# Call In Show #5

- Show: [The Amp Hour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour)
- Published: 2016-07-15
- Length: 1h 05m
- Episode: 307
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-15-call-in-show-5
- Listen: https://theamphour.com/307-call-in-show-5/

## Summary

Hosts Chris Gammell and Dave Jones answer audience questions, starting with a student's struggle with engineering math and the practical relevance of calculus in industry. They then address a technical query about grounding bench power supplies, explaining isolation, stacking, and ground loops. The conversation shifts to career advice for technicians seeking EE degrees, followed by a discussion on retro computing, specifically RPN calculators and die photos of chips like the one in the EEVblog micro.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-15-call-in-show-5#t=0) Introduction and Math Anxiety
- [19:02](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-15-call-in-show-5#t=1142) Power Supply Grounding and Stacking
- [34:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-15-call-in-show-5#t=2040) Career Advice for Electronics Technicians
- [50:09](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-15-call-in-show-5#t=3009) RPN Calculators and Chip Die Photos

## Topics

- [Careers & education](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/engineering-careers-and-education)
- [Analog & power electronics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/analog-and-power-electronics)
- [Chips, FPGAs & semiconductors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/chips-and-fpgas)
- [Maker community & events](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/maker-community)

## Most relevant to

makers and hobbyists

## Mentioned

- EEV Blog (company)
- Contextual Electronics (company)
- Altium (company)
- Texas Instruments (company)
- Intercell (company)
- Frieden EC 132 (product)
- HP (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [181: Work on It for Ten Years](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2016-12-30-181-work-on-it-for-ten-years) (Embedded.fm)
- [177: Boba Fett Fell Down](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2016-11-22-177-boba-fett-fell-down) (Embedded.fm)
- [122: Glue a Board to Your Resume](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2015-10-21-122-glue-a-board-to-your-resume) (Embedded.fm)
- [Don't Miss Season 2 of Moore's Lobby](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/moores-lobby/2021-01-16-dont-miss-season-2-of-moores-lobby) (Moore's Lobby)
- [379: Monstrous Cable Corporation](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/embedded-fm/2021-07-08-379-monstrous-cable-corporation) (Embedded.fm)

## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-amp-hour/2016-07-15-call-in-show-5. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to The Amp Hour.