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Practical Electronics Volume 53. No. 10 October 2024 ISSN 2632 573X Contents Projects and Circuits 500W Monoblock Class-D Amplifier by Phil Prosser 8 If you need a serious amount of audio power, are on a budget, and are not after ‘high fidelity’, this is for you! It uses two prebuilt modules and not much else, mounted in a compact metal chassis, to deliver heaps of audio power all day long. 28 TQFP Programming Adaptors by Nicholas Vinen Our new Programming Adaptor, described last month, can program chips in DIP and many SMD packages. But what about those in SOT-23-6 or QFP? We show how to program such devices out-of-circuit with several reconfigurable programming jigs. 58 2m VHF FM Test Signal Generator by Andrew Woodfield This Test Oscillator uses an AD9834 DDS chip in a somewhat unusual way, producing signals in the 2m band (144-148MHz), well above its 80MHz oscillator frequency. It can produce a CW signal and optionally add frequency modulation. Series, Features and Columns Techno Talk by Max The Magnificent Sticking the landing – a big win for a high-school rocket scientist 3 Net Work by Alan Winstanley This month’s Net Work checks out what low-cost smart watches can offer, including ideas for devices that help to monitor an individual’s health and fitness. 4 The Fox Report by Barry Fox Hypergram hype 7 Circuit Surgery by Ian Bell Topics in digital signal processing – digital-to-analog converter (DAC) outputs 22 Audio Out by Jake Rothman Audio switching Part 5 – real electronic switching, continued 36 Using Electronic Modules – ADS1115 4-channel, 16-bit ADC by Jim Rowe 42 This small and inexpensive module adds up to four high-speed 16-bit analog-todigital conversion (ADC) channels to almost any microcontroller via an I2C serial bus. Max’s Cool Beans by Max The Magnificent Gray codes and more on BCD to 7-segment decoders 46 Linshang LS172 Colorimeter review by Allan Linton-Smith If you want to find a paint colour that matches your existing paint, this device is perfect. It’s relatively inexpensive, very accurate and quite easy to use. 54 Teach-In 2024 – Learn electronics with the ESP32 by Mike Tooley Part 8 – Where Am I? (GPS/GNSS) 68 Regulars and Services Made in Australia & the UK. Written in Britain, Australia, the USA and Ireland. Read everywhere. © Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd 2024 Copyright in all drawings, photographs, articles, technical designs, software and intellectual property published in Practical Electronics is fully protected, and reproduction or imitation in whole or in part are expressly forbidden. The November 2024 issue of Practical Electronics will be published on Thursday, 3rd of October 2024 (see page 80). Practical Electronics | October | 2024 Editorial Updates on kits and the magazine Reader services – Editorial and Advertising Departments Subscribe to Practical Electronics and save money Exclusive Microchip reader offer Win a Microchip dsPIC33A Curiosity Platform Development Board Practical Electronics back issue downloads Practical Electronics PCB Service PCBs for Practical Electronics projects Classified ads and Advertiser index Next month! – highlights of our next issue of Practical Electronics 2 2 21 27 57 76 79 80 Please note: from 1st of July 2024, subscriptions and renewals paid by PayPal, Visa and Mastercard are now handled via our website: https://www.electronpublishing.com/ Click the Subscriptions link at the top of the page. Select Publishing Services will continue to handle renewals via phone, cheque and mail. 1