Been dealing with a pain in the arse tech, and It's got me...

t j

Active Member
...thinking about taking an electronics course. Can anyone recommend a good school in the Greater Los Angeles or Ventura County areas? I've been searching on-line and keep getting sucked into click traps. If anyone knows of a quality learning center or training program, please let me know.
-Thanks!
 
University of Houston has a complete on line Electronics Technician training course that awards a certificate, for around $2,000.
 
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I attended a technical high school, where I took electronics as a vocation. The academic education might not have been up to snuff with a full-time high school, but I very much value the electronics education they gave me, particularly teaching me how to solder. At least some vocational/technical high schools offer night courses, so you might want to check the schools in your area to see if any of them offer electronics courses at night.
-Adam
 
Electronic repair is a dying art. Good luck.
Might be better off finding a textbook to teach yourself and asking questions here.

View attachment 1136828 Can't help on a course to look for online. But can recommend you start by getting an old Rat Shack Electronic Lab Kit. Plus a few books on theory. View attachment 1136813
Barney
I've got one of those. Almost.
Screenshot from 2018-03-13 21-11-45.png
Probably needs a re-cap.


I was glad you reminded me of it too, the paperwork for my speakers was in the box. I've been looking for that for years.
 
I don't know anything about L.A., but the earlier post about community college is by far the best track. Here in NC, we have a number of CCs that offer 1 and 2 year options in electronics. Other colleges and universities offer numerous adult and continuing education options also - these are quite often offered in the evening to allow working people the opportunity to attend. I have to believe L.A./California has similar options.
Good luck with your search.
 
Electronic repair is a dying art. Good luck.
Might be better off finding a textbook to teach yourself and asking questions here.

Electronics is part science (there are "laws" of physics in play), but a lot of it is also "art". Text books and classes are good to a certain extent, but "real world" experience is priceless--and in the end, not everyone "gets it". I have a PhD, and the most important thing I learned in all of those years of matriculation was to "learn how to learn".

Get down the basic skills, and ask questions.
 
I also hold a PhD and taught myself.

I would think current electronics courses may focus towards digital tech which is a different can of worms than our beloved analog stuff.

I read a lot of older school text books on electronics to get some background but experience in fixing is just that, experience.

The books and probably the schooling will teach how stuff works, not how it breaks or how to figure out what’s broken.

AK is a treasure of info on how to figure out what may be wrong but the info is not organized in a nice linear way. But I learned how to fix electronics here.

Even knowing electronics is not enough. Stuff breaks in ways that electronics knowledge won’t completely cover.
 
I also hold a PhD and taught myself.

I would think current electronics courses may focus towards digital tech which is a different can of worms than our beloved analog stuff.

I read a lot of older school text books on electronics to get some background but experience in fixing is just that, experience.

The books and probably the schooling will teach how stuff works, not how it breaks or how to figure out what’s broken.

AK is a treasure of info on how to figure out what may be wrong but the info is not organized in a nice linear way. But I learned how to fix electronics here.

Even knowing electronics is not enough. Stuff breaks in ways that electronics knowledge won’t completely cover.

Actually, that's one of the reasons I recommended the UH electronics tech certificate course to him, it has a heavy emphasis on analog simply because much of the industrial devices in use at the refineries here is analog. But you are right, the real secret is to buy a lot of cast off, garage sale and Ebay "for parts or repair" diamonds in the rough, come here to talk about them, and then fix them. In the past couple of years here it is amazing how far I have come, starting out as someone who knew nothing who can now fix things well enough to have built an impressive vintage stereo system dirt cheap and have fixed other units I can sell so I can break even on my insane desire to possess even more vintage stuff that needs to be fixed.
 
the real secret is to buy a lot of cast off, garage sale and Ebay "for parts or repair" diamonds in the rough, come here to talk about them, and then fix them. In the past couple of years here it is amazing how far I have come,

YUP--the RatShack electronic learning kits have already been posted (RIP)--I had them years ago LOL. But grabbing dumpster finds, free dead units, or something for a couple bucks here and there are all you need to work on your basic skills--practice soldering/desoldering, diagnostics, reading color bands on resistors and codes on capacitors and transistors--download service manual and schematics (most common stuff can be had for free) and learn how to read them--this is where a textbook may help (so you can decipher all the little squiggles and symbols), and just ask questions. A DMM is a MUST--even a cheap one to start out with, is a necessary tool.
 
As is an oscilloscope and a signal injector. I studied electro mechanics, and spent most of my career fixing electromechanical systems and computers. It is very much a different world troubleshooting digital versus analog, but there are crossover points. And that gives you the basis. But so true, there is no substitution for experience. The one thing I’ve never forgotten from a troubleshooting course I took in the 80s is the divide and conquer principle. But ultimately, you can get lucky shotgunning the circuit, but to find the really difficult problems, you have to understand the circuit and how it works. I used to spend hours going over a print set while waiting for someone to deliver my parts. That way, I had a strategy when my parts arrived. And regular breaks from the issue to let your subconscious work on the problem. I can’t say how many times I was outside having a smoke when out of the blue, an approach would hit me.

And nothing beats the personal satisfaction from resolving a particularly difficult problem, even if no one else can appreciate it.
 
A vocational school is a start but mostly will focus on digital, wireless, etc. That is were the jobs are. They will also have heating and a/c related classes.

I attended a CC and took electrical technology right out of HS, then I transfered to engineering to get a BSEE degree. The community college electronics technology program will teach circuit theory and analysis, electronics, a big dose of digital circuits, processors/ computers, and rf wireless telecom. Maybe the bigger and better schools will get into power and transmission lines and even basic control systems. They take 2 full years to complete, including college algebra/trig and some basic calculus. They also require Physics and some mechanical tech and computer programming classes. In the end you will learn a lot but the stuff you really need to know to be a bench tech that repairs vintage audio is intermixed deep in all the other course work. The soldering and bench skills are learned in labs and during hands on projects.

I used to teach part time night school at a CC. We used to teach electronics courses that started with diodes and transistors. Most of the circuits you see in a vintage audio receiver would have been covered to some level over several classes. Today the focus is digital, telecom, and a block diagram level of understanding. We live in a throw away world and repair is modular more than component level.

Sorry for the ramble.
 
And regular breaks from the issue to let your subconscious work on the problem. I can’t say how many times I was outside having a smoke when out of the blue, an approach would hit me.

No truer words have been spoken--sometimes (after tearing what's left of your hair out, and poring over schematics for hours until you can't even read them anymore) you just have to walk away for a bit--maybe later, maybe tomorrow. Then the AH-HA moment of clarity hits, and all is right in the world again!
 
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