Hello, thanks for visting my webpage on Amateur Radio Homebrew or how to make your own equipment. I got involed with Amateur Radio because I had an interest in electroinics. After reading all the basic theory I could stand, I wanted to apply my knowlege and Amateur Radio was the answer. That was way back in the 1970's. Since then lots of changes have occured. Once the justification for building your own equipment was to save money. Well, there's no ways an individual can save any money now by building one's own equipement (very small exceptions to this). So if you want to save money by building your own equipment, forget it.
The reason one build his own electronic equipment is for personal self satisfaction. It that isn't for you, then your looking at the wrong webpage. Bulding your own equipment is cool and finding out it works is even better. I always feel great when I complete a project and then I can say "It works!" The simplier the circuit is, the smallest number of parts with good results is my ultimate goal.
I feel there's no ways around using digital control circuits. There are pure analog solutions that can be found in several ARRL publications such as W1FB's QRP Notebook. In order to keep up with technological advancements, use of digital control circuits can not be avoided. I use Microchip PICs (Programable Interface Controller). Several companies produce microcontrollers, I stick to Microchip becasuse that's what I started with. There's also alot of projects in QST and other hobbiest magazines using Microchip PICs. I don't know of anything wrong with other manufactuer's microcontollers, it's just that I used to Microchip products and it would cost me more money to change to another manufactuer. There's also lots of information on the Microchip website including basic electronic information. For instance, I was wondering why the positive supply voltage is called Vdd and the negative (or ground/common) is Vss. Search on the Microchip website for power and read the document that contains information on supply power to PICs. If you're having difficulty identifing the document, it located under the Tutorials heading, titled Power Considerations -- PICmicro Microcontrollers.
I'm not saying why power rails are called Vss or Vdd. That's provided in the Microchip document. Get used to this, the only way to be sure you get current information on electronic information is to go directly to the source. Especially when it comes to an electronic device such as intergated circuits. All the complex electronic devices I use have datasheets posted on the Internet by the manufactuer of the device. The Internet has been one of the best ideas to come along and has made things easier for the electronic hobbiest. It used to be very difficult to find information on a device then you had to lucky the manufactuer would send you a book on his products, worse you had to pay for the manufactuer's book.
Using Microchip PICs isn't basic electronics. I'll have to write about basic electronics some time in the future. I believe that using Microchip PICs are some where between basic and advanced electronics. Until I get around to writing about basic electronics, you'll have to visit another website such as www.radioshack.com or your local Radio Shack. Note there are lots of criticisms of Radio Shack amoungst electronic hobbiests but they are around as a major franchise store and they do have electronics parts.
General PIC development information
The PICKit 1 Flash Starter Kit