Practical
Electronics
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Practical Electronics
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01273 777619
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East Sussex BN1 3RA
Editor
Matt Pulzer
General Manager
Louisa Pulzer
Digital subscriptions Stewart Kearn Tel 01202 880299
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Alan Winstanley
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Kris Thain
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Matt Pulzer
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Technical enquiries
We regret technical enquiries cannot be answered over the
telephone. We are unable to offer any advice on the use, purchase,
re air or odification o co
ercial e ui ent or the incor oration
or odification o designs u lished in the aga ine. e cannot
provide data or answer queries on articles or projects that are
ore than five years old.
Questions about articles or projects should be sent to the editor
by email: pe<at>electronpublishing.com
Projects and circuits
All reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that the advice and
data given to readers is reliable. We cannot, however, guarantee
it and we cannot accept legal responsibility for it.
A number of projects and circuits published in Practical Electronics
employ voltages that can be lethal. You should not build, test,
modify or renovate any item of mains-powered equipment unless
you fully understand the safety aspects involved and you use an
RCD (GFCI) adaptor.
Component supplies
We do not supply electronic components or kits for building the
projects featured, these can be supplied by advertisers. We
advise readers to check that all parts are still available before
commencing any project in a back-dated issue.
Advertisements
Although the proprietors and staff of Practical Electronics take
reasonable precautions to protect the interests of readers by
ensuring as ar as ractica le that advertise ents are ona fide
the magazine and its publishers cannot give any undertakings
in respect of statements or claims made by advertisers, whether
these advertisements are printed as part of the magazine, or in
inserts. The Publishers regret that under no circumstances will
the magazine accept liability for non-receipt of goods ordered, or
for late delivery, or for faults in manufacture.
Volume 51. No. 7
July 2022
ISSN 2632 573X
Editorial
The importance of repair
Last month’s editorial about a well-known company deliberately
making design and customer support decisions that render
expensive products unnecessarily hard or expensive to fix
obviously struck a chord with many of you. Thank you for the
emails and advice sent in – all, much appreciated.
Several of you who took the time to write asked how we got to the
point where almost everything electronic is now viewed as single
use/disposable/unrepairable. It’s an important question, but one
that long-term readers of PE are in a good position to answer.
It boils down to a few key changes over the last few decades: the
falling cost of parts and the rise of design complexity are at the
heart of the success of the electronics industry and the challenge of
repairability. Up until the recent silicon shortages – brought about
by the pandemic and now the economic shock of war – the price
of electronic parts followed an inexorable downward curve. At
the same time, products became ever more complicated, bespoke
and dense thanks to miniaturisation of not just microcontrollers,
but every electronic component from passives to connectors. This
makes goods cheaper and cheaper to produce, but conversely
harder and harder to fix when they break down.
It was not always like this. Looking back to early issues of
PE reminds us that parts and products used to be pricey. We
regularly carried projects that encouraged readers to build radios,
Hi-Fi and test equipment not just for the fun of it, but also
because without a DIY approach, these products would be out of
reach for many readers.
Likewise, repairability seemed to be built into the design ethos
of companies. Jake Rothman’s fascinating series on repairing
the Leak Stereo 30 amplifier (see PE, Feb, May 2021) would be
unimaginable for most modern Hi-Fi equipment.
On one level, it’s good that products are cheaper and more
accessible to those on modest incomes, but it’s also produced
such a voracious appetite for disposable items that the
mountains of e-waste generated by endless consumption are
degrading our environment.
Fortunately, it does not have to be like this. Recent moves by
governments to force companies to make their products repairable
are to be welcomed and we will watch developments with
interest. Electronics giant Apple makes a lot of noise about their
elimination of toxic chemicals, use of green energy and recycled
aluminium, but the true test will be if they are prepared to sacrifice
some profit so that their expensive products do not end up in
landfill after a handful of years in operation.
Matt Pulzer
Publisher
Transmitters/bugs/telephone equipment
We advise readers that certain items of radio transmitting and
telephone equipment which may be advertised in our pages
cannot be legally used in the UK. Readers should check the law
e ore uying any trans itting or tele hone e ui ent as a fine
confiscation o e ui ent and or i rison ent can result ro
illegal use or ownership. The laws vary from country to country;
readers should check local laws.
Practical Electronics | July | 2022
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