Hello again, sorry for the delay in replying,I hope it is OK to address you all under the one heading ? juma-yetu, thank you for pointing out the Arduini ' examples' quite informative. Yes indeed, I do have quite a 'few' components around, including my old ..collection of 'valves/tubes'hence my reference to being 'long in the tooth'..
groundFungus, .again , thanks for your suggestion of starting with the 'Foundations page' logical information..
ieee488.. the starter kit you suggest,sounds OK, and the idea is practical of course, but at the moment, I am beginning to wonder, if I am 'biting off more than I can chew'..??
Lastly, terryking228: you say a friend of yours wrote the book I referred to, actually I see a combined authorship
Dr Jack Purdon and Dennis Kidder !No matter, the book goes through the basic requirements, followed by various Amateur Radio projects, pity they do not include a couple of my 'hoped -for ' subjects.. Thanks for the discount offer, again, as I mentioned to ieee488, I am beginning to wonder , if it is worth pursuing.. Watched a couple of 'demo's on You tube , "an LED string, lighting" seems it could be done with a simple multivibrator /astable/bistable , circuit, ?? Terry , in passing, vs6gy was my old Hong Kong 'Ham' call, back in 1979, now of course,the prefix for Hong Kong is VR not VS.. and I live in UK
Many many thanks to you all, for your replies, and advice, It is entirely up to me now , whether I go ahead with my' wild idea' or just pass on the book to to a much younger keen person.. My Sincere wishes to all, + 73's