Silicon ChipMarket Centre - June 2016 SILICON CHIP
  1. Outer Front Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Publisher's Letter: Small nuclear power stations are ideal for Australia
  4. Feature: Small Nuclear Reactors: Reliable Power At Low Risk by Dr David Maddison
  5. Feature: Bringing An HP ProBook Laptop Back From The Dead by Greg Swain
  6. Project: Stereo Audio Level/VU Meter: Add Bling To HiFi System by Nicholas Vinen
  7. Project: Arduino-Based Cooling System Monitor by Nicholas Vinen
  8. Serviceman's Log: Putting the wind up an anemometer by Dave Thompson
  9. Project: Hotel Safe Alarm For Travellers by John Clarke
  10. Review: Tecsun PL365 Radio Receiver by Andrew Mason
  11. Project: Budget Senator 2-Way Loudspeaker System, Pt.2 by Allan Linton-Smith
  12. PartShop
  13. Review: Rohde & Schwarz RTH1004 Scope Rider by Nicholas Vinen
  14. Vintage Radio: AWA 461 MA clock radio & Heathkit RF signal generator by Terry Gray
  15. Subscriptions
  16. Product Showcase
  17. PartShop
  18. Market Centre
  19. Notes & Errata: Ultra-LD Mk.2 Amplifier Module / Touch-Screen Boat Computer With GPS

This is only a preview of the June 2016 issue of Silicon Chip.

You can view 42 of the 104 pages in the full issue, including the advertisments.

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Items relevant to "Stereo Audio Level/VU Meter: Add Bling To HiFi System":
  • Stereo LED Audio Level Meter / VU Meter PCB [01104161] (AUD $15.00)
  • PIC32MX150F128D-I/PT programmed for the Stereo LED Audio Level Meter / VU Meter [0110416A.HEX] (Programmed Microcontroller, AUD $15.00)
  • Strip of ten ultra-bright YELLOW M3216/1206 SMD LEDs (Component, AUD $0.70)
  • Strip of ten ultra-bright AMBER M3216/1206 SMD LEDs (Component, AUD $0.70)
  • Strip of ten ultra-bright BLUE M3216/1206 SMD LEDs (Component, AUD $0.70)
  • Strip of ten ultra-bright GREEN M3216/1206 SMD LEDs (Component, AUD $0.70)
  • Strip of ten ultra-bright RED M3216/1206 SMD LEDs (Component, AUD $0.70)
  • Red & White PCB-mounting RCA sockets (Component, AUD $4.00)
  • SMD components for the 100dB Stereo Audio Level Meter/VU Meter (AUD $35.00)
  • Stereo LED Audio Level Meter / VU Meter clear acrylic case pieces (PCB, AUD $15.00)
  • Firmware (C and HEX) files for the Stereo LED Audio Level Meter / VU Meter [0110416A.HEX] (Software, Free)
  • Stereo LED Audio Level Meter / VU Meter PCB pattern (PDF download) [01104161] (Free)
  • Laser cutting artwork and drilling diagram for the Stereo LED Audio Level Meter / VU Meter (PDF download) (Panel Artwork, Free)
Articles in this series:
  • Stereo Audio Level/VU Meter: Add Bling To HiFi System (June 2016)
  • Stereo LED Audio Level/VU Meter, Pt.2 (July 2016)
Items relevant to "Arduino-Based Cooling System Monitor":
  • Arduino sketch for the Cooling System Monitor (Software, Free)
  • Laser cutting artwork for the Arduino-Based Cooling System Monitor (PDF download) (Panel Artwork, Free)
Items relevant to "Hotel Safe Alarm For Travellers":
  • Hotel Safe Alarm PCB [03106161] (AUD $5.00)
  • PIC12F675-I/P programmed for the Hotel Safe Alarm [0310616A.HEX] (Programmed Microcontroller, AUD $10.00)
  • Firmware (ASM and HEX) files for the Hotel Safe Alarm [0310616A.HEX] (Software, Free)
  • Hotel Safe Alarm PCB pattern (PDF download) [03106161] (Free)
  • Hotel Safe Alarm lid panel artwork and drilling template (PDF download) (Free)
Items relevant to "Budget Senator 2-Way Loudspeaker System, Pt.2":
  • 2-Way Passive Crossover PCB [01205141] (AUD $20.00)
  • Acrylic pieces to make two inductor bobbins (Component, AUD $7.50)
  • 2-Way Passive Loudspeaker Crossover PCB pattern (PDF download) [01205141] (Free)
Articles in this series:
  • Budget Senator 2-Way Loudspeaker System (May 2016)
  • Budget Senator 2-Way Loudspeaker System, Pt.2 (June 2016)

Purchase a printed copy of this issue for $10.00.

MARKET CENTRE Cash in your surplus gear. Advertise it here in SILICON CHIP FOR SALE tronixlabs.com - Australia’s best value for hobbyist and enthusiast electronics from adafruit, DFRobot, Freetronics, Raspberry Pi, Seeedstudio and more, with same-day shipping. PCB MANUFACTURE: single to multi­ layer. Bare board tested. One-offs to any quantity. 48 hour service. Artwork design. Excellent prices. Check out our specials: www.ldelectronics.com.au TALK TO THE WORLD: get into Ham Radio. Study for the Standard or Advanced Licence with my books. Graeme Scott, VK2KE. Visit www.gscott.com. au Albury, NSW 2640. LEDs, BRAND NAME and generic LEDs. Heatsinks, fans, LED drivers, power supplies, LED ribbon, kits, components, hardware, EL wire. www.ledsales.com.au PCBs MADE, ONE OR MANY. Any format, hobbyists welcome. Sesame Electronics Phone 0434 781 191. sesame<at>sesame.com.au www.sesame.com.au PCBs & Micros: SILICON CHIP can supply PCBs and programmed microcontrollers and other specialist parts for recent projects and some not so recent projects. Visit the Online Shop at www. siliconchip.com.au to place your order or phone (02) 9939 3295. WANTED WANTED: EARLY HIFIs, AMPLIFIERS, Speakers, Turntables, Valves, Books, Quad, Leak, Pye, Lowther, Ortofon, SME, Western Electric, Altec, Marantz, McIntosh, Tannoy, Goodmans, Wharfe­ dale, radio and wireless. Collector/ Hobbyist will pay cash. (07) 5471 1062. johnmurt<at>highprofile.com.au KIT ASSEMBLY & REPAIR KEITH RIPPON KIT ASSEMBLY & REPAIR: * Australia & New Zealand; * Small production runs. Phone Keith 0409 662 794. keith.rippon<at>gmail.com DAVE THOMPSON (the Serviceman from SILICON CHIP) is available to help you with kit assembly, project troubleshooting, general electronics and Announcing Pioneer Hill Software SpectraPLUS 24bit DAQ ADC spectrogram, t.h.d. and i.m.d. analysis, f.f.t, acoustic tools, 3D surface plot, sig. gen. etc. Fully shielded SpecctraDAQ200 ADC/DAC 24bit/192kHz dual channel, Wolfson. AKM converters … USB3 interface to laptop/PC As 2ch. 24bit recorder t.h.d. = 0.002%max see : www.spectraplus.com Order direct, USA contact : John Pattee (pioneer<at>spectraplus.com) Local agent : DSCAPE Melbourne s/w , h/w package ca. USD $1500 Aus. Distributor : Julian Driscoll CEO jcdrisc<at>tpg.com.au for support custom design work. No job too small. Based in Christchurch, NZ but service available Australia/NZ wide. Phone NZ (+64 3) 366 6588 or email dave<at> davethompson.co.nz VINTAGE RADIO REPAIRS: electrical mechanical fitter with 36 years ex­ perience and extensive knowledge of valve and transistor radios. Professional and reliable repairs. All workmanship guaranteed. $10 inspection fee plus charges for parts and labour as required. Labour fees $35 p/h. Pensioner discounts available on application. Contact Alan on 0425 122 415 or email bigal radioshack<at>gmail.com ADVERTISING IN MARKET CENTRE Classified Ad Rates: $32.00 for up to 20 words plus 95 cents for each additional word. Display ads in Market Centre (minimum 2cm deep, maximum 10cm deep): $82.50 per column centimetre per insertion. All prices include GST. Closing date: 5 weeks prior to month of sale. To book, email the text to silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au and include your name, address & credit card details, or phone Glyn (02) 9939 3295 or 0431 792 293. Ask SILICON CHIP . . . continued from page 102 such as a CD/DVD/Blu-ray player or MP3 player it should not have trouble driving such a load. In that case, 2kΩ would be OK. Basically, lower values are better due to reduced thermal noise but you don’t want to load down the signal source equipment too much (the limit depends on what it is). siliconchip.com.au Good quality log pots are likely to have better tracking and low-end performance than cheap/no-name pots. We suggest Alps, Bourns or Panasonic brand potentiometers if you can get them, using either cermet or conductive plastic material. Bourns has a range of potentiometers designed for amplifiers – see www.bourns.com/ products/proaudio/products Similarly, for Alps: www.alps.com/prod/ info/E/HTML/SearchList/SearchList1050_list1.html Three-way crossover advice I am building a 3-way speaker system using Klipsch K33 15-inch bass drivers, JBL midrange horns and JBL Super Bullet tweeters. I want the crossover frequencies to be around 350-550Hz and 3.5-5.5kHz. How can I design a crossover to achieve this? The midrange JBL driver has a 2-inch throat and is able to work down to 350Hz with the JBL 2886B horn. The June 2016  103