Picaxe Applications and Programming Techniques
Rex Harper, W1REX
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Rex Harper, W1REX,
with his QRPp progeny, Katie
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Rex Harper, W1REX, will describe applications and programming techniques for the popular and inexpensive Picaxe microprocessors.
Biography:Rex helped his dad build a crystal radio when he was 6. That experience started him off in a long career in electronics. While a teenager, he built a tube tester and oscilloscope and learned TV repair techniques from his father. He once went to an auction and bought 50 non-working televisions for 50 cents apiece, repaired many and resold them to his classmates for a tidy profit.
Rex was first introduced to amateur radio by a classmate in high school back in 1966 and would have pursued ham radio had it not been for a simultaneous exposure to computers. He participated in an NSF program that introduced computers to high school students and Rex has been involved with computers ever since. A BSEE degree from the University of Maine was followed by a career in computers in one form or another: applications, service, programming, and sales. Rex opened the first retail computer store in Maine and sold Apple and various IBM compatible computers for over 15 years.
Microprocessor applications and new product development have been his main focus in the last 25 years. He holds 5 patents on electronic toys, and has developed many new products for both his own company and many others. He re-encountered amateur radio in 1995 when he attended a local club meeting and successfully tested for a no-code tech license that same night. Rex is now an Extra and holds the call W1REX. His current interests involve building projects on the bench, hawking kits, Lobstercon and developing wacky ideas.