Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

Practical Electronics Volume 54. No. 3 March 2025 ISSN 2632 573X Contents Projects and Circuits The Pico Gamer by Geoff Graham 8 The Pico Gamer is a PicoMite-powered ‘retro’ game console packed with nine games including three inspired by Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Tetris. It has an inbuilt rechargeable battery and colour 3.2-inch (81mm) diagonal LCD screen. 39 Compact Frequency Divider by Nicholas Vinen This small board converts a standard 10MHz frequency reference (eg, from an oscilloscope) to 1MHz and 1Hz square wave signals. The latter can emulate the 1PPS output of a GPS receiver and has options for a 10% or 50% duty cycle. 59 Mains Power-Up Sequencer, part two by John Clarke This Sequencer can be used to switch devices on with a delay in between each, or as a master/slave power-saving solution. This second article has the assembly, set-up and usage instructions. Series, Features and Columns Net Work by Alan Winstanley A round-up of the latest space program developments, starting with a look at some home-grown projects that are slowly taking shape in Britain and around the world. 4 Audio Out by Jake Rothman 18 Using Capacitors for HiFi, part one – the pitfalls of using capacitors for audio signals Precision Electronics, part three by Andrew Levido 26 This series about precision electronics design covers a range of topics and uses real examples and real components to demonstrate the concepts. This instalment covers the use of difference and instrumentation amplifiers. 32 Max’s Cool Beans by Max The Magnificent Weird & Wonderful Arduino Projects, part three: building a 14 × 10 tricolour LED array Techno Talk by Max The Magnificent AI-enabled holograms 45 Circuit Surgery by Ian Bell Topics in digital signal processing – windowed sinc filters 46 The Fox Report by Barry Fox Forcing Windows 11 upgrades and some of the pitfalls 51 The History of Electronics, part three by Dr David Maddison 52 We wouldn’t have computers, smartphones or AI without the work of thousands of people who created the foundations of modern electronics. This third article in the series covers inventors and discoverers born between 1848 and 1881. Harold S. Black, Negative Feedback & the Op Amp by Roderick Wall Amplifier circuits changed forever in 1927 with the bright idea of one clever man. 68 Regulars and Services Made in Australia & the UK. Written in Britain, Australia, the USA and Ireland. Read everywhere. © Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd 2025 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 April 2025 issue of Practical Electronics will be published on Wednesday, 5th of March 2025 (see p80). Practical Electronics | March | 2025 Editorial Microsoft’s constantly moving target Reader services – Editorial and Advertising Departments Subscribe to Practical Electronics and save money 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 17 67 76 79 80 Renewals paid by PayPal, Visa and Mastercard are now handled via our website: www.electronpublishing.com 1