Intro

Thread Starter

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
Greetings and salutations,

My name's Steve. Started fiddling around with electricity and electronics as a pre-teen, doing things like building tube-based amplifiers, fixing radios, etc.

At age 18, I enlisted in the US Marine Corps (1974) where I served for six years; a year and a half in training, the remainder in Marine fighter squadrons, where I was an airborne radar systems/missile fire control technician on the Westinghouse AN/AWG-10 and AWG-10A's that were installed in the McDonnell-Douglas F-4J and F-4S Phantom II multirole aircraft.

After my tour of duty in the Corps was completed, I went to work at Hughes Aircraft Co., where I worked on the F-14, F-15, F/A-18, B-2, TR-2, YF-22, and a number of advanced research projects, missiles and spacecraft.

Although it's been my line of work since the mid 1970's, I still enjoy tinkering with my own projects at home.
 

mrmeval

Joined Jun 30, 2006
833
Welcome to the forum and thanks for your service.

What kind of projects do you like?

Right now I'm tinkering with the Arduino, http://www.arduino.cc which is a microcontroller development board based on the atmel atmega168. It's reasonably easy to use and it's cheap. Once you've gotten a design working it's easy to make a bare bones board for them and integrate them into a project. I"m mostly at the beginning stages of such tinkering but will eventually have a project to share.
 

Thread Starter

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
Thanks for the welcome :)

I have a number of project ideas rattling around in my head, currently building several precision power supplies, a rather crude LED-based oscilloscope, an LCD-display logic analyizer, a small-scale CNC-type plotter/machine for circuit board tracing w/resist pen, lasing, drilling holes for components, automated precision weighing devices for small loads (<100 grains, 0.1 gr resolution or better), doing some laser research (for ranging & sighting purposes), precision IR detection, controlling small jet engines and flight surfaces using a microcontroller, and a hodgepodge of other things.

Interesting link there, thanks for providing it. I've been fiddling around with some Parallax Inc. Basic Stamps (BS2e and BS2sx) using them in conjunction with a Darlington pair IC (ULN200x, ULN280x series) to drive stepper motors and other peripherals. They have a lot of capability, but still, programming in Basic leaves a lot to be desired. They've had a Java chip for about a year now. Decent functionality, but rather pricey, and a bit behind the cutting edge. As of this writing, I don't know if they have a USB version out yet; mine are RS232 and rather limited in their baud rate.

My C++ is terribly rusty. Long overdue for a brushing up.

Now back to our regular programming.. ;)
 
Welcome Sgt, and thanks for your service.

I was Army Airborne from 66 to 73. I also got my butt saved by a few Marines in Vietnam!......Semper Fi!

(And don't worry, I won't tell my Marine jokes here.....):D
 

Thread Starter

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
Oh, no kidding! Thanks for YOUR service, brother!

And Welcome Home!

I am most definitely not sorry that I missed out on being in-country in 'Nam.

If you're ever going to be in the Orlando, FL area - lemme know. PM out.
 

bloguetronica

Joined Apr 27, 2007
1,541
Welcome to this forum. Hope you enjoy our support.

Can you smuggle some "M" rank components for me, pls?:) I'm tired of using "N" rank components. Just kidding!
 

nanovate

Joined May 7, 2007
666
Semper Fi Sgt Wookie!

I also did some time in the Corps. I was a comm/nav/rad tech (6317) on the F/A-18D and did a few pumps overseas (Korea, japan, Okinawa etc...). I even made it to the Promised Land -- Australia. Afterwards I finished my degree at UCLA and work on electronics for aerospace, CMB and automotive projects.

Anyway enough about me... Welcome!!!

John
 

Dave

Joined Nov 17, 2003
6,969
Hi Steve (aka. SgtWookie)

Welcome to All About Circuits! Drop me a PM if you have any questions/problems/other.

Dave
 

recca02

Joined Apr 2, 2007
1,212
welcome to the 3 members,
one question though,
how come so many ppl in america are associated (in one way or other ) with the American defensive forces?
any specific reason?
 
I'll add a hearty "welcome" as well. In the decades since I left the Navy, I've actually come to appreciate jar-heads.;)
I'll second that!...BTW, I like the sigline quote. I Met Robert Heinlein back in 1960 at a book signing in Colorado Springs. He was my favorite writer back then, and I still have his book. I was always amazed at people who seem to know what the future holds.
 

beenthere

Joined Apr 20, 2004
15,819
There are probably not too many government policy makers on this firum, so there are not likely to be many state secrets to be given away.

As a guess, history seems to suggest that doing nothing in hope that the bad country will just go away doesn't work. A minor intervention after 1932 in Germany might have stopped A. Hitler and perhaps WWII. Possibly not, but the cost of the war was too high to just let things happen like that again.

The hard part is in predicting the degree of threat and what to do about it. This can be endlessly argued, as the other case can never be shown.

As to the military participation in the U.S., it's probably because we can afford the cost of a large military.

Since this is a reply to an intro - hello to the Sgt. I did 7 years in the Fleet Marine Delivery Service, aka the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club. I was on the last ship to be Red Crown off Haiphong Harbor.
 
but still i havent seen that many members associated with military when it comes to members from other nations.
we r not talking about N Korea here.
of course i m just asking out of curiosity :D (i aint a spy)
Recca....I see that you are from India......we come from two very different cultures....and I just don't know how to explain it to you....

America is a country founded on Freedom. Freedom allows everyone the opportunity to come up with a "better mousetrap" and get rich off of their own ideas and initiative.

If Bill Gates were born in Russia, he never would have had the opportunity to develop the same technology that allows us to communicate like you and I do today here on the internet. And he never would have become a billionaire if he grew up in Russia or North Korea.

If you look at the most recent (last fifty years) history, you would find that the greatest advancements in technology come from countries like the United States. Countries where innovation is encouraged by the motivation to get rich by making everyones lives better.

But it goes deeper than that.....we are reaching a point in history where technology enriches the lives of everyone....a global economy, if you will.

Some countries are benefiting from this change, and others are suffering because they are not a part of it.

Look at the problems in the Middle East, and other countries that are behind in technology and suffering today. They have been "left out" of the great advances going on today....usually because their countries are run by despots and leaders that just want to steal from the people and rip them off.

I used to say that "Religion is the root of all Wars!"

Think about it.....the only places on this earth where people are killing each other.....where people are training their children to hate and strap bombs on their bodies and kill more innocent people.....those are the countries that have been left behind in this technological age.

There has always been a dichotomy between religion and science. Some religions in American deny the existance of the earth before the biblical teachings. And in the middle east, we have people teaching others that the reason they are starving is because of unbelievers.

And now we are at the point where the only way to fight these religious fanatics is with technology.........There is no other way to defeat them and their ignorant ways of hatred. These are not people we can bring to a negotiating table and bring peace......they are fanatics that will never learn.

So now we have cruise missles to find them in their hideouts, and that is what is needed.

The only way to stop this madness is with technology....I hate the fact that people are dying from wars around the globe today, but our only salvation for everyone on this planet is to get rid of these f******s......and teach EVERONE that there is a better way.

We here in America want everyone on the globe to benefit from our technological advances.......we want everyone to be as free as we are,
and to share knowledge on a global level. But there are people that hate us for our advantage.....and that has to be dealt with too.

I don't know if this answers your question.......but I pride myself on being a Veteran who served my country.....and I am also trying to work toward a world where EVERYONE on the earth will benefit from our technology.

But our Military and Defense industry comes first!!!!
 

Gadget

Joined Jan 10, 2006
614
Recca, our military consists of a coupla Jeep Cherokees, a Cessna, and a rowboat, so you be safe from ex military servicemen from these parts... ;)
 
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