Contest for Beginners

[buck converter]

I think it is great that these contests are held. Thank you to bitseeker and xrunner for putting in the time money and effort to judge this contest and bson for contributing a fabulous prize! Good luck to all contestants!

OK thanks for the post.

As posted earlier - this contest ends in 2 hours (12 midnight CDT).

I wish there were more prizes to give out because it's going to be very hard to pick the winners!

I will be leaving tomorrow to go camping for 2 nights and  may not have internet so congratulations to the lucky winner.

[Seaofdep]

Goodluck everyone, i have my fingers crossed ... thank You again for the  opportunity

[xrunner]

The contest is over! 


Now, the judges will make their determinations. Unfortunately, as is always the case, I wish there were more prizes. There really aren't any bad entries but we will choose one winner for the DMM/Counter and one for the scope.

Keep watching this thread for an announcement today or tomorrow. 

[psient]

Just started to learn about electronic engineering after careful consideration of Dave Jones then watching Paul Carlson on You tube. At 67, I am retired after a life time of working. I earned a living for 40 years and get 400 dollars in Social Security having gone to college for the first time in 1994. I graduated in 1998 with a masters in research not clinical psychology acquiring knowledge in statistics, formal, peer reviewed and published experimentation, and of course hoop-jumping. In 2004 I completed my earned PhD. from the University of California and formally began college and university employment as an instructor in my field. In 1993 I had no college, in 2004 I had a PhD. in human behavior research, publications, and a legit job as a professional. In 2004 I also began working on losing 1/2 my social security stipend. I lose because I was a paid professor and that meant I had to belong to a pension plan. My life is not very 'funded'.  I will always learn. I just saved enough to buy a rigol 1054 and a 3m bread board, I stumbled on this thread by accident just now. I was looking for information on the appropriate lab power supply to buy so I can start learning about circuits. I have neuropathy, diabetes, and joint conditions from my working as a journeyman carpenter in my late teens through my 30s. I qualify as a beginner for sure but probably am faced with the same ageism I met when applying for a tenured position at university. . . too old and blown out to be considered. I know one thing, with the complexity of problems all humanity is confronted with, everyone must be considered as having the potential to contribute to a solution of them. However I am glad for the younger people that they get the chance to begin here. Thanks to all who provide this contest. Obviously this is not an entry. I stiill need a power supply to begin with. If you can direct me to the appropriate thread(s) I'm still winner winner chicken dinner!!! Yes I kn ow, 
 

[xrunner]

Just started to learn about electronic engineering after careful consideration of Dave Jones then watching Paul Carlson on You tube. At 67, I am retired after a life time of working.

Quite an interesting life. Stick around here and join in the fun on the forum, there's so much knowledge here it's unreal.


But ...now there is a third prize!

The God's of the Magic Smoke hath said unto me, xrunner offer a third place prize or thou will suffer a smoke event inside one of your prized HP test equipment!

So for a third prize we have an Aneng AN8002 DMM.

Due to this event the judging will take a little longer. Please check back this evening. 

[xrunner]

I have an announcement!

This was an extremely difficult contest to judge. I wish everyone could win something. The primary concern was to get the equipment to someone who needed it the most. Therefore, this is the final call -

The winner of the DMM / Counter combo is Chris_77

The winner of the Aneng DMM is Seaofdep

If you two could PM me your names + physical street addresses I will get this equipment shipped out ASAP.

Oh, I almost forgot, the winner of the scope is ... I don't know. 

Really, I have no idea. I have spoken with Bitseeker about who he's considering but it's his call and he told me he would show up later to make the announcement. I can tell you it will be someone other than the two winners we already have. That's all I know right now.

 

[Chris_77]

Hey, wow! Thank you!

What a race the scope will be!

[Seaofdep]

Wow i cant believe i was a winner,  thanks a lot , I am so thankful and will pay it forward when I can,  thank you so much

[xrunner]

Hey, wow! Thank you!

Wow i cant believe i was a winner,  thanks a lot , I am so thankful and will pay it forward when I can,  thank you so much

Thank you and everyone for participating. Yea pay it forward it's good karma. 

Now we wait to see who won the scope!

[bitseeker]

And the winner of the Rigol DS1074Z oscilloscope is...

Oh, my. It may be cliché, but choosing just one entry is indeed difficult. You read all the entries and try to weigh all the criteria, accordingly. You want to be as fair as possible.

Given that the grand prize is quite a prize, you want it to be put to good use, not become a shelf queen nor the next listing on eBay. After all, this isn't a marketing freebie by a multi-million dollar equipment manufacturer. It's bson's scope that he bought with his own money. Thank you, bson!

So, xrunner and I deliberated about all the entrants. We even learned interesting things in the process, especially while reading historical posts. Then, it was time to decide. And I had to post the result.

Yes, I'm incrementally updating this post to drag out the suspense as long as possible. I see we have several entrants watching the thread. What fun! I hope everyone enjoyed the contest, however it turns out.

Just a reminder, that all the winners must post a follow up to this thread with glorious photos of the winning equipment in use when you get it. That way we can all get some enjoyment from seeing the gear getting some electronics work done.

The winning entry was well written (an important criterion for the contest), included some history and some thoughts for the future. It also had lots of photos attached, including those of completed projects.

Congratulations on winning the scope and your recent high school graduation, yami759. We hope that this tool will contribute to your success in college and a STEM career.

You can read yami759's entry at https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/contest-for-beginners/msg1251773/#msg1251773

[xrunner]

And the winner of the Rigol DS1074Z oscilloscope is...

You? 

[bitseeker]

And the winner of the Rigol DS1074Z oscilloscope is...

You? 

LOL! Good thing it's still at bson's house. Otherwise it might get comfortable on my bench.

[tautech]

And the winner of the Rigol DS1074Z oscilloscope is...

You? 

I had my pick but you've given him something already. 

[Mattjd]

Congrats yami

[bitseeker]

I see his name on the thread, but no reply yet. I hope he didn't fall off his chair and pass out.

[xrunner]

I see his name on the thread, but no reply yet. I hope he didn't fall off his chair and pass out.

Yea prolly should have given a heads up in a PM first. 

[bitseeker]

A PM? That's no fun.

[yami759]

Oh my, this is amazing! Thank you so much to bson for providing the scope, and for everyone else who helped organize this contest! I will surely make heavy use out of this, and it will be an amazing tool for my education. I am so thankful for this contest, and am so excited to get my hands on this new tool!

I see his name on the thread, but no reply yet. I hope he didn't fall off his chair and pass out.

Actually, I'm talking to my friends on Discord (a voice chat application) about it and how happy I am about this, but they don't seem to care too much for what "an oscilloscope" may be.

Should I send my address to bson, or is someone else distributing the prize? Thank you again for this amazing contest!

[bitseeker]

It's probably best to send your info in a PM to bson, since he'll be sending the scope.

And don't worry about those who don't "get it" when it comes to electronics. We "get it" and look forward to seeing you put it through its paces on projects.

[bson]

Congrats yami!

PMs have been exchanged.

[scdreger]

Congrats to all the winners! And how cool it is that the organizers thought to do this. What a great community! 

[kbarnette]

Congrats everyone, including those who won!

[xrunner]

Contest is over

Items are shipped

It's Miller time - where's the smiley with a beer?

(maybe the popcorn eater is drinking beer through a straw?)

[bitseeker]

(maybe the popcorn eater is drinking beer through a straw?)

Yup. Stealth.

[xrunner]

Just checked tracking - people are getting stuff on Thursday!