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Practical Electronics Editorial offices Practical Electronics Tel 01273 777619 Electron Publishing Limited Mob 07973 518682 1 Buckingham Road Fax 01202 843233 Brighton Email pe<at>electronpublishing.com East Sussex BN1 3RA Web www.electronpublishing.com Advertisement offices Practical Electronics Adverts Tel 01273 777619 1 Buckingham Road Mob 07973 518682 Brighton Email pe<at>electronpublishing.com East Sussex BN1 3RA Editor Matt Pulzer General Manager Louisa Pulzer Digital subscriptions Stewart Kearn Tel 01202 880299 Online Editor Alan Winstanley Web Systems Kris Thain Publisher Matt Pulzer Print subscriptions Practical Electronics Subscriptions PO Box 6337 Bournemouth BH1 9EH Tel 01202 087631 United Kingdom Email pesubs<at>selectps.com Technical enquiries We regret technical enquiries cannot be answered over the telephone. We are unable to offer any advice on the use, purchase, repair or modification of commercial equipment or the incorporation or modification of designs published in the magazine. We cannot provide data or answer queries on articles or projects that are more 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 far as practicable that advertisements are bona 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. 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 before buying any transmitting or telephone equipment, as a fine, confiscation of equipment and/or imprisonment can result from illegal use or ownership. The laws vary from country to country; readers should check local laws. Practical Electronics | October | 2023 Volume 52. No. 10 October 2023 ISSN 2632 573X Editorial Time for some new PICs Your mileage may vary, but for many of us, the defining new semiconductor technology of the last dozen years has been the irresistible rise of inexpensive, easy-to-program and easy-touse microcontrollers. Leading the pack in this field is of course Microchip, with their huge range of PICs. From the simplest of 8-pin devices that cost well under a pound to sophisticated 32-bit DSP devices there seems to be a PIC for practically every application, price point and level of designer experience. Indeed, some have pointed out that one of the hardest things to do with the PIC range is ploughing through the enormous number of devices and package configurations to decide which one to use! One approach – the one you will consistently find in our projects – is to spend some time choosing a handful of devices and then sticking to that list. This is a good strategy, but sooner or later a refresh becomes inevitable. Devices that were inexpensive and easy to find become scarce and pricey, or a replacement arrives that is cheaper, quicker, more sophisticated and uses less power. This is normal in the semiconductor industry, but over the last few years a real black swan event has forced us to undertake a thorough reappraisal of our PIC choices. The pandemic caused enormous problems with electronics supply chains – you can still regularly find ordinary devices listed with blue-chip international distributors with >52-week lead times. This is particularly true of older devices, which semiconductor companies inevitably view as less important to manufacture compared to their shiny new state-of the-art designs. So, with all of the above in mind, this month we are looking at some new devices that we will be incorporating in future projects, and which we think you will enjoy using. Plus, we have produced a trio of nice little breakout boards that make connection to a PICkit programmer that much easier. AVR too And for those of you who like to use AVR microcontrollers, used extensively in Arduino boards, we’ve taken a look at new devices from that stable too. So, whether you are a seasoned and experienced user of PICs, or a newbie looking to dip a toe or two in the microcontroller ocean, we think you will enjoy our article and project on these indispensable devices. Matt Pulzer Publisher 7