PortaPAL-D – PART 1

•P owerful, portable PA

loudspeaker system
• Class D low-distortion amplifier
• 12V Li-Po battery power
• Guitar and two microphone inputs

50th birthday edition – Part 2

CONTINUE YOUR Stroll down memory
lane With EPE

MAKE your own PCB – Part 4

W
Using EagleCAD software RE
MIC IN A
MO ROCH
DE T I
MO E CO P
B NT
ZE OA RO
NA R L
WIR D WI
AD EL TH
AP E
TO SS
R

Electronic Bellbird
Mimic the bell-like sound of a real Bellbird

DEC 2014 £4.40

INTERFACE, Net work, PIC N’ MIX,
s :
plu Circuit Surgery AND techno talk
DEC 14 Cover.indd 1 16/10/2014 17:46:27
 Offer ends January 1st 2015

• Aoyue 60W digital microprocessor- • Aoyue 70W multi-function PCB

controlled ESD safe soldering iron. work station with SMD hot air gun,
• Large digital display easily switch soldering iron and fume extractor.
between Centigrade and Fahrenheit • A mix of digital and dial controls
• Functions such as “pre-set favourite • Supplied with a host of extras such
temps, sleep timer, and more” as air gun nozzles and carbon filters.
Part no 10% Off Sale Price Part no 10% Off Sale Price
SI-9378 £44.21 SI-968A £119.21

Exclusive Sale for Everyday Practical Electronics Readers

• Aoyue 70W CPU controlled multi- • Aoyue 70W desoldering gun ideal
function PCB work station, with hot for removing lead components from
air gun, desoldering gun, soldering through hole plated PCB’s.
iron and fume extractor. • Supplied with spare nozzles and
• Dual port system allows maintenance kit for the gun.
simultaneous use gun and iron • Easy to use dial controls
Part no 10% Off Sale Price Part no 10% Off Sale Price
SI-2703A £203.95 SI-474 £73.84

10% Sale on everything at www.pcb-soldering.co.uk

• For heating underside of • Aoyue 70W soldering iron

PCB’s whilst reworking, helping • Digital LED display and push
to prevent board distortion. buttons for easy temperature setting.
• Variable temperature setting. • Quick change soldering iron tips
• Quartz infrared heating • Audible buzzer sounds when station
surface 140mm x 140mm. reaches pre-set temperature.
Part no 10% Off Sale Price Part no 10% Off Sale Price
SI-853A £77.90 SI-2900 £66.47

DEC 2014.indd 1 20/10/2014 13:10:38

 ISSN 0262 3617
 PROJECTS  THEORY 
 NEWS  COMMENT 
 POPULAR FEATURES  INCORPORATING ELECTRONICS TODAY INTERNATIONAL

VOL. 43. No 12 December 2014

www.epemag.com

Projects and Circuits

PortaPAL-D – Part 1 10
by John Clarke
Battery-powered, high efficiency, class-D amplifier-based loudspeaker PA system
electronic Bellbird 22
by John Clarke
Build this great Christmas or school project – a unique light-and-sound decoration
SiDRADIO – an integrated SDR using a DVB-T 28
dongle – Part 3
by Jim Rowe
Using SDR# software to turn almost any PC into a powerful software-defined radio

Series and Features

Techno Talk by Mark Nelson 20
Total hash
50 Golden Years Of Practical Electronics – Part 2 38
by Alan Winstanley
A fascinating look at the development of your magazine – the 70s onwards
NET WORK by Alan Winstanley 44
Virus vigilance... Sneaky software
Suffering from shellshock... Securely searching
Interface by Robert Penfold 46
Raspberry Pi B+ A/D
RPIADCISOL by Mike Tooley 50
Review of the first available optically isolated 24-bit ADC board for the Pi
CIRCUIT SURGERY by Ian Bell 54
Power MOSFET failures
make YOUR OWN PCBs – Part 4 by Mike Hibbett 58
Outsourcing the manufacture of a complex design
PIC n’ MIX by Mike Hibbett 64
Fine-tuning our ADC skills

Regulars and Services

Microchip reader offer 5
EPE Exclusive – Win a Microchip Remote Control Demo Board
With ZENATM Wireless Adaptor
EDITORIAL 7
Another slice of Pi?... Teach-In 2015
Soldering Guide published... Audio Out and Cool Beans
NEWS – Barry Fox highlights technology’s leading edge 8
Plus everyday news from the world of electronics
Teach-in 5 67
DIRECT BOOK SERVICE 68
A wide range of technical books available by mail order, plus more CD-ROMs
EPE PCB SERVICE 70
PCBs for EPE projects
© Wimborne Publishing Ltd 2014. Copyright in all ADVERTISERS INDEX 71
drawings, photographs and articles published in
EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS is fully Next month! – Highlights of next month’s EPE 72
protected, and reproduction or imitations in whole or
in part are expressly forbidden.

Our January 2015 issue will be published on Readers’ Services • Editorial and Advertisement Departments 7
Thursday 04 December 2014, see page 72 for details.

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 1

Contents Dec 2014.indd 1 20/10/2014 12:44:04

 All prices INCLUDE 20.0% VAT.
Quasar Electronics Limited Postage & Packing Options (Up to 0.5Kg gross weight): UK Standard 3-7
PO Box 6935, Bishops Stortford Day Delivery - £3.95; UK Mainland Next Day Delivery - £8.95; Europe
CM23 4WP, United Kingdom (EU) - £12.95; Rest of World - £14.95 (up to 0.5Kg).
Tel: 01279 467799 Order online for reduced price Postage (from just £1!)
Fax: 01279 267799 Payment: We accept all major credit/debit cards. Make PO’s payable to
E-mail: [email protected] Quasar Electronics Limited.
Please visit our online shop now for full details of over 1000 electronic
Web: www.quasarelectronics.co.uk
kits, projects, modules and publications. Discounts for bulk quantities.

Card
Sales Line

Solutions for Home, Education & Industry Since 1993

Ho! Ho! Ho! Christmas 2014 is on it's way but

We have some fantastic gift ideas for young (and older) enquiring minds

Electronic Mechanical Festive Fun

Project Labs Motorised Electronic
An electronics course
in a box! All assume no
Wooden Kits Project Kits
previous knowledge Future engineers can Choose from 500 plus
Electronic Bell Kit learn about the opera- electronic kits. Solder-
and require NO solder. Robot Sensor 20 Lab £9.95 (Code EAKEB)
See website for details tion of transmissions ing required.
£25.95 (Code EPLR20) steered through gears
or pulleys. Easy to
build, no glue or sol-
dering required.

Electronic Motor Kit

£9.95 (Code EAKEM)

Digital Recording Musical LED Jingle

Laboratory Bells Kit
30 in ONE Project Lab Automech Kit
£35.95 (Code EPLDR) £21.95 (Code 1176KT)
£22.95 (Code EPL030) £18.95 (Code C21-605)
Solderless Flashing
Generator Kit LED
Electronic £9.95 (Code EAKEG) Christmas
Tree Kit
Projects £5.16
(Code
Coptermech Kit MK100)
130 in ONE Project Lab £18.95 (Code C21-604)
£55.95 (Code EPL130)

Room Alarm Kit

£6.95 (Code EAKRA)
AM-FM Radio Kit
£12.95 (Code ERKAF)

Riding Santa Kit

Trainmech Kit £14.66 (Code MK116)
£18.95 (Code C21-606)
Hand Held Metal Ro-
300 in ONE Project Lab
Detector (Assembled)
£89.95 (Code EPL300)
£10.95 (Code ELMDX7)
Short Wave Kit
£2.95 (Code ERKSW)

bomech Kit
£18.95 (Code C21-603) 60 LED Multi-Effect LED
Star Kit
£14.48 (Code MK170)

See our website

Metal Detector Kit for even more
Crystal Radio Kit £10.95 (Code ELMD) Tyrannomech Kit
500 in ONE Project Lab £18.95 (Code C21-601) great gift ideas!
£11.95 (Code ERKC)
£189.95 (Code EPL500)

Secure Online Ordering Facilities ● Full Product Listing, Descriptions & Photos ● Kit Documentation & Software Downloads

DEC 2014.indd 1 15/10/2014 12:27:47

 Tools &
Equipment

Sound LED Star Kit

£11.50 (Code MK172)

Soldering Set
£15.95 (Code 749.939) 0-20V, 2A Regulated
Bench Power Supply
The Electronic Kit Specialists Since 1993
£64.95 (Code PSU673)

LED Roulette Kit

£14.18 (Code MK119)

Robot Kits
These educational Solar Energy
electronic robot kits Experimenter Kit MP3 Jukebox Module
make a great introduc- Hobby Tool Set £21.42 (Code EDU02) £16.87 (Code VM202)
tion to the exciting £25.76 (Code 749.300) Hobby Test Meter
world of robotics. Some
£12.41 (Code 600.006)
require soldering. See
website for details

Digital Echo
USB Tutor Project
20 Piece Electronics Chamber Kit
£54.24 (Code EDU05)
Tool Set £19.72 (Code MK182)
£38.96 (Code 710.368)

Digital Clamp Meter

Robotic Arm Kit £17.95 (Code DMC616)
£44.95 (Code C9895)

USB 3D LED Cube Kit

Oscilloscope Tutor
£23.95 (Code MK193)
Project
£23.40 (Code EDU06)

Crawling Bug Kit with Case Rectangular Illuminated

£16.67 (Code MK165) Bench Top Magnifier
£89.99 (Code 700.018) Classic TV Tennis
Helping Hands Tool Game with Analogue
£5.65 (Code 710.165) Bats Kit
£21.04 (Code MK191)

One Chip AM Radio Kit

£18.95 (Code 3063KT)

Crawling Bug Kit

£13.78 (Code MK129) Universal Battery Test-
er
48W Digital Soldering £5.88 (Code 690.393)
Station
3 x 5 Amp RGB LED
£72.62 (Code 703.050)
More Projects Controller (+RS232) Kit
Stereo Valve Amplifier £29.95 (Code 8191KT)
& Gadgets Kit (Chrome Version)
£911.94 (Code K4040) This is a small
Running Microbot Kit
£10.55 (Code MK127) selection from
our huge range
of electronic
Advanced Personal kits & projects.
Scope, 2 x 240MS/s - Please see web-
Probes, Cables, Battery Soldering Starter Pack
Pack, PSU & User (inc. 2 electronic kits & Pocket Beta & Gamma site for full de-
Solar Bug Kit Manual Included soldering tools) Radioactivity Monitor
tails.
£9.47 (Code MK185) £274.95 (Code APS230) £26.32 (Code EDU03) £149.95 (Code VM200)

Secure Online Ordering Facilities ● Full Product Listing, Descriptions & Photos ● Kit Documentation & Software Downloads

DEC 2014.indd 2 15/10/2014 12:27:58

 Does your design need class-leading 32-bit MCU performance,
code density and ADC throughput?
PIC32MZ offers 330 DMIPS and 3.28 CoreMarks™/MHz performance

Microchip’s new PIC32MZ 32-bit MCUs achieve class leading

performance, combined with ADC throughput of 28 Msps, 30% better
DEVELOPMENT TOOL
code density and up to 2 MB dual-panel Flash with live update and SUPPORT:
512 KB RAM. ■ Turn-key PIC32MZ EC Starter Kits
The PIC32MZ Embedded Connectivity (EC) family of 32-bit MCUs ■ Multimedia Expansion Board II
introduces a breakthrough in high-end embedded control with its class- ■ PIC32MZ2048EC Plug-in Module
leading performance and code density in addition to new levels of on-chip for Explorer 16
memory and peripheral integration.
With up to 2 MB of dual-panel Flash and 512 KB of RAM, the PIC32MZ offers
4x more on-chip memory than any other PIC® MCU, with fail-safe operation
during live Flash updates. It is also the first PIC MCU to use the enhanced
MIPS microAptiv™ core which adds 159 new DSP instructions that enable
the execution of DSP algorithms at up to 75% fewer cycles than the
PIC32MX families.
Advanced connectivity is supported over Hi-Speed USB, 10/100
Ethernet and two CAN 2.0b modules as well as multiple UART, SPI/I²S, PIC32MZ Embedded Connectivity Starter Kit
and I²C channels. The optional on-chip crypto engine ensures secure (DM320006 or DM320006-C with crypto engine)
communication with a random number generator and high-throughput
data encryption/decryption and authentication.

For more information, go to: www.microchip.com/get/eupic32mz

The Microchip name and logo, and PIC are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.
©2013 Microchip Technology Inc. All rights reserved. DS60001247A. ME1092Eng11.13

DEC 2014.indd 1 15/10/2014 12:29:30

 USB PIC Programmer FREE
A PICKit™2 Development Programmer. FREE DVM with every order

Features on board sockets for many types worth £19.96

of PIC® µcontrollers. Also provided is an 3½ Digital Class III 600V DVM
ICSP connector, to program your AC / DC Voltage upto 600V
onboard device. USB Powered. DC Current upto 10A

£49.55
Resistance upto 20M FREE
Audible Continuity
Inc Delivery* & VAT One per customer, while stocks last offer valid
Quote: EPEUSBP until: end of Nov 2014. Quote item code below.

2.4GHz Frequency Counter

Boards 0.01Hz to 2.4GHz
8 Digit LED Display
Shields
Gate Time: 100ms to 10s
Accessories
2 Channel Operating mode
Power Supply: 110-220Vac 5W
Offical Arduino Dealer. Quote: EPE24G
Call for best prices
£81.00
Inc Delivery* & VAT

Velleman LAB1 & LAB2 Bench Instruments

3in1 bench equipment, all you need in a single unit.
LAB1- Multimeter, Power Supply & Soldering Station LAB2 - Oscilloscope, Function Generator
& PSU

£117.00 £178.99
Inc Delivery* & VAT Inc Delivery* & VAT

Quote: EPEBLAB1 Quote: EPEBLAB2

s rs
de
s r to
o si sto sis
Di Re a n
Tr
£77.62 Over 1100 Components
Inc Delivery* & VAT

Breadboard & Components Starter Pack s rs

it or o
A High Quality Large Breadboard with binding posts, a
ac a cit D s
140 piece Jump Wire Kit and 6 Component Packs with p p LE
over 1100 components. Quote: EPEBCS
Ca Ca

30V 5A Programmable PSU Build your own Oscilloscope

Dual LED (Voltage & Current) Displays A new self assembly kit, ideal for education and way to visualise
Course & Fine V /A Adjustment signals. Features: Markers, Frequency, dB, True RMS readouts
5 Programmable Memories Timebase range:
PC Link via USB 10µs-500ms/division (15 steps)
or RS232 Input sensitvity:
Output: 0-30Vdc 100mV-5V/division (6 steps)
0-5A Max Input voltage: 30Vpp
Max Sample Rate:
Quote: EPEPSU 1ms/s repetitive signal,
100ks/s real time signal
£114.00 Dim: 80 x 115 x 40mm
£65.00
07/
11
Inc Delivery* & VAT

Quote: EPESCOPE Inc Delivery* & VAT

Station Road Prices INCLUDE Delivery* & VAT.

10
/14 Tel: 0191 2514363 *Delivery to any UK Mainland address,
Cullercoats please call for delivery options for
Fax: 0191 2522296 Tyne & Wear Highland & Island, Northern Ireland,
www.esr.co.uk [email protected] NE30 4PQ Ireland, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight &
Channel Islands

ESR - OCT 2014.indd 1 18/08/2014 14:02:24

 EDI T OR I AL
VOL. 43 No. 12 DECEMBER 2014
Editorial Offices:
EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS
EDITORIAL Wimborne Publishing Ltd., 113 Lynwood
Drive, Merley, Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 1UU
Phone: 01202 880299. Fax: 01202 843233.
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.epemag.com
See notes on Readers’ Technical Enquiries below
– we regret technical enquiries cannot be answered
over the telephone.
Advertisement Offices: Another slice of Pi?
Everyday Practical Electronics Advertisements No doubt about it, one of my favourite reads in EPE over the last year
113 Lynwood Drive, Merley, Wimborne, Dorset,
BH21 1UU was Teach-In 2014; Mike Tooley’s in-depth look at the Raspberry Pi
Phone: 01202 880299 Fax: 01202 843233 computer. Therefore, I’m delighted that Mike has agreed to serve up
Email: [email protected] just a little more of everyone’s favourite soft fruit dish. We start this
Editor: MATT PULZER
month with a comprehensive review of an excellent analogue-to-digital
Subscriptions: MARILYN GOLDBERG board designed for the Pi, and Mike has promised reviews of two more
General Manager: FAY KEARN useful boards in upcoming issues. Even more exciting is the news that
Graphic Design: RYAN HAWKINS
Editorial/Admin: 01202 880299
next month he’ll provide a comprehensive look at the latest Pi model,
Advertising and the B+. (If you need a quick look at the details of this update then do
Business Manager: STEWART KEARN read Interface in this issue – Robert Penfold has provided us with a
01202 880299 succinct early look.)
On-line Editor: ALAN WINSTANLEY

Publisher: MIKE KENWARD Teach-In 2015

READERS’ TECHNICAL ENQUIRIES …but wait, there is even more from the Tooleys! From February 2015
Email: [email protected] we will start on our next Teach-In series – yes, you guessed it, to be
We are unable to offer any advice on the use, purchase, called Teach-In 2015. After the digital fun and games of 2014 we will
repair or modification of commercial equipment or the
incorporation or modification of designs published go back to basics with key analogue fundamentals in 2015 – plenty to
in the magazine. We regret that we cannot provide look forward to.
data or answer queries on articles or projects that are
more than five years’ old. Letters requiring a personal
reply must be accompanied by a stamped self-
Soldering Guide published
addressed envelope or a self-addressed envelope and Readers will be interested to know that Alan Winstanley’s The Basic
international reply coupons. We are not able to answer Soldering Guide Handbook has now been published in a new full-
technical queries on the phone.
colour paperback. Sponsored by Antex Electronics, the 86-page book is
PROJECTS AND CIRCUITS available from your local Amazon site or direct from Createspace in the
All reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that USA (https://www.createspace.com/4905655). You can also download
the advice and data given to readers is reliable. We
cannot, however, guarantee it and we cannot accept it in Kindle format for free (Amazon Prime users only). More details
legal responsibility for it. and links are provided at: www.epemag.com/resources.html.
A number of projects and circuits published in
EPE employ voltages that can be lethal. You should
not build, test, modify or renovate any item of mains- If you fancy publishing your own treatise on electronics-related
powered equipment unless you fully understand the material then do keep an eye on upcoming Net Work pages. Alan will
safety aspects involved and you use an RCD adaptor. be examining some routes to self-publishing in a forthcoming Net Work
COMPONENT SUPPLIES column.
We do not supply electronic components or kits for
building the projects featured, these can be supplied
by advertisers.
Audio Out and Cool Beans
We advise readers to check that all parts are still Are you missing your monthly serving of Audio Out and Cool Beans?
available before commencing any project in a back- – fear not, they will be back next month. We had so much to cram
dated issue.
into this issue that a couple of our regular columns had to stand aside
ADVERTISEMENTS temporarily – rest assured, they will return next month bright eyed and
Although the proprietors and staff of EVERYDAY bushy tailed.
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.

EPE Editorial_100144WP.indd 7 16/10/2014 10:32:34

 NEWS
A roundup of the latest Everyday
News from the world of
electronics

Berlin Spy Stories – report by Barry Fox

S py snoops are always at the
cutting edge of technology. Berlin
was a divided city and a hotbed for
espionage until 1990. This has created
opportunities to see historic spy tech
from both sides of the Cold War Iron
Curtain; but the opportunities are not
well publicised.

Stasi Museum
In early 1990, soon after the infa-
mous Berlin Wall came down, Ber-
liners stormed the headquarters of
the hated Stasi, the Ministry for State
Security’s secret police, and the of-
fice of head man Erich Mielke. The
crowd’s mission was to prevent the
destruction of the 111 kilometres of
paper files, 1.7 million photos and
28,000 recordings, which the Stasi East German radios were biased towards East European stations – Warsaw, Moscow, Prague...
had accumulated over 40 years, and
feared would be used as evidence There are apocryphal stories of East an innocent-looking Thermos flask
against them. Berlin school teachers trying to trick houses a small camera.
The crowd partly succeeded in sav- children into revealing what their Totschka was a miniature camera
ing the contents, and later the utility parents were watching, by asking the based on a Minox; it was worn by
concrete building (on Ruschestrasse) class to draw the TV test card they the KGB to take pictures through a
later became the Stasi Museum with saw on their home TV. Stasi office tie pin. The Tessina camea was made
some fascinating examples of early staff were given domestic valve ra- in Switzerland and hidden in a shop-
spy technology. But explanation of dios, with marks on the dial for ap- ping bag, to take pictures through a
the exhibits was sketchy and most- proved East German radio stations. hollow rivet. A sub-miniature Tessi-
ly in German. The Museum is now Stasi chairs were designed to cap- na was small enough to hide in a wal-
closed for improvement and should ture samples of body smell when an let, with the lens seeing out through
re-open again in 2015 – hopefully unsuspecting suspect was invited to a perforation in the pocket for coins.
with more and better information in sit down. Samples were bottled and Hugely powerful infra-red radiators
English for world visitors. used to set dogs on the trail of the were hidden behind plastic panels of
There are politically correct ‘disco- suspects after they left the building. a car door, to illuminate surveillance
theque regulations’ for ‘music pro- targets. Cal-Zeiss-Jena developed an
pagandist’ disc jockeys playing LPs Cameras autofocus camera for the Stasi. It
made by communist state record The museum has many spy cameras, used a laser rangefinder and with in-
company Amiga. I still have one, with large film roll containers for au- fra-red lighting had a range for night
which I bought in East Berlin while tomated shooting over long surveil- photography of 20 metres. The sys-
the city was divided; it was pressed lance periods, often with early infra- tem cost a huge 215,000 Marks and
from very poor quality vinyl and red illuminators for night vision. even the Stasi could only afford to
sounds like sandpaper. Before the crowd stormed the build- commission 25 of them.
Listening to Western radio or ing the Stasi staff desperately tried to
watching Western TV was forbidden, destroy their large stock of everyday Secret recorders
but hard to control because the Wall objects, which had been modified to Recorders were built into indus-
could not stop radio waves. Colour hold hidden cameras and recorders. trial strength bodies. Microphones
TV was watchable in monochrome. The remains remain – for instance, were hidden in hollow railway track
8 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

News Dec 2014.indd 8 17/10/2014 16:31:28

 sleepers. Bugs were put inside tele- Pencil rods with a microphone in
phone sockets and junction boxes the tip were poked through holes in
to monitor calls. Power for the bugs the wall to feed Swiss Nagra min-
came from the telephone line, while iature reel-to-reel tape recorders.
an FM transmitter working on fre- The same recorders were concealed
quencies between 940 and 980MHz under an agent’s clothing and fed
beamed the bugged conversation to a by a microphone hidden in a wrist
Stasi snooper 100m away. watch.
The Stasi also bought Memocord re-
corders made by their sworn enemies
in West Germany.
Towards the end of their reign, the
Stasi developed infra-red flash guns
which were hidden in shoulder
bags to take covert shots at night or
in low light. The camera and flash
were controlled by decorative but-
tons on the bag, which held pressure
switches.
By 1989, Carl-Zeiss-Jena was se- An East German Zeiss camera hidden inside
cretly making ten marker pens, with a West German Pelikan marker pen
miniature cameras hidden inside the
stubby stick bodies. The plan was to Next month, I will tell how it’s now
give them to Erich Mielke as a show possible to get inside the high-tech
of technological strength. But the spy radio and radar station built
wall came down and Mielke was by the American National Security
Infra-red surveillance radiators hidden in a gone before he saw them. They are Agency (NSA) to spy on East German
plastic car panel still there at Ruschestrasse. communications traffic.

Blue is the winner! a challenge for three decades, but Sheffield computing
they succeeded where everyone else
The Royal Swedish Academy of had failed. Their inventions were
tornado
Sciences has decided to award the revolutionary. Incandescent lighting
Computers of the future could be
Nobel Prize in Physics for 2014 to lit the 20th century; the 21st century
built from ‘magnetic tornadoes’, ac-
Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and will be lit by LEDs.
cording to new research into nano-
Shuji Nakamura ‘for the invention of White LED lamps are long-lasting
technology at Sheffield University.
efficient blue light-emitting diodes and energy-efficient. They are con-
Magnetic materials form the basis
which has enabled bright and ener- stantly improved, getting more ef-
of most hard disc drives, but now the
gy-saving white light sources’. ficient with higher luminous flux
team from the University’s Faculty of
In the spirit of Alfred Nobel the (measured in lumen) per unit elec-
Engineering has been investigating
Prize rewards an invention of great- trical input power (watts). The most
whether they could also take on the
est benefit to mankind; using blue recent record is just over 300lm/W
role of a CPU.
LEDs, white light can be created in (16lm/W for regular light bulbs and
Using computer simulations, the
a new way. When the inventors pro- 70lm/W for fluorescent lamps). One
team have shown it is possible to
duced bright blue light beams from fourth of electricity consumption
create magnetic ‘logic gates’, the fun-
their semi-conductors in the early is used for lighting purposes, so the
damental building blocks of a CPU,
1990s, they triggered a fundamental LEDs contribute to saving the Earth’s
using magnetic materials.
transformation of lighting technol- resources. Materials consumption
Dr Hayward says: ‘In wires of mag-
ogy. Red and green diodes had been is also diminished because LEDs
netic material, two hundred times
around for a long time but without last up to 100,000 hours, compared
thinner than a human hair, magne-
blue light, white lamps could not be to 1,000 for incandescent bulbs and
tism can form into swirling ‘torna-
created – the blue LED had remained 10,000 hours for fluorescent lights.
does’, known as magnetic vortex do-
main walls. In our simulations, we
use vortices where the magnetism
turns clockwise to represent 0 and
vortices where it turns anticlockwise
to represent 1, allowing us to encode
binary data. The vortices are then
flowed through the wires using, and
interacted with, carefully defined
features in the wires that recreate the
function of logic gates.’
The researchers now plan to build
experimental prototypes of the logic
gates, and to investigate whether they
can be made smaller and to operate
faster – critical steps in developing
Light out vs energy in – image © Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences the concept into a usable technology.
Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 9

News Dec 2014.indd 9 17/10/2014 16:31:42

 Constructional Project

100W Digital Amplifier, Li-Po Battery . . .

PortaPAL-D – Part 1
Powerful, Portable
Public Address by John Clarke

Loudspeaker System
With battery operation, high efficiency loudspeakers and a class-D
amplifier, the PortaPAL-D PA system has enough power to blow your
socks off! It’s ideal for busking, sports events, meetings or anywhere
you need a powerful, portable PA system.

W
hile we have published other easily set you back more than five or Sealed enclosure
public address loudspeaker six hundred pounds! The cabinet includes an open section
systems, we felt it was time The PortaPAL-D is ruggedly housed to mount the PortaPAL-D electronics,
for something that really used up-to- in a timber cabinet measuring 620 × but the rest of the box is an infinite
date ideas. For example, technology 350 × 330mm and weighing about baffle design. This has advantages
has marched ahead with efficient 20kg. It is covered in speaker car- over an open-back design in that the
class-D amplifiers, along with the pet with corner protectors, to guard sealed cabinet provides damping of
advent of lithium batteries, which are against damage from bumps and the speaker cone at low frequencies,
much more energy dense. roadie use. preventing the cone from being over-
Our new PortaPAL-D uses the The two loudspeakers are mounted driven with high-power bass signals
CLASSiC-D Amplifier published in behind protective steel grilles that (or when accidentally dropping a
November and December 2013, along are themselves protected by being microphone onto the floor!).
with its matching speaker protector recessed into the box. Another advantage is that the mi-
from the same months and the DC-DC On the rear is the main control crophone just needs to be positioned
Converter published in May 2014. panel, again recessed into the box for behind the front edge of the speaker
With that combination we have a protection against damage. cabinet to minimise acoustic feedback.
high-power amplifier that can be run A top hat socket, for use with a Two XLR sockets are provided for
from a 12V battery. One year later, we speaker stand and a carry handle are balanced microphones, with one
have added the preamplifiers, mixer, included. channel providing phantom power,
tone controls and power supervision The cabinet and chassis for the elec- if required. Both inputs can be used
necessary for the PortaPAL-D to func- tronics can be made using standard with dynamic microphones. Guitar
tion properly. tools. And you need not worry about input is via a standard 6.35mm jack
We are using two 8Ω 200mm loud- small imperfections while building the socket, while RCA stereo sockets mix
speakers (with concentric tweeters) cabinet since these will be covered by left and right line inputs into a mono
in parallel to handle the full 100W the carpet. The result will be a PA box signal. Each input has its own level
available from the amplifier. Buying that sounds great and looks profession- control; bass and treble tone controls
the commercial equivalent could quite ally finished. are also provided.

10 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 10 16/10/2014 13:07:51

 Constructional Project

PortaPAL-D features
• Class-D low-distortion power
amplifier delivering up to 100W
to the loudspeakers
• Portable 12V Li-Po battery-
powered amplifier with charger
• Twin 200mm loudspeakers with
integral tweeters
• Two microphone inputs (4.5mV)
• Guitar input (50mV)
• Line input (1V) and output
• Individual level controls
• Bass and treble controls
• Standby power-down to
conserve battery power
• Low battery shutdown
• Standby indication
• Charger indication
• Thermostat-operated air
circulation fan
• Rugged cabinet with carpet, corner
protectors and speaker grilles
• Top hat included for use with
speaker stands

A line output is provided to feed an from over-

additional amplifier or recorder. discharge.
We esti-
Power source and management mate that
The PortaPAL-D is powered by a 12V the Por-
lithium polymer (Li-Po) battery rather t a PA L - D
than a sealed lead acid (SLA) type. should run for at
This makes it much lighter. While a least eight hours with normal use
typical 7.2Ah SLA battery will weigh and longer with periods of shutdown.
2.55kg, the much smaller 8Ah Li-Po is A commercially-made charger Circuit overview
less than a third of this. Plus, the Li-Po (intended for Li-Po cells) is set into Fig.1 shows the general arrangement
battery can be discharged much more the front panel, so that its controls of the PortaPAL-D. As already men-
deeply before recharging. In effect, you can be accessed and its status LED tioned, we use the CLASSiC-D Ampli-
get more than double the SLA’s capac- visible. This can be powered from a fier module, the loudspeaker protector
ity for a fraction of the weight and size. nominal 12V (11-15V) supply, with a and the DC-DC Converter published
As well as a main power switch, a current up to 4.5A if the supply can previously. Full details for these pro-
two-stage standby circuit automatically deliver that. jects can be found in the November
powers down sections of the circuit to The battery can be charged at and December 2013 issues for the
reduce power drain if the PortaPAL-D any time, regardless of whether amplifier and protector and the May
is not making noise. Two LED indica- the PortaPAL-D is in use or even 2014 issue for the DC-DC Converter.
tors show the standby status. Power is switched off. The CLASSiC-D Amplifier is used
restored quickly when an input signal Typically, a 12V plugpack would mainly due to its efficiency (and
is detected. be used to charge the PortaPAL-D, al- therefore power saving). It can run
A low-battery shutdown is also though a larger battery could be used, at high power without generating too
included, which protects the battery either free-standing or in a vehicle. much heat. This is a distinct advantage

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 11

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 11 15/10/2014 12:20:12

 Constructional Project

PROTECT

LK4
CLASSIC-D LOUDSPEAKER 8
SIGNAL SPEAKER COAXIAL
IN AMPLIFIER OUT IN PROTECTOR OUT
MIXER AND (NOV/DEC 2012)
OUT SPEAKERS
(NOV/DEC 2012)
PREAMPLIFIER LK3
+35V,
0V
SHUTDOWN
–35V +35V

POWER +12V SWITCHED

Fig.1: the PortaPAL-D brings together several
SUPERVISION DC-DC
+12V recent and quite innovative projects into
CONVERTER
0V (MAY 2013) one handy unit. The mixer and preamplifier
sections are new and based on proven designs
CELL but the main amplifier, the CLASSiC-D 100W
MONITOR

digital amplifier, and the DC-DC converter
BATTERY CELL 50°C
LEADS EQUALISATION SWITCH which powers it are state-of-the-art designs
from the past twelve months. Also of note is the
– + +
OUT
use of the 12V lithium-polymer battery, saving
Li-PO 3-CELL
BATTERY Li-PO
FAN
significant weight and size, and the commercial
8Ah CHARGER Li-Po battery charger with added battery
IN
– protection circuitry.
CHARGER
SUPPLY

over conventional class-AB amplifiers, A small fan is switched by a ther- switches off the DC-DC Converter and
which are nowhere near as efficient mostat when the amplifier heatsink so powers down the system.
and generate significant heat. reaches 50°C, circulating cooling air. The power supervision circuitry also
Another reason is that the amplifier controls the charging of the battery.
has proven reliable and has low levels Battery-saving auto shutdown While power is applied, the charger
of distortion and noise with extra fea- To conserve battery energy when not continually measures the voltage of
tures such as temperature cut out and actually being driven, the PortaPAL-D each cell, ensuring each is not over- or
over-current protection. has a two-stage shutdown. under-charged.
The CLASSiC-D Amplifier is pow- First, after a short period of no Typically, the lithium-polymer cell
ered by a DC-DC converter, delivering signal, the amplifier module is shut balancing leads would connect directly
±35V DC supply from a 12V supply. down. This is controlled in part by to the charger. However, this could
With this, it can supply up to 100W the power supervision section. In the mean the cells would discharge via the
into 4Ω for short periods and 50W on second stage, after a longer period of no charger over time and possibly flatten
a continuous basis. signal, the power supervision circuitry the battery. To avoid this, we connect

6-WAY SIL VR5

MIC 1 IN HEADER
LEVEL + GAIN
(CON10)

(CON8)

& SOCKET
GAIN VR1
IC1a BASS & LINE
TREBLE OUTPUTS
IC3a
CON11
CON3

IC5b
MIC 2 IN
LEVEL + GAIN
GAIN VR2
IC1b
VR6 CON9
IC3b SIGNAL
OUT
GUITAR MIXER
LEVEL + GAIN
INPUT STANDBY1
GAIN IC5a
VR3
IC2 TO CLASS D
SIGNAL DETECTOR
IC4a
 RELAY4 AMPLIFIER
IC6a, D1, D2, IC6b (CON12) ‘SHUTDOWN’
CON10
CON8

LINE INPUTS LED1

L LEVEL
DELAY
VR4 Q5
Q3, IC7, Q4 G
R 10-WAY IDC
CONNECTORS
S D DC-DC
CONVERTER
POWER STANDBY2
LED3   LED2 +12V SWITCHER

Fig.2: the circuit elements

POWER
SUPERVISION
in more detail. These are
S1
(RELAYS 1-3) explained in the text – and you
can compare these elements
+12V TO
PREAMPLIFIERS
with the circuit diagrams on
& MIXER the following pages.

12 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 12 15/10/2014 12:20:40

 Constructional Project

the cell monitor leads via the power

supervision circuitry.
Details of the preamplifier, mixer
PortaPAL-D specifications
and standby circuitry are shown in
Fig.2. Microphone inputs (Mic1 and Output Power 100W into 4Ω short term
Mic2) and their gain stages (IC1a and 50W into 4Ω continuous
IC1b) are on their own PCB and con- Output sound level Typically 96dB (SPL) at 1W
nect to the main PCB via a 6-way single
in line (SIL) header and socket. The Input sensitivity and Microphone: 4.5mV; <20Hz-20kHz
guitar input and line input plus the Frequency fesponse (–3dB) Guitar: 50mV; 25Hz-25kHz
line outputs are also on a separate PCB Line: 1V; <20Hz-50kHz
and similarly connect via a 10-way IDC Tone controls Bass +11dB and –14dB at 100Hz
socket and plug. Treble +9.5dB and –12.6dB at 10kHz
The level potentiometers control
the gain, with additional gain pro- Signal-to-noise ratio –80dB with respect to 50W into 4Ω (inputs at
vided after the level controls for the minimum gain; 20Hz-20kHz bandwidth)
microphone and guitar inputs. A mixer Muting Threshold at <150mW output power
combines the four signals (Mic1, Mic2,
Guitar and Line) and its output is fed to Standby modes (no input) 15s typical for Standby1
the bass and treble tone controls. From 100s typical for Standby2
there the signal goes to the input for <1s return to normal operation
the CLASSiC-D Amplifier, to the line Battery consumption ‘Low battery’ state activated – 8.5µA
outputs and also to a signal detector,
Standby2 – 45mA (DC-DC converter turned off)
which forms part of the shutdown
circuitry. Standby1 – 320mA (amplifier only turned off)
In ‘Standby 1’ state, if the signal is off Powered, before either standby state – 730mA
for longer than 15s, relay 4 is triggered, ‘Low Battery’ thresholds Typically 10.5V switches PortaPAL-D off
shutting down the CLASSiC-D Ampli- 11.2V switches PortaPAL-D on
fier. The Amplifier is still powered, but
in shutdown. LED1 lights to show this Battery charger Input 11-15VDC, 4.5A charging current maximum
state. Any input signal will instantly Dimensions 620 x 350 x 330mm inclusive of corner protectors
restore full operation to the amplifier.
If there is still no input signal after Mass 17.5kg
about 100s, ‘Standby2’ state is entered.
Power is switched off
to the DC-DC Con-
verter and this in turn
switches off the CLAS-
SiC-D Amplifier, while
LED2 lights – indicat-
ing Standby 2. When
there is audio, power
is restored to the am-
plifier within one sec-
ond. LED3 lights to
show power is on.

Here’s a view of
the electronics
module in its
metalwork,
removed from
the PortaPAL-D
speaker box.
A commercial
charger is
incorporated
because it is
perfectly suited
to the Li-Po
battery pack we
used and will
result in longest
battery life.

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 13

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 13 15/10/2014 12:20:46

 Constructional Project

+12V 4 4 +12V
+12V
10k*
10F* 10k* 10k* 100nF 10F 2 POWER 10k
150pF GND 5 8
* THESE COMPONENTS 7
FOR PHANTOM POWER 22k IC4b
6
MIC1 10k 100F
INPUT 4
1 2 47F FB°
3 1k TP1
2 8
150 1
1 MIC1 3 +Vref
470pF FB° 1k IC1a +Vref
3 OUT
10F
CON1 1 MIC1
47F 6 SIGNAL MIC1
GND LEVEL
10k 10k 1F
IC1: LM833 #
150pF 22k 2
POWER
+Vref 3 GND VR1
°FERRITE BEADS Vref 10k
6 LOG
150pF SIGNAL
22k GND # POT BODIES
MIC2 WIRED TOGETHER
INPUT WITH 330nF TO
47F FB° 1k TP2 EARTH
1 2 5
3
150
7 5 MIC2
470pF FB° 1k IC1b 10F
6 OUT 5 MIC2
CON3 MIC2
4 LEVEL
CON2 47F 1F
22k (6-PIN SIL CON11 #
10k 10k HEADER) (6-PIN SIL
HEADER
150pF SOCKET) VR2
10k
CON8 LOG
+12V 6 CON10
+12V 6
+12V +12V

IC2: TL071 100nF 10F

3
GUITAR INPUT 2 x 47F 1k TP3 8
3 7 +Vref
150 9 +Vref
6 1 GUITAR
IC2
10pF 2 IN
CON4 4
10F
GUITAR 1 GUITAR
IN LEVEL
4 # 1F
4.7k GND
4 7
1M GND VR3
7 10k
4.7k 680pF LOG
LINE 5
LINE IN
IN LEVEL 10F
2.2F 2.2F
CON5 3 #
2.2k NP
L 8
Vref VR4
LINE +Vref 9
INPUTS
10k
2.2k LOG
5 LINE 330nF
R
IN
10F LINE 2
2 LINE OUT

PORTAPAL-D MIXER &M

OUT
CON6
(10-WAY IDC
(10-WAY IDC
CONNECTOR)
SC
2013 PORTAPAL-D
L CONNECTOR)

Fig.3: the input circuitry for the two

R microphones, guitar (which of course could signals fed to the inputs of low noise op
LINE
be used for other sources) and the line inputs amps IC1a and IC1b. Assuming 600Ω
OUTPUTS (suitable for audio players such as MP3s microphones, these preamplifiers have
or tablets) are quite conventional. Only a gain of 22. Both are identical, except
Mic1 input has provision for microphones
that the Mic1 input provides phantom
10k requiring phantom power, but you can use
CON7
ordinary (dynamic) mics on this input too. power for electret microphones (if used).
Phantom power is limited to 0.5mA
PORTAPAL-D
SC
PORTAPAL-D
2013 MICROPHONE,
MICROPHONE, GUITARGUITAR
& LINE& LINE INPUTS
INPUTS & OUTPUTS
AND OUTPUTS
or so, sufficient for the typical electret
microphones used in PA systems but
not condenser microphones. If more
Main power is controlled via switch and the whole system shuts down. current is required, reduce the 10kΩ
S1. If on, the battery voltage is moni- Current draw is only that of the low resistors, possibly to 2.2kΩ or less.
tored by the low voltage shutdown voltage shutdown circuitry at 8.5µA. High frequencies above 48kHz are
section (IC8 and Q1). rolled off by the 150pF capacitors
Should the battery supply drop Circuit detail across the 22kΩ feedback resistors. The
below about 10.5V, the power to the Balanced microphone inputs for Mic1 470pF capacitor shunting the balanced
preamplifiers and mixer is removed and Mic2 are via XLR sockets, with the input lines, in conjunction with the

14 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 14 15/10/2014 12:21:02

 Constructional Project

+12V

100nF 10F 100nF 1000F 100nF 100F

150 CHASSIS
+Vref
IC5: TL072
10nF
15nF
100pF

BASS 18k
30k
BOOST CUT
10F 47pF OUTPUT TO
3 8 18k VR5 100k LIN
15k NP AMPLIFIER
1 2 1k 8
IC3a 1F 6 CON9
10F
2 1 7
IC5a IC5b
3 NP 5
TP4
100k 10k 4 1.5nF
TP7 10k
30k BOOST CUT 10k
1k 10 LK1
330pF
VR6 100k LIN 10k
x11 AMPLIFIER TREBLE
+Vref 10F +Vref
47k
IC3: LM833
MIXER TONE CONTROLS TO POINT A
+Vref
5 IN POWER
15k 150 SUPERVISION
7
IC3b SECTION
6
100k (SIGNAL
4
TP5
Fig.4: from the audio input boards, signal is fed to level DETECTION)
control pots, more amplification and thence to the mixer and tone
10k
control stages. The ouput from this goes to the CLASSiC-D digital Amplifier.

1k To whet your appetite

330pF ready for the assembly
x11 AMPLIFIER details next month,
10F
this shot shows the
internal make-up of the
100k
IC4: LM833 PortaPAL-D.
3 At left (vertical) is the main
15k
IC4a
1 CLASSiC-D Amplifier
2 board, while at top right is
TP6 the mixer and tone control
1k 10k PCB. Below that is the
mic, guitar and line input/
10F output board, while the
330pF
long blue object is the Li-Po
x11 AMPLIFIER battery. Its charger is the
10k
‘black box’ almost hidden
at rear, along with the DC-
DC Converter in its own
D MIXER &MIXER
TONE&CONTROL
TONE CONTROL SECTION
SECTION (MAIN
(MAIN PCB)
PCB) diecast case.

microphone impedance, also roll off Guitar input resistance, you might wonder why we
the high frequencies. The guitar input stage comprises IC2, a have used such a large input coupling
Ferrite beads in the 1kΩ input resis- TL071 FET-input op amp connected as capacitance. After all, to maintain a flat
tors help to reduce RF pickup, while a non-inverting amplifier with a gain of response to below 20Hz, all you need
the use of 1% resistors in the balanced two for mid-band frequencies. is an 8.2nF input capacitor. The reason
microphone circuits ensures good rejec- The guitar signal is coupled via two is to minimise noise, which occurs
tion of common-mode signals such as 47µF capacitors in series. These are when op amp IC2 sees as low a source
mains hum. equivalent to a non-polarised capaci- impedance as possible.
The unbalanced outputs are each fed tor and are included to cater for inputs Output from IC2 is coupled to the
to level potentiometers VR1 and VR2 with a positive or negative bias voltage, ‘guitar’ level control, VR3, via a 150Ω
via a 150Ω stopper resistor and 10µF that goes beyond the voltage bias set resistor and 10µF capacitor. The signal
AC coupling capacitor. The signals by the Vref (at half supply). is then fed to op amp lC4a, which is
are then applied to op amps IC3a and We have specified the high load identical to IC3a and IC3b.
IC3b, both of which have a gain of 11. resistance of 1MΩ to ensure optimum
This means that the maximum value high frequency response with the Line signal
of gain for microphone signals before relatively high inductance of typical Stereo line inputs (eg, from a CD
the mixer is 242. guitar pickups. With such a high load player or MP3 player) are mixed to a

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 15

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 15 16/10/2014 13:13:13

 Constructional Project

+12V

10 +12V’
FROM IC5b A CLASS-D
PIN 7 IN 100nF 10F STANDBY1 RLY4 AMPLIFIER
TONE LED1  SHUTDOWN
K 100F
CONTROL
SECTION 470k K
D3 CON12
IC6: LM358
4.7k A
TP9 D2 470k 220F
3 8 1N4148
A 1k 1F
1 A K 6 8 4
IC6a 7
2 7
IC6b 3
4 5 1k
6 IC7
7555 5
470k 470k 2
K
10k C
D1 B Q3 1
1N4148 10F 1M BC337
22pF 10k K
A E
1k C D4
B Q2 1N4148
100k
BC337
E A
10F SIGNAL SCHMITT 10k DELAY
DETECTOR TRIGGER

CON13
DC-DC 4
CONV +
MAIN 5 L1 16H
SUPPLY
– F1
(CON13)
6 2 1
+
BATTERY 7
– 10A
8
CHARGER + CHASSIS S1
OUTPUT 9 o
– RLY1 50
 270k
10 THERMAL
CHARGER + POWER
SUPPLY 11
CUT-IN
K
OUT – (NO)
12 D6
CHARGER + 1N5404
2
SUPPLY 13 H
IN – RLY2 A +
2.2M
12V
– + FAN
3
T
K –
1 270k
D5
CELL SENSING

1N4004 4
Li-PO
A RLY3
2 3-CELL
BATTERY
3 3

CHARGE 2 D1– D4: 1N4148

CON15
SENSE 4
INPUTS A K
1
1N4004
CON14
PORTAPAL-D POWER
SC PORTAPAL-D
2013 SUPERVISION
POWER SUPERVISION SECTION
SECTION (MAIN PCB)
(MAIN PCB) A K

Fig.5: here’s where the PortaPAL-D excels over earlier mixer designs – it uses a Li-Po battery and a commercial charger to
give much more ‘bang for buck’ when it comes to portable use. For a full explanation, see the accompanying text.

mono signal with 2.2kΩ resistors and sociated resistors and capacitors. IC5b’s will sit at about half the battery voltage,
fed to potentiometer VR4 via a 2.2µF output signal is fed to three separate with the audio signal rising and falling
coupling capacitor. places: the line output via RCA and about this DC voltage.
Signals from all four input sources 6.35mm jack sockets; the signal detec-
are mixed via 15kΩ resistors for the tion stages involving IC6a; and the input Shutdown
mic and guitar signals, and a 10kΩ to the CLASSiC-D Power Amplifier. As noted above, we have incorporated
resistor for the line signal in invert- All of the op amps in the circuit used signal detection into the circuit to shut
ing amplifier IC5a. This has a gain of as signal amplifiers are biased via the down the power amplifier in order to
minus two for the first mic and guitar Vref line, which is at half supply (about reduce current consumption when
signals, with slightly higher gain for +6V). This is derived from the +12V no signal is present. Op amp IC6a is a
the line input signals (due to the 10kΩ line by a voltage divider consisting non-inverting amplifier with a gain of
resistor to compensate for a slight gain of two 10kΩ resistors with the centre 471, set by the 470kΩ and 1kΩ feed-
loss in the resistive mixing of the stereo point bypassed by a 100µF capacitor. back resistors. The 22pF capacitor rolls
line inputs). The bypassed supply is then buffered the gain off above 15kHz, while the
IC5a drives the tone control stage by op amp IC4b to provide the Vref 10µF capacitor in series with the 1kΩ
comprising IC5b, VR5 and VR6 and as- line. All these biased op amp outputs resistor rolls off signals below 15Hz.

16 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 16 15/10/2014 12:21:52

 Constructional Project

input of IC6b is set at +2.1V (ignor- This removes power from the rest of
ing the effect of the 470kΩ feedback the circuit, thus preventing the battery
+12V’ resistor) using the 470kΩ and 100kΩ being discharged any further.
A
STANDBY2 +12V
resistors across the 12V supply. Pin 2 provides hysteresis, stopping
 LED2 When power is first applied to the the circuit oscillating back and forth
K circuit, the 10µF capacitor between the around the 1.15V threshold. While the
10k Q5 12V supply and the inverting input voltage at pin 3 stays above 1.15V, pin
4.7k IRF9540 to IC6b is initially discharged and 2 is effectively connected to the sup-
S
G
therefore pulls pin 6 low, causing the ply rail, thus shorting out the 270kΩ
10k output (pin 7) to be high. This turns resistor to 12V.
D
on transistor Q2, so relay 4’s contacts However, if the pin 3 voltage drops
close and the CLASSiC-D Amplifier is below 1.15V, then pin 2 is effectively
10k C
Q4
shut down. open circuit. So that extra 270kΩ re-
B
BC337 At the same time, transistor Q3 is sistance is added to the voltage divider,
A E turned off, so IC7’s inputs (pins 2 and which drops the voltage at pin 3 even
POWER

LED3 6) are high due to the 220µF capacitor lower (just over 1V with a 10.5V sup-
(CON13) 3
K connecting to the 12V supply being ply). Therefore, the battery needs to be
TO DC-DC
CONVERTER initially discharged. The output (pin charged to more than 11.6V before the
4.7k SWITCHED 3) is low, so Standby 2 LED (LED2) is output (pin 4) goes low, allowing the
INPUT
lit. The low output holds both Q4 off MOSFET to power the circuit again.
and MOSFET Q5 off. This removes
power from the DC-DC Converter Power
+12V switch and as a result the CLASSiC-D Power from the battery passes through
Amplifier is off. the 10A fuse, F1 and power switch S1.
2200F
25V 1F When an audio signal is detected by Inductor L1 and the 2200µF capacitor
MMC
LOW
ESR S D +12V’ IC6b, the input (pin 6) will go above filter the supply, helping prevent DC-
the 2.1V at pin 5 so the output (pin DC Converter switching noise from
Q1
G IRF9540 7) goes low, switching off Q2 and the entering the supply for the audio op
8
V+ 100k relay. Diode D3 quenches the back- amps. Additional filtering is provided
2 100k
HYST EMF of the collapsing relay coil field. with the 10Ω resistor and the supply
IC8
OUT
4 There is still a low current flow decoupling capacitors on the 12V rail.
MAX8212
3 through the relay coil and Q3 – not Note that the high current supply
THRESH
GND enough to pull the relay in but enough required by the DC-DC Converter is
5 to turn Q3 on. This provides a path to tapped off before the switch. Only
LOW VOLTAGE SHUTDOWN ground (via the 1kΩ resistor) which the low power switching current to
BC337 charges the 220µF capacitor. control the DC-DC Converter is at the
B
The now-low input to the 7555 output to Q5.
LEDS
causes its output (pin 3) to go high, Reverse polarity protection is via
E C switching on the power LED (LED3) diode D6: this will blow the fuse if
K
A IRF9540 and transistor Q4 and switching off the supply polarity is inadvertently
1N5404 the Standby 2 LED. MOSFET Q5 also connected back to front.
D
G switches on and the DC-DC Converter
A K D
S is powered, in turn powering the Charging
CLASSiC-D Amplifier. Three relays are used to switch in
the charger connections. The sup-
Low battery ply to the charger is tapped at pins
The amplified signal from IC6a is Regardless of the battery type, it is im- 10-13 of CON13 so that when power
then fed to a diode pump circuit con- portant that it not be over-discharged is available, relays (Relay1, Relay2
sisting of diodes D1 and D2 and the and permanently damaged. While the and Relay3) will be switched on. The
1µF and 10µF capacitors connected lithium-polymers types used in the charger output is switched to the bat-
to them. The peak level of the signal PortaPAL-D are better in this repect tery positive via relay 1 contacts while
from IC6a will be stored in the 10µF than SLAs, care still needs to be taken the cell balancing outputs from the
capacitor, which is continuously but to avoid damage. battery are connected to the charger
slowly discharged via the 1MΩ resis- Low battery voltage is detected us- via relay 2 and relay 3 contacts.
tor across it. ing IC8, a micropower voltage monitor When there is no power applied to
IC6b, connected as a Schmitt trig- that compares the voltage at pin 3 to the charger input, the relay contacts
ger inverter, monitors this voltage. A an internal 1.15V reference. With a open and completely disconnect the
470kΩ resistor between pin 5 and pin 12V supply, the voltage divider across charger from the battery.
7 applies positive feedback to give IC8’s input will ensure that pin 3 is
hysteresis. This makes the comparator always above 1.15V. However, as the Reproduced by arrangement
output switch cleanly between high battery discharges, this voltage will with SILICON CHIP
and low, and prevents oscillation at drop. Below 10.5V, IC8’s output (pin 4) magazine 2014.
the switching threshold. The inverting will go high, turning off MOSFET Q1. www.siliconchip.com.au

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 17

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 17 16/10/2014 13:14:27

 Constructional Project

PortaPAL-D – Parts List

Main PCB (Mixer and power supervision) Capacitors
1 PCB available from the EPE PCB Service, coded 01111131, Electrolytic (PC type)
212 × 100mm 1 2200µF 25V low ESR
1 10-way IDC PCB mount socket (CON10) 1 1000µF 16V 1 220µF 16V 3 100µF 16V 12 10µF 16V
2 10-way IDC line plugs 1 10µF NP 50V 1 2.2µF NP 50V 4 1µF 16V 1 1µF 50V NP
1 100mm length of 10-way IDC cable
MKT polyester
1 6-way SIL socket (CON11)
1 330nF 4 100nF 1 15nF 1 10nF 1 1.5nF
1 2-pin header, 2.54mm spacing (LK1)
1 2-pin polarised header, 2.54mm spacing (CON12) Ceramic
2 2-way pin header sockets 1 1µF monolithic multilayer (MMC)
1 jumper shunt 3 330pF    1 100pF 1 47pF 1 22pF
6 DIL8 IC sockets (optional) Resistors (0.25W, 1%)
2 M205 PCB fuse clips 1 2.2MΩ 1 1MΩ 4 470kΩ 2 270kΩ 6 100kΩ
1 M205 10A fast blow fuse (F1) 1 47kΩ 2 30kΩ 2 18kΩ 3 15kΩ 15 10kΩ
1 iron powdered toroid 28 × 14 × 11mm L1 3 4.7kΩ 7 1kΩ 2 150Ω 2 10Ω
5 2-way PCB mount screw connectors (5.08mm pin spacing)
(CON13) Guitar input, line input and output PCB
1 3-way PCB mount screw connectors (5.08mm pin spacing)
1 PCB available from the EPE PCB Service, coded 01111133,
(CON13)
109 × 35mm
1 vertical PCB mount RCA socket (CON9)
2 PCB mount 6.35mm switched jack sockets (CON4,CON7)
2 RCA line plugs
2 stereo RCA vertical stacked PCB mount (CON5,CON6)
1 12V 10 or 16A SPDT relay (RELAY1)
1 10-way IDC PCB mount socket (CON8)
2 12V 1A DPDT relays] Altronics S4150, Jaycar SY-4059]
1 DIL8 IC socket (optional)
(RELAY2,RELAY3)
1 12V SPST DIL reed relay (RELAY4) Semiconductors
4 16mm single PCB mount 10kΩ log potentiometers and nuts 1 TL071 single op amp (IC2)
(VR1-VR4)
Capacitors
2 16mm single PCB mount 100kΩ linear potentiometers and
nuts (VR5,VR6) Electrolytic (PC type)
6 knobs to suit above potentiometers (4 blue, 2 grey) 2 47µF 16V 2 10µF 16V 1 2.2µF 16V PC
3 M3 tapped spacers 15mm long 1 100nF MKT polyester 1 680pF ceramic 1 10pF ceramic
1 solder lug
4 M3 × 10mm machine screws Resistors (0.25W, 1%)
2 M3 × 15mm machine screws 1 1MΩ 1 10kΩ 2 4.7kΩ 2 2.2kΩ 1 1kΩ 1 150Ω
6 pot nuts (providing for an extra nut under potentiometer)
1 3S 250mm 2×JST-XH parallel balance lead Microphone input PCB
[http://hobbyking.com.au/hobbyking/store/__32036__JST_ 1 PCB available from the EPE PCB Service, coded 01111132,
XH_Parallel_Balance_Lead_3S_250mm_2xJST_XH_.html] 64 × 73mm
1 1.5m length of 1mm diam. enamelled copper wire for L1 2 PCB mount XLR female connectors (CON1,CON2)
1 150mm length of 7.5A rated green hookup wire 1 right angle 6-way pin header with backing plate removed (CON3)
1 150mm length of single core screened cable 1 chassis mount 6.4mm spade terminal
1 270mm twin figure-8 light gauge wire 1 female spade 6.4mm quick connector
1 190mm length of 0.7mm diam. tinned copper wire 4 ferrite beads 4mm ID × 5mm long
1 100mm cable tie 1 DIL8 IC socket (optional)
2 PC stakes 4 4g × 6mm self tapping screws or M3 × 6mm screws
1 M3 × 10mm machine screw
Semiconductors 1 M3 nut
2 LM833 dual low noise op amps (IC3,IC4) 2 3mm star washers
1 TL072 dual op amp (IC5)
1 LM358 dual op amp (IC6) Semiconductors
1 7555 CMOS 555 timer (IC7) 1 LM833 low noise dual op amp (IC1)
1 MAX8212 voltage monitor (IC8) Capacitors
2 IRF9540 P-channel MOSFETs (Q1,Q5) 4 47µF 16V PC electrolytic 2 10µF 16V PC electrolytic
3 BC337 NPN transistors (Q2-Q4) 1 100nF MKT polyester 2 470pF ceramic
4 1N4148 diodes (D1-D4) 4 150pF ceramic
1 1N4004 1A diode (D5)
1 1N5404 3A diode (D6) Resistors (0.25W, 1%)
3 3mm high brightness LEDs (LED1 and 2 [red]; LED3 [green]) 4 22kΩ 7 10kΩ 4 1kΩ 2 150Ω

18 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 18 15/10/2014 12:22:13

 Constructional Project

Extras 1 2.5mm DC panel connector

1 CLASSiC-D Amplifier set for a ±35V output 1 2.5mm DC line plug
(see EPE November and December 2013) 2 aluminium sheets 295 × 295mmm, 1mm gauge
1 Loudspeaker Protector for the CLASSiC-D set for a 35V supply
(see EPE, November/December 2013) 1 350mm length of 12mm × 3mm aluminium
1 50°C NO thermostat 6 M3.5 tapped right angle (RA) bracket standoffs
1 10µF 16V PC electrolytic capacitor (used in Loudspeaker 16 M3 × 10mm machine screws (for mounting PCBs to chassis
Protector) RA brackets to chassis – see note in construction article)
1 DC-DC Converter for the CLASSiC-D (see EPE, May 2014) 7 M3 × 15mm machine screws (3mm aluminium brackets
1 10kΩ 0.25W 1% resistor (used in DC-DC converter) to RA brackets, through 12mm standoffs on brackets 3mm
1 Li-Po 11.1V battery (ZIPPY Flightmax 8000mAh 3S1P 30C) aluminium to standoffs)
(http://hobbyking.com.au/hobbyking/store/__19530__ZIPPY_ 1 M3 × 20mm machine screw
Flightmax_8000mAh_3S1P_30C_AUS_Warehouse_.html 10 M3 × 6mm countersunk screws (DC-DC Converter mounting,
1 HobbyKing E4 Li-Po balance charger battery and charger brackets, RA brackets to chassis)
(http://hobbyking.com.au/hobbyking/store/__14633__ 12 M3 nuts (RA brackets)
HobbyKing_E4_Balance_Charger.html) 2 small cabinet handles (45mm long × 15mm high × 6mm
1 Polymax 5.5mm Gold Connector plug and socket set wide or similar) (optional)
(http://hobbyking.com.au/hobbyking/store/uh_viewitem. 1 2-way 15A terminal strip (optional for extension speaker)
asp?idproduct=18659) 1 1m length of 7.5A figure-8 wire for speaker connections
1 strap handle 3 1m lengths of 7.5A hookup wire (1 each red, black, green)
1 1.8m × 3m speaker box carpet 2 25mm length of 6mm heatshrink tubing (1 each red and
8 corner protectors black)
1 speaker box ‘top hat’ mount 2 25mm length of 10mm heatshrink tubing (1 each red and black)
2 200mm speaker grilles 2 100mm cable ties
2 8Ω 200mm coaxial speakers
1 40mm 12V fan
1 SPST mini rocker switch (S1)
Box hardware
2 9mm M3 tapped standoffs (for fan) 8 8g 12mm panhead wood screws (for speaker mounting)
2 M3 × 10mm countersunk screws (for fan mounting standoffs to 24 6g 16mm countersunk wood screws (bronze) (for attaching
chassis) corner protectors)
2 M3 × 15mm machine screws (for fan mounting to standoffs) 5 4g × 16mm panhead screws (for mounting chassis to cabinet)
1 solder lug 1 500ml tin of contact adhesive
1 ‘P’ cord clamp with M3 × 10mm screw, nut and washer 2 strips of putty adhesive (eg, Blu-Tack)
2 6.4mm crimp female spade connectors 2 cushion bags of polyester wadding (eg, Innerbond)
1 200mm length of 10mm diameter heatshrink tubing (for 1 3m length 18mm × 18mm DAR (dressed all round) pine
covering charger and battery bracket) 1 6m length 12mm × 12mm DAR pine
1 red right angle banana plug 2 900mm × 600mm × 16mm sheets of MDF (or single 1800 ×
1 black right angle banana plug 600mm × 16mm sheet )

Resistor Colour Codes Capacitor Codes

Total No. Value 4-Band Code (1%) 5-Band Code (1%) Value µF Value IEC Code EIA Code
o 1 2.2MΩ red red green brown red red black yellow brown 330nF 0.33µF 330n   334
100nF 0.1µF 100n   104
o 2 1MΩ brown black green brown brown black black yellow brown
15nF 0.015µF 15n   153
o 4 470kΩ yellow violet yellow brown yellow violet black orange brown
10nF 0.01µF 10n   103
o 2 270kΩ red violet yellow brown red violet black orange brown
1.5nF 0.0015µF 1.5n   152
o 6 100kΩ brown black yellow brown brown black black orange brown 680pF NA 680p 680
o 1 47kΩ yellow violet orange brown yellow violet black red brown 470pF NA 470p 470
o 2 30kΩ orange black orange brown orange black black red brown 330pF NA 330p 330
o 1 27kΩ red violet orange brown red violet black red brown 150pF NA 150p 150
o 4 22kΩ red red orange brown red red black red brown 100pF NA 100p 100
o 2 18kΩ brown grey orange brown brown grey black red brown 47pF NA 47p 47
o 3 15kΩ brown green orange brown brown green black red brown 22pF NA 22p 22
o 22 10kΩ brown black orange brown brown black black red brown 10pF NA 10p 10
o 4 4.7kΩ yellow violet red brown yellow violet black brown brown
o 2 2.2kΩ red red red brown red red black brown brown NEXT MONTH
o 12 1kΩ brown black red brown brown black black brown brown
o 3 150Ω brown green brown brown brown green black black brown
We’ll present Part 2 with all the
o 2 10Ω brown black black brown brown black black gold brown construction details, including
making and wiring the electronics.

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 19

Portapal-d-Dec13 CS6 (FROM MATT).indd 19 15/10/2014 12:22:22

 Total hash
Mark Nelson

Did Neanderthals really create the hashtag? Why do people call this symbol ‘hash’, ‘hatch’,
‘pound’ or ‘square’? And where does the ‘octothorpe’ fit in? As we approach the winter season
of misrule, Mark Nelson indulges in a spot of mischievous (but genuine) history.

In A reCENT ISSUE oF THE In Britain, computer people tend developed the first stored program-
excellent New Scientist magazine, to call this ‘hash’, ‘hatch’ or ‘gate’. controlled switching system (it was a
there was a fascinating article ‘Hash’ is almost certainly a corruption PBX). One of the first installations was
entitled ‘Neanderthals drew first of ‘hatch’, a word meaning a gate, at the Mayo Clinic. This PBX had lots
#hashtags’. Following the discovery grating or fence. All three of these are of modern features (call forwarding,
of some scratches on the floor of a made from a combination of vertical speed calling, directed call pickup),
cave in Gibraltar, experts reached the and horizontal bars, so it’s easy to some of which were activated by using
conclusion that they were the work of a see how the meaning was extended the ‘#’ sign.
Neanderthal, made purposefully more to a figurative representation as well.
than 39,000 years ago. The markings When the symbol was introduced The originator revealed
look like the grid for a game of noughts onto telephone keypads, the comms A Bell Labs supervisor, Don

#
and crosses (without any noughts or industry realised that that the word MacPherson, went to the Mayo Clinic
crosses), prompting Catherine Brahic, ‘hash’ was not widely known outside to train the doctors and staff on how to
the article’s author, to muse whether computing circles, so here it was use the new features on this state-of-
this intentionally made artifact was termed ‘square’. On some keypads it the-art switching system. During one of
an idle doodle, a game of Stone Age is actually shown as a square, with no his lectures he felt the need to come up
tic-tac-toe or the first evidence of external projections. with a word to describe the ‘#’ symbol.
Neanderthal art. Don also liked to add humour to his
work. His thought process, which took
From the Stone Age to the place while at the Mayo Clinic while
present day giving lectures, was as follows:
The age and authenticity of the l There are eight points on the symbol,
scratch marks are not in dispute, as so ‘octo’ should be part of the name
the cave in which they were found l We need a few more letters or
is littered with Neanderthal tools. another syllable to make a noun, so
Of course, Twitter didn’t exist then what should that be?
(well it did, but only birds used it) so l Don MacPherson at this point in his
it’s unclear why our friend Ug made life was active in a group that was
this mark. According to Catherine trying to get Jim Thorpe’s Olympic
Brahic, ‘some say they are abstract medals returned from Sweden.
symbols, bolstering the notion that He figured that the phrase ‘thorpe’
Neanderthals were capable of subtle would be unique, and people would
symbolic thought. Others remain to not suspect he was making the word
be convinced.’ True, but the symbol up if he called it an ‘octothorpe’.
is visually rather satisfying, which Enter the octothorpe
is no doubt why we still use it today The technical term for this symbol is When Don returned to Bell Labs in
on telephone keypads, computer ‘octothorpe’. In my innocence, I knew Holmdel, he began using the term
keyboards and elsewhere. that ‘octo’ was classical Greek for ‘octothorpe’ in memos and letters.
eight and assumed that ‘thorpe’ must The term was picked up by other Bell
Pound or hash? be the Greek word for something Labs people and used mostly for the
Ask Americans for the name of this sharp and spikey – wrong! A Usenet fun of it. Some of the documents that
symbol and most of them will call it contribution written by Ralph Carlsen used the term ‘octothorpe’ found their
the ‘pound sign’ or ‘number sign’. Over explains where the name really came way to Bell Operating Companies and
there, ‘#’ is used where we would put from. Over to Ralph... other public places. The rest is history.
‘No.’, short for number. But it is also Around 1961, two Bell Labs guys
used for pounds weight. If you study in data communications engineering …and back to hashtags
pressure gauges on Victorian steam (Link Rice and Jack Soderberg) toured Despite this long and noble history,
boilers (say, at the Kirkaldy Testing the USA talking to people who were I suspect many people now know ‘#’
Museum in Southwark) you will often thinking about telephone access to simply in terms of hashtags. To quote
see the symbol used as shorthand computers. They asked about possible the Oxford Dictionaries website,
for ‘lb’. At rural street markets in applications, and what symbols should ‘On social networking sites such as
Germany, where they still sell fruit by be used on two keys that would be used Twitter, it’s attached to keywords or
the pound (half a kilo), you will see exclusively for data applications. The phrases so as to identify messages
‘#’ written on the price tags adorning primary result was that the symbols on a particular topic (eg, #volcano or
apples and plums. Imagine the letters should be something available on all #Iceland). These keywords or phrases
‘lb’ written in sloping copperplate (US) standard typewriter keyboards. are known as hashtags.’ And according
handwriting with no gap between the The ‘*’ and ‘#’ were selected as a result to Wikipedia, ‘The first use of the term
‘l’ and the ‘b’, then you have a quick of this study, and people did not expect ‘hash tag’ was in a blog post by Stowe
way of writing ‘lb’, of which ‘#’ is to use those keys for voice services. Boyd, ‘Hash Tags = Twitter Groupings’,
merely a simplified version. Then, in the early 1960s, Bell Labs on 26 August 2007.’

20 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

TechnoTalk-Dec-2014.indd 20 15/10/2014 12:19:36

 PIR and Radio by Peter Brunning
The picture on the left shows the experimental circuit
which I am currently using. The latest extension to our
P931/P942 PIC training course is almost ready for
release. Experimenting with 8, 14 and 20 pin PICs starts
with a sequence of simple experiments to demonstrate the
compatibility between 8, 14 and 20 pin PICs. We continue
these experiments by adding a PIR movement detector
to the circuit and adjust the software to trigger a siren
sound. We add an LCD and send messages between
PICs. We study radio data techniques and experiment
with remote temperature measurement. The idea being
to learn the techniques which we need to create a house
security system. The final system uses several remote
PIR detectors which when triggered operate a local low
volume siren to deter the possible intruder and send
warnings to the master circuit via the radio data link.
The system we create is relatively simple with one way
radio data links and easy to understand software which
is all built up gradually. But the system has provision to
use two way data with each circuit having a radio transmitter and receiver. Two way data allows advanced security
mechanisms to be used. So you are provided with all the background information and facilities to go as deeply into the
subject as you wish. The software simplicity is centered around the latest version of our PIC assembler BSPWA which
has a built in library with radio data subroutines.
The material for this extension consists of the book with 160 pages 240 × 170mm with wirobinding, experimental
components for the plugboard experiments, several PCB supplied as kits, and a CD of the latest BSPWA. The first few
experiments are suitable for complete beginners but ideally you should have worked through the first book of the P931
or P942 course.

The Brunning Software P931

PIC Training Course
This is almost a completely opposite system to the Raspberry Pi.
We learn to use a relatively simple bare microcontroller. We make our
connections directly to the input and output pins of the chip and we
have full control of the internal facilities of the chip. We work at the
grass roots level.
The first book starts by assuming that you know nothing about
PICs but instead of wading into the theory we jump straight in with four
easy experiments. Then having gained some experience we study the
basic principles of PIC programming, learn about the 8 bit timer, how
to drive the alphanumeric liquid crystal display, create a real time clock,
experiment with the watchdog timer, sleep mode, beeps and music.
Then there are two projects to work through. In the space of
24 experiments two project and 56 exercises we work through
from absolute beginner to experienced engineer level using
the latest 16F and 18F PICs.
The second book introduces the C programming language
in very simple terms. The optional third book Experimenting
with Serial Communications teaches Visual C# programming
for the PC (not PIC) so that we can create PC programmes to
control PIC circuits
P931 course..... £158 including UK carriage
Experimenting with Serial Coms..... £31.00

Web site:- www.brunningsoftware.co.uk

Mail order address:

138 The Street, Little Clacton, Clacton-on-sea,
Essex, CO16 9LS. Tel 01255 862308

Brunning DEC 2014 V2.indd 1 15/10/2014 12:36:27

 Constructional Project

S1
+3V
POWER
3V
10k 1 µF 1 µF BUTTON
MMC MMC CELL

4 14
10k
MCLR/RA5 Vdd IC2c 14 IC2: 74HC14
9 5 6 1 2
RB3/PWM
λ LDR1 470Ω IC2a
18
RA1 IC2e
240Ω 3 4 11 10 PIEZO
10 17 56nF
RB4 RA0 TRANSDUCER
FREQUENCY IC2b
SET 1
120Ω IC2d
RA2 1k
S2 13 12 9 8
62Ω
11 IC2f 7
RB5

6 3
RB0 RA4/AN4
LED1 A LED2 A LED3 A LED4 A LED5 A LED6 A LED7 A

IC1 λ A λ A λ A λ A λ A λ A λ A
PIC16LF88–I/P K K K K K K K
λ λ λ λ λ λ λ
12 K LED8 K LED9 K LED10 K LED11 K LED12 K LED13 K LED14
RB6
13
RB7
470k 16
RA7
15
RA6
2
RA3
7
RB1
8
RB2
Vss
5
LEDS

K
SC BELLBIRD
BELLBIRD
2013
A

Fig.1: the circuit uses microcontroller IC1 to generate a PWM waveform at its pin 9 and this feeds Schmitt trigger inverters
IC2a-IC2f which in turn provide complementary (push-pull) drive to a piezo transducer. IC1 also drives LEDs1-14 which
are arranged in seven paralleled pairs to provide a chaser effect around the outside of the bell.

prevents the bell tones from sound- few sundry bits. A piezo transducer output at pin 9. Twelve other outputs
ing as though they are electronically reproduces the Bellbird sounds. of IC1 are used to drive the LEDs.
generated. A power switch at the top of Inevitably, one of the ICs is a micro- The PWM output is set to run at
the PCB allows the unit to be switched controller (IC1). This is programmed around 2.8kHz with some variation,
off any time you want. to produce the Bellbird sounds via and its duty cycle is varied to alter
As well as producing realistic bell its pulse-width modulation (PWM) the volume. With a 50% duty cycle,
sounds, the unit drives 14 LEDs which
are arranged around the periphery of
the PCB. Whenever a bell sound is pro- Features and specifications
duced, these LEDs chase downwards
on either side of the bell and then along Features
the base to the centre. The six LEDs
along the base then chase from the
• Unit produces lifelike Bellbird sounds
centre to either side and then back to • Bell-shaped PCB – LED chaser around outside; LEDs chase on bell sounds
the centre again, to simulate the final • Constant LED brightness as cell voltage varies
‘ringing’ of the bell. • Bellbird sounds cease in darkness and low ambient light levels
So, unlike a real Bellbird which is
difficult to spot in the forest canopy,
• Low current drain plus power on/off switch
our unit is highly visible. It makes a Specifications
great novelty project and is ideal as a Power supply: 3V lithium cell
Christmas decoration. Current drain: zero when switched off, <1µA in darkness (100nA measured), typi-
cally 1.3mA average in light.
Circuit details
Refer now to Fig.1 for the circuit of Cell life: 180 days expected with one hour per day usage
the Bellbird. There’s not much to it – Bellbird tone: adjustable over a ±12% range in 0.375% steps
just two ICs, 14 LEDs, an LDR and a

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 23

Bellbird1213v2 (FROM MATT).indd 23 15/10/2014 12:23:00

 Constructional Project

DRIBLL E B

A A
S1
08112131
BELLBIRD
LED1 LED8

1k
+
LED2

LED9
To Piezo
To Piezo

A A

1 µF 56 nF
IC 2 74HC 14
HOLDER
LED1 0
LED3

CE LL
10k
47 0

A
BUTTON
A

NO TE: BUTTON
CE LL HOLDER IS
240 PIEZO1 62 UN DER PC B
LDR1 1 µF
LED1 1
LED4

10k

IC 1 PIC1 6LF88-I/ P A
120

S2

LED6 1 3 1 2 1 1 8 0LED7 470k LED1 4 LED1 3 A

A A A A A
LED5 LED1 2

Fig.2: follow this parts layout diagram to assemble the parts onto the bell-shaped PCB. The piezo transducer is mounted
on M3 × 9mm nylon spacers, while the button cell holder is mounted on the back of the PCB (see photo). Note that it’s
a good idea to mount the LEDs 5mm proud of the board so that they aren’t obscured by other parts.

the volume is at its maximum, and as are at 0V and vice versa. Because the ‘cleaner’ sinewave signal is fed to the
the duty cycle is reduced, the volume two sets of outputs alternately swing piezo transducer.
falls. The duty cycle ranges from 50% to 3V, this gives a 6V peak-to-peak
down to zero, with the minimum vol- drive (actually >5V peak-to-peak) for LED chaser
ume set at 0.2%. the piezo transducer. LEDs 1-14 are driven by IC1 as seven
The piezo transducer is driven via In effect, this doubles the output sets of paralleled pairs. In practice,
IC2, a CMOS hex Schmitt trigger. IC2c voltage drive compared to just using they are arranged on the bell-shaped
buffers and inverts the PWM output the PWM signal from IC1 as a single PCB to give symmetrical lighting either
from IC1, while paralleled stages IC2a output, with the second terminal of side of centre. For example, LED1 is
and IC2b re-invert the resulting signal the transducer connected to ground. positioned at the top left of the PCB,
to drive the top of the piezo transducer. That arrangement would provide a while its paralleled twin LED8 is po-
IC2f also inverts the signal from peak signal of less than 3V to the piezo sitioned at top right.
IC2c. Its pin 12 output in turn drives transducer. As shown on Fig.1, the LED anodes
IC2d and IC2e so that their outputs Note that IC2d and IC2e drive the are commoned and driven by IC1’s
are inverted compared to those from lower piezo transducer connection
IC2a and IC2b. This allows the piezo
transducer to be driven in comple-
via a filter consisting of a 1kΩ resis-
tor and 56nF capacitor. This rolls Table 2: Capacitor Codes
mentary fashion with a nominal 6V off the response above 2.8kHz and
Value µF Value IEC Code EIA Code
peak-to-peak. thus removes the harmonics from the
Basically, when IC2a and IC2b’s out- square-wave outputs of the Schmitt 1µF   1µF 1u0 105
puts are at 3V, IC2d and IC2e’s outputs triggers. In effect, it ensures that a 56nF 0.056µF 56n 563

Table 1: Resistor Colour Codes

o No. Value 4-Band Code (1%) 5-Band Code (1%)
o   1 470kΩ yellow violet yellow brown yellow violet black orange brown
o   2 10kΩ brown black orange brown brown black black red brown
o   1 1kΩ brown black red brown brown black black brown brown
o   1 470Ω yellow violet brown brown yellow violet black black brown
o   1 240Ω red yellow brown brown red yellow black black brown
o   1 120Ω brown red brown brown brown red black black brown
o   1 62Ω blue red black brown blue red black gold brown

24 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Bellbird1213v2 (FROM MATT).indd 24 15/10/2014 12:23:15

 Constructional Project

Bell Miners and dieback in native trees Parts List

The Bell Miner (Manorina melanophrys), commonly known as the ‘Bellbird’, is
found in the eucalyptus forests of south-east Australia. The birds feed mainly 1 double-sided plated-through
on dome-shaped protective coverings made by a particular psyllid bug from its PCB, available from the
own secretions. These bugs themselves feed on the eucalyptus from the leaves EPE PCB Service, code
of eucalyptus or gum trees. 08112131, 91 × 73mm (bell
Colonies of Bell Miners allow large populations of the psyllid bug to exist in
shaped)
their territory by expelling other birds that also eat these bugs. They also main-
1 PCB-mount SPDT toggle
tain a sufficiently large territory so that they don’t over-feed. This maintains the
switch (S1)
population of psyllid bugs and can lead to ‘die back’ in the eucalyptus forest.
1 SPST vertical mount micro­
switch with 6mm actuator (S2)
1 20mm button cell holder
1 CR2032 lithium cell
RA1, RA0, RA2 and RB5 outputs via When the cell voltage is 3.0V, just
1 30mm diameter piezo
resistors. However, each of the LED the 240Ω resistor drives the LEDs.
transducer
pairs is driven independently via For any voltage between 2V and 3V,
1 LDR 10kΩ light resistance
the cathodes, with LED1 and LED8 a suitable combination of resistors
(LDR1)
lighting when IC1’s RB6 output goes is selected so that the LED current is
2 M3 × 9mm tapped nylon
low – and switching off when this always close to 5mA.
spacers
output goes high. Similarly, LED2 and
4 M3 × 5mm screws
LED9 light when RB7 is low, LED3 Determining cell voltage
1 70mm length of 1.25mm
and LED10 light when RA7 is low So how does IC1 measure the cell volt-
enamelled copper wire
and so on. age so that the appropriate resistors
The 470Ω, 240Ω, 120Ω and 62Ω can be selected? It’s done by using the Semiconductors
resistors can be individually driven AN4 input to measure the voltage be- 1 PIC16LF88-I/P microcontroller
by IC1 or driven in various parallel tween the anodes of LEDs1 and 8 and programmed with 0811213A.
combinations to power the LEDs. This the positive supply when these LEDs hex (IC1)
allows the LED current to be main- are driven via the 470Ω resistor at RA1. 1 74HC14 DIP14 hex Schmitt
tained at a relatively constant value as In practice, the voltage across the trigger (IC2)
the supply voltage progressively drops LEDs remains close to 1.8V regardless 1 DIL14 IC socket
from 3V when the cell is new, down of the variation in LED current, and so 1 DIL18 IC socket
to 2V as the cell discharges. the measured voltage is proportional 14 3mm green high brightness
The voltage across the lit LEDs to the supply (ie, the cell voltage). As LEDs (LED1-14)
always remains close to 1.8V, which previously stated, at 3.0V the voltage
Capacitors
leaves 1.2V across the resistors when measurement is 3.0 – 1.8V = 1.2V. With
2 1µF monolithic ceramic
the button cell is at 3V and just 0.2V a 2V supply, the voltage measurement
(MMC)
across the resistors when the cell is is 2.0 – 1.8V = 0.2V, and so on.
1 56nF or 47nF MKT polyester
down to 2V. By selecting the appro- A look-up table in the software
priate resistance, we can set the LED specifies which resistors should be Resistors (0.25W 1%)
current to about 5mA regardless of selected for a given measured voltage. 1 470kΩ 1 240Ω
cell voltage. LDR1 is used to monitor the ambi- 2 10kΩ 1 120Ω
In operation, each resistor is effec- ent light, so that the LEDs only come 1 1kΩ 1 62Ω
tively switched into circuit when its on during daylight or in high ambient 1 470Ω
corresponding pin on microcontroller light conditions. This is done to con-
IC1 is set high. Alternatively, a pin can serve the cell and works as follows.
Reproduced by arrangement
be set as an input to effectively dis- In darkness, the LDR’s resistance is with SILICON CHIP
connect its resistor and thus prevent very high at several megohms and so magazine 2014.
it from contributing to the LED drive. pin 6 of IC1 is held low (1V or less) www.siliconchip.com.au
For example, when RA1 is high, via its associated 470kΩ resistor. When
the LEDs can be driven via this 470Ω IC1 detects this low voltage, it goes to
resistor. Alternatively, when RA1 is sleep, stopping all operation and thus
set as an input, this resistor does not minimising the current drain from the and driving the LEDs. Note that IC1
contribute to any LED current. Simi- cell. Typically, the current drain in always checks the cell voltage each
larly, when RA0 is high, it drives the this sleep state will be less than 1µA; time it wakes up or when the circuit
LEDs via the 240Ω resistor and so on. in fact, our prototype’s current was is powered up (via S1), so that it can
If more than one output is set high, measured at just 100nA. correctly set the LED current.
the corresponding resistors are driven As soon as light is received by the
in parallel. Taking them all high pro- LDR, its resistance falls to around Adjusting the tone
vides the lowest resistance possible 10kΩ and the voltage at pin 6 rises Switch S2 is used to adjust the Bellbird
(since they are effectively connected to almost the supply voltage. This frequency (or tone). This is included
in parallel) and this is required when causes the microcontroller to wake up because IC1 uses an internal oscillator
the cell voltage is down to 2V. and begin playing the Bellbird tones that runs with an initial 2% tolerance.

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 25

Bellbird1213v2 (FROM MATT).indd 25 15/10/2014 12:23:21

 Constructional Project

IC1 and IC2 into their sockets. This is

Can it be made louder? detailed later under ‘Testing’.

Inevitably, some people will want to lost some of the subtle echo effects, Assembly
make this project louder and want to which make the Bellbird sound much Building this project is easy and
know what modifications are needed more realistic. should take you no more than 45
to achieve this. Hence, after the circuit Another way of making the sound minutes. There are no surface-mount
had been fine-tuned to give the most louder would be to increase the supply parts (SMDs) and all parts are installed
realistic Bellbird sounds, we looked voltage to 4.5V by substituting a 3 × AAA on a PCB, which is available from the
at whether the low-pass filter in series cell (alkaline) battery instead of the 3V EPE PCB Service, coded 08112131 and
with the piezoelectric transducer could button cell. Note that this will increase measuring 91 × 73mm overall. This is
be further tweaked to make it louder. the peak signal voltage to about 7.5V. bell-shaped and will already be cut to
To that end, we reduced the 1kΩ Last, can the signal be fed to an shape if you ordered the PCB from the
current-limiting resistor to 220Ω and external amplifier? The answer is ‘yes’ – EPE Online Shop.
increased the associated filter capacitor but be aware that the signal has quite a Fig.2 shows the parts layout dia-
from 56nF to 220nF (the piezo trans- wide dynamic range and the peak signal gram. As you can see, all parts mount
ducer has a self-capacitance of 38nF). amplitude with a fresh 3V cell will be be on the top of the PCB except for the
The result was that it was slightly in excess of 5V (or 7.5V peak with a 4.5V cell holder, which mounts on the back.
louder, but we judged that the sound supply), so if the volume control is too Begin the assembly by installing
was a little more ‘clicky’ (because of advanced, the amplifier and perhaps the resistors. Table 1 shows the colour
the stepped modulation) and had also the loudspeaker will be overloaded. codes, but we also recommend using
a digital multimeter to measure each
resistor, just to make sure that each
As a result, the oscillator frequency is placed in its correct position. The
may need adjusting slightly to give resistors must be pushed all the way
the correct Bellbird sound. down onto the PCB, with the leads sol-
When S2 is pressed, the resulting dered and trimmed short on the back.
low on RB4 is detected by IC1 and The IC sockets are next on the
the program then produces a series of list – make sure they are oriented as
bell tones, with each tone varying by a shown on Fig.2 (ie, notched ends to
small amount (0.375%) for each step. the left). Don’t install the ICs at this
The switch is simply released when stage though; that step comes later,
the required tone is found. IC1 then after some initial testing.
stores this tone setting in its EEPROM Follow with the capacitors and the
so that the correct tone is used from two switches, again pushing these
then on, even if the power is switched parts right down onto the PCB before
off and on again. soldering. Note that S2 will only
If necessary, you can return to the mount with one orientation, as its pin
initial default tone by pressing and spacings differ between adjacent sides.
holding down S2 as the Bellbird is The LDR can now be installed (it
powered up with S1. Alternatively, can go in either way around), after
you can cycle through the available which you can install the LEDs. The
tones by holding S2 down until the latter must all be oriented with their
centre frequency is reached. Since longer anode leads (A) towards the top
64 separate tones are produced, the of the PCB. You can push the LEDs
centre tone frequency occurs 32 tones all the way down onto the PCB if you
after the transition from maximum to like, but we suggest mounting them
minimum, a tone step that’s readily about 5mm proud of the PCB so that
noticed. This view shows how the cell holder they aren’t obscured by adjacent parts.
S1 is the power on/off switch. The is mounted on the rear of the PCB. It The best way to go about this is to
3V supply is decoupled using a 1µF must be installed before mounting the push each LED down onto a 5mm-high
capacitor for IC1 and another 1µF ca- piezo transducer, so that you can solder cardboard spacer (slid between its
pacitor for IC2. The MCLR pin of IC1 its leads. leads) before soldering it into position.
is a power-on reset input, and pulling To make this process easier, the leads
it high via a 10kΩ resistor ensures that cell if the latter is inserted incorrectly. can be soldered on the top of the PCB.
the microcontroller starts correctly (ie, Provided the cell holder is installed on Next on the list are two M3 × 9mm
at the beginning of its program) when the PCB properly, and IC1 and IC2 are stand-offs that are used to mount the
power is applied. both oriented correctly, then the circuit piezo transducer. Secure these to the
Note that no reverse polarity pro- cannot be damaged by an incorrectly PCB using M3 × 6mm screws, but don’t
tection is included to protect the ICs installed cell. mount the piezo transducer at this
against incorrect supply polarity. That said, we recommend that the stage. Once these are in place, install
That’s because the cell holder itself supply polarity delivered by the cell in the cell holder on the rear of the PCB
does not make a connection to the its holder is checked before installing (ie, under IC2).

26 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Bellbird1213v2 (FROM MATT).indd 26 15/10/2014 12:23:32

 Constructional Project

Fig.4: this shows a 10-second sequence of Bellbird calls. The

scope has been over-driven to more clearly demonstrate the
Fig.3: this scope grab shows part of a sequence of Bellbird dynamic range of the signal which has a peak voltage of just
‘calls’. Note that each one differs in amplitude, modulation over 5V. Again, note that there are a variety of ‘calls’, to simu-
and duration. late a group of Bellbirds calling in a forest.

A hanging loop can now be made using a 70mm-

length of 1.25mm-diameter enamelled copper wire.
Cut it to length, then scrape the enamel from the ends
using a sharp hobby knife before bending the wire into
a loop. The wire ends can then be bent at right angles
and soldered to the holes on either side of switch S1,
at the top of the PCB.

Testing
Now for some initial tests before installing the ICs and
the piezo transducer.
First, insert the cell into its holder, then switch the unit
on using toggle switch S1. That done, check the voltage
between pins 14 and 5 of IC1’s socket. You should get a
reading of +3V (ie, the cell voltage) on pin 14. Similarly,
pin 14 of IC2 should also be at +3V with respect to pin 7
of this socket.
If this is correct, switch off and install the ICs. Make Fig.6: the Bellbird signal is a heavily filtered sawtooth wave-
sure that both ICs are oriented correctly; ie, with the notch form which is modulated in steps. The low-pass filtering has
or pin 1 indentation at one end of each IC towards the a –3dB point at about 2kHz.
notched end of its socket.
The piezo transducer can now be installed. It mounts
onto the stand-offs after first drilling out its mounting holes
to 3mm and is secured using M3 × 6mm machine screws.
Once it’s in position, trim its leads to about 35mm long,
strip 3mm of insulation from the wire ends and solder the
leads to the pads on the PCB marked ‘To Piezo’. It doesn’t
matter which way around you connect these leads; they
can go to either PCB pad.
And that’s it! You should now be greeted by musical
Bellbird sounds when the unit is switched on and the
LEDs should chase down the outside of the bell and along
the bottom. If necessary, you can now change the Bellbird
tone by pressing and holding S2 to set the Bellbird cycling
through its output frequency steps. Release the switch
when the required tone is heard.
If you want to return to the default frequency, switch the
Bellbird off and wait a few seconds, then press and hold
pushbutton switch S2 while you re-apply power. Finally, Fig.5: this scope grab shows just one Bellbird call, taken at a
after a second or so, release S2 and the unit will again be sweep speed of 20ms/div to show more detail of the complicated
at the default frequency. modulation, which is applied to each note.

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 27

Bellbird1213v2 (FROM MATT).indd 27 15/10/2014 12:23:52

 Constructional Project

Part 3: By JIM ROWE

SiDRADIO: using the

software

Get an SDR covering a frequency range from around 50MHz (or lower)
up to 2200MHz for just the price of a USB DVB-T dongle – peanuts!

O VER the last couple of

months, we have showed you
how to build the hardware to use a
performance as the excellent WiNRA-
DIO Excalibur. However, it is going
to give you a very wideband receiver
space industries. At first, these were
classified, but gradually the results of
this work started to percolate through
cheap USB DVB-T dongle to turn your with many of the facilities of a fully- into commercial ‘software-defined’
PC into a wideband VHF/UHF multi- fledged communications receiver. So radio receivers and transmitters, in
mode SDR – a software-defined radio let’s look at the background. which many of the functions previous-
receiver. Back in the late 1970s, firms in the ly performed by dedicated hardware
Don’t get us wrong – a USB DVB- USA and Germany began developing modules were performed by complex
T dongle/software-defined radio is fully digital radio transmitters and software or firmware.
not going to give you the same great receivers for use by the military and The advantages were obvious: lower
cost, lower weight and much greater
functional flexibility.
Table 1: Common DVB-T Dongle Tuner Chips & Their Frequency Ranges It soon became clear that software-
Tuner Chip Frequency Range DVB-T dongle model in which chip is found defined radio or ‘SDR’ was likely to be-
Elonics E4000 52 – 2200MHz* EzCAP EzTV668 DVB-T/FM/DAB, many current 'no name' devices come just another kind of PC applica-
Rafael Micro R820T 24 – 1766MHz ? (not known – but may be in many future dongles) tion. This process received a dramatic
Fitipower FC0013 22 – 1100MHz EzCAP EzTV645 DVB-T/FM/DAB, Kaiser Baas KBA010008 TV Stick boost in 2009 when Antti Palosaari, a
Fitipower FC0012 22 – 948MHz Many of the earlier DVB-T dongles
Linux software developer in Finland,
made an interesting discovery when
* With a gap from 1100MHz to 1250MHz (approx) NOTE: Elonics may have ceased manufacture
he was working on Linux drivers and

28 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 28 15/10/2014 12:24:29

 Constructional Project

routines to allow DTV reception using

one of the DVB-T dongles which had Fig.1: an omnidirectional antenna
just started to appear. Delving into like this Icom VHF/UHF discone
the firmware code inside the Realtek is ideal for use with an SDR.
RTL2831U demodulator chip that was
used in most of the early dongles, he
found that it had an undocumented
‘radio’ mode, presumably intended
to allow FM reception as well as DTV
reception. In this mode, the chip
would output a stream of 8-bit I/Q (in-
phase/quadrature) digital samples via
the USB port, at rates of up to 2MS/s
(megasamples per second).
Antti Palosaari realised that this
would allow other kinds of demodu-
lation to be performed by software
in the PC. This was confirmed when
almost all later DVB-T dongles came
with the higher-performance Realtek
RTL2832U demodulator chip with
the same in-built ‘radio’ mode as its
predecessor.
So Palosaari got together with other
software developers from Osmocom
(the Open Source Mobile Communica-
tions group) and they soon developed
suitable drivers and software for both
Linux and Windows.
Now anyone can have a wideband
VHF/UHF SDR, using a low cost DVB-T
dongle and a PC or laptop. So let’s take
a look at what a typical SDR/USB don- range, it also has a gap between about directions other than directly in front.
gle set-up can do. 1100MHz and 1250MHz where it has In practice, you’ll get much better
no coverage. So if you are particularly results from an omnidirectional VHF/
Same hardware as before interested in receiving signals in this UHF antenna like a ‘ground plane’ or
Just as with DTV and DAB+ reception, region, you’ll want to search the online (preferably) a ‘discone’.
the only hardware you’ll need for us- market for a dongle with the Rafael A discone is a wideband omnidi-
ing your PC as an SDR is the PC itself R820T tuner chip inside. We’re not rectional antenna with two main ele-
(with a free USB 2.0 port), a low-cost aware of any just yet, but they’re prob- ments: a horizontal disc on the top and
DVB-T dongle and a decent outdoor ably around on the web if you look a conical shape below it (rather like an
VHF/UHF antenna. Everything else hard enough. inverted ice-cream cone). Both the disc
is handled by software. Remember too that dongles with the and cone elements may be made from
Which type of DVB-T dongle is best E4000 tuner chip in them may not be either sheet metal or an array of stout
suited for use in an SDR? That depends available for much longer, as Elonics wire ‘spokes’. Sheet metal elements are
on what range of frequencies you want has apparently gone out of business. more common in discones intended
to receive, because the main difference So when the dongle makers use up for use at frequencies above 1GHz,
between most of the currently avail- their stocks of the E4000, many of while ‘spoke’ elements are generally
able dongles is their tuner chip. And them will have to swap over to the used for discones intended for use at
the main difference between these R820T anyway. lower frequencies.
tuner chips is their tuning range – see How about the antenna? Well, the By the way, the discone antenna was
Table 1. tiny ‘whip’ antenna that comes with invented and patented by US engineer
So, if you’re mainly interested in many DVB-T dongles is pretty useless Armig Kandoian in the mid 1940s.
scanning frequencies up to 1100MHz even for DTV and DAB+ reception – Some discones intended for use
or so, almost any of the dongles will and it’s even more useless for SDR re- down into the lower VHF region have
likely do the job. But if you want to ception. So you’re really going to need an additional vertical whip element
tune much higher frequencies, you’re a decent outdoor VHF/UHF antenna. at the top, to effectively convert the
going to need a dongle with either the For your initial SDR experiments, antenna into a half-wave vertical
Elonics E4000 or the Rafael R820T you’ll probably get moderately encour- dipole at the lower frequencies. This
tuner chip inside – like the EzTV668 or aging results by using a standard TV is the case with the discone shown in
many of the current ‘no name’ dongles. antenna. However, as these are gener- Fig.1, which is a wideband VHF/UHF
Note that although the Elonics E4000 ally quite directional, they’ll tend to be antenna made by Icom about 15 years
tuner chip covers the widest frequency very insensitive to signals coming from ago. It originally sold for about £50 but

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 29

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 29 15/10/2014 12:24:34

 Constructional Project

Developed a couple of years ago by

The SDR# application and its features Pierre Batard, Zadig is currently avail-
able as version 2.0.1.160 in two forms,
SDR# is an easy-to-use software application designed to turn almost any PC into a
one for Windows XP and the other for
powerful SDR (software-defined radio), using either a DVB-T dongle (the hardware
Windows 7.
‘front end’) or other devices. Here are some of its salient features:
Both are about 5.2MB in size and
(1) RF performance, frequency accuracy: the RF performance basically depends they can be downloaded (as self-
on the chips used in the DVB-T dongle used with SDR#. A typical dongle fitted installing exe files) from sourceforge.
with the Elonics E4000 tuner chip can tune from 52-1100MHz and 1250-2200MHz, net/projects/libwdi/files/zadig
with a sensitivity of approximately 1.5µV for 12dB of quieting at frequencies up to It’s important to get the right one
about 180MHz, rising to about 20µV for the same degree of quieting at 990MHz. for the version of Windows on the PC
The SDR# software used with the dongle provides a frequency correction you’ll be using for the SDR. Note that
feature, whereby you can correct for any frequency error in the DVB-T dongle. both files are compressed in a ‘7z’ ar-
In addition, there is a frequency shift feature, allowing you to display the correct chive format, so you won’t be able to
frequencies even when you have an up-converter connected ahead of the dongle. extract the exe file from the download
(2) Demodulation modes: AM (amplitude modulation), NFM (narrow frequency
with WinZip. Instead, they can only be
modulation), WFM (wide frequency modulation), LSB (lower sideband), USB (up-
extracted using 7-Zip, a compression/
per sideband), DSB (double sideband), CW-L (carrier wave with BFO on low side)
extraction utility which offers a higher
and CW-U (carrier wave with BFO on high side).
compression ratio. Fortunately, this
In all these modes, the RF filter bandwidth can be adjusted over a wide range,
too can be downloaded, either from
while the filter type can be selected from a range of five (Hamming, Blackman,
sourceforge.net or directly from the
Blackman-Harris, Hann-Poisson or Youssef). The filter order can also be selected
7-Zip developer’s website at www.7-
over a wide range. In both CW modes, the frequency separation of the software
zip.org
BFO can also be adjusted. There is adjustable squelch and also both linear and
7-Zip also comes in two forms – one
‘hang’ AGC.
for 32-bit x86 systems (ie, Windows
XP) and the other for 64-bit x64 sys-
(3) FFT spectrum display and/or Waterfall spectrum/time display: the FFT tems (eg, PCs running 64-bit versions
spectrum display and Waterfall display can be selected either separately or of Windows 7).
together. The windowing function used can be selected from six choices: None, If you don’t already have 7-Zip, the
Hamming, Blackman, Blackman-Harris, Hamm-Poisson or Youssef, and the display first step is to download and install it.
resolution can be adjusted over a wide range by changing the block size from Then you can download the correct
512 to 4,194,304, in powers of two, with the higher resolutions requiring greater (and latest) version of Zadig, after
processing overhead. which you can use 7-Zip to extract the
Good results can be achieved with the default resolution of 4096, which was Zadig.exe installer file. You then run
used for all of the screen grabs shown in this article. this file to install Zadig itself.
With Windows 7, you have to run
the installer file as the Administrator.
This is very important, as otherwise it
Icom don’t seem to sell them anymore. Software is crucial won’t install Zadig correctly.
However, Australian firm ZCG Sca- As with DTV and DAB+ reception, the Next, plug your DVB-T dongle into
lar make what they call a ‘Basestation software needed to configure a PC/ the USB 2.0 port you intend to use
Omnidirectional Broadband Discone’. dongle combination as an SDR consists for the SDR. Windows will then go
Designated the B51H, this is available of two main components: (1) a driver through its usual rigmarole, looking
through their dealer network – see which allows the PC to communicate for what it thinks is a suitable driver
their website at www.zcg.com.au via the USB port with the Realtek for the dongle. Don’t worry if it does
If you search around on eBay, you’ll RTL2832U (or similar) demodulator this though, because you’ll be using
find that suitable VHF/UHF discones chip inside the dongle and (2) the ap- Zadig to install the correct SDR driver
are also available for online purchase. plication software to allow the PC to shortly.
In particular, we found one from Mr perform all the functions of an SDR in Now start up Zadig in the usual
CB Radio of Richmond, Victoria company with the dongle hardware. way. With Windows XP, you should
Australia. Another one called the The driver must be installed first. immediately see the dialog shown in
‘Jetstream JTD1’ was available from a The most popular driver for a DVB-T Fig.2. With Windows 7, you’ll almost
couple of US suppliers (CQ Radio Sup- dongle with an RTL2832U demod- certainly get a User Account Control
ply and k1cra Radio Store) for between ulator chip (when used as an SDR) is window first. Click ‘Yes’ to allow
US$33 and US$56, with a further $50 the ‘RTLSDR’ driver (nearly all don- Windows 7 to run Zadig, to display
or so for postage. gles use the RTL2832U). There’s even the same start-up window.
There’s also information available a website at rtlsdr.org which provides Next, click on the Options menu and
on the web showing how to make your lots of information about it. you should see a drop-down menu as
own discone, eg, see helix.air.net.au shown in Fig.3. Click in the blank area
Another website at www.ve3sqb.com Zadig just to the left of ‘List All Devices’ and
has software that works out the ele- The easiest way to install the RTL­ the drop-down Options menu should
ment dimensions for various antennas SDR driver is to use an open-source disappear. However, there will now
(including discone antennas). driver installer program called ‘Zadig’. be some text displayed in the main

30 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 30 15/10/2014 12:24:38

 Constructional Project

Fig.2: the Zadig startup window. This application is Fig.3: clicking the ‘Options’ menu brings up this dialog,
used to install the RTL-SDR driver to allow the PC to after which you have to select the ‘List All Devices’ option
communicate with the Realtek RTL2832U demodulator. from the drop-down list.

Fig.4: clicking the down arrow brings up the list of USB Fig.5: the RTL2838UHIDIR entry has been selected here (for
devices that Zadig has discovered. You then have to select an EzTV668 dongle). You then have to click the ‘Reinstall
the USB dongle entry from this list. Driver’ button to install the correct driver.

drop-down menu bar, probably for Fig.6: this screen

one of your USB devices like a mouse, grab is similar to
keyboard or printer. Fig.5 but in this
Click on the down arrow at the case, after Zadig
right-hand end of this bar. You should has installed the
get a drop-down list of all of the USB correct RTL-SDR
driver for Kaiser
devices that Zadig has been able to
Baas KBA010008RT
find connected to your PC – see Fig.4. dongle.
You now have to go through this
list to find the DVB-T dongle that’s
plugged into one of the USB ports. Either way, you’ll probably see text The driver should now be installed
The only catch here is that it can be entries in the smaller boxes to the correctly and will be called up auto-
listed under various different names, right of the ‘USB ID’ label, as shown matically whenever your dongle is
depending on the dongle. in Figs.5 and 6. plugged into the same USB port at a
Some dongles may appear as ‘RT- Now turn your attention to the blue later time. So if you always plug the
L2838UHIDIR’, as shown at the bottom rectangular button at the lower centre dongle into the same port when using
of the list in Fig.4, while others may be of the Zadig window, which will prob- it for SDR, you won’t have to fire up
shown as ‘Bulk-In, Interface (Interface ably be displaying the text ‘Reinstall Zadig to reinstall the driver again.
0)’ as shown in Fig.6. Still others may Driver’. If it isn’t, click on the down Conversely, if you plug the dongle
appear as ‘RTL2832U’ or similar. The arrow at its right-hand end and select into another USB port, you’ll have to
main things to look for are either that Reinstall Driver from the resulting run Zadig again to reinstall the driver
‘Bulk-In, Interface’ label or one starting drop-down list. Once the correct text for that port. As a corollary to this, you
with ‘RTL’. is displayed, click on this button to will be able to use the same dongle for
When you spot the dongle in Za- install the correct driver for SDR. DVB-T and DAB+ reception simply
dig’s list, click on its entry to highlight After ‘whirring’ away for a few by plugging it into a different USB
it. Zadig should now display the don- seconds, Zadig should display a ‘Suc- port; ie, one for which Zadig hasn’t
gle’s label in the main horizontal bar, cessful Install’ message and then you installed a driver.
as shown in Fig.5 and Fig.6. However, should see the correct driver name
at this stage it either won’t be showing displayed in both the Driver text box What’s next?
anything in the Driver text box or it’ll and also in the box further to the right Once Zadig has installed the SDR
be showing whatever driver Windows (just to the right of the green arrow). driver, exit the application in the usual
installed (or tried to install) when you You can see the driver displayed in manner. However, before you move
plugged the dongle into a USB port. these boxes in Figs.5 and 6. on to download and install the SDR

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 31

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 31 15/10/2014 12:24:51

 Constructional Project

application software, it’s a good idea Downloading and installing SDR# is ‘rtlsdr.dll’, the application extension
to go into Control Panel -> System and a little tricky though, because it’s not which SDR# needs to communicate
Security -> Device Manager to make packaged as a ‘single exe’ or ‘zipped with the RTL-based dongle via the
sure that the driver has been installed exe’ file. Due to licensing and packag- USB driver. This file can’t easily be
correctly. ing considerations, it has been split downloaded by itself, but it is in a
In Device Manager, scroll down to into two main zip files, which can be collection of other files which can
‘Universal Serial Bus Devices’ (see downloaded from the SDR# website be downloaded from the Osmocom
Fig.8) and click on the arrow to the – plus another zip file which must be website at http://sdr.osmocom.org/
left. You should now see a device downloaded from a different website. trac/wiki/rtl-sdr/
entry with the same name as that pre- Here’s the downloading procedures, To do this, scroll down to a section
viously shown in Zadig (it’s shown as step by step: at the end called ‘Attachments’. In the
‘RTL2838UHIDIR’ in Fig.8). This will links beneath this heading, you’ll find
be your dongle and if you then right- STEP 1 one with the rather odd name ‘Rel-
click on this device name and select Fire up your web browser and go to the WithDebInfo.zip’. Click on this link
‘Properties’, you should see another SDR# homepage at www.SDRSharp. and you’ll end up on a page headed
small window like that shown on the com Then click on the ‘Downloads’ ‘rtl-sdr: RelWithDebInfo.zip’. This file
right in Fig.8. heading to go to the downloads page. can now be retrieved by clicking on the
Click on the Driver tab in this window Here you’ll find two main files. One ‘downloading’ link over on the right.
and you should be presented with the will have a name like SDR# Dev or
details of the driver that Zadig installed. sdr-nightly, followed by a description Installing the software
As shown in Fig.8, the Driver Provider in brackets like (Continuous Integra- Having downloaded the three zip
should be shown as ‘libusbx.org’ and the tion, Last Changes Rev: 1114). This is files, you can now proceed with the
Driver Version as ‘6.1.7600.16385’ (or the main SDR# zip file, so download it software installation for SDR#. Here’s
another number if it has been updated first. That done, move down to the file how it’s done:
from the current version). named SDR# RTLSDR Plugin, which
If that all checks out, then Zadig has will have a similar description in STEP 1
correctly installed the SDR driver for brackets. This will be the latest version Unzip the SDR# Dev.zip (or sdr-
your dongle and you’re now ready to of the RTLSDR ‘plugin’ for SDR# and nightly.zip) file. This will have about
install the application software. this is the second zip file to download. 14 files inside, all of which should be
extracted to the folder into which you
Our first choice: SDR# STEP 2 will be installing SDR#. For example,
If you search the web, you’ll find a Before leaving the SDR# website, scroll you could extract the files to C:\Pro-
number of different SDR software ap- further down the downloads page until gram Files\SDR#, so it’s a good idea
plications that run under Windows you get to a section titled ‘Important to create this folder before you start.
or Linux and are compatible with note for RTL-SDR users’. This section
RTLSDR dongles. The most popular provides links to various worthwhile Step 2
of these seems to be an application items on SDR#, including a PDF file of Unzip the second zip file, ie, with a
called SDR# or ‘SDRSharp’, written the well-written SDR# User Manual by name like sdr-nightly-rtlsdr.zip. This
by a programmer in Paris by the name Henry Forte. You can download this will probably have five files inside,
of Youssef Touil in collaboration with PDF file by clicking on the link www. plus a folder called ‘config’. Extract
various other people around the world. atouk.com/wordpress/?p=153 everything to the same folder used to
SDR# is a particularly powerful and store the extracted files from the first
easy-to-use SDR application and it’s STEP 3 zip file. That done, check the contents
available for free. It provides an excel- The next step is to download the third of the ‘config’ folder; there should only
lent way to ‘dip your toe’ into SDR. main software ingredient. This is be one file with a name like sdrsharp.
exe.config. Copy this file into the main
SDR# folder, where it will over-write
an existing file with the same name.

Step 3
Now for the third zip file you down-
loaded, ie, RelWithDebInfo.zip. Inside
this file, you’ll find two folders, one
labelled ‘/x32’ and the other ‘/x64’. If
you look inside the /x32 folder, you’ll
see a file called rtlsdr.dll. This is the only
file you need from this third zip file, so
just extract this file and place it into the
main SDR# folder with the others.
And that’s it. Your copy of SDR#
Fig.7: DVB-T tuner dongles can be purchased online quite cheaply. These
should now be fully installed and
three units all feature a 75-ohm Belling-Lee antenna socket but many other
dongles come with a much smaller MCX connector. ready to run. All you need to do is go
to the C:\Program Files\SDR# folder

32 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 32 15/10/2014 12:25:01

 Constructional Project

(or wherever you have installed it),

right click on the filename SDRSharp.
exe, and select either ‘Run’ in Win-
dows XP or ‘Run as Administrator’ in
Windows 7.

SDR# in action
After a couple of seconds SDR# should
spring into life and you’ll see a fairly
large window like that shown in Fig.9.
This is the opening window for the
current version of SDR#, V.1.0.0.114;
later versions may look a little different.
At the top left of this window are
two rectangular buttons, one labelled
‘Play’ and the other with the default
label ‘Other (Sound card)’. Clicking the
down arrow to the right of this label
will now bring up a drop-down device
list similar to that shown in Fig.10.
Click the ‘RTL-SDR/USB’ option then
click the ‘Configure’ button.
SDR# will now open a very interest-
ing supplementary window, as shown
in Fig.11. This shows you the actual
name of the dongle (in this case ‘ezcap Fig.8: you can verify that Zadig has correctly installed the driver by checking the
USB 2.0 DVB-T/DAB/FM dongle’), the entry in the Windows Device Manager.
tuner chip it contains (here an E4000),
its maximum and default sample rate
(2.048MS/s) and the default sampling
mode (quadrature sampling). It also
gives you options for setting the AGC
functions available inside the dongle
(RTL AGC and/or Tuner AGC) and for
adjusting the RF gain.
In addition, there are options for
setting a tuning offset (for when you’re
using an up-converter with the dongle)
and for correcting any frequency er-
ror in the dongle’s crystal-based local
oscillator. We’ll discuss these options
later on.
For the present, just click on the
‘Close’ button at the bottom of this
window, then take a close look at the
main SDR# window. Down the left-
hand side, you’ll see the SDR# control
panel. This is divided into a number
of functional areas, each with its own
heading – ie, Radio, Audio, AGC, FFT
Display and finally two area headings
at the bottom for SDR# plugins.
Within each area you’ll find various
control buttons allowing you to select
a variety of functions and modes. For
example, the eight small buttons at
the top of the Radio section allow you
to select the demodulation mode you
want to use (NFM, AM, LSB, USB,
WFM, DSB, CW-L or CW-U). Most of
the other controls are fairly intuitive,
like the AF Gain slider at the top of the Fig.9: this is the opening window that appears when you start the SDR# program
Audio section. You simply drag this for the first time.

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 33

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 33 15/10/2014 12:25:07

 Constructional Project

Fig.10: the ‘Other (Sound card)’ drop-

down list. Choose the ‘RTL-SDR/USB’ Fig.12: SDR# showing a typical spectrum display. In this case, the unit has been
option, then click ‘Configure’. tuned to an AM signal on 118.550500MHz in the aeronautical band (the Sydney
Airport Terminal Information signal).

Fig.13: the result when SDR# was tuned to 865.017MHz in the UHF fixed/mobile
communications band. The signal peak is a narrow-band FM (NFM) signal coming
from a tourist guide on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Entering the frequency you want is or ‘bumps’ which correspond to any

easy: just move the mouse cursor over signals in that part of the spectrum.
either the top half or the bottom half If the frequency you want is actu-
of any of the digits, which will cause ally away from the current tuning
a square of colour shading to appear frequency, you can simply drag the
behind that half of the digit (blue for tuning cursor (the vertical red line in
the bottom half, or pink for the top the centre) over to the signal peak and
Fig.11: the RTL-SDR Controller dialog. It half). Then if you left click on that drop it there.
shows the name of the dongle, the tuner coloured square, the digit will either By the way, if there are a lot of sig-
chip (here an E4000), its maximum and nals visible, all jumbled together in the
increment or decrement to change the
default sample rate (2.048MS/s) and
the default sampling mode (quadrature tuning frequency. spectrum display, you can zoom in to
sampling). There are also options for It reads directly in Hertz, so to a smaller section of the spectrum dis-
AGC and RF gain. tune your SDR to say 136.9125MHz play simply by dragging up the ‘Zoom’
you need to set the display to slider on the right of this window.
slider one way or the other to decrease (0.)136.912.500. There are other handy features too,
or increase the volume. which we’ll look at shortly.
Frequency/spectrum display For the present though, let’s look
Tuning a frequency Just below the main frequency display briefly at one big feature of SDR# that
In the centre at the top of the main SDR# is SDR#’s frequency/spectrum display we haven’t yet mentioned: its ‘water-
window, you’ll see the label ‘VFO’ fol- window, which is probably its most fall plot’ display window. This is just
lowed by a string of 10 large numerals. impressive feature. This gives a con- below the spectrum display window
At this stage, these will probably all be tinuous display of the spectrum in the at lower right. Although this window
zeroes and with all but the rightmost vicinity of the tuning frequency you’ve is almost totally black in Fig.9, apart
digit ‘greyed out’. This is SDR#’s main set, with signal amplitude plotted from a ‘rainbow strip’ at far right,
tuning frequency display and it’s also vertically against frequency which is when SDR# is receiving it displays a
where you can directly enter the fre- along the horizontal axis. This makes time plot of the visible signals in the
quency you want to receive. it particularly easy to spot the peaks spectrum display window.

34 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 34 15/10/2014 12:25:19

 Constructional Project

This lets you see which ones are

varying with modulation or are ap-
pearing in short bursts (ie, with gaps in
the signal). You can adjust the colour
contrast within this window using the
‘Contrast’ slider at centre right and you
can vary the time period represented
by the waterfall plot using the ‘Speed’
slider below it.

Receiving a signal
OK, let’s use it to receive a signal. There
are really only three steps involved:
1) Enter the frequency of the signal you
want to receive by clicking on the
appropriate digits in the top display Fig.14: this screen grab shows the result when we set SDR# to receive the GPS ‘L1’
2) Select the modulation mode (eg, signal frequency at 1.575427GHz. There was indeed a small signal peak at that
AM, WFM, LSB etc) by clicking the frequency, but we were unable to demodulate the signal because SDR# doesn’t
corresponding radio button in the have an option to demodulate CDMA spread spectrum signals.
Radio section at top left
3) Click on the ‘Play’ button just above
the Radio heading, at top left.
Within a fraction of a second, you
should see a spectrum display like the
one shown in Fig.12. In this case, the
unit has been tuned to an AM signal
on 118.550500MHz in the aeronautical
band (it’s actually the Sydney Airport
Terminal Information signal). The dis-
play has been zoomed in a little and is
showing the spectrum between about
118MHz and 118.66MHz, with the
peak for the signal being received in
the centre (bisected by the red tuning Fig.15: the frequency error in an EzTV668 dongle has been corrected here, in this
cursor line). case using the signal from ABC Classic FM in Sydney, on 92.900MHz. The frequency
Looking closely at Fig.12, you’ll also correction applied was –63ppm (parts per million).
see a light grey band straddling the
signal peak and the tuning cursor. This As mentioned before, you can change band FM (NFM) signal coming from a
shows another of SDR#’s handy features the tuning frequency by clicking and tourist guide up on the Sydney Harbour
– it can graphically display the software dragging the red tuning cursor line in Bridge (he was explaining the history
filter bandwidth currently in use. the spectrum display window. When of the bridge and its surroundings)!
If you change the filter bandwidth you do this, you’ll see the main fre- Fig.14 shows the result when we
using the text box over in the Radio quency display at the top changing as set the SDR# to receive the GPS ‘L1’
controls area, you’ll see the grey band you drag the cursor. In addition, the signal frequency at 1.575427GHz.
change width. But that’s not all; you frequency ‘dial markings’ along the There was indeed a small signal peak
can also change the filter bandwidth bottom of the spectrum display will at that frequency, but its small size
by hovering the mouse over one side also slide along. is not surprising since we were only
of the grey band until the cursor If you want to shift the tuning fre- using the wideband discone antenna
changes into a double-ended horizon- quency a long way from your current shown in Fig.1. In any case, we were
tal arrow. When it does, you can then setting, it’s much easier to click on the unable to demodulate this signal be-
click and drag the edge of the band digits in the main frequency display cause SDR# doesn’t have an option to
one way or the other, to change the at the top. If you like, you can think of demodulate CDMA spread-spectrum
filter bandwidth. this display as the SDR’s ‘band switch- signals. Instead, all we could hear was
What if you do find a signal peak but ing’ control, while dragging the cursor a faint hum when the ‘AM’ demodula-
the audio output is badly garbled (even in the spectrum display window is its tion mode was selected.
when you tune accurately to the centre ‘fine tuning’ control. SDR# is also unable to demodulate
of the peak)? This indicates that it’s not Two more screen grabs which should DAB+ digital (COFDM) signals (per-
using the type of modulation you’ve make the impressive capabilities of haps this will be added in a future
set SDR# to receive. That’s fixed by SDR# a little clearer are shown in update). However, if you do want to
clicking on the other mode buttons in Figs.13 and 14. Fig.13 shows the SDR# listen to DAB+ radio, it’s just a matter
the Radio area until the signal becomes tuned to 865.017MHz in the UHF fixed/ of plugging the dongle into a different
clear. When that happens, you have the mobile communications band. The USB port and firing up a DVB-T/DAB+
correct receiving mode. signal peak turned out to be a narrow- application.

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 35

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 35 15/10/2014 12:25:27

 Constructional Project

Frequency error correction

At this stage, there’s one aspect of the
DVB-T dongle plus SDR# combina-
tion that we haven’t considered: its
tuning accuracy. Inside virtually all
currently available DVB-T dongles
is a 28.8MHz crystal oscillator. This
is used as a clock generator and fre-
quency reference by both the tuner
and demodulator chips.
This means that the basic tuning
accuracy of the dongle (and as a
result our SDR) depends on the ac-
curacy of this crystal oscillator. Not
surprisingly, most low-cost dongles
use a fairly low-cost crystal and its
exact frequency can vary over quite
a wide range.
To overcome this problem, Youssef
Touil and his colleagues provided
SDR# with an elegant way of compen-
sating for this ‘dongle tuning error’.
This was done by building in a method
to allow SDR# to automatically correct
its frequency calculations by a known
Fig.16: the spectrum and waterfall displays on SDR# for the Channel 9 sound
factor (which will be different for each
carriers in Sydney. It shows the primary and secondary FM sound carriers for
dongle). analogue Ch9, plus the DAB+ ‘block’ of multiplexed digital audio signals in Ch9A.
This may sound complicated but
it’s really quite easy. All you have
to do is select a signal whose car-
rier frequency is accurately known
and then set SDR# to tune to that
frequency. Then when you click
on the ‘Play’ button, you should
see the carrier peak for this signal
somewhere near the centre of the
spectrum display.
The next step is to click on the ‘Con-
figure’ button to call up the RTL-SDR
Controller window and then turn your
attention to the ‘Frequency correction
(ppm)’ text box with its up/down ar-
rows. It’s then just a matter of clicking
on one arrow or the other to move the
signal peak so that it’s centred on the
correct tuning frequency.
If that still sounds complicated, take
a look at Fig.15. This screen grab was
taken after using the above technique
to correct the frequency error in an
EzTV668 dongle, in this case using the
signal from ABC Classic FM in Sydney,
on 92.900MHz.
As shown, the carrier signal peak
has been moved right into the centre
of the spectrum display, so that it
straddles the 92.900 graticule line. Fig.17: the spectrum and waterfall displays for three FM stations between about
And, as can be seen in the RTL- 102.5MHz and 104.1MHz.
SDR Controller dialog box, this was
achieved by getting SDR# to apply to be done once for each dongle. Of of +20ppm. The remaining ‘no-name’
a frequency correction of –63ppm the other three dongles we tested, dongle required no correction at all; it
(parts per million). one required a frequency correction was spot on, probably by sheer good
This correction process only has of –115ppm and another a correction luck.

36 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 36 15/10/2014 12:25:38

 Constructional Project

Give it a go
So that’s a quick run through the
main features of SDR# and how eas-
ily it can be used to convert your
PC into an SDR and wideband VHF/
UHF spectrum scanner. It’s a bit of
a rigmarole to download and install
the special RTL-SDR driver and then
SDR# itself but once you’ve done
that, the set-up is remarkably flexible
and easy to use.
The only small ‘glitch’ we’ve en-
countered so far is that sometimes
when exploring the VHF or UHF
bands, there’s a spurious signal peak
in the centre of the spectrum display.
This is probably due to signals radiated
from the PC getting into the dongle. If
you come across this, try enclosing the
dongle in a metal shield and/or fitting
the USB cable with a clip-on ferrite
suppressor sleeve.

Reproduced by arrangement
with SILICON CHIP
Fig.18: the waterfall display for several narrow-band FM (NFM) signals from magazine 2014.
Sydney airport (centre) plus various other digital signals. www.siliconchip.com.au

What will you invent next weekend?

Arduino compatible development board with pre-loaded software
Plug in transceiver for the Raspberry Pi
Publish data to the internet via NodeRed and other IoT platforms
SD card compatible with all Raspberry Pi models
Starter projects require no soldering

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 37

SDR With Dongles 0513 (FROM MATT).indd 37 15/10/2014 12:25:47

 50 Golden
Years Of
Practical
Electronics
by Alan Winstanley PART 2
In Part Two of our 50th Anniversary celebration of Poole; he had returned to England after working for Elec-
Practical Electronics magazine, we chart the pro- tronics Today International in Canada. Having become
gress of Britain’s last remaining hobby electronics divided, the two magazines went their own way and to
magazine from the 1970s to the present day. some extent PE and EE became rivals. December 1977 was
the last London-based edition and Mike’s new team took
New technologies over from the January 1978 issue of Practical Electronics.
In the 1970s, semiconductor technology raced ahead:
silicon had supplanted germanium, circuitry had gone Digital takes off
‘digital’, new light-emitting diodes offered colour, speed It has been said that Practical Electronics had resisted the
and power efficiency, CMOS technology was starting temptation to carry many hobbyist-designed computer
to emerge, and large-scale integrated chips were being projects as developments were still racing ahead. Perhaps
released with applications in every sector of technology. memories of the ill-fated Digi-Cal desktop calculator were
A stylish Sinclair digital watch could now be built in kit still raw! A computer kit by MITS called the Altair 8800
form, as could a Sinclair 8-digit wrist calculator. claimed to be the first Intel 8080-based 8-bit computer kit
to rival commercial units and Practical Electronics swiftly
The chips byte back and characteristically rose to the challenge by publishing
Practical Electronics continued in the same vein of pre- the PE Champ microprocessor development system. Prac-
senting projects of intermediate to advanced complexity, tical Electronics’ immensely successful Compukit UK101, a
submitted by freelance contributors. One emerging area 6502-based design with 8K of RAM, followed in August 1979.
was really starting to make its presence felt: computing. It ran Microsoft BASIC and software could be uploaded on
Thanks to Intel, the era of the microprocessor was upon cassette tapes and some expansion possibilities tantalised the
us, and Practical Electronics was keen to meet this chal- taste buds of hobbyists. A new branch of electronics technol-
lenge with tutorials, starting in 1975, followed in 1977 ogy – a computer hobby in its own right – had taken shape
by the series Microprocessors Explained, written by RW and the plethora of magazine titles on sale reflected that.
Coles (who had previously designed the magazine’s first The July 1980 issue saw another milestone home
digital IC project in December 1970). computer product appear, one that would become the
The dawn of the home computing era became something clarion call of home computing in Britain: the brilliant
of a double-edged sword. There were electronics hobbyists Sinclair ZX80, then the ZX81 and the Sinclair Spectrum,
hungry to know more about programming and building com- all light years ahead of the modest Sinclair amplifiers
puter kits, especially in the USA, but this new field could be and radios that first appeared in November 1964’s launch
a distraction from ‘core electronics’ project construction. Of issue. Computer projects, including modems and Teletext
course, those newly interested in computing also drifted into followed, then in 1981 the PE Car Computer, a design
electronics as a complement to their hobby. In fact, Practical with unsurpassed capabilities, and the Telectric Digital
Electronics said that the Personal Computer Show held in electricity cost meter, which also found its way onto BBC
Atlantic City in August ’76 showed how the new hobby of TV’s Tomorrow’s World. Home computers such as the BBC
home computing had taken both the electronics industry Model B and the Vic 20 were prime material for more
and retail trade completely by surprise. computer-based projects in the years ahead.
The year 1977 would be one of upheaval, as IPC Maga- The late 1970s had been a period of great turmoil in
zines moved some operations away from London to Poole in Britain, with industrial problems, recession and strikes
Dorset, on the south-west coast of England. Editor doing great harm and the after-effects of this were felt in
Fred Bennett remained in London as editor of a decline in readership as well as advertising. Gone were
Everyday Electronics. Mike Kenward accepted the days of turning away advertisers from the magazine’s
the post of editor of Practical Electronics in overcrowded pages and both titles were caught up in

50 Years.indd 36 24/10/2014 09:24:29

 The April 1983, Everyday Electronics would be the last in this EE was rebranded as Everyday Electronics and Computer
traditional style. Note the add-on project for the Sinclair ZX Projects from May 1983, to appeal to the rapidly increasing
Spectrum home computer number of home computer enthusiasts who, it was hoped,
would explore microelectronics
industrial supply problems, with deliveries becoming
erratic at times. Everyday Electronics then entered the
computing fray with a restyle, the April 1983 issue was
the last before it morphed into Everyday Electronics and
Computer Projects. The May ’83 cover project sported a
Real-Time Clock for Apple II and BBC Micro computers.

End of the IPC era

In 1985, IPC Magazines decided to dispose of a number of
their titles including PE and EE. Following a brief period
of stabilisation under its new owners, Intra Press, in 1987
Practical Electronics acquired a new editor: John Becker.
Already known to many readers for his designs, includ-
ing a post-Chernobyl Geiger Counter featured (again) on
Tomorrow’s World, John became editor literally overnight
and quickly settled to produce Practical Electronics under
the auspices of its new owner.
As I write, I have the November 1989 issue of Practical
Electronics open at John’s 25 Years Silver Celebration. The
revised magazine itself would be different from before,
and contained a lot more news, features and theory but
less sleeves-up practical hobby electronics – much less.
John was a true thoroughbred electronics hobbyist at heart,
and had tremendous skills in design and authoring, as
readers appreciated at the time. One did wonder whether
it was a marriage made in heaven, and a decade later John
confided to the writer that he did not always agree with
the direction that its publisher seemed intent on going.
Both magazines were conscious of the competition as a
multitude of titles jostled for the attention of subscribers.
Electronics Today International hailed from Australia and
the British version of ETI gave Practical Electronics a run
for its money. Initially published by Modmags, ETI was Electronics Today International (ETI) rivalled
perhaps a bit rebellious and it published projects and Practical Electronics in the UK; its less formal
features in a style that was anything but stuffy or formal: approach found many friends. It merged into
if PE wore suits then ETI wore jeans! Another Modmags EPE’s format in 1999

50 Years.indd 37 24/10/2014 09:24:48

 Issue No.1 of Hobby Electronics, November 1978 was aimed
squarely at the electronic hobbyist beginner’s market – it became
The first Electronics Monthly of November 1984, which in
Electronics Monthly in late 1984
turn was snapped up by Everyday Electronics just a year later
title called Hobby Electronics (November 1978 to October
1984 issues) took aim at Everyday Electronics. It eventu-
ally came under the same editorial auspices as ETI and
changed to Electronics Monthly from late 1984. The 25th
anniversary issue of PE also carried an item on a new
niche magazine devoted to vintage radio called Radio
Bygones, edited by Practical Wireless’s Geoff Arnold, and
eventually RB also became part of the EPE family.
By now, Everyday Electronics was revitalised and on the
march, and bought up the interests of Electronics Month-
ly; so from the November 1985 issue the title changed to
EE&EM and it enjoyed a buoyant run for the next seven
years. A new publishing company owned by its editor
Mike Kenward acquired the title Everyday Electronics in a
seamless transition, so it was business as usual for readers.
Indeed, in March 1986’s editorial for EE, the first issue
produced by the fledgling Wimborne Publishing Ltd, Mike
reported a revitalised interest in constructional projects and
a resurgence of courses in schools and colleges. He added
that magazine readership had increased dramatically over
the past few months, with sales of books and boards at an
all-time high. One theory was that readers’ interest in the
new computing phenomenon had sparked an interest in
interfacing and building peripherals.

The rise of the MCU

I will never know how events at Practical Electronics were
panning out in the late 1980s, but I suspect that the writing
was probably on the wall. Suffice to say that when I visited
the Everyday Electronics office in late 1992, with a Mini
Lab and Micro Lab under my arm to discuss Teach-In ’93
with editor Mike, there on the noticeboard was a mock-
up of next month’s magazine – sporting the brand
new title of Everyday with Practical Electronics Another rebranding exercise and Everyday Electronics and
(‘incorporating Electronics Monthly’). That’s Electronics Monthly is launched! The Screaming Mask was
how I learned of the merger, as Mike, being just a co-incidence, we think...

50 Years.indd 38 24/10/2014 09:25:15

 progressive as always, had very skilfully acquired the rival
title and brought its readers back under his umbrella. EPE
was duly born from the November 1992 issue, which was
celebrating the 21st Anniversary of the original Everyday
Electronics. ‘Never before had we encompassed such a wide
spread of articles,’ said Mike in his November Editorial.
In the electronics hobby as a whole, techniques and
technologies were changing faster than ever, and our hob-
by often trailed developments within industry itself. In a

PIC microcontrollers were fast becoming mainstream building

blocks in our hobby. This February 1996 issue promised a
Simple PIC Programmer by Derren Crome and a PIC Electric
Meter by John Becker

a Simple PIC 16C84 Programmer by Derren Crome. Built

on stripboard, this little project kickstarted the prospect of
readers experimenting with these devices for themselves,
and EPE’s pages filled with ever-more appealing PIC designs
that brought new levels of project functionality to hobby-
The next iteration was Everyday with Practical Electronics ists, along with a major reduction in their constructional
(incorporating Electronics Monthly) from the November 1992 complexity. Included in this issue was a PIC Electric Meter
issue – EPE was born by John Becker. Hobbyists could now program a single PIC
on a home computer rather than struggling with boards
burgeoning magazine market, the home computer sector full of logic, and this transformed hobbyists’ capabilities.
was by now extremely buoyant and home users grappled
with Microsoft Windows 3.1, floppy disks and modems. Microchip PICs
There was much more competition for a reader’s pocket Early on, EPE decided to focus on the Microchip PIC family
money, with video games and bulky computer magazines rather than spread itself too thinly across other devices and
elbowing their way onto the scene. run the risk of being a digital ‘Jack of all trades but master of
Hobby electronics was perhaps in danger of suffering from none’. That is just how it happened, with the early interest
another cyclic downturn, but one very clear trend was rap- shown in the PIC and the great support received from Mi-
idly emerging as the hobby turned yet another corner in its crochip ensuring that EPE would soon dedicate itself to that
evolutionary lifecycle: the microcontroller unit had arrived. family of devices. The fact that EPE also gave away its PIC
The MCU would change the face of hobby electronics more microcontroller project source codes (many resulting from
than any other device in the past twenty years, and a pow- John Becker’s unstinting efforts) as free downloads when
erful ‘PIC’ micro would eventually be cheaper than the 555 an FTP site opened in 1996, further cemented the relation-
timer had been in its own era. March 1995’s issue carried ship with the PIC. (However, magazine articles could still
an article Understanding PICs, and PIC-powered projects be delivered to a fax machine using EPE Fax on Demand!)
soon followed thick and fast, many expertly written by There are far too many glorious and memorable PIC
John Becker who was now EPE’s technical editor and who projects to list individually, but their legacy source codes
skilfully designed complex PIC projects apace. John realised are preserved at www.epemag.net. John Becker’s PIC
the PIC’s potential straight away, and starting from scratch Tutorial series (March – May 1998) was proclaimed as
he began utilising PICs in his projects with an impressive the best ever PICmicro course, and was also released on
breadth of imagination. Other contributors, such as the CDROM. He went on to write Teach-In 2000, easing us
much-missed Andy Flind, also produced some unforgettable into the new millennium with a PC-based tutorial series
designs, including the EPE Mind PICkler mind entrainment supported once again by generous levels of free interactive
and relaxation system. The hobby was re-inventing itself software that often accompanied his work. Sadly,
all over again. John passed away in June 2009, but he left us
February 1996’s issue included a small project that would his incredible legacy of material for future
have a profound influence on EPE’s PIC-hungry readers: generations of hobbyists to enjoy.

50 Years.indd 39 24/10/2014 09:25:23

 The Internet arrives
The expansion of the Internet also influenced the magazine
and its readership. In the mid-1990s, EPE had to explain to
its readers what the Internet was about, starting with an ar-
ticle by the writer published in July 1996 (The ‘Net – what’s
in it for you?). The Net Work column arrived a month later,
giving readers updates on Internet trends and techniques.
A website URL slipped onto the October 1996 cover
and a simple website went online, and for the first time
our overseas readers, previously frustrated by the costs
and delays of airmail, could feel more engaged thanks to
the real-time website and email. Part of the original site is
still online in our Resources section at www.epemag.com.

Silicon Chips
Humour occasionally crept into our pages. The April 1980
Practical Electronics issue announced some discoveries by
a Welsh high-tech company (Llyis Electronics) that mined
its own pure silicon from sand found on Prestatyn beach.
Their powerful new ZMOS transistors featured a ‘HEX-
NUT’ package and had micro-bore pipework that needed
water cooling from a 30-gallon header tank. BBC Wales was
duly taken in by this Silly Electronics April Fool, causing
much mirth at the time. April 1996 EPE broke the story
of Chromo Floristics – electronic colour control of plants
using ‘chromatic irradiation’ with computerised LEDs. An
impressive prototype with parallel port was shown along
with a purposeful-looking BASIC program. This brilliant
parody was again written by John Becker and the nation’s
media clamoured to learn more about the exciting dis-
covery. The series Ohm Sweet Ohm offered some genteel March 1999’s EPE sported another name change and acquired
humour in the 1990s and was written by Max Fidling – a the ETI logo, now so familiar to many readers
pseudonym of the present writer, the surname picked at
random from the phone book. in quality contributions to the reader’s own column of cir-
cuit ideas, Ingenuity Unlimited. In earlier years, an entire
Download revolution supplement of IU ideas could be printed due to the volume
The Internet was clearly not going to go away and EPE, of contributions, but not now. More than anything, the old-
which had never rested on its laurels, became (we be- school model for using freelance contributors finally ran out
lieve) the first magazine in the world that could also be of steam. With pressure on editorial and technical resources
downloaded from the web. As online payments were rising fast, it became difficult to handle external material
very hard to implement in the UK, our US team designed the traditional way, especially when it needed substantial
a custom system. In the late 1990s a new US operation re-working to make it publishable to the high standards that
run by Clive Maxfield (whom I had bumped into online, readers rightly expected.
on Usenet), Dean Hudson and Alvin Brown created the
website behind EPE Online. At last, anyone with Internet A new publishing model
access anywhere in the world could download their own If EPE was to survive then drastic measures were needed.
issue at the speed of light (nearly anyway). Clive (‘call me With the old way of doing things no longer viable, EPE’s
Max’) still blogs for EPE today. Then, right at the end of the owner Mike Kenward took the brave and radical decision to
decade, in addition to a new EPE Online graphic, March use projects produced by Australia’s Silicon Chip magazine.
1999’s EPE sported another name change and a familiar Their designs were thoroughly tried and tested in-house and
logo, becoming Everyday Practical Electronics with ETI. the material was prepared to a very high, if differently styled,
standard of presentation. EPE would therefore publish its
Testing times constructional projects by joint arrangement with Silicon
Into the new millennium, and EPE’s tried and tested formu- Chip and the January 2006 issue was in full colour for the
la was sorely challenged when several factors conspired in first time, as Mike invested heavily in making the magazine
a perfect storm that created much uncertainty in the early more attractive. EPE’s editorial features continued largely
2000s. If there wasn’t a general downturn in magazine unchanged, with home-grown series such as Teach-In, PIC
circulations then a surge onto the world-wide web was n’ Mix, Circuit Surgery, Net Work, New Technology Update
widely predicted (incorrectly) to spell doom for printed and Actually Doing It all appearing as before.
magazines everywhere. The magazine presentation was With most electronics magazines in the USA shutting
looking tired and there were worries it would not appeal down altogether, the deep financial recession of 2008 could
to the younger readers whom the hobby needed to attract have sounded the death knell for the hobby electronics
and who were critical for its future. Key EPE staff also went magazine. Further streamlining took place at EPE when
into semi-retirement midway through the new decade, in 2012 our US site closed down, but an all-new website
including founder member Dave Barrington who had been quickly sprang up in Britain: it had come home again! A
with Practical Electronics since Issue 1 in 1964, and John new editor was also appointed, and EPE is now safely in
Becker sought a well-earned retirement as well. the hands of Matt Pulzer, who has a very long association
Arguably, mainstream interest in traditional with the publishers and its readers. In 2012, a Pocketmags
discrete electronics and its physics and princi- version for tablet users was released, followed by a new
ples was falling too, as witnessed by the decline PDF version for online subscribers.

50 Years.indd 40 24/10/2014 09:25:42

 by greater bandwidth and better fibre optic and wireless
communications. There will undoubtedly be many ID and
security-related challenges that will impinge on our personal
freedoms, with biometric and scanning systems playing a
major role in tracking citizens going about their everyday
lives. Predictive text, speech and AI will result in computer
systems second-guessing more of what we want to say or do,
and then doing it for us. I am not sure that losing the need
to use our brains will actually be a good thing!
Thanks to NASA’s
Space Launch Sys-
tem (SLS) a space
shot to Mars is now
a real possibility and
there is no doubt
that tomorrow’s en-
gineers will provide
solutions that are

Image: NASA/MSFC
smaller, faster, more
accurate but use less
power than before.
The hobbyist will
still be here, joining
in the electronics
revolution in one
form or another.
Whether there will be magazines like EPE still printed on
‘dead trees’ or there will be anything left that the home
The world gets smaller, and after a dizzying voyage the final constructor can properly solder and coax into operation,
iteration – it is hoped – saw a redesign of EPE as high-quality only time will tell.
projects from Australia’s Silicon Chip were incorporated. The Celebrating this 50th Anniversary of Practical Electron-
magazine was printed in full colour for the first time ics – with some Everyday experience included – has been
a very humbling experience, with much awareness on the
Here comes the future writer’s part that we ‘stand on the shoulders of giants’, to
In the Anniversary edition of November 1989, Practical quote an uncharacteristically humble Isaac Newton. Every
Electronics’ Editor John Becker celebrated the past 25 years issue since 1964 has represented much hard work and ded-
and mused about life 25 years hence – today in 2014. He ication by its contributors and staff, not to mention printers
correctly predicted driverless cars (Google), computer and distributors, all committed to enthusing the hobby
speech recognition systems and reckoned that the 50th electronics fraternity, embracing new developments head
Anniversary review could be spoken into a computer. We on and offering readers satisfying new projects to build. It
also have some low-energy products that he felt would has been thanks to Fred Bennett for having the foresight to
be forced onto us by legislation – how very true. The EU drive Practical Electronics onwards to success and also EPE’s
recently banned the production of vacuum cleaners rated publisher, Mike Kenward, his family-owned company and
more than 1600W; lawnmowers, kettles, car air condition- team, that we can still produce a hobby electronics magazine
ing and hairdryers may be next in the firing line. in Britain. Most of all, it is also thanks to you, our readers,
And what might EPE readers – and their families – see in for staying with us for the past 50 years and enjoying the
the next 25 years? Products and devices in 2039 will be more ride along the way. Fingers crossed, here’s to the Diamond
mobile, networkable and always-on, wirelessly charged, Jubilee in 2024 and beyond!
wearable, disposable and recyclable than they are now. To-
day, much of our ADSL and FTTC depends on decades-old
copper wires connected to our home, but tomorrow the
‘cloud’ will host most of our software services, made feasible

A very rare photo of the ‘boss’ Fred Bennett and young assistant
editor Mike Kenward presenting a prize to EE reader David
Riley (right) in the December 1973 issue of Everyday Electronics

Editor John Becker in at the deep end: John toasts

readers after reaching the milestone of 25 years
of Practical Electronics, in a special November
1989 issue

50 Years.indd 41 24/10/2014 09:25:55

 Virus vigilance
I
n last month’s Net Work some current anti-virus options excellent job of cleaning up any remnants from the system.
for computer users were highlighted. A number of software Last, I installed Avast, which went in without a hitch. Avast’s
suppliers provide anti-virus products for PC, Mac, Android graphical display is good and the software is easy enough
and iOS, and popular free choices for PC users include AVG, to navigate around. I also like the Windows desktop widget
Avast and Avira Free Anti Virus. Advertising or ‘nag screens’, and the (English-accented) voice prompts, and an Avast
encouraging users to buy an upgrade, often support free screensaver can be configured to scan files in slow time.
products, but they do a fair job of providing real-time coverage
against viruses or web-based Trojans. Protection is never Sneaky software
100% though, and anti-virus programs typically bundle extra Like similar products, be prepared to see nag screens
tools or try to sell a full ‘Internet Security Suite’ version with periodically that are easily dismissed. A number of tools are
anti-spam, anti-malware or web-surfing protection built in. bundled in with Avast that might be of interest to readers.
Other perks, such as a free Dropbox file exchange package may One of them is ‘Software Updater’, which warns when certain
also be included. installed software is out of date. This is a useful one-click way
Paid-for software may have a few extra features and is sold of patching vulnerable key programs such as Adobe Reader or
on an annual subscription basis, with anti-virus updates Adobe AIR.
ceasing once the service period expires. Discounts may be Another benefit (opinions differ) of Avast is a price
available to cover several years or multiple computers. At the comparison plug-in called ‘SafePrice’ that was silently
time of writing, for the home PC user, AVG (www.avg.com) installed and occasionally pops up when visiting e-commerce
charges £29.99 for one year’s basic anti-virus protection for sites. It flags up lower prices that may be available in so-
a single computer. Rival Avast Pro (www.avast.com) has the called participating trusted websites, typically on eBay. Data
same annual price but offers discounts for multiple PCs or is transferred anonymously, it is claimed, and the service is
several years (eg, £59.99 for one PC/three years, or five PCs/ provided by the ciuvo.com network.
one year). A slightly cheaper paid-for product is the highly
rated Avira Anti Virus Pro (www.avira.com), a single PC
costing £25.99 for a year or £51.99 for three years, A licence
for five PCs costs £54.99 for one year, while AVG charges no
less than £149.94 for the same type of package. AVG also offers
a Business Edition with discounts for longer periods.
Before switching to a different anti-virus program the previous
one should be comprehensively uninstalled, which might
need a Windows Registry clean-up tool such as the excellent SafePrice is installed by Avast and can search for lower prices.
Advanced Uninstaller Pro (www.advanceduninstaller.com). Not all users welcome this hidden add-on though
As I mentioned last month, I experienced severe problems
removing a paid-for version of AVG on an older XP machine, SafePrice has worked well once or twice, popping up out
and at one stage I had to reinstall AVG once again – luckily, I of nowhere to flag up some useful savings on clothing for
still had the serial number. After several lock-ups, the relevant example, but nevertheless there are the nagging worries that
uninstaller tool from AVG was used as a last resort (see: www. Avast installed SafePrice without permission – or maybe the
avg.com/gb-en/utilities) which forced a succession of reboots opt-in just flew under the radar – and that users’ shopping
and DOS pop-ups and then Advanced Uninstaller did an habits are potentially being silently tracked by third parties.
The standard response at such times is that personal data
is removed, but there remains the worry that ‘they’ know
everything about your shopping habits except your name.
Whether or not affiliate fees are gathered by users’ shopping
click-throughs is another moot point.
There are also some minor bugs regarding SafePrice’s
Firefox compatibility, as the erroneous information published
by Avast (http://blog.avast.com/2014/03/27/how-does-avast-
safeprice-work) describing how to disable SafePrice was
completely wrong. Until this bug is patched, open a Firefox
window and go to chrome://wrc/content/options.html to see
the Avast Online Security settings, where SafePrice can be
disabled. In Internet Explorer, click a tiny green icon next to
the address bar (blink and you miss it) to access Avast options
and SafePrice can be disabled there. If you don’t have Avast
but want to try the add-on anyway, online shoppers can install
Avast Free Edition has a useful updater that checks for current it direct from the Ciuvo website and see whether it saves you
versions of software any money.

44 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Network - New layout.indd 44 15/10/2014 12:18:54

 The green Avast Securely searching
options icon is A whole industry that was designed to influence search
almost hidden in engines by giving websites a higher ranking sprang up in
Internet Explorer the late 1990s when ‘search engine optimisation’ (SEO) was
born. Google refines its search results over time and it makes
more than 200 calculations ‘on the fly’ when deciding how
highly a website should be rated in its listings. The search
giant is going much further in refining its results though:
for example, it now analyses the core website design and
A benign feature like Software Updater is handy, but construction, searching for examples of ‘responsive design’
installing what is effectively adware like SafePrice without – sites that work well on tablets or mobile phones as well
being up-front about it is something of an own goal, as trust as on desktop monitors. Google now classifies ‘responsively
is inevitably brought into question. Other Avast users have designed’ websites as more desirable and is likely to give
also complained that the file sharing service Dropbox was them greater prominence than ‘classically styled’ static
silently installed without their permission. Avast is a long- websites in its search results.
established and generally reputable product, but it sometimes Next, Google will have a preference for sites hosted
feels like a work in progress. Provided that users are aware under secure website addresses, SEO industry insiders say.
of any sideloaded services like SafePrice or Dropbox, Avast’s Readers might have started to notice how more website
anti-virus protection is probably worth its (free) price though, addresses commence with https: showing that a secure
otherwise consider free editions of Avira or AVG, or download sockets layer (SSL) is in use. SSL was previously reserved
a 30-day free trial of Kaspersky as an alternative. I hope to for capturing secure data or e-commerce transactions, but
report on Avira in a future column. is now also used for secure mail transmission, FTP and
increasingly website hosting, where greater security is
Suffering from shellshock provided. A secure certificate supposedly vouches for the
The widely-reported Heartbleed bug (Net Work, July 2014) identity of the secure server owner. Using SSL, data that
related to a serious flaw in OpenSSL which could permit flows between the web browser and the secure server is
encrypted user data to be extracted from a vulnerable server. encrypted to help prevent eavesdropping. This security
Heartbleed also allowed attackers to impersonate users or measure is not 100% bulletproof, though. For example, in
eavesdrop on communications. The vulnerability did not some extremely isolated cases, secure certificates have been
necessarily only affect web hosts or ISPs – an increasing wrongly issued by a certifying authority, and it is feasible
number of home users also have network-attached storage that third parties could impersonate a certificate holder and
(NAS) systems that go beyond the role of a simple hard disk. intercept transmissions using a ‘man-in-the-middle’ attack,
For example, the popular Synology NAS range is a stand-alone but this is exceptionally rare. One has to balance the risks: a
Linux-based server in its own right, and its operating system bank’s systems can be secure until a fraudulent IT engineer
is updated periodically with enhancements; earlier this year plants a 3G keylogger on a staff computer – over £1 million
an urgent Synology upgrade was rushed out to patch the was stolen from Barclays Bank this way.
Heartbleed bug. Synology is no stranger to malware threats,
and the dreaded SynoLocker ‘ransomware’ exploit that
emerged earlier this year showed how important it is to keep
a system up to date to eliminate vulnerabilities: unpatched
Synology units could have user data encrypted with no hope
of recovery without paying a ransom. Synology users should
set up automatic OS updates, and in my case the NAS sends
an email automatically when a new upgrade is available.
Unfortunately, acting as an unpaid systems administrator is
fast becoming a new role for owners of domestic networks,
with vigilance being a key watchword.
Heartbleed ranked as one of the world’s most serious and
immediate online threats – until now. Shellshock (CVE-
2014-6271) relates to a hitherto undiscovered fault with the
widely-used Gnu Bourne-Again Shell (BASH) that is more
than twenty years old. Linux-based servers that run Apache
web server, Apple computers running OSX and embedded
products based on Linux are all potentially vulnerable to the Checking SSL details in Firefox
Shellshock bug.
The fault allows a wide range of exploits to be performed, Web surfers know that the golden padlock icon shows
including password database theft, installing back that the secure certificate is in order, and SSL problems
door vulnerabilities and dropping malware onto target may be highlighted using a red background in Internet
systems. It has the potential for enabling ‘click fraud’ Explorer’s address bar, perhaps with a broken padlock
to be committed, where advertising revenue is stolen symbol appearing. In Firefox, you can click the grey padlock
by falsely generating clicks on advertising links. Unlike icon to view secure certificate details. Error messages do
Heartbleed, which drip-feeds sensitive data, Shellshock pop up in browsers if a secure certificate does not seem
allows powerful commands to be executed remotely by to ‘belong’ to the web server, particularly when accessing
attackers. It’s because BASH is taken for granted on Unix, a shared server that hosts multiple websites: maybe the
Linux and Apple systems that the potential for Shellshock secure certificate legitimately belongs to the ISP rather than
wreaking havoc is so huge. Newspaper headlines scream an individual website’s domain. When considering website
of an ‘Internet Meltdown’ and the UK National Computer security, visitors should take an informed decision based
Emergency Response Team (CERT) has assigned Shellshock on reputation and ‘look and feel’ before deciding whether
the highest possible threat level. or not to proceed further: in the case of online shopping,
Several attempts have already been made to patch the credit card suppliers do not provide fraud protection if
problem, but further patches are being released that will finally credit card numbers are entered into a clearly insecure site.
finish the job, or so it is hoped. Expect to hear more about the SSL errors can often be dismissed, but it pays to be vigilant
problems caused by Shellshock in the coming months. More nonetheless. Web surfers should expect to see greater use of
details and practical advice to counter the threat are at: https:// SSL in website URLs in the future, if only to help improve
www.cert.gov.uk/resources/alerts/update-bash-vulnerability- a site’s Google rankings.
aka-shellshock You can email the author at: [email protected]

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 45

Network - New layout.indd 45 15/10/2014 12:19:07

 By Robert Penfold

Raspberry Pi B+ A/D

R
ecent Interface
articles have been
based on the very
popular Raspberry Pi com-
puter, which was originally
available in two versions. Earlier this
year the existing A and B models were
augmented by a new model, which
is called the B+. Supply for the new
Raspberry Pi was initially outstripped
by demand, but availability is now
much better. Thankfully, the B+ is es-
sentially the same as the model B, and
it runs the same operating systems
and application software. There are
Fig.1. The B+ Rasp-
some changes on the hardware side
berry Pi has two ex-
of things, which are mainly improve-
tra USB ports and a
ments, and it is largely compatible
40-pin GPIO port, but the
with Model A and B hardware.
composite video output is no
longer featured. The new enlarged GPIO
On the B+ side
port has some 26 input/output lines
First and foremost the board layout has
been completely redesigned. Cases for
the original boards are not suitable for an MP3 player to act as a Micro SD The Raspberry Pi is open source,
use with a B+ board, but fortunately card reader. and you can download the appropri-
cases to suit the new layout are read- Some suppliers offer the Raspberry ate file and make your own NOOB
ily available. Fig.1 shows a Raspberry Pi with a boot card already installed. boot disc. Remember that a 4GB card
Pi B+ board, and one obvious change Rather than simply having the Ras- will not be sufficient, even if only
is that the composite video output has pian operating system preinstalled, the Raspian operating system is to
been omitted. I suppose that in this re- this is now usually in the form of be installed – the extra source files
spect it is more of a ‘B minus’ board, a NOOB (new out of the box) card. stored on the card means that an 8GB
but a composite video output is of lit- This contains the installation files card is required. This should be suf-
tle practical use these days. for various operating systems that ficient to accommodate Raspian and
On the plus side, there are now are compatible with the Raspberry at least one other operating system.
four USB ports as opposed to the two Pi, and on running the computer for Of course, a higher capacity card
of the Model B board. With a mouse the first time there is a menu where will provide more space for data
and a keyboard connected to two of the required system or systems are se- storage, and could be advantageous
these ports, there are still a couple lected. It is then just a matter of going when using some types of applica-
left for such things as a card reader through the installation and setting tion software.
and a Wi-Fi adapter. This means that up procedures. If more than one
most users will avoid the need for a operating system is installed, a dual Best until last
USB hub. In other respects, most of or multi-boot system is implemented, The most important change for those
the ports are the same as before, but and the required operating system is using the Raspberry Pi with their
there have been improvements that selected from a menu each time the own add-on devices is that the GPIO
give improved performance from the computer is started. port has been expanded, and uses
stereo audio output. a 40-way connector instead of a 26-
Another change to the hardware is way type. The new scheme of things
that the SD card slot of the Model A is shown in Fig.3, and the important
and B boards has been replaced with point to note here is that pins from
a Micro SD card slot (Fig.2). This is 1 to 26 have the same functions as
a ‘proper’ card slot and not the sim- before. It is possible to fit a 26-way
ple friction type used on the earlier connector onto these pins and use a
boards. One slight problem is that the Model B+ with hardware intended
multi-card readers fitted to many PCs, for the earlier versions. However, it is
and the external USB reader units that safer to use a 26-way cable that has a
can be obtained, do not usually have 40-way connector at one end and a
the ability to accept Micro SD cards. 26-way type at the other, as this avoids
This could make it more difficult to the possibility of connection errors.
produce your own boot card, but it is These can be obtained readymade,
possible to obtain inexpensive adapt- Fig.2. The simple SD card slot of the but should not be difficult to make
ers that enable Micro SD cards to be earlier models has been replaced with a yourself.
used with slots for standard SD cards. micro SD type. This is spring-loaded, an Some extra input/output lines are
I produced a suitable boot disc using improvement on the earlier friction slot provided by the additional pins of the

46 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Interface.indd 46 15/10/2014 12:17:58

 port there are no gaps in the number- lines of the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO port.
ing. This means that there are some Some of the control inputs are there-
26 input/output lines on the B+ GPIO fore largely irrelevant in the current
port. Even with parallel interfacing, context. The AD7822BNZ will operate
this gives tremendous scope for add- on a 3.3V supply, which means it can
ing your own devices to the port. interface with the GPIO port without
In order to use the new input/output the need for any level-shifting buff-
lines with Python programs it is nec- ers. There are separate digital and
essary to have the latest version of the analogue ground terminals at pins 7
GPIO add-on. Initially, I found that the and 15 respectively, but these are nor-
new pins were unusable, even with mally connected to a common 0V sup-
the latest version installed. The prob- ply rail. DB0 to DB7 are the data bus
lem seems to be that, as yet anyway, outputs, and in this application they
the add-on software does not sup- drive eight GPIO lines set to the input
port the new pin numbers, and using mode.
BOARD mode with numbers above 26 The /RD (Read) pin enables the tri-
produces an error message. However, state data bus outputs when it is taken
when using BCM mode the new GPIO low, and it would normally be con-
numbers do seem to work, so at the nected to the relevant line of the con-
moment it is strictly BCM mode if the trol bus. The same is true of the /CS
full port is to be used. (chip select) input, which deactivates
all the outputs of the device when it is
Raspberry Pi A/D taken high. In this case, these inputs
A digital-to-analogue (D/A) converter serve no useful function and are sim-
for the Raspberry Pi has been featured ply connected to the 0V supply so that
in this series in the past, and here the chip and all its outputs are perma-
we move on to an analogue-to-digital nently enabled.
(A/D) converter. I have tried 8-bit par- The /CONVST pin is the start con-
allel and 12-bit serial types, and we version input, and it is pulsed low to
will start with the former, which gave produce a conversion. The chip has an
more consistent results. The parallel automatic power-down feature, which
Fig.3. Details of the new enlarged B+ converter is based on an AD7822BNZ is really more of a hindrance than a
GPIO port. Pins 1 to 26 have the same chip, which has a 20-pin DIL encap- help in the current context. The chip
functions as their equivalents on the sulation and the pin-out configura- tends to go into the ‘sleep’ state before
original 26-way GPIO port, making it tion shown in Fig.3. It is a half-flash all its output lines can be read. This is
straightforward to use add-ons designed converter with a built-in sample and avoided by supplying a low pulse to
for use with the A and B models hold circuit, and its conversion time the /PD (power down) input at pin 9
is 420ns. An integral 2.5V reference before reading the data outputs. This
is provided, but an external reference sets the chip into the fully active mode
voltage can be used if preferred. until another conversion has been
This chip is primarily designed to completed.
interface to the buses of a micropro- There is an /EOC (end of conversion)
cessor, but here it will be used with output at pin 8, and this goes low when
the ordinary digital input and output a conversion has been completed. The

Fig.4. Pin functions for the AD7822BNZ

8-bit analogue-to-digital converter chip.
It is primarily designed to interface to
microprocessor buses, but it is easy to
use it with the Raspberry Pi’s GPIO port

expanded GPIO port. The ID_SC and

ID_SD pins are for use with I2C inter-
facing and an EPROM. They should
not be used for any other purpose,
and are of no use for general interfac-
ing. Some of the other new pins are
ground terminals, but the remaining
nine provide additional general-pur-
pose input/output lines. As before,
the GPIO numbering runs from GPIO Fig.5. Circuit diagram for the parallel interface 8-bit analogue-to-digital converter. The
2 to GPIO 27, but with the expanded internal 2.5V reference is used, and no connections are made to the V.MID and V.REF pins

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 47

Interface.indd 47 20/10/2014 13:57:01

 data lines should not be read until this status output
goes low, but the speed of a Raspberry Pi and a Python Listing 1
program is such that each conversion will be completed
well before any of the data lines are read. Consequently, import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
there is no need for a hold-off to be provided and the / GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
EOC output is left unused. GPIO.setwarnings(False)
A built-in in 2.5V reference has its output available
externally at pin 13, and there is also a VMID input GPIO.setup(8, GPIO.IN)
at pin 12. The latter enables an offset to be applied so GPIO.setup(10, GPIO.IN)
that the input voltage span can be adjusted. In most GPIO.setup(12, GPIO.IN)
applications this feature is not needed, and it will not GPIO.setup(16, GPIO.IN)
be considered further here. GPIO.setup(18, GPIO.IN)
GPIO.setup(22, GPIO.IN)
Software GPIO.setup(24, GPIO.IN)
The circuit diagram for the analogue-to-digital con- GPIO.setup(26, GPIO.IN)
verter is shown in Fig.5. The unused control inputs GPIO.setup(23, GPIO.OUT)
are connected to the 0V supply, and the other pins GPIO.setup(19, GPIO.OUT)
that are not required here are simply left unconnected. GPIO.output(23, GPIO.HIGH)
Pins 19 and 23 of the GPIO port are used as outputs GPIO.output(19, GPIO.HIGH)
to control the /PD and /CONVST inputs of IC1. The count = 0
data outputs of IC1 are connected to various inputs on
pins 8 to 26 of the GPIO port. The internal reference while (count < 200):
voltage is used, giving the converter an input range of GPIO.output(23, GPIO.LOW)
0 to 2.5V (±2%), which equates to a resolution of just GPIO.output(23, GPIO.HIGH)
under 10mV. Of course, in a real-world application GPIO.output(19, GPIO.LOW)
an attenuator or amplifier will be needed ahead of the GPIO.output(19, GPIO.HIGH)
converter to produce the required input voltage span. byte = 0
The software routine of Listing 1 can be used to read if GPIO.input(8):
the converter. The first two sections of the program byte = byte + 1
set up the GPIO port and set the two output lines to if GPIO.input(10):
the correct initial state (high). A while… loop is then byte = byte + 2
used to read the converter 200 times. This number can if GPIO.input(12):
be altered by changing the value in the first line of byte = byte + 4
the loop, or the program can be made to loop indefi- if GPIO.input(16):
nitely by removing the last line of the loop so that the byte = byte + 8
variable called ‘count’ is not incremented. Four out- if GPIO.input(18):
put instructions are used to generate the pulses that byte = byte + 16
start each conversion and ‘wake’ the converter from if GPIO.input(22):
its powered-down mode. The 8-bits of data are then byte = byte + 32
read one-by-one, and assembled to produce the full if GPIO.input(24):
byte of data in the variable called ‘byte’. This value is byte = byte + 64
printed on the screen at the end of each loop. if GPIO.input(26):
Noise is not too much of a problem with an 8-bit byte = byte + 128
converter, and the breadboarded prototype produced print (byte)
stable readings. It is only suitable for applications count = count + 1
where low sampling rates are required, due to the
relatively slow operating speed of the Raspberry Pi GPIO.cleanup()
and the Python programming language. The convert- print ("Finished")
er chip is capable of about two million conversions
per second!

48 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Interface.indd 48 20/10/2014 13:57:16

 MIXED SIGNAL
OSCILLOSCOPES
4 ANALOG +
16 DIGITAL CHANNELS
RAPIDLY DEBUG COMPLEX
MIXED SIGNAL DESIGNS

CRICKLEWOOD
ELECTRONICS Established 1981

Frustrated with your supplier?

suppier?
Visit our component packed
website for a vast range of
parts - old and new,
many unavailable elsewhere!
www.cricklewoodelectronics.com
1000’s OF PRICES REDUCED!
1000
• USB 3.0
Alternatively phone us on
020 8452 0161 with your
requirements.
• ULTRA DEEP MEMORY
• SEGMENTED MEMORY
• RAPID TRIGGERS
INCLUDES AUTOMATIC MEASUREMENTS,
SPECTRUM ANALYZER, SDK, ADVANCED TRIGGERS, COLOR
PERSISTENCE, SERIAL DECODING (CAN, LIN, RS232, I²C, I²S,
FLEXRAY, SPI), MASKS, MATH CHANNELS, ALL AS STANDARD,
WITH FREE UPDATES. 5 YEAR WARRANTY
3204D MSO 3205D MSO 3206D MSO 3404D MSO 3405D MSO 3406D MSO
Channels 2 analog, 16 digital 4 analog, 16 digital
Bandwidth 60 MHz 100 MHz 200 MHz 60 MHz 100 MHz 200 MHz
Buffer memory 128 MS 256 MS 512 MS 128 MS 256 MS 512 MS
Max. sampling rate 1 GS/s
Signal generator Function generator + Arbitrary waveform generator
Visit our Shop, Call or Buy online at:
Digital inputs 100 MHz max. frequency, 500 MS/s max. sampling rate
www.cricklewoodelectronics.com
020 8452 0161 www.picotech.com/PS355
Visit our shop at:
40-42 Cricklewood Broadway
London NW2 3ET

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 49

Page 49.indd 65 15/10/2014 12:33:30

 RPIADCISOL
from Zeal Electronics
M ike Tooley, EPE’s resident Raspberry Pi expert, takes a look at the first commercially available
optically isolated 24-bit ADC board for the Pi. Designed specifically for use in ‘harsh’ and noisy
industrial environments, this board offers a wealth of features and also provides optically isolated access
to the Pi’s GPIO port lines.
The RPIADCISOL is one of several The simplified block schematic of the These digital I/O lines are directly
high-performance optically isolated RPIADCISOL is shown in Fig.2. The accessible through the Raspberry Pi/s
interface boards for the Raspberry Pi ADC is a Microchip MCP3913, which standard GPIO interface and so they don’t
from Zeal Electronics Ltd. The optical can sample at up to 125k samples per need to use the slightly more complex SPI
isolation eliminates problems that would second with up to 24-bit resolution. In commands. This makes the digital I/O
normally be associated with measuring conjunction with the six-channel ADC, lines very easy to use, but with the added
analogue voltages at different potentials the board provides four galvanically advantage of optical isolation that’s not
above or below the ground potential of isolated differential 24-bit ADC inputs present on a ‘barefoot’ Raspberry Pi board.
the Raspberry Pi. This is important in and two differential 24-bit non-isolated This bonus feature is a distinct advantage
a number of applications, for example ADC inputs (±600mV range). The because it could save you having to
monitoring mains supplies, motor isolated ADC channels have a range purchase a separate digital I/O board!
currents, bus bars, and general-purpose of ±150mV range, while their non- Depending on how the GPIO ports have
use when sensors and transducers need isolated counterparts provide a range been configured, the digital interface has
to operate or float above ground potential. of ±600mV. been designed to enable the GPIO lines to
The RPIADCISOL interface is suitable A very useful feature is that, by using be set for use as either inputs or outputs,
for connecting to all current versions four quad ISQ203 optical isolators, the thus providing maximum flexibility. As an
of the Raspberry Pi, including models RPIADCISOL provides an additional example, three GPIO port lines could be
A, B and B+, as well as the new single- eight optically isolated digital inputs and configured as inputs, while the remaining
card industrial Raspberry Pi Compute eight optically isolated digital outputs. five GPIO ports lines could be configured
Module. The Compute Module contains As with the optically isolated analogue as outputs. The input and output optical
the Raspberry Pi’s BCM2835 processor, channels, these digital I/O lines provide isolators used for the eight digital inputs
together with 512MB of RAM and 4GB total isolation from ground potential. In and eight digital outputs have a reasonably
of Flash memory (equivalent to the addition, the eight digital outputs are also fast turn-on time of 3µs and a turn-off time
Pi’s SD card). The RPIADCISOL is also available in non-isolated open-collector of 2µs. This makes them ideal for signals
eminently suitable for connecting to form. This makes them ideal for driving that are rapidly changing.
any microcomputer system that has an loads, such as relays and motors that
SPI interface, such as Microchip PICs require currents of up to 1A from a +5V Optical isolation
and Atmel. supply.
RPIADCISOL offers several features that
make it ideal for a wide range of control,
monitoring and sensing applications.
Most notable among these is the use
of optical isolators, which provides a
very effective means of preventing high
voltages from circuits being switched or
monitored causing damage to a host
computer such as the Raspberry Pi.

A typical situation in which optical

isolation could be vital is control of high-
voltage switching devices and sensing
currents on supply bus bars. Without
optical isolation, the host computer could
easily be destroyed. Optical isolation
also reduces the likelihood of impulse
voltages and spikes getting back into the
host computer and safeguards against
the effect of ground loops, which can
introduce noise and offset voltages
onto the relatively small signal levels
associated with many types of sensor.
Isolation is thus an essential requirement
whenever sensitive electronic equipment
like the Raspberry Pi is used in electrically
harsh environments such as those found
in industry.
Fig.1. General view of the RPIADCISOL 24-bit optically isolated ADC board

50 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

PiBrdRev1.indd 50 15/10/2014 12:16:48

 Layout and circuit features
Board specification The general board layout of the RPIADCISOL is
shown in Fig.3. The layout is both logical and
Analogue inputs convenient – all the off-board connectors used for
Two directly coupled differential 24-bit ADC inputs, ±600mV max. (Inputs 1 and 2) input and output are located along the two opposite
Four optically isolated differential 24-bit ADC inputs, ±150mV max. (Inputs edges of the board. The two 26-way GPIO bus
3, 4, 5 and 6) connectors along the third side of the board provide
Four AMC1200 isolated op-amps are used to provide isolation for Inputs 3, a means of daisy-chaining the GPIO signals to/from
4, 5 and 6 with a bandwidth of up to 60kHz. Voltage isolation (input ground the Raspberry Pi. The remaining side of the board
to board ground) 1kV max. provides access via a single in-line connector to
Sensor supplies the open-collector digital outputs (see Fig.4). The
Inputs 1 and 2 have +3.3V (non-isolated) at 50mA available to power external external power supply links and external power
sensors. connector are located at the top right of the board.
Inputs 3 to 6 have +5V (isolated) at 50mA available to power external sensors. Note that if using an external +5V power supply it
Digital inputs must be rated at a minimum of 200mA.
Eight optically isolated digital inputs (3V to 8V max.) Various configuration options can be set by means
Digital outputs of a link header near the centre of the board.
Eight optically isolated digital outputs (for switching 50V at 20mA max.) Depending upon the application, the configuration
and eight direct (non-isolated) outputs via NMOS transistors (for switching links should be set before use. These include the
5V at up to 1A) four chip enable (CE) lines (note that the board is
supplied with the default CE2 link in place). In
Interface addition to the chip enable links, there are also
Standard Raspberry Pi GPIO for digital I/O and high-speed SPI interface interrupt function links (INTA and INTB for IO7
with Mode 0,0 and 1,1 compatibility and IO8 respectively) and reset (RST).
Dimensions When using other computers or microprocessors,
142.5 × 110mm (with approx 20mm clearance above the board) eg Microchip PIC devices, their SPI interfaces can
Mounting be connected to the Aux SPI Connector, which is
Four 3mm mounting holes at 134.5 × 102mm located between the configuration link header and
the GPIO connectors. This connector must not be
Connectors used when the RPIADCISOL is already connected
All inputs and outputs are via 3.5mm industrial plug-in screw terminal connectors. to a Raspberry Pi with the 26-way GPIO cable,
The Raspberry Pi is connected via a standard 26-way GPIO ribbon connector otherwise the GPIO ports could be damaged.
Power supply The Aux SPI connector provides access to the
+5V at 200mA (directly from the Raspberry Pi +5V bus or from external +5V SPI lines, including MISO, MOSI, SLCK and CE.
supply). Connections are also available for the +5V and
+3.3V supply rails.

Fig.2. Simplified block schematic of the RPIADCISOL

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 51

PiBrdRev1.indd 51 20/10/2014 13:53:29

 The manual assumes that the
reader has some familiarity with
the C-programming language
and, while C is a somewhat
more obscure and prescriptive
programming language than
either BASIC or Python, a
simple web search will provide
a beginner with access to a
vast repository of information,
tutorials and example code.
The board is most conveniently
programmed using the Raspberry
Pi’s own built-in C compiler,
GCC. Leafpad (or an equivalent
text editor) will be required to
write and edit your C source
code, but all of the other files
needed to compile an executable
program are supplied with the
RPIADCISOL. They include
header files for the chips used
on the board (BCM2835 and
MCP3913) together with a sample
C program and an associated
make file. The code supplied
can be freely used in any non-
commercial applications, within
education, and for home use as
per the standard GNU v2 open
source license. The source code
files are efficient and commented
in such a way as to make them
easy to use and understand.
Newcomers to C-programming
should have little difficulty in
getting to grips with them.

On test
Being a coward (and not wanting
to subject my Raspberry Pi B+
Fig.3. RPIADCISOL board layout to ‘death by high-voltage’!)
it was with some trepidation
GPIO protection that I set about connecting the
The RPIADCISOL has digital outputs that are current limited by RPIADCISOL to my high voltage DC power supply. To conduct
means of a fixed series resistance of 2.2kΩ. This helps to avoid the tests I used some simple code to read the output of a sensor
the situation that might occur when an input optical isolator connected to the differential input of one of the isolated ADC
has been initially turned ‘on’ or ‘off’ and then the same line is channels with the high-voltage supply connected between sensor
inadvertently set to ‘on’ as an output. The series resistance has ground and board ground (ie, the 0V rail of my Raspberry Pi).
the effect of limiting the current from an individual GPIO line Throughout the tests, I kept my code running on the Pi with
to around 1.5mA. Note also that if your application simply the sensor providing a continuous analogue input signal to the
needs optical isolation between inputs and outputs without ADC channel and the value returned from it displayed on the
the need for any programmed control, it is possible to set the monitor screen courtesy of a simple loop coded in C. The value
appropriate GPIO lines as inputs and then not bother to read displayed remained rock solid while I first applied 50V DC, then
them. The logical state of the optically isolated inputs can then slowly increased this to 350V DC and finally to 400V DC. Next,
be passed directly to the respective outputs. This provides further I tested the board with 30V, 50V and 110V AC, before finally
flexibility and might be useful where, for example, optically applying 400V DC in series with 110V AC, giving a peak voltage
isolated switching is required without the need for Raspberry on the sensor ground of a little under 550V above the true ground
Pi programmed control. potential of the Raspberry Pi. Amazingly, I noticed absolutely
no change in the displayed reading while all this was going on.
Connectors To say I was relieved (and impressed) is an under-statement!
Having tried and tested many interface boards for the Raspberry The digital inputs and outputs were also tested. These behaved
Pi, one factor that makes some boards stand out compared to predictably when used with some simple C code and I was
others is the relative ease of making off-board connections. The able to read digital data and then write it to the outputs with
RPIADCISOL does this rather well, as it uses standard industrial no difficulty whatsoever. During these tests I found the eight
3.5mm PCB-mounted headers with connectors that are fitted on-board LEDs to be particularly useful for telling me what
with screw terminals. This makes prototyping blissfully easy was going on.
because connectors can be quickly and easily removed from
the board and there’s no need for any soldered connections. Other products from Zeal Electronics
In addition to the RPIADCISOL, Zeal Electronics also supplies
Documentation and example code two other high-specification optically isolated interface cards
The RPIADCISOL is supplied with a detailed 86-page manual designed specifically for the Raspberry Pi. These boards can be
that provides full information on installing, connecting, using ‘daisy chained’ onto the Pi’s GPIO bus and can be connected
and programming the range of boards designed and developed to the 26-way GPIO expansion connector on the RPIADCISOL
by Stephen Alsop and available from Zeal Electronics. to provide an extended digital I/O capability with 16 channels

52 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

PiBrdRev1.indd 52 15/10/2014 12:17:04

 1kV* from
tion unde
isola £30.0 r
d
teste 0

OPTO & ISOLATED SPI

INTERFACE BOARDS

RPI16IN
RPI16OUT
Fig.4. The board has eight additional open-collector digital outputs

RPIADCISOL
up to a maximum of 128 inputs and 128 suppliers (without the PCB, eight-
outputs from eight daisy-chained boards channel ADC, four isolation power
of each type. We will be taking a detailed supply units and additional optically connect the Raspberry Pi and any
look at these products in a future issue isolated digital I/O) and the bill would
of EPE. come to a whopping £246 – without VAT! SPI microcontroller safely to the
real world!
Pricing Conclusion • *1kV isolation certified by UK ISO9001
Priced at a little over £100 (with 10% If you are working in an environment Accredited Company, but only 24V max
discount for EPE readers) you might at where a very high degree of isolation is isolation is specified for safety.
first think that the RPIADCISOL is a little critical then have no fear – this board • 3.5mm standardised industrial plug-in
on the expensive side. However, this will deliver. The RPIADCISOL offers terminal connectors.
board offers features that others don’t an excellent specification and is well • SPI high speed interface connects to the
and the very high degree of isolation supported with liberally commented Raspberry Pi and any SPI microcontroller,
of four of the six ADC inputs doesn’t source code. Under test, the board eg PICs, Atmel, Arduino, etc.
come cheap. Couple this with the eight performed exceptionally well and • 26W IDC to directly connect to the GPIO
additional optically isolated digital readers with only limited C programming port on the Raspberry Pi (all versions: V1
inputs and outputs and you realise this experience should be able to get the or V2, type A, B, B+ and new single card
board represents good value. If you don’t board up and running quickly and version). Auxiliary SPI 0.1" header to
believe me, take a look at the cost of the easily. The interface represents good connect to other microcontrollers.
high specification isolation amplifiers value and is ideal for use in a wide • Daisy-chain to connect multiple boards.
that the board uses. Go and purchase range of applications where sensors • Powered by the Raspberry Pi bus, subject
four isolated AD215AY devices from and transducers are not at true ground to connected devices, or by an external
one of the most popular UK component potential. regulated 5V supply.
• Driver & example software written in C.
• RPI16IN: 16 channel 5V AC/DC opto
isolated inputs with LED channel
indicators, 8 boards allow 128 inputs.
• RPI16OUT: 16 channel 100V at 60mA
opto isolated outputs with LED channel
indicators, 8 boards allow 128 outputs.
• RPIADCISOL: 4 x isolated plus 2 direct
24-bit differential i/p ADC channels, uses
MCP3913 ADC with PGA to give a FSD
input range from ±0.01875 to ±0.600V.
Additional 8 x opto inputs and outputs
connected to GPIO for other applications.

see our website for prices

www.zeal-electronics.co.uk/rpi

DISTRIBUTORS
Zeal Electronics Ltd MADE IN THE UK

www.zeal-electronics.co.uk/rpi
ORDERS (10% 3 month discount
offer for readers - quote 'EPE1214')
e: [email protected]
t: +44 (0) 1246 252 445
© 2014 Dr Stephen Alsop - S&S Systems, England
Fig.5. Configuration links

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 53

PiBrdRev1.indd 53 15/10/2014 12:17:17

 Circuit Surgery
Regular Clinic by Ian Bell
Power MOSFET failures

E PE Chat Zone user miketuk

posted the following question
concerning problems with failing
GATE OXIDE
(INSULATOR)
across the device, and power dissipation
are minimised. We can consider the
device to be either in the off state, where
SOURCE (s) GATE (g) DRAIN (d)
Power MOSFETS. little or no power is dissipated, or the on
state, where power dissipation depends
I have built the Solid State Valve on RDS(ON) and the drain-source current.
PSU from the Dec’ 2005 EPE. It uses N N Low RDS(ON) is therefore important in
a 74HC04 to drive two IRF530 FETs minimising power dissipation and
in a push-pull manner to generate a CURRENT FLOW
CHANNEL
is particularly important for devices
square wave, which is then stepped handling large currents.
P
up with a 12-0-12/240V transformer. BULK Making a MOSFET with the physical
SUBSTRATE OR BULK SEMICONDUCTOR
The output is rectified and smoothed layout of the device shown in Fig.1 is
to give ~ 200V DC for the HT voltage. not easy for high-power devices – it
However, the IRF530 FETs keep going is difficult to make the cross-sectional
Fig.1. Cross section of N-channel MOS-
up in smoke (not literally). They are area of the conducting region large
FET
protected with a 33V Zener across the enough. If this area is too small then
drain-source, so I can’t understand switches because this allows high power RDS(ON) will be too high, resulting in
what is happening to them. I am levels to be controlled without incurring excessive power dissipation when
running from a current-limited excessive dissipation in the device. conducting large currents. The basic
desktop PSU to give the input voltage With a small, zero, or negative gate solution is to use vertical current flow.
of 12V. Current is below 100mA. I voltage (with respect to source/bulk) the The devices can have either flat (planar)
would point out at this point there is N-channel MOSFET will not conduct gates, as shown in Fig.2, or use groove
no load across the HT line. Any advice from source to drain in either direction. or trench structures, as shown in Fig.3.
before I go out and buy another batch? This is because the PN-diode junctions Terms such as ‘trench’ and ‘deep gate’
between source and bulk, and between occur in MOSFET product names to
Other Chat Zone users posted plenty drain and bulk will be surrounded by reflect the shape of these structures.
of suggestions and discussion, as they a non-conductive depletion region
often do, and miketuk tentatively (like a reverse-biased diode). This non- SOURCE (s) GATE (g) SOURCE (s)
reported a working circuit a week or conducting mode of operation is called
so later. Power MOSFETs are devices the cut-off region. Similarly, a P-channel
that, perhaps more than many other MOSFET will be cut-off with small,
N N
components, tend to fail during zero, or positive gate voltage. P P
prototyping, often without immediately Applying a positive voltage to the
CHANNEL
obvious and straightforward causes gate of an N-channel MOSFET (with
(such as errors in wiring). The fact that respect to source/bulk) will attract DRAIN-SOURCE N
CURRENT
they may be handling large currents electrons to a region directly under the
and voltages means that the failures gate. If the density of these electrons is
can be spectacular (you may even sufficient they will outnumber the holes
get smoke, unlike miketuk). In this from the P-type bulk semiconductor, DRAIN (d)
month’s Circuit Surgery we will take transforming it into N-type. At this point
a general look at the causes of power we have an N-type channel from source Fig.2. Simplified planar-style power
MOSFET failure and some approaches to drain (see Fig.1) which bypasses MOSFET structure, showing vertical
to preventing these problems. the PN-junction depletion regions and current flow
allows conduction between source and
MOSFET overview drain. The gate voltage at which the
We looked at the basics of MOSFETs conducting channel forms is called SOURCE (s) GATE (g) SOURCE (s)

a few months ago. As a reminder, the the threshold voltage, VT. Similarly, a
cross section of a generic N-channel P-channel MOSFET will conduct with
MOSFET is shown in Fig.1 (not a power negative gate voltage (with respect to N N
device). Strictly speaking, the device source/bulk) which is greater than its
has four terminals: gate, source, drain threshold. P P

and bulk. The bulk and source are often

connected together within the device Power MOSFET architecture DRAIN-SOURCE
CHANNEL

structure, resulting in the familiar three- When a MOSFET is used in a switching CURRENT N

terminal discrete component with just application it is switched between fully

gate, source and drain connections. on and fully off, by switching the gate-
The simplest view of MOSFET source voltage between 0V and some DRAIN (d)

operation is as a switch, with the gate voltage well above the threshold. Use of
voltage controlling conduction from voltages well above threshold ensures Fig.3. Simplified trench-style power
source to drain (on or off). Power saturated operation, in which the ON- MOSFET structure, showing vertical
devices are most commonly operated as resistance (RDS(ON)), the voltage drop current flow

54 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

CS2DEC14
46mm x 1 COL

Circuit Surgery DEC 2014.indd 54 16/10/2014 10:21:02

 Supply
It also follows from this that the
drive circuit must be able to supply
RLoad enough transient current to charge the
gate capacitance at the required rate.
Rsource M1
In some cases, this current may be
quite substantial, particularly for large
Drive
very high power devices, or where
+
paralleled MOSFETs are being used.
–
The effective capacitive of the
Ground MOSFET gate and hence the drive
current required is increased by the
Miller effect. This occurs when a
LINE INDICATES CROSS-SECTION SHOWN IN FIG.3
Fig.5. MOSFET switching a load capacitor is connected to produce
negative feedback in an amplifier – the
issue with some loads is that very high gate-drain capacitance in this case. The
Fig.4. Top view of MOSFET design using currents flow briefly when they are first capacitance is multiplied by a factor
hexagonal repeated cells to form paral- switched on (known as inrush current), related to the amplifier gain to give
lel transistors. The grey areas form the this must not exceed the device’s drain increased effective capacitance. The
source and black areas are the gates current limit. dynamic capacitance of power MOSFET
The continuous power dissipation gates during switching is complex and
Discrete MOSFETs can be connected when the device is on is given by: can be difficult to analyse. The net effect
in parallel to provide higher current is that driving the power MOSFET gates
handling capability (effectively PC = IDVDS = ID2 RDS(ON) is probably harder than it first looks –
reducing RDS(ON)). Paralleling MOSFETs hence the need for good driver circuits.
is exploited by device manufactures This must be within the device’s
to enhance device performance. Many capabilities, taking into account any Inductive loads
transistors are created in parallel in heatsinking used. Insufficient gate A well-known potential cause of
silicon to give high current capability. A voltage can result in damage to the power transistor failure is excessive
variety of shapes can be used for these MOSFET. If the MOSFET is not fully drain-source voltage that can occur
repeated structures, including strips, turned on then the resulting relatively when switching inductive loads, such
squares, triangles, or, as illustrated in high RDS(ON) will cause high power as relays, solenoids and motors. A
Fig.4, hexagons (HEXFET is a name dissipation. basic scenario is illustrated in Fig.6.
used by International Rectifier,). Some The continuous voltage, current and When current in an inductive load is
power devices have many thousands of power ratings are not the complete switched off, the magnetic field, which
parallel transistor cells. story, because often MOSFETs will had been established by the supplied
be being switched on and off (at high current, collapses, inducing a voltage
Static discharge speed in many application). During known as the ‘back EMF’ or ‘inductive
Before looking at circuit-related causes the switching process, transient effects kick’. This may result in voltages
of failure, it is worth mentioning that occur that may cause the device’s large enough to damage or destroy the
MOSFETs are liable to damage by static ratings to be exceeded, even if the basic MOSFET. The more rapid the change
electrical discharge. This often happens conditions just described seem to be in current as the inductor is switched
when someone whose body has well within its capabilities – consider off, and the larger the inductor value,
acquired a charge handles the device. the capacitance at the device’s gate. the greater the back EMF generated.
Component damage can be avoided by
correct handling (storing the device Gate capacitance Protection diode techniques
in anti-static packaging and avoiding Fig.1 to 3 show that the gate, gate The usual method of preventing the
touching the leads). Grounded wrist oxide and channel form a conductor- back EMF from causing problems is
straps and grounded conductive bench insulator-conductor structure – in to place a protection diode across the
mats should be used if static electricity other words, a capacitor. This means inductor, as shown in Fig.7 (D1). This
is a particular problem. that no current flows into the gate if diode is reverse biased when the power
its voltage remains constant so the gate switching device is on, but is forward
Device maxima is sometimes simply assumed to be an biased by the back EMF; so the diode
Power MOSFETs, like all components, open circuit. However, for high-power dissipates the power or feeds it back
have absolute maximum rating for devices the gate capacitance may be to the power supply. Obviously the
voltages, currents and power dissipation. large and this can have a significant protection diode must have sufficient
It is relatively straightforward to make impact on circuit performance and
sure these are not exceeded in terms of may well play a role in device failure.
basic circuit parameters. For example, In order for power MOSFETs Supply

in Fig.5 the supply must not exceed the to switch quickly and efficiently,
maximum drain-source voltage (VDS) sufficient current must be available to L
and the current given by the supply quickly charge or discharge the gate
voltage divided by the load resistance capacitance of the device. The gate
must not exceed the maximum capacitance and the driver circuit’s
continuous current rating. Similarly, the source resistance and the resistance RLoad
output voltage of the drive circuit must of the wiring (inside and outside
not exceed the maximum gate-source the device) result in the gate voltage
voltage. Even very short over-voltage following an RC charging curve. The
Rsource M1
pulses can destroy MOSFETs, so it is significance of this is that the MOSFET
best not to operate them on supplies/ will spend some time between being Drive

driving too close to their limits if fully on and fully off. During this time +

possible. the device may dissipate a lot of power, –

The characteristics of loads need to be a problem referred to as ‘switching Ground

understood. Some loads, such as motors, losses’. This must be taken into
will not present a constant load, so the consideration when working out the
worst-case current demand must be total power dissipation. Excessively
within the MOSFET’s capabilities. An slow switching may cause damage. Fig.6. MOSFET switching an inductive load
Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 55

Circuit Surgery DEC 2014.indd 55 16/10/2014 10:21:23

 drain of the MOSFET. If this voltage is
Supply
large enough it will cause breakdown to Wiring
Supply
occur in the transistor and high current
L1 will flow, possibly damaging the device.
The third waveform in Fig.8 shows L1
the same circuit, supply and input
D1
drive conditions, but with a protection
RLoad1 diode in place, as shown in Fig.7. D1

When the back EMF is generated, a RLoad

small overvoltage of around 1V occurs
Rsource M2 at the drain – the turn on voltage of the
diode. The final waveform shows the
Drive
+
diode current, which indicates when
–
it is conducting to suppress the back Wiring

EMF spike.
Ground

Cable inductance Rsource M1

D2
A diode may provide effective Drive
protection against back EMF from +

Fig.7. Protection diode inductive loads such as relays; –

however, in some situations the wiring Ground

switching speed, and power handling can have significant inductance,
capacity, to cope with the energy from particularly if long wires are run to
the back EMF. the load or power supply. The wiring
Fig.8 shows some simulated inductance will also produce back Fig.9. The protection diode (D1) does not
waveforms from circuits like those in EMF, for which the diode across the cover wiring inductance. A zener clamp
Fig.6 and Fig.7. The specific components load will not provide any protection. (D2) can help protect the MOSFET from
and values here are not important – The ideal solution is to reduce the back emf from wiring inductance
they will vary significantly in different inductance of the wiring by keeping
applications anyway – it is the general it a short as possible and minimising circuit shown in Fig.10 and H-bridge
shape of the waveforms which is of any loops around which currents are circuits. In these applications further
interest. The first waveform is the drive flowing. If it is not possible to reduce potential failure processes arise. For
signal, which is switching the device the wiring inductance sufficiently, the circuit in Fig.10, and similar
from on to off in the waveform shown. one protection approach is to use a arrangements, it is essential that both
In the second waveform, we see the clamping Zener across the MOSFET’s transistors are never on at the same
back EMF, the voltage spike produced drain and source, as shown in Fig.9. time. If this does occur, then there is
by the inductor when it is switched off
CS9Dec14 A snubber circuit (and resistor and effectively a short circuit across the
by the MOSFET.
80mm x 1 COL In this case it is around capacitor in series across the MOSFET) supply and very large currents can flow
20V (four times the supply voltage), can also be used, but it is less efficient – a condition known as shoot-through.
but can easily be much larger in real (in terms of power consumption) and This can destroy the MOSFETs. Shoot-
applications. The simulation was set up may slow down the load switching. through is avoided by design – make
to keep the spike reasonably small so sure that the drive control circuit inserts
that the final drain voltage could easily Multiple MOSFET circuits a delay (dead time) between switching
been seen on the graph. The back EMF MOSFETS are often used in one transistor off and the other on.
appears as a positive voltage spike at the combinations such as the push-pull In multiple MOSFET switching
circuits such as Fig.10, the drain of a
switched-off transistor can experience
very large and fast voltage changes as
other transistors switch. This can cause
problems because of the drain-to-gate
capacitance inherent in all MOSFETs
(see Fig.11). The current through a
capacitor is proportional to the rate of
change of voltage across it, so a fast
change in drain voltage in the circuit
in Fig.11 will cause a current to flow
in Cgd1 of M1. This current can then
flow through the MOSFET’s internal
gate connection resistance, the wiring
resistance and driver source resistance
producing a voltage drop. The result is
a voltage spike on the gate of M1.

Supply

M2

To load
Driver
M1

Ground

Fig.8. Illustrative waveforms for the circuits in Fig.6 and Fig.7 Fig.10. MOSFET push-pull circuit

56 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Circuit Surgery DEC 2014.indd 56 16/10/2014 10:21:25

 TO OTHER PARTS OF
SWITCHING CIRCUIT

SPIKES
AT GATE To load
FAST-CHANGING
VOLTAGE AT DRAIN

Rsource Cgd
M1

Drive
+ Cgs

– dV
dt
Ground

Fig.11. MOSFET capacitances which may contribute to drain

dV/dt-induced damage
The spike on the gate may be positive The dV/dt spikes on the gate will
or negative going depending on the be worse for higher driver source
direction of change of the voltage at impedance, specifically the effective
the drain, and may cause damage via impedance when the driver is holding
a couple of mechanisms. If the voltage the MOSFET in the off condition. This
spike is large enough it may simply may be poor even in a driver having the
exceed the maximum gate voltage and ability to provide very high currents
damage the MOSFET’s gate oxide. A less when the transistor is switched. Thus
excessive spike in the relevant direction the driver plays a key role in avoiding
(positive in the circuit in Fig.11) may dV/dt-induced damage.
turn the device on when it should be off,
resulting in a shoot-though condition, Zener protection
and again possible damage. It is possible to protect the gate by
This type of issue is referred to using adding a suitable Zener diode between
terms such as dV/dt stress and dV/dt- source and drain, as shown in Fig.12.
induced turn on. ‘dV/dt’ is a differential, The Zener will clamp positive-going
or ‘rate of change’ expression, in voltages below the maximum allowable
calculus. A full analysis of this gate voltage, but will not prevent
phenomenon in MOSFET circuits is unwanted turn-on. The Zener will
more complex than described here and also clamp negative-going spikes on
depends on various device and circuit the gate because it will enter forward
parameters (eg, Cgs not just Cgd). Some conduction. The Zener is not as good a
MOSFETs are specifically designed to solution as using a better driver and/or
improve their dV/dt immunity and can MOSFET, and it may cause instability
help designers deal with this issue. in some situations.
The discussion on the Chat Zone
about miketuk’s damaged FETs
TO OTHER PARTS OF
SWITCHING CIRCUIT indicated that dV/dt-induced gate
To load damage may have been the cause and a
Zener clamp at the gate may have solved
it, but we cannot be completely certain
about this. This article has covered
Rsource Cgd
M1

Drive
some of the mechanisms whereby
+
D1
Cgs
power MOSFETs are damaged during
– operation, but it has not addressed all
Ground the potential issues. Further details can
be found in technical articles published
by device manufacturers such as Texas
Instruments, NXP, Analogue Devices
Fig.12. Zener clamp to protect MOSFET and International Rectifier and various
gate from dV/dt induced damage other sources.

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 57

Circuit Surgery DEC 2014.indd 57 16/10/2014 10:21:38

 MAKE
YOUR
OWN
PCBs
Part 4
Mike Hibbett looks at how to produce your own printed
circuit boards (PCBs). In Part 4 he looks at outsourcing
the manufacture of a complex design.

I n this final article in the series we look at designing a

more complicated board than last month, one which we
must send out to a PCB manufacturer rather than etch our-
place. And of course, as I dismantled the box to view
the underside, bits started falling off and breaking. Oh,
if only I had drawn it in EagleCAD first! You can see the
selves. Just like last month, we are going to create a panel schematic I (eventually) created in Fig.2.
of boards, but the ‘panellisation’ will be the manufacturer’s Notice how few connecting wires there are in the draw-
problem, not ours. We only need to create a single board ing; we make use of a useful CAD trick – when you label
design. The board is much more complicated than last a wire, it will be electrically connected to any other wire
month; it has copper tracks on both sides – a double-sided with the same name. This keeps the schematic tidy and
design – and uses surface-mount components. It has an easy to create. On designs with multi-page schematics the
interesting mix of technologies too, a combination of sur- tools provide a search facility so you can find all references
face-mount ICs, through-hole connectors, surface-mount to a given wire label.
connectors and even an old-fashioned potentiometer. We As is the norm when transferring a design to CAD,
will end up with a few wires, but nowhere near as many my first thought is for unusual components – the sur-
as on the prototype shown in Fig.1. face-mount processor, headphone, power and MicroSD
Since no schematic existed for the prototype – as you card socket. Do they already exist in the standard library?
might guess from Fig.1, it was cobbled together section Since I hadn’t purchased the parts yet, I wasn’t constrained
by section – the EagleCAD schematic has to be drawn by to any particular part. So if I could find a symbol for a part
disassembling the prototype and tracing the wires. This I could purchase, I would save myself some creativity.
was a job almost as hard as putting it together in the first The card socket didn’t exist, so I went online to look
for one created by someone in the community – no point
creating one if someone else has already done it. There
was one, but it was a devil to find. It required a bit of im-
agination; searching the internet for ‘EagleCAD microSD’,
then looking to see if the part I found was available for
sale from Farnell or a similar supplier. I Eventually found
a library called con-3m-new.lbr, released in the public
domain, containing a symbol for the 3M part 2908-05WB-
MG. Farnell do not stock this part, but a search for the
number on their site brought up a series of parts from
Molex. Odd, seeing as the part numbers were not even
similar. Looking at the datasheet for one of the 3M parts,
it turns out the Molex 500873-0806 part, Farnell code
1572016, shares an identical footprint. Perfect.

Adding a new part

I downloaded the file to the Eagle CAD library files di-
Fig.1. The prototype drum kit rectory at C:\EAGLE-7.0.0\lbr (on my system) and then

58 Everyday
Everyday
Practical
Practical
Electronics,
Electronics,
December
August 2014

CADsoft article Part 4 (MP 1st).indd 58 15/10/2014 12:15:45

 in the schematic window’s command
line typed:

use *

add

This brought up the normal library

navigation dialog, from which I was
able to select the socket from the con-
3m-new directory and drop it onto the
schematic page.
Finding the processor was easier, as
it is supplied by Farnell and available
for download from the processor’s
page on their site. Installation of the
EagleCAD symbol is a little unusual;
they supply an EagleCAD ‘script’ file
and a readme.txt file. The readme
provides a series of a half-dozen or so
steps that need to be followed to create
the library for the part. Why they didn’t
just provide a .lbr file is a surprise. If
they thought this would make their
library ‘future proof’ they have shot
Fig.2. The schematic

themselves in the foot – CADSoft have

always supported earlier libraries.
Farnell’s instructions, however, were
for an earlier version of EagleCAD and
were simply wrong. A bit of detective
work on my part (OK, guess work)
got me a library, eventually. I do hope
Farnell will update these installation
instructions.
The Spansion Flash 32MB Flash
memory IC was a bit special; it has
the normal 8-pin SOIC pinout for a
25xx EEPROM device, but in a wider
package – 208mils rather than the more
normal 150mils. I’ve been caught out
by this package before, so I’m glad I
noticed. The 208mils-wide part does
not exist as a selectable option in the
library for a 25xx series device, so
again I had to get a bit creative.
Fortunately, we can copy package
symbols from other library compo-
nents. A scan through the list of other
8-pin packages reveals the Maxim
library has one.

Copying a library package

Back at EagleCAD’s Control Panel di-
alog we select File -> Open -> Library
and navigate down to the maxim.lbr.
Clicking on that entry opens up an
empty dialog window. Click on the
package icon and then scroll down
and select SO08-208 by double-click-
ing on it.
Click on the Layers icon and select
All, OK. Then use the Group option
to select all the elements of the com-
ponent. Now click on Edit -> Copy.
Now click on File -> Open and select
the Microchip library, which contains
the 25xx part we will modify. Once
the dialog opens, click on the Package
icon and in the New: text field enter

Everyday Practical Electronics, August

December
2014
2014 59

CADsoft article Part 4 (MP 1st).indd 59 20/10/2014 13:49:47

 through-hole crystal modified to be placed on the top of
the board by an SMA machine. The datasheet showed
the recommended board pads. I learned something about
EagleCAD today; if you know the package you want, type
the ADD command in the board window, not the schematic
window. Although EagleCAD will not let you actually add
a component on the board layout (reasonable, but odd
that you can get this far in the first place) you can still
search the library. So I searched for HC49*, and found the
package HC49UP in the Crystal library that matched the
datasheet. So it’s back to the schematic dialog, selecting
Add, and then find the device in the Crystal library that
has a HC49UP package.

Voltage regulator
The voltage regulator used in the original prototype was
also found to have an EagleCAD symbol available at Farnell,
Fig.3. The device editor dialog so we copied that over as before.

SO08-208, then click OK, Yes. You can now select the LM4880 dual power amplifier
Paste option to drop the copy of the package on the screen. The LM4880 symbol was found on a schematic on the
Position the package so it is centred on the origin, as Internet, with instructions on how to extract the symbol
shown by the cross hairs. Now click on the Device icon, provided by the author on his site. The DC jack was found
and select 25*. The dialog shown in Fig.3 should appear. on the dangerous prototypes web site http://dangerous-
Notice how there are three packages listed in the bottom prototypes.com. It was just good luck that it is the same
right hand of the dialog. Let’s go ahead and add ours. Click part as supplied by Farnell.
the New button, scroll down, select our SO08-208 package
and click OK. We now need to connect the wire on the If this all sounds a little confusing, it isn’t really – these
symbol to the physical pads on the package drawing. Click searches took a few minutes and saved perhaps several
the Connect button, and the dialog shown in Fig.4 appears hours effort creating them manually. In this case, we have
showing the Pin (from the symbol) and the Pad (from the managed to find all our parts without having to create a
package). You click one entry under Pin, one entry under single device symbol. That’s very rare, and has saved a
Pad and then click Connect. A quick examination of the few hours work. Creating symbols in EagleCAD is not
Spansion Flash datasheet shows which Pin designation exactly difficult, but if you do not plan to use the symbol
goes where, and we quickly end up with the table shown more than once the effort can be a little un-rewarding. In
in Fig.5. Click OK when you reach this point. our case, we will evaluate how well the parts work, and
Close the library, and then go back into the schematic and if we like them and expect to re-use them we will invest
add the part from the Microchip library. It will be called a little more effort in the documentation and perhaps
‘25’ as a device, but we can change this using the Value improve the silk screen drawing.
command later, once it has been placed on the schematic.
Making sure it all fits
MCP6022 op amp Purchasing the new components before sending a board
Next up is the MCP6022 IC. This part is available for pur- design off to a manufacturer is an essential step before
chase from Farnell in a standard SO08 package. However, completing a design. On this board we discovered not
the part does not exist in the EagleCAD library. Another only that the buttons should be placed closer to the board
op amp does, the MCP602. The package is the same size edge, but that the headphone socket pin-out was not as I
and the pin-out is the same, so we will use that symbol had guessed. It’s not uncommon for a datasheet to be very
instead, and simply change the name once it is placed on weak on the specifics of ‘which contact means what’, and
the schematic. there is simply no substitute for obtaining the real parts
and placing them on a printout of the board design, which
Crystal we did. It’s not a fool-proof solution if your board has to
For the microprocessor crystal we chose a cheap sur- fit in a case (I made a small error in the board design, as
face-mount version, in a HC49 base – essentially a you will see later).

Fig.4. Connecting the symbols Fig.5. A fully connected package

60 Everyday
Everyday
Practical
Practical
Electronics,
Electronics,
December
August 2014

CADsoft article Part 4 (MP 1st).indd 60 15/10/2014 12:16:04

 Choosing the board shape Fig.7. The drum kit
With the schematic entry completed, we start the board de- enclosure
sign by selecting the generate/switch to board icon at the top
of the schematic entry window. A new dialog opens showing
the outline of a rectangular board and all our components
clumped together on the left-hand side, as shown in Fig.6.
This stage is always the most daunting, as the mass of com-
ponents and linking ‘airwires’ appears overwhelming. The
key at this point is to remember the modular nature of the
design – a microprocessor circuit, an audio amplifier, the
multiple input conditioning circuits. Concentrate on placing
and constructing one ‘module’ at a time; you can use the
group move option later to reposition them.
However, before we position our components we must drawing
decide on the size and profile of the board – the two key is provided
factors driving PCB price are the number of layers and the by the manufac-
area of the board. Other than those two design factors, the turer, which you
other big cost drivers are quantity and lead time. 100 PCBs can use to design the
ordered for delivery in a month could be cheaper than profile of your board and
10 PCBs ordered for delivery in five days. The significant any holes or slots required.
reduction in cost for larger quantities is an indication of This is where the fringe
the amount of ‘NRE’ charges involved – non-recurring benefits of having the board profes-
expenditure – relating to the setup of the job rather than sionally produced come in to play. To cut
the production process itself. your board from the PCB panel, a manufacturer uses a
It’s pretty clear looking at Fig.6 that we are not going router cutter. The nice thing is, it’s computer controlled,
to achieve this board design on a single layer PCB, so we and really doesn’t care what the profile looks like. It will
will go with a two-layer design. Next, what board area just follow the board profile you draw in EagleCAD. So
are we going to go with? a complex profile, as you can see in Fig.8, adds nothing
Estimating the minimum board size is a very difficult to the cost (likewise, with the large holes for the pillars
task; too small, and you wont be able to place all the tracks to pass through). Cutting such profiles by hand would be
required. Too large, and you waste money on PCB costs. very difficult indeed.
My approach has been to start with a large board area, It’s important to understand the processes and tools a
design each ‘module’ in its own part of the board, and PCB manufacturer uses when creating boards, as this can
then move the modules together, perhaps rotating groups have an effect on your design. For example, looking at my
of components by 90 degrees, until a satisfactory fit can board CAD image in Fig.8, notice how in the top-left corner
be made – then route the final signals together. I have 90-degree angles. On the manufacturer’s board the
external right angles will be perfect, but the internal right
Start with your enclosure angle will have a radius – this is because the cut is being
Another key point driving the board shape is the enclosure made with a router drill bit, which has a natural radius,
you put it in. We wanted a stylish enclosure, something probably 2-5mm size. If you really need a perfect right angle,
that would look almost custom made for the job. We then talk to your PCB supplier. Alternatively, ensure that
found a lovely two-part enclosure from OKW in the UK, you can accommodate a 3mm radius on internal angles.
as you can see in Fig.7. Purchased directly from the man-
ufacturer’s UK office, the staff were very helpful on the Wiring it all up
telephone and the delivery charge for a single case was With the PCB outline modified to match the profile of
very reasonable. If you are looking for something special our enclosure, the next step is to place the components.
for your next project, check them out at: www.okw.co.uk. As mentioned before, it’s a good idea to position these
The inside of the case has a number of mounting holes components in their logical ‘module’ groups. I started by
and cut outs, which your board must conform to. A full CAD placing the drum pad input edge connectors, then the op
amp conditioning circuits (multiple copies of the same
simple circuit) then the 3.3V regulator circuit, followed
by the audio amplifier, and finally the microprocessor
circuitry. The components all go on the top layer. Try to
avoid placing components on the underside; it can cause
problems if you want a company to assemble the board for
you, and also complicates fitting a board into an enclosure.
Routing of the signals was done by first manually routing
the power signals (always the most important) then routing
the audio and finally the digital signals. Here is a tip: save
your design, then run the auto router. Look at the resulting
routing. If you like some of the suggestions, go back to your
saved design and add those back in manually. Then repeat
the process. I sometimes move components around, let the
auto router run and assess the efficiency of the component
placement by how many via holes were needed. This was
repeated until a low number of via holes was reached. Then,
the signals were ripped up, and the wire routed manually.
The auto router is useful, but will not produce the best
Fig.6. The initial board editor view routing. You always have to do this by hand.

Everyday Practical Electronics, August

December
2014
2014 61

CADsoft article Part 4 (MP 1st).indd 61 15/10/2014 12:16:14

 set themselves up originally to provide services to
hobbyists and very low volume manufacture. They
would take your design, add it with several others and
create them on a single panel. I had several email and
telephone conversations with them about the design
of the board; questions that were quickly and politely
answered. One of the nice features of their process is
that during manufacture they send you a webcam image
of the boards progress through the factory. When you
are using a low-cost, several-week delivery option, this
can give great feedback that things are happening. It
can also indicate if things are going wrong (although
cancelling an order mid-production may save you no
money, it will save you time.)
You can see the four boards returned in Fig.9. I simply
asked Beta Layout to make the board up in a 2 × 2 pan-
el, with a solder stencil. They derived the information
necessary from the EagleCAD data I supplied. Having
received the boards, the first thing to do was to check
Fig.8. The board design
that all the specialised components fitted – which they
did, as you can see in Fig.10. The next test, which
Creating the wire links between the chips is not easily won’t happen until I’ve SMA soldered the components,
described, and is hardly a spectator sport. However, if is to see if it fits well in the enclosure. But that is for
you would like to see me routing the tracks on a PCB in another day!
EagleCAD, I have created a YouTube video that is available
here: http://goo.gl/Bo4tZ6

Board manufacture
It’s generally a good idea to select a PCB manufacturer
before laying out the board, because different manu-
facturers have different manufacturing process limits.
For example, the gap between a copper track and the
edge of the board, or the thinnest track they can sup-
port. Some manufacturers can supply a design rules
file that can be imported by EagleCAD, and the design
limits are checked automatically. Some will just go and
merrily modify your design to suit their needs without
telling you. The moral of the story is: know your board
manufacturer. Don’t be afraid to email them, asking Fig.10. Checking special components fit. They do!
questions. They want your designs to work, because it
will mean future business. The choice of the drum kit PCB was no accident; I do
I chose Beta Layout in Ireland to manufacture the intend to use these boards as the second prototype for my
board because they were local, but also because they open-source drum kit design. Check out my Pic ‘n Mix
column over the coming months where I will report
on progress with the build.
I hope you have enjoyed this introduction to PCB
design and manufacture, and that it will inspire
you to try a more ambitious design yourself. And
remember, PCB manufacturers are happy to answer
your questions; the hobbyist market is an important
and growing part of their business. Now, where did
I put my drumsticks?!
Our thanks go to CadSoft for loaning
us a licence for EagleCAD and
to Beta Layout for
supplying the
boards and
stencil for
this month’s
design. Robert
Keating in par-
ticular has been
very patient an-
swering my many
questions. This ar-
ticle series would
not have been pos-
sible without their
Fig.9. The board and stencil
support.

62 Everyday Practical Electronics, August 2014

CADsoft article Part 4 (MP 1st).indd 62 16/10/2014 15:19:08

 Get the answer you’ve been
C Workshop

!
W
looking for
Compiler

NE
Can Low-Cost IDE for Microchip
? anyone help
PICs me? PIC MCU Hobbyists & Enthusiasts!
®

Special P
rice
Problem
sourcing
software? $99

Generaic l
le c tr o n s Popular CCS IDE for a select
E
chat collection of devices!
I Can
help! Add on a Programmer &
Prototype Board for $50!
Visit the web for more information:
Vist the EPE Chat Zone www.ccsinfo.com/EPE99

www.epemag.com
Page 45.in

PIC® MCU is a registered trademark of Microchip Technology Inc.

EPE December 2014_C Workshop.indd 1 10/9/2014 4:03:52 PM

This Christmas, give the gift

of electronics

Contains EVERYTHING required to build and understand 6

electronic circuits on reusable prototyping board, and to then
undertake further experimentation. Requires NO previous
knowledge or experience.

Contains: Follow step-by-step

• LEDs instructions to build:
• Integrated Circuits
19/03/2013 •14:07:07
Audio Amplifier
• Switches • Timer Switch
• Resistors & Capacitors • Heads & Tails Game
• Microphone • Light Sensitive Switch
• Speaker • Trigger & Reset Switch
• Relay • Two Way Switch
• Full colour manual
+ much more

The perfect way to begin an exiting journey into the world of

hobbyist electronics

Available NOW at www.spiratronics.com

Page 63.indd 35 15/10/2014 12:55:20

 load the signal, changing what is being measured. Re- share the same peripheral definitions. And ‘hey presto!’,
member the input signal must charge the ADC’s sample the ADC module is the first peripheral mentioned. There
capacitor up to the same level as itself, and in a very are just seven functions mentioned, as detailed in Fig.4.
short period of time (the ‘sample time’ of the ADC.) The Once again, we are directed off to another part of the docu-
higher the source impedance, the larger the RC time con- ment for the description of the functions.
stant and the longer it will take to charge. If in doubt, add The details provided are a little thin, to say the least. The
a buffer stage such as an op-amp between your signal and parameter values are stated, but not explained. There is no
the CPU. explanation of the sequence in which these functions need
And finally – as we mentioned last month – keep the to be called, or how the correct parameter values are ar-
power supply rails to the processor as clean as possible. This rived at. Only a single example is shown. Clearly, we need
applies to the reference input voltage in particular (either the to study the datasheet in more detail to work out how to
main CPU supply rail, Vdd, or the Vref+ input if used.) use this module. The library documentation is not going to
be sufficient.
Selecting the input pin What we can do, however, is start to create our own ADC
The analogue inputs are multiplexed with normal digital library, adding the code into the template. Once again, we
I/O pins, and on power-up the analogue mode is selected work by initially creating a simple test application. The li-
by default. It’s an oft-heard cry on the Internet – ‘Why is brary code, when not referenced by your own application,
my digital pin not toggling?’, to which the answer is invari- will not be included in the final application.
ably: ‘Have you set your pins to digital I/O?’. While nor-
mally a pain, this month the default settings work in our Putting it together
favour. By now you may have worked out why the default So what are we doing? We are taking the function calls pro-
should be analogue – because any circuit that drives a pin vided by Microchip in their library and placing them into
to mid-rail, expecting it to be an analogue pin, would cause our template source code files, suitably commented so as to
an excessive amount of current to flow while the pin is con- be easily used. This is the difference between a good library
figured in digital mode. Left long enough, it could damage and a good template – even a clearly documented library
the chip. The moral of the story is, if you have an analogue only tells you what you can use, not how to use them. A
signal on a pin, make sure that pin is configured as an template source file puts those functions together in the
analogue input – and that it stays that way. context of an actual application, which helps with under-
standing and makes creating you own programs just that
Library functions little bit easier. And with the ADC peripheral, we need all
The ADC is a complicated peripheral – but fear not! – Micro- the help we can get!
chip have extended the standard C library with additional Remember, when we add the code to our library, it will
functions available through their own ‘PIC18 Peripheral Li- not automatically increase the size of an existing applica-
brary’. This library is a set of C language functions, used just tion. Only functions that you actually refer to (directly or
like the standard C library, specifically designed to handle indirectly) will be included in your code.
our chip’s peripheral circuits and to make our life easier.
Unfortunately, finding the details of the Peripheral Adding new files
Library is not easy, and I spent an ‘amusing’ half hour locat- So, let’s start by creating the new library files. We are going
ing and then making sense of the documentation. You start to add two: lplc-adc.c, to hold the source code, and lplc-
by running MPLAB-X, opening a project (like the template adc.h, which is the header file you will include in your own
code) and then clicking on the ‘Dashboard’ tab in the main .c files when you want to use ADC functions. It acts at the
window, as shown in Fig.3. Click on the ‘Help’ icon, as specification of the ADC library’s ‘Application Program-
shown in the figure, and a Web page will open in your web ming Interface’. In theory, if we write this library correctly,
browser, displaying a list of documents. The 8-Bit Periph- you will never need to look at the contents of lplc-adc.c.
eral Libraries Manual is the final entry on the page. The header file provides all the information we need to
On opening the Manual, you find yourself presented with use it. This way, we can change lplc-adc.c later on without
an ominous 1300-page document. Fortunately, it covers all needing to modify our applications that refer to it. This is
Microchip 8-bit processors, so there is a lot of irrelevant called ‘abstraction’, where we avoid needing to understand
and duplicated information. It’s not an easy document to the lower level details of a library.
navigate. You scroll down the index to find a reference to To add a file you right-click on the project name in
the processor we are using, the PIC18F27J13. That sends the project navigation window, select ‘New’ and then ‘C
you off to page 42, which then immediately sends you off to Source File...’ as shown in Fig.5. At the dialog that ap-
page 287. That page starts referring to the ‘2xJ53 Set’. pears, simply type lplc-adc and click on ‘Finish’ – the
dialog fills in the other details, and creates the file in the
What’s that? project directory. As the file is a .c file it is added to the
Although the document doesn’t make it clear, the build process automatically; we don’t need to tell the IDE
PIC18F27J13 is a member of the 2xJ53 family and they to add it. You can repeat the same exercise for lplc-adc.h,
selecting ‘C Header File.’
We can now add some functions. We
are going to start with a simple yet func-
tional implementation:

Fig.3. Accessing the compiler help system Fig.4. ADC library functions

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 65

Pic n Mix.indd 65 15/10/2014 13:00:17

 created by MikroElektronika in Serbia.
At about 90 euro it’s not cheap, but it
is packed with well engineered good-
ness – a 3.2-inch colour LCD, touch-
pad, stereo audio codec, accelerometer,
MicroSD card socket, host USB, device
USB interface and a lithium polymer
battery charger to enable portable appli-
cations. So it’s not only a great platform
for experimenting with new protocols
and interfaces, but its possible to make
a standalone, completed project.
In the book, the board serves as the
experimental platform for exploring the
Microchip MLA codebase, and that is
what the book really addresses – practi-
cal application of the MLA libraries.
I quite like this approach; I’ve used
the MikroMedia board before, but
with the MikroElektronika develop-
ment environment, not Microchip’s.
I’m a fan of the MPLAB-X/PicKit3
Fig.5. Adding new files toolchain and as I had not yet played
with the MLA (I’ve used it’s predeces-
adc_int(param1, param2, param3, param4) to see what effect that has. sor, however) it was a great opportu-
It will be striking. nity to learn something new.
convert_adc(void) The code and example The book’s topics break down into
project are available for the following areas: graphics, touch
busy_adc(void) download from the maga- input, MicroSD card data storage,
zine website as normal at sound generation, advanced graphics
close_adc(void) this month’s issue page and USB interfacing.
under www.epemag.com/ The USB interfacing section has the
This is a simple, blocking imple- projects.html best introduction to the subject that I
mentation (based on the example in The benefits of adding familiarity with have come across, and I learned a few
the Microchip documentation) that ADC to one’s skill set are significant. new things myself.
enables a single input at a time. We’ll ADCs can be used to monitor real-world It’s just 270 pages long, but the subject
expand it further next month, but for scenarios such as temperature, sound is presented in a clear, concise yet un-
now lets look at what the functions do. level, voltages and current. You can derstandable format, which will be rel-
adc_int(parameter list) – this measure the health of the microproces- evant to anyone moving onto the PIC24
function is (currently) a wrapper for sor’s own power source and even con- or the MLA from other processors. The
the OpenADC function in the Micro- nect a potentiometer to an ADC input to reader is expected to be familiar and
chip library; param1 is used as the provide an analogue user interface. The comfortable with the ‘C’ programming
value for the register ADCON1, and possibilities are endless. And with mul- language, as Lucio does not waste time
param2 for ADCON0. param3 specifies tiple input channels available you can trying to pad his work out with unnec-
the ADC trigger option register ADC- make use of many different techniques essary introductory text. If you are new
TRIG, and param4 specifies the par- in a single application. to ‘C’ or embedded software, find your-
ticular ADC input you wish to use. self some other books too – but still get
convert_adc – this instructs the Book review this one, as it’s a gem.
ADC peripheral to start a conversion. I had the opportunity
This is a non-blocking call and will to review Lucio Di Ja- Kickstarter
return quickly. The ADC module will, sio’s latest book this By the time this issue comes
however, continue with the conver- month, Graphics, to print my second Kickstart-
sion process in the background – you Touch, Sound and er project, the LPLC TOO, will
use the busy_adc call to determine USB. User Interface have completed its campaign
whether the conversion has complet- Design for Embed- (and be either a resounding
ed. Conversion can take a few tens of ded Applications. success or total failure. There
microseconds to tens of milliseconds. Lucio has writ- is no in-between with Kick-
close_adc – this turns off the ADC ten several books starter.) This board is a tiny ver-
module, conserving a little power. on the PIC range of sion of the LPLC, measuring just
As we are (currently) simply re- microcontrollers 20mm × 6mm and 1.5mm thick.
using the libraries ADC functions and I’m a great It’s designed for those hard-to-
we will re-use the param1, param2, fan of Learning to reach problems such as wearable
param3 and param4 constants, as de- fly the PIC32 and sensors and general ‘Internet of
fined in the Microchip header adc.h. similar titles that Things’ applications. You can
We’ve added a reference to this file in focus on a single find the project via a search for
our header file, so you don’t need to. microcontroller. The PIC24 and ‘LPLC TOO’ on kickstarter.com
The example program included this PIC32 devices are very complex, and or at mjhdesigns.com, where I will be
month displays the value read back from deserve their own book. Lucio does a hosting the technical data.
analogue input pin AN, to which a 47k great job and gives some interesting ex-
trimmer potentiometer has been con- amples to experiment with. Like me, Next month
nected. The trimpot is connected across Lucio enjoys squeezing the most out of Next month, we’ll tie up the loose ends
the power rails, so it acts like a variable his processors, and his enthusiasm is of the ADC module, adding interrupt
voltage source. The LCD displays the infectious. This book is slightly unusual handling and working through the
range of values recorded, which makes in that it covers two different topics: mathematics of how to choose an ap-
for an interesting observation of noise on the MikroElektronika PIC24 Mikrome- propriate ADC clock and sampling time.
the input signal. Put a capacitor across dia Board and the Microchip MLA, the Not all of Mike’s technology tinker-
the potentiometer and see if it makes huge, free library of software for the PIC ing and discussion makes it to print.
any difference. Then add capacitors of range of processors. You can follow the rest of it on Twitter
various values (1n, 100n, 10µF for exam- The Mikromedia board is one of a at @MikeHibbett, and from his blog
ple) between the AN input and ground range of impressive development boards at mjhdesigns.com

66 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

Pic n Mix.indd 66 15/10/2014 13:00:29

 DIRECT BOOK SERVICE
NEW BOOKS
An Introduction to the Nexus 7 Kindle Fire HDX Explained Windows 8.1 Explained
This book is intended for the new user of the Nexus 7, al- This book is written to help users get to grips, quickly and Windows 8.1 is the latest version of Microsoft’s operating
though much of it will also apply to the Nexus 10. It is easy to easily, with the amazing Kindle Fire HDX tablet. You will be system. It is installed on all new Windows Desktop. Laptop
understand being written in plain English and avoiding techni- guided through the configuration and use of the Kindle Fire and X86 tablet computers and is also available as a free
cal jargon wherever possible. HDXs facilities and functions. This book was written using the upgrade. Whether you choose to use the touch screen Tile
Among the many useful topics covered are: An overview of the 7” HDX but it is also applicable to the 8.9” model. interface or the mouse operated Desktop interface, a good
main features of the Nexus 7; setting up the Nexus 7; charg- Among the many topics covered are: An overview of the Kin- working knowledge of the operating system is essential to
ing the battery; connecting to the Internet and signing up for dle Fire HDX. Charging and setting up, connecting to a Wi-Fi get the most from your computer and this book will help you
Gmail; touch-screen operation and navigating around the vari- network, registering the device and connecting to Social Net- to do just that.
ous screens; installing Apps from the Google Play Store; set- works; setting up and using the 1-Click Amazon account for The book applies to Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 Pro and the
ting a password and other precautions to keep your files safe; buying and downloading books, music and other content that vast majority of Windows 8.1 Enterprise. Also parts of the
connecting accessories such as a USB Drive, mouse and key- you have searched for. Explaining the use of the Carousel. book should be applicable to windows RT 8.1 which is built
board; enjoying entertainment such as eBooks, games, mu- Starting screen Apps. Web and Device settings and the May- on the same foundation as Windows 8.1 but is a restricted
sic and videos; searching the Internet, including speaking in day facility; browsing the web with Silk Internet explorer, us- version designed specifically for ARM tablets.
keywords; using e-mail, Skype and social networking; install- ing Bookmarks and History, printing web pages, documents Among the many topic covered are: An overview of the Tile
ing the free Google Drive app to save your documents in the and messages; connecting to a server to send and receive e- Interface, Desktop, Taskbar, Tray Notification Area, Charms
cloud; using Google Docs free word processing and spread- mail messages, using and saving attachments. Creating and bar and running Apps; managing Windows settings, per-
sheet software; printing a document using Google Cloud Print, organising your Contacts and Calendar appointements; us- sonalising your PC and creating User Accounts; using the
Exporting Nexus 7 files to laptop and desktop computers; and ing the Kindle Fire camera to take photos and videos. Watch- Desktop File Explorer, SkyDive, Internet Explorer and the
much more besides…. ing TV, listening to music you bought, imported and from the E-mail App; working with and organising digital photo-
Even if you are a complete beginner, this book will help you radio. Using the X-ray feature with books and other media; graphs, using Media Player to play and store music and to
to easily acquire the skills needed to understand and make Using the OfficeSuite to view your documents, upgrading to burn CDs and installing Media Center to play DVDs; con-
the most of the Nexus 7. OfficeSuite Professional 7 to allow both viewing and creation necting to wireless networks, setting up a HomeGroup,
of Word documents. Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint sharing a printer and networked PCs; using mobility tools to
presentations. And more besides... keep your laptop running while away from home; accessibil-
118 Pages Order code BP744 £8.99 This book will help you acquire the skills needed to under- ity features should you have dexterity or eyesight problems;
stand and make the most of your Kindle Fire HDX. keeping your computer healthy and backing up important
files; And much more besides…..
118 Pages Order code BP743 £8.99 180 Pages Order code BP747 £10.99

ELECTRONICS PROJECT
TEACH-IN 5 CONSTRUCTION
IC 555 PROJECTS
Electronics Teach-In 5 E. A. Parr
Jump Start – 15 design and build
FREE 167 pages Order code BP44 £5.49
circuit projects dedicated to new- CD-ROM
comers or those following courses ELECTRONIC PROJECT BUILDING
The books listed have been selected by in school and colleges. The projects
are: Moisture Detector, Quiz Machine, Battery Voltage Check-
FOR BEGINNERS R. A. Penfold

Everyday Practical Electronics editorial er, Solar-Powered Charger, Versatile Theft Alarm, Spooky
135 pages Order code BP392 £5.99
Circuits, Frost Alarm, Mini Christmas Lights, iPod Speaker, PRACTICAL FIBRE-OPTIC PROJECTS
staff as being of special interest to Logic Probe, DC Motor Controller, Egg Timer, Signal Injector R. A. Penfold
everyone involved in electronics and Probe, Simple Radio Receiver, Temperature Alarm. 132 pages Order code BP374 £5.45
PLUS:
computing. They are supplied by mail PIC’ N MIX – starting out with PIC Microcontrollers and Prac-
order direct to your door. Full ordering tically Speaking – the techniques of project construction.
THEORY AND
details are given on the next page. FREE CD-ROM – The free CD-ROM is the complete
Teach-In 2 book providing a practical introduction to PIC
Microprocessors plus MikroElektronika, Microchip and REFERENCE
FOR A FULL DESCRIPTION L-Tek PoScope software.

OF THESE BOOKS AND 160 Pages Order code ETI5 £8.99

PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS HANDBOOK –
Fifth Edition. Ian Sinclair
CD-ROMS SEE THE SHOP 440 pages Order code NE21 £32.50

ON OUR WEBSITE MICROPROCESSORS

www.epemag.com
INTERFACING PIC MICROCONTROLLERS
Martin Bates
All prices include UK postage 298 pages Order code NE48 £30.99
Programming 16-Bit PIC
Microcontrollers in C
– Learning to Fly the PIC24 Lucio Di Jasio
(Application Segments Manager, Microchip, USA)
S
STARTING ELECTRONICS – 4th Edition TRONIC
496 pages +CD-ROM Order code NE45 £38.00 G ELEC
Keith Brindley
STARTIN
RASPBERRY PI INTRODUCTION TO MICROPROCESSORS AND
MICROCONTROLLERS – SECOND EDITION
296 pages
h Brind
Order code
By Keit
NE100ley £18.99

ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS – FUNDAMENTALS & ighly prac

John Crisp d as a h
APPLICATIONS – Third Edition Mike Tooley
n ic s is unrivalle gineers, softwa
ctro en
222 pages Order code NE31 £29.99 rting Ele
StaOrder lectronic dley intr
oduc
400 pages ncode s, non-e £25.99
icianTF43 eith Brin us
THE PIC MICROCONTROLLER for tech d h ob byists. K t ty pe s, their
, an ELECTRONIC pon en c
RASPBERRY Pi MANUAL: A practical guide to YOUR PERSONAL INTRODUCTORY COURSE – students AND
FUNDAMENTAL ELECTRICAL
th e m ain com in g el ectronic
the revolutionary small computer s of d desi gn bo
THIRD EDITION. John Morton functionC.R. Robertson
PRINCIPLES – Third Edition
bu ilding an a re ad y-to-run
of
inciples ry much ailable,
176 pages Order code H001 £17.99 prOrder
makTF47 e this ve £21.99 readily av ion o
e use of
368 pages code
layouts
270 pages Order code NE36 £25.00
te r, and th ti ca l explorat
RASPBERRY Pi USER-GUIDE peri m en
es this pr ac hobbyi
A BEGINNER’S GUIDEex TO TTL en ts makICs
DIGITAL neer and
262 pages Order code JW001 £12.99 PIC IN PRACTICE (2nd Edition)
R.A. Penfold compon al l le ve ls of engi
David W. Smith le to t some
accessib to do, bu nfid
PROGRAMMING THE RASPBERRY Pi 142 pages OUT OF PRINT BP332 ll ers what
read£5.45 ds -on co
308 pages Order code NE39 £24.99 ok s te ers h an
Other bo ves read e prin
192 pages Order code MGH4 £10.99
rindley gi t into th
UNDERSTANDING ELECTRONIC
why - B
CONTROL d insigh sa
MICROCONTROLLER COOKBOOK SYSTEMS kn ow ledge, an at io n s and step
GETTING STARTED WITH RASPBERRY Pi Mike James Owen Bishop scientific written
explan
es and grap
hs
ce . A ll , ta bl ath
practi charts ly with m
164 pages Order code OR01 £11.50 228 pages Order code
er ou s photos, £36.99
NE35 or ou gh
ained th
240 pages Order code NE26 £36.99 num
are expl gs.
aspects ic drawin
ic al schemat
te ch n or tool,
68 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 a concept e
te r in troduces ions for a simpl
ap ct
Each ch cl ear instru sections and an
s
id es
and prov tool, with quiz
or
concept
chapter.
??
e NE??
d12:35:09
Order co
Books1.indd 68 15/10/2014
s
 COMPUTING AND ROBOTICS
FAULT FINDING
AND TEST NEWNES INTERFACING COMPANION COMPUTING FOR THE OLDER GENERATION
Tony Fischer-Cripps Jim Gatenby
EQUIPMENT 295 pages Order code NE38 £41.00 308 pages Order code BP601 £8.99
ANDROIDS, ROBOTS AND ANIMATRONS
How to Build a Computer Made Easy Second Edition – John Iovine
R.A. Penfold
224 pages Order code MGH1 £16.99
GETTING THE MOST FROM YOUR MULTIMETER 120 pages Order code BP707 £8.49
R. A. Penfold ROBOT BUILDERS COOKBOOK
Easy PC CASE MODDING Owen Bishop
96 pages Order code BP239 £5.49 R.A. Penfold
366 pages Order code NE46 £26.00
PRACTICAL ELECTRONIC FAULT FINDING AND 192 pages + CDROM Order code BP542 £8.99
TROUBLESHOOTING INTRODUCING ROBOTICS WITH LEGO
Robin Pain FREE DOWNLOADS TO PEP-UP AND PROTECT MINDSTORMS
YOUR PC Robert Penfold
274 pages Order code NE22 £41.99 R.A. Penfold 288 pages + Order code BP901 £14.99
128 pages Order code BP722 £7.99
WINDOWS XP EXPLAINED MORE ADVANCED ROBOTICS WITH LEGO
N. Kantaris and P.R.M. Oliver MINDSTORMS – Robert Penfold
298 pages Order code BP902 £14.99
264 pages Order code BP514 £7.99
HOW TO FIX YOUR PC PROBLEMS
The Internet – Tweaks, Tips and Tricks R. A. Penfold
R. A. Penfold
128 pages Order code BP705 £8.49
128 pages Order code BP721 £7.99
Windows 7 – Tweaks, Tips and Tricks
eBAY – Tweaks, Tips and Tricks Andrew Edney
R. A. Penfold
128 pages Order code BP716 £7.50 120 pages Order code BP708 £8.49

AN INTRODUCTION TO eBAY FOR THE OLDER Getting started in Computing for

GENERATION the Older Generation
Cherry Nixon Jim Gatenby

HOW ELECTRONIC THINGS WORK – AND WHAT 120 pages Order code BP709 £8.49 120 pages Order code BP704 £8.49
TO DO WHEN THEY DON’T
Robert Goodman

394 pages Order code MGH3 £21.99

OSCILLOSCOPES – FIFTH EDITION
Ian Hickman BOOK ORDERING DETAILS
288 pages Order code NE37 £36.99 All prices include UK postage. For postage to Europe (air) and the rest of the world (surface) please
HOW TO USE OSCILLOSCOPES AND OTHER TEST add £3 per book. Surface mail can take up to 10 weeks to some countries. For the rest of the world
EQUIPMENT
R.A. Penfold
airmail add £4 per book. CD-ROM prices include VAT and/or postage to anywhere in the world. Send
a PO, cheque, international money order (£ sterling only) made payable to Direct Book Service or
104 pages Order code BP267 £5.49
card details, Visa, Mastercard or Maestro to: DIRECT BOOK SERVICE, WIMBORNE PUBLISHING
LIMITED, 113 LYNWOOD DRIVE, MERLEY, WIMBORNE, DORSET BH21 1UU.

AUDIO & VIDEO

Books are normally sent within seven days of receipt of order, but please allow 28 days for delivery – more for overseas orders.
Please check price and availability (see latest issue of Everyday Practical Electronics) before ordering from old lists.
For a full description of these books please see the shop on our website.
Tel 01202 880299 Fax 01202 843233. E-mail: [email protected]
VALVE AMPLIFIERS – Second Edition
Morgan Jones
Order from our online shop at: www.epemag.com
288 pages Order code NE33 £40.99

BUILDING VALVE AMPLIFIERS

Morgan Jones

368 pages Order code NE40 £29.00

BOOK ORDER FORM
QUICK GUIDE TO MP3 AND DIGITAL MUSIC
Ian Waugh
Full name: .......................................................................................................................................
60 pages Order code PC119 £7.45
MAKING MUSIC WITH YOUR COMPUTER Address: ..........................................................................................................................................
Stephen Bennett
.........................................................................................................................................................
92 pages Order code PC120 £10.95

QUICK GUIDE TO DIGITAL AUDIO RECORDING .........................................................................................................................................................

Ian Waugh
.............................................. Post code: ........................... Telephone No: ....................................
208 pages Order code PC121 £7.95

ELECTRONIC PROJECTS FOR VIDEO Signature: ........................................................................................................................................

ENTHUSIASTS
R.A. Penfold  I enclose cheque/PO payable to DIRECT BOOK SERVICE for £ ..............................................
109 pages Order code BP356 £5.45
 Please charge my card £ ....................................... Card expiry date.........................................
Card Number ....................................................................... Maestro Issue No..............................

Valid From Date ................ Card Security Code ................ (The last three digits on or just below the signature strip)

Please send book order codes: .......................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................
Please continue on separate sheet of paper if necessary

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 69

Books1.indd 69 15/10/2014 12:35:20

 PCB SERVICE CHECK US OUT ON THE WEB
PROJECT TITLE ORDER CODE COST

Revised 10-Channel Remote Control Receiver 15106133 £16.66

PCBirdies 08104131 £9.64
USB Port Voltage Checker 24107131 £5.86
iPod Charger Adaptor 14108131 £5.86
Basic printed circuit boards for most recent EPE constructional projects are SEPT ’14
available from the PCB Service, see list. These are fabricated in glass fibre, Build An AM Radio 06101121 £9.10
and are drilled and roller tinned, but all holes are a standard size. They are LED Ladybird 08103131 £6.94
not silk-screened, nor do they have solder resist. Double-sided boards are Lifesaver For Lithium or SLA Batteries 11108131 £5.32
NOT plated through hole and will require ‘vias’ and some components Do Not Disturb Phone Timer 12104131 £9.10
soldering to both sides. * NOTE: PCBs from the July 2013 issue with OCT ’14
eight digit codes have silk screen overlays and, where applicable, are SiDRADIO – Main PCB 06109131 £24.75
double-sided, plated through-hole, with solder masks, they are similar to the – Front & Rear Panel Set 06109132 £19.35
photos in the relevent project articles. 06109133
All prices include VAT and postage and packing. Add £2 per board Hi-Fi Stereo Headphone Amplifier – Part 1 01309111 £16.65
for airmail outside of Europe. Remittances should be sent to The PCB NOV ’14
Service, Everyday Practical Electronics, Wimborne Publishing GPS Tracker 05112131 £13.15
Ltd., 113 Lynwood Drive, Merley, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 1UU.
Tel: 01202 880299; Fax 01202 843233; Email: [email protected]. DEC ’14
co.uk. On-line Shop: www.epemag.com. Cheques should be crossed and PortaPAL-D – Main PCB 01111131
made payable to Everyday Practical Electronics (Payment in £ sterling only). – Microphone Input 01111132 £33.94
– Guitar Input 01111133
NOTE: While 95% of our boards are held in stock and are dispatched Electronic Bellbird 08112131 £11.53
within seven days of receipt of order, please allow a maximum of 28 days
for delivery – overseas readers allow extra if ordered by surface mail.
Back numbers or photocopies of articles are available if required –
see the Back Issues page for details. WE DO NOT SUPPLY KITS OR * See NOTE left regarding PCBs with eight digit codes *
COMPONENTS FOR OUR PROJECTS.
Please check price and availability in the latest issue.

PROJECT TITLE ORDER CODE COST

A large number of older boards are listed on, and can be ordered from, our website.
Boards can only be supplied on a payment with order basis.

OCTOBER ’13
High-Temperature Thermometer/Thermostat 21105121 £22.00
LED Musicolour 16110121 £22.00
EPE SOFTWARE
November ’13  All software programs for EPE Projects marked with a star, and others
Mains Timer For Fans Or Lights 10108121 £9.10 previously published can be downloaded free from the Library on our website,
CLASSiC-D Amplifier (inc. 3 Rockby Capacitors) 01108121 £26.50
accessible via our home page at: www.epemag.com
– Speaker Protector 01108122 £9.10

december ’13
CLASSiC-D Amplifier – Power Supply 01109111 £16.66
USB Instrument Interface 24109121 £26.38
– Front Panel 24109122 £28.54
JANUARY ’14 PCB MASTERS
Champion 1109121/2 £8.88 PCB masters for boards published from the March ’06 issue onwards can
Simple 1.5A Switching Regulator 18102121 £5.53 also be downloaded from our website (www.epemag.com); go to the
‘Library’ section.
FEBRUARY ’14
2.5GHz 12-Digit Frequency Counter – Display PCB 04111122 £12.88
– Main PCB 04111121 £27.13
– Front Panel 04111123 £22.38
High-Energy Electronic Ignition System
Mobile Phone LOUD Ringer!
05110121
12110121
£9.10
£9.10
EPE PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD SERVICE
MARCH ’14 Order Code Project Quantity Price
Extremely accurate GPS 1pps Timebase For A 04103131 £8.88
Frequency Counter 01107941 £5.54
..............................................
Infrasound Detector – Pre CHAMP PCB 01102941 £5.54 Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
– CHAMP PCB 09103132 £13.42
Automatic Points Controller (inc. 2 sensor PCBs) 09103133 £5.54 Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Automatic Points Controller – Frog Relay
APRIL ’14 ..............................................
A Capacitor Discharge Unit For Twin-Coil
Points Motors 09203131 £9.10
Tel. No. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deluxe GPS 1pp Timebase For Frequency I enclose payment of £ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (cheque/PO in £ sterling only) to:
Counters 04104131 £16.66
Jacob’s Ladder 05110121 £9.10
Everyday Practical
MAY ’14
The CLASSiC-D ±35V DC-DC Converter 11104131 £16.66 Electronics
JUNE ’14
Mini Audio Mixer 01106131 £22.06
Cranial Electrical Stimulation Unit 99101111 £16.66
Teach-In 2014 – Part 9 Pi Camera Light 905 £13.44 Card No. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
JUly ’14 Valid From . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Expiry Date . . . . . . . . . . . .
Verstile 10-Channel Remote Control Receiver 15106131 £16.66
IR to 433MHz UHF Transceiver 15106132 £9.10 Card Security No. . . . . . . . . Maestro Issue No. . . . . . . .
Li’l Pulser Model Train Controller Main PCB 09107134 £16.66
– Front & Rear Panel Set 09107132 £17.20 Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
09107133

AUG ’14 Note: You can also order PCBs by phone, Fax or Email or via the
Active RF Detector Probe For DMMs 04107131 £8.02 Shop on our website on a secure server:
Infrared To UHF Converter 15107131 £5.86 http://www.epemag.com
UHF To Infrared Converter 15107132 £9.64

70 Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014

PCB Service.indd 70 16/10/2014 13:39:06

 Everyday Practical Electronics
reaches more UK readers than
any other UK monthly hobby
electronics magazine, our sales
figures prove it.
We have been the leading
monthly magazine in this
market for the last
twenty-six years.

If you want your advertisements to be seen by the largest readership at the most
economical price our classified page offers excellent value. The rate for semi-display
space is £10 (+VAT) per centimetre high, with a minimum height of 2·5cm. All semi-
display adverts have a width of 5.5cm. The prepaid rate for classified adverts is 40p
(+VAT) per word (minimum 12 words).
All cheques, postal orders, etc., to be made payable to Everyday Practical Electronics.
VAT must be added. Advertisements, together with remittance, should be sent
to Everyday Practical Electronics Advertisements, 113 Lynwood Drive, Merley,
Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 1UU. Phone: 01202 880299. Fax: 01202 843233. Email:
[email protected]. For rates and information on display and classified
advertising please contact our Advertisement Manager, Stewart Kearn as above.

MISCELLANEOUS
BOWOOD ELECTRONICS LTD Teach them to solder! Fun, low-cost
AUDIO VALVES Suppliers of Electronic Components kits for youngsters and soldering workshops:
Place a secure order on our website or call our sales line www.pocketmoneytronics.co.uk
Visit Section 22 All major credit cards accepted
Web: www.bowood-electronics.co.uk
www.partridgeelectronics.co.uk Unit 10, Boythorpe Business Park, Dock Walk, Chesterfield, PIC DEVELOPMENT KITS, DTMF kits and
Derbyshire S40 2QR. Sales: 01246 200222
Send 60p stamp for catalogue
modules, CTCSS Encoder and Decoder/Display
kits. Visit www.cstech.co.uk

BTEC ELECTRONICS VALVES AND ALLIED COMPONENTS IN

TECHNICIAN TRAINING STOCK. Phone for free list. Valves, books and
magazines wanted. Geoff Davies (Radio), tel.
NATIONAL ELECTRONICS 01788 574774.
VCE ADVANCED ICT
HNC AND HND ELECTRONICS Competent PIC programmer? (Ideally
FOUNDATION DEGREES living close to Staines Middlesex UK) I want
NVQ ENGINEERING AND IT to meet or connect with a competent PIC pro-
DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY Canterbury Windings grammer to work on interesting projects and
UK manufacturer of toroidal transformers products. Some are just for fun and some are
LONDON ELECTRONICS COLLEGE (10VA to 3kVA) for payment. I am freelance and work mainly
20 PENYWERN ROAD All transformers made to order. No design fees. in the film and special effects industry. I need
EARLS COURT, LONDON SW5 9SU No minimum order.
www.canterburywindings.co.uk someone who can program in Assembly and/
TEL: (020) 7373 8721 or C. Must know serial, DMX and PWM.
www.lec.org.uk 01227 450810 Email [email protected]

AB ELECTRONICS UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 PICO TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

ALLENDALE ELECTRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover (ii) QUASAR ELECTRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2/3
BETA LAYOUT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 SPIRATRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
BRUNNING SOFTWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 STEWART OF READING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover (iii)
CCS Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 TRINITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
CISECO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 ZEAL ELECTRONICS Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
CRICKLEWOOD ELECTRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
DEVERON ELECTRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 ADVERTISEMENT OFFICES:
ESR ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 113 LYNWOOD DRIVE, MERLEY, WIMBORNE,
JPG ELECTRONICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 DORSET BH21 1UU
LABCENTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover (iv) PHONE: 01202 880299
LASER BUSINESS SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 FAX: 01202 843233
L-TEK POSCOPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 EMAIL: [email protected]
MICROCHIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bowood - Jan 09.indd 1 4 WEB: www.epemag.com 17/11/2008 16:12:31

PEAK ELECTRONIC DESIGN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cover (iii) For editorial address and phone numbers see page 7

Everyday Practical Electronics, December 2014 71

EPE Classifieds_100144WP.indd 71 16/10/2014 12:32:33

 Next Month
“Tiny Tim” Stereo Amplifier – Part 1
Most TVs have mediocre sound quality; so how do you get better sound? The short answer
is that you need a good quality stereo amplifier with either a Toslink or S/PDIF digital input
and some decent speakers. Our solution next month is the ‘Tiny Tim’, featuring 10W per
channel of amplification and digital inputs.

PortaPAL-D – Part 2
In the second part of our new go-anywhere Portable PA system, we put together all the
electronics. There’s a lot to it, but we’ve separated out each section to simplify matters. Lots
to look forward to next month!

SiDRADIO – Part 4
Have you wondered if there’s anything else you can do with your SiDRADIO set-up using a
DVB-T dongle – besides receiving AM, NFM, WFM, CW, SSB and DRM? Other applications
are becoming available all the time. Already there’s one that lets you receive DAB+ digital
radio and another to receive some of the many different types of narrow-band digital
mobile radio (DMR).

Introducing the Raspberry Pi B+

EPE’s resident Raspberry Pi expert, Mike Tooley, takes an in-depth look at the recently introduced
Raspberry Pi model B+ which aims to put right many of the shortcoming of its predecessor, the
Raspberry Pi Model B. So, is this really something to shout about or is it just more of the same? All
will be revealed next month.
JANUARY ’15 ISSUE ON SALE 4 DECEMBER 2014
Content may be subject to change

Welcome to JPG Electronics YEARS

Selling Electronics in Chesterfield for 29 Years
Open Monday to Friday 9am to 5:30pm
And Saturday 9:30am to 5pm SPECIAL PRICE
to celebrate our anniversary!
• Aerials, Satellite Dishes & LCD Brackets
• Audio Adaptors, Connectors & Leads
• BT, Broadband, Network & USB Leads
• Computer Memory, Hard Drives & Parts *
• DJ Equipment, Lighting & Supplies € 444,00
• Extensive Electronic Components
- ICs, Project Boxes, Relays & Resistors Complete SMD
• Raspberry Pi & Arduino Products Workstation:
• Replacement Laptop Power Supplies Anniversary
• Batteries, Fuses, Glue, Tools & Lots more... Reflow Kit V3

T: 01246 211 202

E: [email protected] * including VAT. Shipping
JPG Electronics, Shaw’s Row, costs not included
** compared with purchase
Old Road, Chesterfield, S40 2RB of individual items
W: www.jpgelectronics.com
Shaw’s Row

JPG Electronics
Britannia Maison Mes Amis
Inn
Old Road
Email: [email protected]
ad

Rose & Crown

Johnsons Free phone UK: 0800 389 8560
all Ro

oa d
th R
Old H

or
tsw
Cha
Morrisons

Sparks www.beta-eSTORE.com
Retail & Trade Welcome • Free Parking • Google St View Tour: S40 2RB

Published on approximately the first Thursday of each month by Wimborne Publishing Ltd., 113 Lynwood Drive, Merley, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 1UU. Printed in England by Acorn Web Offset Ltd., Normanton,
WF6 1TW. Distributed by Seymour, 86 Newman St., London W1T 3EX. Subscriptions INLAND: £23.50 (6 months); £43.00 (12 months); £79.50 (2 years). EUROPE: airmail service, £27.00 (6 months); £50.00
(12 months); £95.00 (2 years). REST OF THE WORLD: airmail service, £37.00 (6 months); £70.00 (12 months); £135.00 (2 years). Payments payable to “Everyday Practical Electronics’’, Subs Dept, Wimborne
Publishing Ltd. Email: [email protected]. EVERYDAY PRACTICAL ELECTRONICS is sold subject to the following conditions, namely that it shall not, without the written consent of the Publishers first
having been given, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise disposed of by way of Trade at more than the recommended selling price shown on the cover, and that it shall not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise
disposed of in a mutilated condition or in any unauthorised cover by way of Trade or affixed to or as part of any publication or advertising, literary or pictorial matter whatsoever.

CarryOver - DEC 2014.indd 72 16/10/2014 16:19:37

 } or components are not connected using the correct rows in the
Upload this sketch to the board, and if everything has uploaded breadboard, they will not work. l
successfully, the LED fades from off to full brightness and then
back off again. If you don’t see any fading, double-check the More on this and other Arduino projects can be found in the
wiring: ‘Arduino For Dummies’ book by John Nussey.

www.electronicsworld.co.uk

IBC.indd 39 15/09/2014 12:21:01

Labcentre AUG 2014.indd 1 12/06/2014 11:40:48