General Electronics Class

This class is under development. Dates/times will be coordinated via Groups.io when completed.

Class Outline:

Version 1.0

Identifiers withing square brackets [] are references to the current FCC question pool.

  1. Objectives of Class
    1. This class should be of interest to anyone who would like to obtain an intermediate understanding of electricity and electronics. This class includes all electronics knowledge needed to pass the General Amateur Radio License and should be a prerequisite for the Amateur Extra Class License.
  • Prerequisites: (will be reviewed)
    • A basic knowledge of electricity and electronics.
      • The metric system units that deal with electronics
      • Electric charge
      • Current
      • EMF
      • Resistance
      • Conductance
      • Ohm’s Law
      • Capacitance
      • Frequency
      • Wavelength
      • Schematics
      • Block Diagrams
      • Ideal diodes and transistors
      • Combining resistors in series and parallel [G5C03], [G5C04]
      • Combining capacitors in series and parallel [G5C08], [G5C09], [G5C12], [G5C13]
      • Combining inductors in series and parallel [G5C10], [G5C11], [G5C14]
      • Kirchoff’s current law and voltage law
      • Ideal currant and voltage sources
      • How to measure EMF, current, resistance, frequency, and power. (DC)
      • Energy
      • Decibels
      • Gain and low of amplifiers
      • Efficiency
      • Transformers
      • Efficiency
  • Students should have a basic knowledge of math including the following:
    • The 4 basic operations of multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction.
    • Fractions
    • Square root
  • Introduction and Review
    • Introduction of instructor
    • Facilities and schedule
    • Overview of the class
    • Review of prerequisites
  • Alternating Current
    • Sine Waves
      • Peak, Peak-to-Peak and RMS [G5B08], [G5B09]
    • Resistance/Conductance
    • Reactance/Susceptance [G5A02]
      • Units/letter [G5A09], [G5A11]
    • Capacitive Reactance [G5A04]
      • As C increases and decreases [G5A06]
    • Inductive Reactance [G5A03]
      • As L increases and decreases [G5A05]
    • Impedance/Admittance [G5A07, G5A08]
      • Units
    • RC circuit
    • RL circuit
    • LC circuit
    • Resonance [G5A01], [G5A12]
      • What happens to L and C at resonance?
    • Impedance Matching [G5A10]
      • Transformer
      • Pi-Network
      • Transmission line
  • Power
    • Current divider [G5B02]
    • Voltage divider
    • Power [G5B03], [G5B04], [G5B05], [G5B06], [G5B07]
    • Sine RMS, PEP [G5B11], [G5B12], [G5B13], [G5B14]
    • Power increase or decrease in dB [G5B01], [G5B10]
    • Energy
    • Transformers
      • How it works, mutual inductance [G5C01]
      • Voltage in/out [G5C02], [G5C06]
      • Current in/out
      • Turns ratio
      • Wire size [G5C05]
      • Power rating
      • Tapped [G7A13]
      • Impedance matching [G5C07]
      • Core types [G7A12]
  • Batteries
    • Storage capacity
    • Maximum charge rates
    • Maximum discharge rates [G6A01]
    • Internal resistance [G6A02]
    • Life
    • Compare types
  • Semiconductors
    • Diodes
      • Ideal vs real
      • VI curve
      • Threshold voltage
        • Germanium vs Silicon [G6A03], [G6A04], [G6A05]
      • Zener [G7A10]
    • Bipolar Junction Transistors [G6A07], [G7A11]
      • NPN, PNP
      • Saturation
      • Cutoff
      • Active region
      • Heat
    • LED [G6B08]
    • FET [G7A09]
    • MOSFET
      • Construction [G6A09]
  • Capacitor types
    • Ideal vs real
    • Electrolytic [G6A04]
    • ESR
    • Low voltage ceramic [G6A08]
    • Compare tolerance, capacity, cost, stability
    • Ideal vs real
  • Resistor types
    • Carbon
    • Wire wound
      • Not RF [G6A06]
      • Heat
  • Non-ideal components
    • Inductors
      • Self-resonance [G6A11]
    • Capacitors
  • Vacuum Tubes
    • How it works [G6A10]
    • Elements [G6A12]
  • Ferrite core
    • Performance mixes [G6B01]
    • EMI
    • Toroidal [G6B05]
    • Transformers
    • Common-mode current [G6B10]
  • MMIC [G6B02
  • CMOS vs TTL [G6B03]
  1. RF connectors
    1. BNC [G6B04]
    1. SMA [G6B11]
    1. N [G6B07]
    1. UHF
    1. RCA phone [G6B12]
  1. Integrated Circuits
    1. Construction
    1. Digital
    1. MMIC
    1. Programmable logic
    1. Analog
    1. Op Amp [G6B06]
  2. Power Supplies
    1. Function
    1. Components
    1. Rectifier [G7A03], [G7A07]
      1. Half-wave [G7A04],
      1. Full-wave [G7A06]
      1. full-wave bridge
      1. portion of cycle used [G7A05]
      1. linear vs switchmode [G7A08}
    1. Filter [G7A02]
    1. Bleeder resistor [G7A01]
  3. Schematic symbols  presented with each component
    1. Tube
    1. FET
    1. Zerner diode
    1. NPN junction transistor
    1. PNP junction transistor
    1. Solid core transformer
    1. Tapped inductor or transformer
  1. Amplifiers
    1. purpose
    1. Neutralization [G7B01]
    1. Efficiency [G7B02], [G7B08]
    1. Conduction time
    1. Class A [G7B04]
    1. Class AB
    1. Class B
    1. Class C [G7B11]
    1. Linear amplifier [G7B10]
    1. Impedance matching [G7C03]
  1. Sine Wave Oscillator
    1. What is needed? [G7B07]
    1. frequency [G7B09]
  • Modulation
    • Modulation
    • Balanced [G7C01], [G7C02]
    • Double balanced
  • Product detector
    • Use [G7C04]
  • Digital Logic
    • Binary
    • Gates
      • AND [G7B03]
      • OR
      • NAND
      • NOR
      • XOR
    • Binary Counter [G7B05]
    • Shift resister [G7B06]
    • Direct digital synthesizer (DDS) [G7C05]
    • DSP filter [G7C06]
  • Filters
    • Low Pass
    • High Pass
    • Band Pass
    • Band Reject
    • Notch
    • Return loss
    • Insertion loss [G7C07]
    • Cutoff frequency [G7C12], [G7C14]
    • Q
    • Ultimate rejection [G7C13]
  • Carriers, Modulation,
    • CW,
    •  AM [G8A05], [G8A10], [G8A11]
    •  FM [G8A03]
    •  PM  [G8A02], [G8A04]
    •  SSB,
    • FSK [G8A01], [G8C11]
    • QPSK-31 [G8A06], [G8A12]
    • FT8 [G8A09], [G8C07]
    • Spectrum vs time
    • Reactance modulator
    • Spectrum analyzer
    • Bandwidth [G8A07], [G8A09]
    • Overmodulation
    • Flat topping
    • Link budget and margins [G8A13], [G8A14]
  • Receivers
    • Sensitivity [G7C07]
    • Analog vs SDR [G7C11]
    • I and Q RF signals in SDR [G7C09], [G7C10]
    • I-Q modulation
    • Mixer [G8B01], [G8B03]
      • Products [G8B11]
      • Image response [G8B02]
    • Local Oscillator
    • Multiplier [G8B04]
    • Intermodulation [G8B05], [G8B12], [G8B13]
    • Controls
    • Waterfall display [G8C13], [G8C14]
  • Transmitters
    • Duty cycle [G8B08]
    • Symbol rate [G8B10]
    •  FM Bandwidth and Deviation [G8B06], [G8B07], [G8B09]
    • FM modulation sensitivity
  • Paket Radio
    • Components of packets [G8C01]
    • Connected mode
    • ARQ mode [G8C05], [G8C06]
  • RTTY
    • Baudot code [G8C04]
    • FSK modulation [G8C13]
  • PSK31
    • Varicode [G8C08], [G8C12]
  • FT8
    • Signal reports [G8C15]
  • Digital Voice
    • Modes [G8C16]
  • Mesh Network
    • [G8C09}
  • Forward Error correction vs error correction
    • Redundant data
  • Test Equipment
    • Volt-Ohm meter
    • Oscilloscope
    • Spectrum Analyzer
  • Antennas and feed lines
    • Characteristic impedance [G9A01], [G9A03]
    • Coax Attenuation
      • Coaxial Cable [G9A05], [G9A06]
    • SWR [G9A02], [G9A07], [G9A08], [G9A09], [G9A10], [G9A11]
      • Reflected Power [G9A04]
    • Measurement and effects
    • Antenna feed point matching
    • Antenna Types
      • Dipole [G9B04], [G9B05], [G9B07], [G9B08], [G9B10], [G9B11], [G9D12]
      • Monopole [G9B01], [G9B02], [G9B03], [G9B06], [G9B12]
      • Polarization [G9B09]
      • Gain in dB [G9C04]
      • Directional
        • Directivity [G9C08]
        • Una Yagi [G9C01], [G9C02], [G9C03], [G9C05], [G9C07], [G9C09], [G9C10]
    • Impedance matching
      • Hairpin [G9C11]
      • Gamma
    • Specialized
      • NVIS [G9D01]
      • End -fed half wave NVIS [G9D02]
      • Halo [G9D03]
      • Trap [G9D04]
      • Vertical stacking [G9D05]
      • Log-periodic [G9D06], [G9D07]
      • Screwdriver [G9D08]
      • Beverage [G9D09]
      • Small loop [G9D10]
      • Multi-band [G9D11]
  • Safety
    • Electrical
      • Shock
      • Grounding [G0B04] [G0B04], [G0B11], [G0B13]
      • Fusing [G0B01], [G0B03]
      • GFCI [G0B05]
      • Interlocks [G0B12]
      • Wiring [G0B02]
      • NEC [G0B06]
      • Generator [G0B09]
      • Soldering [G0B10]
      • Tower [G0B07], [G0B08]
    • RF
      • Heats living tissue [G0A01]
      • Exposure [G0A02], [G0A04], [G0A07]
      • FCC rules [G0A03], [G0A05], [G0A06], [G0A08], [G0A10], [G0A12]
      • Testing [G0A09]
      • Precautions [G0A11]

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