These guides grew out of my classroom at Central Texas College. When a student stares at a router config the way I once stared at a chassis full of tubes, the same diagnostic logic applies: follow the signal, verify each stage, don't guess — measure.
Circuit Thinking for Network Diagnosis
Translate vintage radio troubleshooting flow into modern network layer diagnosis. Signal path, stage verification, and the art of the systematic swap.
Power Budgeting: From Plate Voltage to PoE
Calculate power delivery across systems — whether it's a tube amp's B+ rail or a PoE switch feeding wireless APs.
Signal Integrity Across Eras
Impedance matching, reflection, and noise — the physics that links coaxial cable to Cat6a to fiber.
Why This Approach?
I've watched students memorize OSI layers without ever seeing a signal on a scope. When you trace a hum in a 1950s Philco, you learn why Layer 1 matters. The components change; the reasoning doesn't.
Each guide includes worked examples, common failure modes, and a printable one-page diagnostic flowchart you can pin above your bench.