Practical
Electronics
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Volume 52. No. 9
September 2023
ISSN 2632 573X
Editorial
I hope you are enjoying the summer, and whatever the weather is up
to, you also enjoy the latest packed issue of Practical Electronics. We
have some treats in store for you this month.
Print subscriptions
Super-accurate analogue clock
All the projects are good, but my favourite is definitively the GPSsynchronised Analogue Clock. It’s the marriage of a classic dialhands timepiece with the accuracy of digital technology. Geoff
Graham – of Micromite fame – has designed an elegant combination
of cheap electric clock technology, a PIC microcontroller and an
inexpensive GPS module that offers fantastic accuracy. It even takes
account of local daylight saving. You can fit his circuit to just about
any electric clock and never have to worry about losing or gaining
time. Geoff has even made it a low-power design, so it will run off a
set of batteries for several years.
Technical enquiries
When it comes to telling the time I’m rather old fashioned – I do
prefer to read time from a dial and so this is definitely a project I
will build over the summer.
Advertisement offices
Practical Electronics Adverts Tel
01273 777619
1 Buckingham Road
Mob 07973 518682
Brighton Email pe<at>electronpublishing.com
East Sussex BN1 3RA
Editor
Matt Pulzer
General Manager
Louisa Pulzer
Digital subscriptions Stewart Kearn Tel 01202 880299
Online Editor
Alan Winstanley
Web Systems
Kris Thain
Publisher
Matt Pulzer
Practical Electronics Subscriptions
PO Box 6337
Bournemouth BH1 9EH
Tel
01202 087631
United Kingdom
Email pesubs<at>selectps.com
We regret technical enquiries cannot be answered over the
telephone. We are unable to offer any advice on the use, purchase,
repair or modification of commercial equipment or the incorporation
or modification of designs published in the magazine. We cannot
provide data or answer queries on articles or projects that are
more than five years old.
Questions about articles or projects should be sent to the editor
by email: pe<at>electronpublishing.com
Projects and circuits
All reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that the advice and
data given to readers is reliable. We cannot, however, guarantee
it and we cannot accept legal responsibility for it.
A number of projects and circuits published in Practical Electronics
employ voltages that can be lethal. You should not build, test,
modify or renovate any item of mains-powered equipment unless
you fully understand the safety aspects involved and you use an
RCD (GFCI) adaptor.
Component supplies
We do not supply electronic components or kits for building the
projects featured, these can be supplied by advertisers. We
advise readers to check that all parts are still available before
commencing any project in a back-dated issue.
Advertisements
Although the proprietors and staff of 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.
Practical Electronics | September | 2023
For those of you who like to build instrumentation, this month we
finish the Wide-range Ohmmeter. It really is a must-build for all
you analogue fans, especially if you regularly need to measure very
small resistances.
Plus, we have a nice compact Mini LED Driver project that will find
uses in dozens of application… basically wherever you want to
drive large 12V white LEDs!
Gyr… what?
Ever heard of ‘gyrators’? They are an interesting concept – related
to transformers, inductor and capacitors – but different! One of
the nice things abut them is you can use them to mimic inductors
without having to use a wound component. In certain circuit
scenarios this offers real advantages. I thank you’ll enjoy Ian Bell’s
thorough Circuit Surgery explanation.
Need a book? – Part 2
Finally, I mentioned last month that if you hunt hard enough
on Amazon (and other online retailers) then there are some real
bargains to be had with second-hand electronics books. I stand
by this, but Julian Edgar – our Electronics Building Blocks scribe,
and also a published book author – wrote to me to point out that
hardworking writers don’t get paid from second-hand book sales!
He’s right of course, so if you want to support writers, who rarely get
well paid, then do buy new if you can afford it!
Matt Pulzer
Publisher
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