Hi everyone,
I'm a relative newcomer to the PIC-EL group. My main interest is driven by Amateur Radio and a desire to use the PIC and PIC-EL as a teaching tool in my Electronics Technology course at the local High School (Santa Barbara, CA area).
Tuesday I made the epic Trek to Orange County - Mission Viejo - to take the first two of the courses Microchip offers. Besides the courses I took ( 101 TLS, and 102 ASP ) _https://secure.microchip.com/RTC/index.aspx_ (https://secure.microchip.com/RTC/index.aspx) I opted to get the optional toolkit and development tools they offered.
It was a thoroughly pleasurable training session and gave me a big jump start into the programming process. In addition to the great support I have received from Craig (AA0ZZ) with the PIC-EL Project (_http://home.comcast.net/~aa0zz/index.html_ (http://home.comcast.net/~aa0zz/index.html) ). The course was an individual training session and gave me an opportunity to ask lots of questions.
An offshoot of the time I spent there was to ask if they (instructor, Rob Stranskey) would be interested in doing a day of courses in the Central coast area. (Total driving time through LA from Santa Barbara area - round trip under almost ideal driving conditions was 7 1/2 hours ). He said he would be comfortable with that idea if we could supply a classroom and some students. So, we're looking at some time late this year or early next year, say Dec'07 - April'08 give or take.
If any of you might be interested on a Saturday session which could include 2 courses, let me know your course preference and I'll start a list of possible students. I'm pretty sure I can get together a dozen or so locally and maybe we can add another 20 from SFV and Ventura, San Luis Obispo Paso Robles etc. I'm sure you would find it an exciting experience.
Does anyone know of a PIC User group on the North side of LA? I have to tell you, driving to Orange county from this area is an ordeal, so it'd be worth it for anyone within 100 miles of SBA.
Usual cost for this sort of event is $49 a course. I'm Thinking of asking him as a guest speaker at the local radio club meeting (SBARC - _www.sbarc.org_ (http://www.sbarc.org) ) which would be a 3rd Friday of the month in evening, followed by classes the next day.
If you're even remotely interested let me know _ajsoenke@aol.com_ (mailto:ajsoenke@aol.com)
Al Soenke WA6VNN
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