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A number of projects and circuits published in Practical Electronics
employ voltages that can be lethal. You should not build, test,
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Practical Electronics | September | 2021
Volume 50. No. 9
September 2021
ISSN 2632 573X
Editorial
Something for everyone and every level
One of the great things about PE is that we try hard to cater for every
level of experience and ability. Some of our projects use sophisticated
techniques and the latest silicon; others aim to get new converts to
the hobby up and running. Take this issue – the SuperCodec project
offers very high fidelity and can turn your PC into an advanced audio
analyser, capable of measuring harmonic distortion down to 0.0001%
and signal-to-noise ratios up to 110dB (or more with attenuators). It’s
a superb project, but it’s not for beginners. On the other hand, this
month’s Night Keeper Lighthouse project is ideal for younger readers
just starting out with a soldering iron.
Audio Out
What else do we have this month? Well, remember the old Hi-Fi
maxim that 10% of your budget should be reserved for interconnects?
Now, this may be an urban myth propagated by those who make their
living making and selling magic-crystal-aligned phono and speaker
cables, but there is certainly engineering truth in the idea that however
good your design if you ignore the wires that connect up sub-systems
then the overall result may be greatly degraded. Following on from
his superb Microphone Preamplifier, Jake Rothman is now covering
the design of balanced cables for microphones (and of course other
sensitive applications). A must-read for all you audio and live music
designers and constructors.
PIC n’ Mix
Mike Hibbett’s very popular PIC18F Development Board continues as
he expands on the voltage monitoring capability developed previously
by logging data to a file on a standard Micro-SD card for download to a
PC. This data handling opens a whole host of useful project ideas.
Flowcode – graphical programming
This month sees the start of a collaboration between PE and the
company behind Flowcode, an intuitive and easy-to-use system for
programming microcontrollers (eg, PICs, Arduino and Raspberry Pi).
The great thing about Flowcode is you can try it for free to see if you
like it – no expense required. If it works for you and you need the extra
modules specified for a particular project then the cost is modest and
all PE readers get a 20% discount. Try it – you have nothing to lose!
We’ve all been there!
Barry Fox’s eponymous column tells a tale of woe we have all
experienced – how can companies that produce such clever products
produce such awful guides to using their carefully crafted gadgets?
Read it and weep… but Barry is nothing if not persistent, and his oneman campaign to rid the world of nonsense may bear fruit with Wi-Fi
accessory manufacturer Devolo who have promised to take on board
his suggestions.
Micromite?
Fear not Micromite fans! Phil Boyce is taking a well-earned break
this month as he prepares a large, exciting project for the next issue –
definitely worth the wait!
Keep well everyone
Matt Pulzer
Publisher
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