And That’s How Ham Radio Turned Into Robotics…
This little Arduino is a hoot! I mentioned before that I have been following along with Paul McWhorter’s YouTube Arduino lesson series (here). I am now 40 videos into the 68 lesson series, and I think they are phenomenal! That combined with the fact that I am also halfway through the University of Colorado’s ECEN 3010 Course “Circuits and Electronics For Mechanical Engineers” which they happen to post also on YouTube (here), and I feel like I am taking a graduate program in electronics. I have not thought about Diff EQs since, well since Diff EQs in college.
I consider myself an herbalist (you’ll see where I am going here). Meaning, I am someone who can use plants for beneficial uses. In fact, I spent many years learning how to forage for medicinal and edible plants. There is a concept in herbalism known as the “wall of green”. This simply means that when you first start to learn how to forage, all plants look exactly alike and it seems impossible to accurately identify any of them. Especially if your goal was to eat them. But over time, as the forager gains confidence in their botanical skills, the individual species of the wall of green begin to reveal themselves. Plants become more recognizable. Pretty soon, it is as if the wall of green never existed. Each plant becomes its obvious, unique, individual self, with its own proper name, blanketing the earth as a beautiful diverse floral quilt.
Well, the analogous “ball of wires” of electronics is starting to become more discrete and discernable to me as well. As I do the Arduino “homework” of writing a code to use a joystick to control the direction and speed of a DC motor, I find both the programming and circuitry are becoming a lot easier. I ponder a bit why I am doing all this. What exactly is the purpose? Does it need to be anything other than a pastime? If I chose to instead spend my time binge-watching the latest television drama, would it actually have any less of an impact on my life than my new found pursuit of radio and electronics? All I can say is that it has been nearly four years since I became a ham and I have not paused a bit with my interest in this hobby. I honestly have no idea what it means.
Introspectively yours,
KM1NDY