Fullscreen HTML5Med Res (??MB)HTML4

Contents Vol.30, No.10; October 2017 Features & Reviews 13 WRESAT: Australia’s first satellite – 50 years ago! Very few people remember that Australia was just the seventh country to launch its own satellite – on November 29, 1967. This technical triumph could have been the start of a productive space industry – by Dr David Maddison SILICON CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Australia joined a very exclusive club, launching its first satellite – WRESAT – way back in 1967 – Page 13 23 Three of our miniature satellites have gone missing . . . Three tiny Cubesats, built by Australian students and deployed from the International Space Station earlier this year, simply disappeared. How do you search for missing satellites 400km away in space? – by Ross Tester 36 El Cheapo Modules Part 10: GPS receivers Ten years ago, GPS modules cost $170 each (and more). Now they cost around 1/10th of that and they offer significantly better performance! And they’re not just used for location – they make superb time references too – by Jim Rowe Fifty years later, Australians launched three shoe-box-sized satellites from the International Space Station – but where did they go? – Page 23 80 Reduce your hot-water thermostat and save $$$$ Electric hot water is one of the biggest energy costs in most homes. Want to save money while making your home safer for children and older people? Simply reduce the hot-water heater thermostat setting – by Leo Simpson Constructional Projects 26 0.01Hz - 6GHz+ Touchscreen Frequency Meter, Part 1 It’s the best Frequency Meter you’ve ever seen! With performance up to around 7GHz, a 5-inch colour touchscreen, 10-digit resolution and high sensitivity, you’ll want one of these on your workbench – by Nicholas Vinen 42 One hour project: Kelvin – the very clever cricket Would you believe Kelvin can actually read the temperature – and then tell you what it is? His chirps sound so much like a real cricket your friends will be looking around for one! – by John Clarke 66 3-way Active Crossover for speakers, Part 2 Introduced last month, this Active Crossover is one for the true Audiophile. Now we go through the fun of building it and setting it up to suit your audio system – by John Clarke 76 Deluxe eFuse, Part 3: using it! Wow! Wow! Wow! What a performer! Our new touchscreen frequency counter offers performance approaching 7GHz – and down to 0.01Hz – Page 26 Tiny GPS Modules are now SO cheap – and you can do so much more with them than tell you where you are. – Page 36 We’ve already described the circuit details, how it works and what it will do for you, here’s the detailed information on how to operate the unit with some screen grabs showing its various functions – by Nicholas Vinen Your Favourite Columns 58 Serviceman’s Log Old-fashioned appliance repairs are still worthwhile – by Dave Thompson 82 Circuit Notebook (1) Modifications to mains power supply for battery valve radio sets (2) Recalibrating the oscillator in a PIC12F675 or PIC12F629 (3) Bipolar transistor tester, Mk II (4) Using a 5-inch touchscreen with the Micromite Plus Explore 64 Kelvin is one clever Cricket! He senses the temperature and then chirps the number of degrees to you (in Cricket code) as well as flashing his eyes. You can build Kelvin in about one hour! – Page 42 88 Vintage Radio HMV 1955 Portable Model 12-11 – by Associate Professor Graham Parslow Everything Else! 2 Editorial Viewpoint 4 Mailbag – Your Feedback siliconchip.com.au 94 SILICON CHIP Online Shop 96 Ask SILICON CHIP 103 Market Centre 104 Advertising Index Celebrating 30 Years 104 Notes and Errata Putting together and setting up our sensational 3-way Active Crossover for Speakers – Page 66 October 2017  1 www.facebook.com/siliconchipmagazine