Electronics 101

Okay.
So in the last couple of weeks i have spoken with many of you, and managed to get in touch with some of you that are harder to find on the internet and there is a lot of interest and excitement and i am getting psyched for our first meet. I figured at this point it would be good to just let everybody know what i plan to cover for the first week, what you might want to bring, what time to come, what to expect, etc.
The time and day we are scheduled for is Sunday January 31st at 2:00 pm. I plan to spend the first 1/2 hour discussing things about the overall idea: How often we want different workshops to meet, how often we want all the workshops to meet together, what other resources we might be able to tap into for meetings, what other workshops have been suggested that people are interested in and anything else that seems pertinent.
The first workshop will then begin for basic electronics. This workshop assumes you have no prior knowledge of electronics, but does assume a basic knowledge of algebra. A scientific calculator will not be required for this but definitely might help when we start to get into some of the uglier stuff in subsequent workshops. A notebook or graph paper and pencil is a very good idea. I promise I will try and keep things as painless as possible for you all.

For the first workshop I plan to cover:
Basic Soldering
DC Circuit Basics
We will make a Lamp and an LED light up!
We will learn about OHM's Law and why it is so great
Engineering Notation
The wonders of the Multimeter

I think that is about all. If you have any questions send them here. I am looking forward to seeing everyone there and i think it is going to be a lot of fun!

Electronics Workshops

In recent days i have talked to several people about starting up an electronics workshop on a bi-weekly or so basis in new haven. I have received a lot of interest and so i am setting up this blog as a way to have a central location online for additional discussion of the topics, a way to find out what peoples areas of interest are, when they are available to meet and what kinds of knowledge they would benefit most from.

It has also occurred to me in the past couple of weeks that what i would really like to do is expand the concept of this from just me showing people electronics stuff, to other people doing lessons/workshops on their areas of interest and expertise. So perhaps a series of workshops for electronics first and then music or carpentry or poetry or whatever other people might have experience and interest in?

I am envisioning that this thing could be a kind of free learning workshop of sorts for anyone who wants to learn, teach, and do. The idea being to have the benefits of a learning community with the advantages of being able to collaborate and share knowledge face to face instead of only on the internet. To do this with more flexibility and freedom than a learning institution and without the associated costs of typical schools or workshops. So please do tell. What sort of things you would like to learn about electronically or otherwise? I for one have always really wanted to learn some basic music theory but somehow have never found the time. And let me know when is best for you to meet. I am thinking the last weekend of january on saturday or sunday for the first meet.