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Coming up in Silicon Chip An Arduino Retrospective It’s been almost ten years since the Arduino Uno was introduced, and in that time, a lot has changed. Many new Arduino boards have been released, and the Integrated Development Environment software has been upgraded to support dozens of different boards, including many different processor types. This article describes how the Arduino platform has evolved over the years, into the highly-capable ecosystem that it encompasses today. A Valve-based Guitar Distortion/Overdrive Pedal The Nutube twin triode that we used to build a stereo preamp in the January issue is a very flexible device. This time we’ve used it to build a distortion and overdrive pedal with many different adjustments, so you can get exactly the sound that you want. And thanks to the soft overload behaviour of the valves used, it gives a much better sound than most similar solidstate pedals. Digital Cartography Dr David Maddison described how satellite navigation works in the November 2019 issue, but knowing your latitude and longitude isn’t very useful unless you also have maps to show you where you are. In this article, he describes how those crucial digital maps are created, stored and displayed. Grid-scale Energy Storage Pumped hydro is the traditional method of storing energy on a large scale. But building new dams is becoming very difficult, so a number of other methods have been proposed. Some of these are already in use, although generally at smaller scales than large hydroelectric schemes, and that is the focus of this article. The energy stored is used to smooth out the electricity supply for remote locations, to store excess energy from renewable sources or as a source of back-up power for critical facilities like hospitals and data centres. Note: these features are planned or are in preparation and should appear within the next few issues of Silicon Chip. The March 2020 issue is due on sale in newsagents by Thursday, February 27th. Expect postal delivery of subscription copies in Australia between February 26th and March 13th. Notes & Errata Digital Lighting Controller, October-December 2010: when operating the unit with four slaves, it may be necessary to leave the 10kW “chain length sense” resistor off one of the four slave boards for correct operation. You can check this by plugging in three slaves, then four; if it works with three but not four, remove that resistor from the fourth slave. DSP Active Crossover/Parametric Equaliser, May-July 2019: in the June issue, the parts list indicates that the 128 x 64 pixel LCD has a 16-pin connector. It actually has a 20-pin connector, and so instead of the 13x2 pin and 16-pin headers, you need 10x2 pin and 20-pin headers. The caption for Fig.14 also incorrectly describes it as having 16 pins, rather than 20. Super-9 Stereo FM Radio, November & December 2019: the BB156 varicap used in this design has been discontinued and may become difficult to obtain. The 1SV304TPH3F varicap, still in production, is a suitable replacement. Also the Jaycar catalog code given for potentiometers VR1 & VR6 in the parts list on page 36 of the November issue is wrong. They should be Cat RP7510, not RP7610. Finally, in the alignment procedure described on page 67 of the December issue, where it says to adjust transformer T2, it should instead read inductor L6. WARNING! SILICON CHIP magazine regularly describes projects which employ a mains power supply or produce high voltage. All such projects should be considered dangerous or even lethal if not used safely. Readers are warned that high voltage wiring should be carried out according to the instructions in the articles. When working on these projects use extreme care to ensure that you do not accidentally come into contact with mains AC voltages or high voltage DC. If you are not confident about working with projects employing mains voltages or other high voltages, you are advised not to attempt work on them. Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd disclaims any liability for damages should anyone be killed or injured while working on a project or circuit described in any issue of SILICON CHIP magazine. Devices or circuits described in SILICON CHIP may be covered by patents. SILICON CHIP disclaims any liability for the infringement of such patents by the manufacturing or selling of any such equipment. SILICON CHIP also disclaims any liability for projects which are used in such a way as to infringe relevant government regulations and by-laws. Advertisers are warned that they are responsible for the content of all advertisements and that they must conform to the Competition & Consumer Act 2010 or as subsequently amended and to any governmental regulations which are applicable. 112 Silicon Chip Australia’s electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au