Fall 2004
Mon/Wed 1400-1700                                                 Room 219

Instructor:         George Hess

    Office:                    Room 106B                 924-6582
    Lab:                        Room 2, Basement      924-6582
    Office hours:          By arrangement.
    E-mail:                   gbh@virginia.edu

Grader:        tba

Schedule  (See linked page).  Homework assignments and lab exercises will be posted for each week.  For assignments not yet updated  I will leave a previous year's page, which will give you a pretty good idea of what is coming, though there may be minor changes.

Homework:         Problems are due each Wednesday at the time of the lab.  Relevant reading should be done before the Monday lab.  Late homework will not be accepted.

Lectures:     There will be a lecture of approximately 30 minutes at the beginning of the lab period on Mondays and sometimes Wednesdays.

Lab reports:    Reports should be turned in by "LAB" in Hayes.  They are due the lab period after that LAB should have been completed.  (See below for report format).  Lab partners may turn in a joint report, but both must contribute to the preparation of the report as well as the lab work and both should review and sign the final version of the report.  If for any reason you don't work together for a significant portion of the lab, then you should turn in separate reports.

Exams:        There will be a midterm hour exam (covering analog electronics) and a final exam (which will cover all material in the course but emphasize digital electronics).  Only in exceptional circumstances will makeup exams be offered.  Arrangements must be made in advance except in emergency situations.

Grading:     Lab reports 40% (including 15% for subjective assessment of your work in lab), Homework 20%, Midterm 20%, Final 20%.

Lab key:     You can obtain one from Larry Suddrath. It must be returned to Larry before the final exam.
 

Material covered:     Much of Labs 1-17 in Hayes and Horowitz (See Schedule).

You should read the relevant sections of Horowitz and Hill [Horowitz, for short] each week in advance of the lab, as well as the supplemental material in Hayes and Horowitz [Hayes, for short]. Certain sections of Horowitz may be difficult to follow; in that case check the topic in one of the other books on Reserve for 315 and 222, for instance, Simpson.
 

Comment on Horowitz:     In addition to the basics of the subject and a unique practical point of view, this book contains a lot of detailed information.  (It will be an excellent reference after you finish this course). You don't need to remember or even read all of this. What do you need to remember? Mostly things actually used in lab and concepts emphasized in lecture or on homework problems.
 

Organization:     You will work with one partner and write a joint lab report, which you both sign.  Lab write-ups should be on loose-leaf notebook paper and should be kept in a notebook, which you will turn in (again) at the end of the semester.   In the event your partner misses lab (due to sickness or whatever), he should make up the lab in off-hours, and you should then turn in individual reports.

The write-up should be mostly a log of what you did, including circuit diagrams and tables and/or graphs of your results, but it should include enough introduction and explanation to be comprehensible by itself.  It can be written mostly in lab as you go.  Be sure to answer all questions and include calculations called for in the Lab Manual.

Partners should trade off tasks in the lab: Connecting the wires, making measurements with the scope, writing in the report page, etc. Everyone needs to do each some of the time.  Contributions to these tasks will affect the subjective part of the lab grade.