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Contents Vol.31, No.11; November 2018 SILICON CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au If everything goes to plan, Israel will launch their lunar lander early in 2019 and land on the moon 10 weeks later – Page 16 Features & Reviews 16 Which tiny country is about to launch a lunar lander? It’s not the USA, China, the USSR, India etc. You might be very surprised to find that Israel, a country of just 8.5 million, is planning a “soft” lunar lander mission – with a 500m “hop” – in the near future (within months) – by Dr David Maddison 36 Australians develop a “supercomputer” A Perth company has put together a 22 petaflop supercomputer – that’s right up there with some of the fastest in the world. It’s being used for land and marine seismic analysis in the hunt for elusive mineral riches – by Geoff Graham 72 El cheapo modules, part 20: two tiny compass modules These low-cost electronic compass modules incorporate a 3-axis magnetometer (one even has an accelerometer). You can use them with an Arduino, Micromite, or other micros which support I 2C communications – by Jim Rowe Constructional Projects 24 Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree . . . You can have the brightest (and if you want, the BIGGEST!) Christmas Tree in your suburb this Yuletide! Start with one, then add as many as you want, up to, ummm... And we have a special offer on the PCBs and parts – by Tim Blythman 32 USB digital and SPI interface board We originally developed this for the Christmas Tree project but then realised with a little extra juggling, it would make the perfect interface board for a huge variety of projects. And yes, it can still drive the Christmas Tree! – by Tim Blythman 62 Insomnia and Tinnitus killer Don’t count sheep – use this brilliant little white and/or pink noise generator to help you sleep . . . or mask annoying Tinnitus. Easy and cheap to build; battery or plugpack operated and works with earphones or a speaker – by John Clarke 78 GPS-synched, lab-quality frequency reference (Part 2) Detailed construction and setup details for the superb laboratory-quality Frequency Reference. Three programmable outputs can be set to between 1MHz and 100MHz – and you can save up to four presets for each – by Tim Blythman Your Favourite Columns 57 Serviceman’s Log It’s torture having a broken phone – with no tools to fix it! – by Dave Thompson 44 Circuit Notebook (1) Dual mode digital dice (2) Super-simple “headlight on” reminder (3) Simple mains soft starter (4) Freezer temperature monitor and alarm (5) Satellite TV polarisation indicator 88 Vintage Radio Television The 1939 HMV 904 5-inch TV set and 3-band radio receiver– by Dr Hugo Holden Everything Else! 4 Editorial Viewpoint    98 Ask SILICON CHIP 6 Mailbag – Your Feedback    103 Market Centremagazine siliconchip.com.au Australia’s electronics 86 Product Showcase    104 Advertising Index 96 SILICON CHIP Online Shop   104 Notes and Errata Developed in Perth, WA, this 22 petaflop supercomputer is one of the fastest in the world – Page 36 The Christmas Tree that grows as high as you want it to! Just keep adding LED PCBs and they will give you the best display in your street suburb city – Page 24 Suffer from insomnia or tinnitus? We can’t guarantee it will work but millions of people world-wide find that white noise or pink noise offers real relief. Low cost unit means it’s cheap to find out! – Page 62 Two tiny, low cost electronic compass modules (one even has an accelerometer) to use with just about any I 2C micro! – Page 72 WOW! This has to be one of the best laboratory projects ever published, anywhere in the world. Very accurate, easy to drive with a touchscreen display and really economical too – Page 78 Due to space limitations, we’ve had to hold over the second part of our new DC Motor Speed Controller. Watch for it next month! November 2018  1 www.facebook.com/siliconchipmagazine