As 'beginner' as it gets

[stubase1985]

Hi guys, I am an electrician and have been for 10 years. While i enjoy the job it always bugged me that my knowledge was limited so i have gone back to school!! I am nearly a year in to my BTEC level 3 with one year to go and haven't dropped a mark yet! Then I'll have 2 years of HNC before i can play!!! This blog is great and i am learning a lot from it but some of the stuff goes straight over my head (as should probably be expected this early on in my studies). Does anyone have any tips on how i can stretch my knowledge, learn more and test myself? any websites, books or experiments i could try at home? The plan is to become a PCB designer but there seem to be loads of options for someone completing their HNC. what is the best route?

[Thor-Arne]

Try LT Spice for simulations, there is a lot to be learned from simulating and tweaking various circuits.

Also, try some make some simple circuits on a pref-boards and/or breadboards.

And after completing these circuits you can try to layout some pcb's to gain experience.
There's a few options on software packages (also some free ones), just try out a few to see which ones suits your needs best.

[Stonent]

What country is this in? I'm not familiar with the acronyms you are using.

Also setting your country flag will let others know where you are and help with any questions that require that information.

[zapta]

Just build stuff. Decide on a project, and then design, build and make it to work. Then repeat. This will teach you how to solve problems.

[SArepairman]

acquire some tools with every project you do. I look back at the stuff I had available to me three years ago and I think "wow, I can't believe I managed to work with this technology"

it becomes easier when you develop some pride in your equipment and technique

[stubase1985]

I'm in England stonent. The HNC and then a years extension (HND) is equivalent to a degree I believe.

Thanks for the pointers guys. All the help I can get is greatly appreciated. I'm ordering a few bits tomorrow. Going to get a breadboard and some stuff to play with. I'm gonna make an fm receiver (hopefully!) as a bit of a starter and then just keep adding to it. I have an old drill box which is gonna be the housing so if my rusty metal black and decker box is playing radio 2 in a few weeks I will be very grateful for the inspiration!!!

[madshaman]

I'd recommend w2aew's youtube channel, "thesignalpath" youtube channel and blog and of course Dave's fundamentals videos; lots of great treatments of the basics; I've always found a lot of value in constantly reviewing the basics of anything from many perspectives; others also seem to find this beneficial.