As one delves into electronics, every amateur radio enthusiast gradually approaches the stage where there is a need to understand microcontrollers. And why not? Microcontrollers are a breakthrough in digital technology and a treasure for amateur radio practice. However, of course, it’s not as simple as one would like, but it’s not as daunting as it may seem at first inexperienced glance. Our article will tell you where to start if you know absolutely nothing about microcontrollers.
Where to start working with a microcontroller:
Many young radio enthusiasts start by going to the market to buy radio components, and then figure out what to do with them. Based on my personal experience of learning microcontrollers, I understand your enthusiasm and support your ambitions, but I want to warn you in advance: ‘Don’t rush!’ You won’t achieve anything substantial right away!
The value of a microcontroller lies in the fact that you can define its operating conditions yourself, and it will strictly follow your commands. However, to do this, you need to learn how to write programs in C or Assembly language. You also need to familiarize yourself with a programming environment and learn how to translate the language into hexadecimal code that the microcontroller can understand. Based on my personal experience once again, I suggest building your self-education in the field of microcontrollers in the following way:
Algorithm for Self-learning of Microcontrollers:
1) Gather a bunch of books on the topic of interest and the specific microcontroller type (PIC or AVR). I’m not saying this because I’m lazy to explain, but because books are a fundamental source of information.
Also, I can’t say for sure why, but personally, I chose to focus on AVR microcontrollers, so I will be discussing them in subsequent articles.
2)Don’t rush to buy a programmer – you can easily and inexpensively build one yourself (visit our website frequently, and soon you’ll be able to do it).
3) Don’t rush to buy a microcontroller either (due to lack of knowledge, you might end up buying the wrong one for your specific needs). The thing is, microcontrollers are designed in a way that a program written for one AVR microcontroller can be successfully used for another (you just need to modify certain code sections depending on the presence or absence of specific functions in the controller). However, other aspects can vary depending on the model.
4) You also need to choose a comfortable programming environment in which you will create your projects for microcontrollers (I’ll try to explain this in an accessible way as well).
5) To effectively learn microcontrollers, it’s essential to set yourself a task adequately and correctly, while considering its potential solution. I recommend finding a schematic of a simple device that you like and, under no circumstances, using someone else’s program. Write it yourself! Firstly, you will understand and master programming faster by attempting to write the program yourself. Secondly, it can be quite challenging to understand someone else’s code (there may be errors), so it’s not worth wasting your time on that.
6) You should understand that a microcontroller is just a piece of hardware like any other microchip, with its own specific features, input and output parameters. First and foremost, you need to remember a few important points:
6.1 What inputs are received by the microchip (are all the operating conditions of the microcontroller met)?
6.2 What should the device do and ‘how does it work?’ (create a device operation algorithm).
6.3 What should be the output (if the microcontroller executes the program correctly)?
Don’t be afraid of challenges! Have you decided to learn microcontrollers? You will master them! And our website will try to assist you in this endeavor, so stay tuned for updates.
P.S.: I have tried to present and describe straightforward tips in a visual manner. I hope that at least some of them will be helpful to you. However, there is much more to explore and discover, so be bold, and explore the website https://bip-mip.com/.
