many new hams, like myself, who came into the hobby without the normal Elmer that the hobby in past years had provided, were having difficulties with terms, concepts and operating procedures. The need was to have someone provide guidance in the simplest things and to provide it in a relaxed setting. My solution was to set up an on the air net which I call the New User Net. Each week for three years I hosted the net and spent ten to fifteen minutes expounding on one of the topics found within these pages.



Please, as you read the following sections, keep in mind that the ideas presented are just the bare bones of a very complex subject. This was never meant to be a text book or an in depth survey of any one topic.