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Contents Vol.30, No.12; December 2017 SILICON CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Features & Reviews 14 Rail Guns and Electromagnetic Launchers Using electromagnetic force instead of explosives or steam can launch aircraft off the deck of a carrier, fire a shell without the need of a warhead . . . or perhaps one day even launch satellites – by Dr David Maddison 34 Interfacing with the Raspberry Pi – for Beginners It’s one of the world’s most popular micro computer platforms – but even many long-term “Pi” users don’t realise that its GPIO port can deliver so much flexibility. We say it’s for beginners . . . of all levels! – by Andrew Pullin 57 Review: Music Hall mmf-1.3 Belt-Driven Turntable It’s unusual to find a quality turntable offering 78 RPM as well as the “normal” 33.33 and 45 RPM speeds. With the increasing interest in vinyl (and shellac!) discs in recent years, we thought it worth a close look – by Leo Simpson 78 El Cheapo Modules 11: Pressure/Temperature Sensors Two tiny modules which sense barometric pressure and air temperature and send their readings to virtually any micro via a standard I2C serial interface. We were so impressed we made them into a project (see below!) – by Jim Rowe Constructional Projects 24 Touchscreen Altimeter and Weather station Based on low-cost modules and the mighty Micromite with Touchscreen BackPack, this accurate altimeter also has built in weather reporting. Even if you don’t fly, it’s a fascinating and worthwhile project – by Jim Rowe 42 The Arduino MegaBox from Altronics Build your Arduino design into a professional finished case – plug in an Arduino UNO or Mega and shield. In addition, it has provision for a 16x2 LCD, four control buttons, an IR receiver and a rotary encoder on the front panel – by Bao Smith 66 Build your own Super-7 AM Radio Receiver – Part II This month we’re putting it together and then showing you how to align your Super-7 AM Radio Receiver. Fit it into the smart, laser-cut acrylic case and you’ll have a project that really will turn heads! – by John Clarke 84 Finishing our new 6GHz+ Digital Frequency Meter It’s caused quite a stir since we introduced this remarkable instrument back in October. Here in part III we tie up all the loose ends and explain how to get the most from it – by Nicholas Vinen Your Favourite Columns 60 Serviceman’s Log Video trials and tribulations – by Dave Thompson 90 Circuit Notebook (1) Four quadrant power supply based on high voltage op amp (2) Micromite-based air conditioner remote control 94 Vintage Radio Roberts R66 4-valve 2-band portable – by Marc Chick Everything Else! 2 Editorial Viewpoint 4 Mailbag – Your Feedback 88 SILICON CHIP Online Shop 98  Ask SILICON CHIP siliconchip.com.au siliconchip.com.au 103  Market Centre 104   Advertising Index 104   Notes and Errata Celebrating 30 Years Celebrating 30 Years Electromagnetic rail guns are already used to launch aircraft from carriers and fire massive shells without even needing a warhead. We look at the latest developments and the future possibilities – Page 14 Even if you never fly anything, our new Micromite Touchscreen BackPack-based Altimeter and Weather Station makes for a really interesting – and fun – project. It’s very accurate, too – Page 24 There’s a lot more to the Raspberry Pi 3 GPIO (General Purpose Input/ Output) than most users realise! Here we look at it in detail – Page 34 Why on earth would you want to build an AM Radio Receiver? Because you CAN – and it looks as good as it performs (especially in its custom laser-cut acrylic case!) – Page 66 If you only build one piece of test gear this year (or next!) make it the outstanding 6GHz(+) touchscreen DFM (digital frequency meter). With the best performance we’ve ever seen, it should be on every test bench – Page 84 Our cover photo: Christian Moullec flying with geese © Superbass / CC-BY-SA-3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons) December 2017  1 www.facebook.com/siliconchipmagazine