Seems like a new forum! Cool! My name is Jim.
I'm a retired EE, gave up having a job over ten years ago.
My dad was an EE, so I had some inspiration to learn and understand the magic that he did. When I was very small, he built me a record player, then when I was in jr. high, he built up a hi-fi for the house, and I really wanted to know how he was able to do that sort of thing.
I started as a tech at Hughes (where my dad spent most of his career), but what I was doing wasn't really electronics, although I worked with engineers (occasionally my dad) and learned a bit of circuit understanding. I then went to Altec-Lansing in Anaheim, CA as an engineering tech, where I learned a lot of basic circuit theory (and practice). I eventually got my EE degree while I was working at Odetics, also in Anaheim, and was project engineer for their Video-Dex product line as well as their Gyyr line. I tried a stint as an entrepreneur, but pretty much lost everything I'd saved up for that, and went back to work at Cibola Systems in Orange, CA as a project engineer designing A/V systems. A recession ended that stint, and I went to NAVCO, also in Anaheim as the National Service Engineer, pretty much the corporate trainer, telling installers and techs how to make our products do what we said they would do.
Once I figured out that my retirement fund wasn't growing like I felt it should, I got a job near Washington DC as a Patent Examiner, which was probably the first job I hated from the beginning. I tried to tough it out until pension time, but could not, and went to work for another systems company, eventually doing maintenance and upgrades to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) at Ft. Meade, MD. I retired from there and moved to the outskirts of Boise, ID, where I live now.
In addition to my BSEE, I have an MCSE and CTS certifications, although I've done nothing to keep any of them active.
I built my second home theater in my home here in Idaho, and it's probably going to be a project until I'm carried out. It's 5.1.4 audio with a 60" 3-D TV. I like it, although I'm definitely not satisfied with it, and I'll be tweaking it forever, or when I'm carried out, as I noted.
At the moment, my project is bringing back to life a Marantz CD-400B CD-4 demodulator. CD-4 records were a short-lived attempt at putting surround (quadraphonic) signals on a fairly standard vinyl record with a 30kHz carrier in each channel that carried difference signals between front and back, much like FM stereo's carrier carries difference between left and right. I found some dead electrolytic caps, so I recapped the thing and alignment has been a challenge. I have reasonable confidence in my abilities, but the manual is woefully incomplete.
Through my career, I've designed analog, logic, and microprocessor circuits, products, and systems. Analog circuits are both maddening and rewarding. To me, that's where real engineering always existed. I hope to meet other circuit nerds here before too long.
I'm a retired EE, gave up having a job over ten years ago.
My dad was an EE, so I had some inspiration to learn and understand the magic that he did. When I was very small, he built me a record player, then when I was in jr. high, he built up a hi-fi for the house, and I really wanted to know how he was able to do that sort of thing.
I started as a tech at Hughes (where my dad spent most of his career), but what I was doing wasn't really electronics, although I worked with engineers (occasionally my dad) and learned a bit of circuit understanding. I then went to Altec-Lansing in Anaheim, CA as an engineering tech, where I learned a lot of basic circuit theory (and practice). I eventually got my EE degree while I was working at Odetics, also in Anaheim, and was project engineer for their Video-Dex product line as well as their Gyyr line. I tried a stint as an entrepreneur, but pretty much lost everything I'd saved up for that, and went back to work at Cibola Systems in Orange, CA as a project engineer designing A/V systems. A recession ended that stint, and I went to NAVCO, also in Anaheim as the National Service Engineer, pretty much the corporate trainer, telling installers and techs how to make our products do what we said they would do.
Once I figured out that my retirement fund wasn't growing like I felt it should, I got a job near Washington DC as a Patent Examiner, which was probably the first job I hated from the beginning. I tried to tough it out until pension time, but could not, and went to work for another systems company, eventually doing maintenance and upgrades to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) at Ft. Meade, MD. I retired from there and moved to the outskirts of Boise, ID, where I live now.
In addition to my BSEE, I have an MCSE and CTS certifications, although I've done nothing to keep any of them active.
I built my second home theater in my home here in Idaho, and it's probably going to be a project until I'm carried out. It's 5.1.4 audio with a 60" 3-D TV. I like it, although I'm definitely not satisfied with it, and I'll be tweaking it forever, or when I'm carried out, as I noted.
At the moment, my project is bringing back to life a Marantz CD-400B CD-4 demodulator. CD-4 records were a short-lived attempt at putting surround (quadraphonic) signals on a fairly standard vinyl record with a 30kHz carrier in each channel that carried difference signals between front and back, much like FM stereo's carrier carries difference between left and right. I found some dead electrolytic caps, so I recapped the thing and alignment has been a challenge. I have reasonable confidence in my abilities, but the manual is woefully incomplete.
Through my career, I've designed analog, logic, and microprocessor circuits, products, and systems. Analog circuits are both maddening and rewarding. To me, that's where real engineering always existed. I hope to meet other circuit nerds here before too long.
