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PRODUCT SHOWCASE For further information, contact Philips Scientific & Industrial, 34 Waterloo Rd, North Ryde, NSW 2113. Phone (02) 888 8222. ProToolbox – an enhancement for Protel Function generator has 40V P-P output Fluke Corporation has released the model PM 5138A function generator which has an output voltage of up to 40 volts peak to peak. This is envisaged as being particularly useful in the automotive industry, where test voltages need to be higher than vehicle system levels in the 12-16V range. The output is short-circuit proof and the impedance is selectable between 50 and 6000. Seven standard waveforms are available, including sine, square, triangle, positive and negative pulses and ramp functions. In addition, up to 24 arbitrary waveforms can be stored in the instrument’s nonvolatile memory and extensive modulation capabilities are available, including AM, FM, PSK, burst, gating and linear or logarithmic sweep. Frequency bandwidth is 0.1mHz to 10MHz, with variable duty cycle and a sweep mode with variable sweep times from 10ms to 999 seconds. Digital IC tester for TTL & CMOS You’ve dreamed about be­ing able to test ICs before installing them and now you can do it with this little tester called the Leaper-1. A little larger than a typical digital multimeter, it features a 16-character alphanumeric liquid crystal display and a 24-pin zero insertion force socket so it can accept a wide selection of ICs. The Leaper-1 will test 4000 and 4500 series CMOS chips, 41/44 series DRAMs and 7400 series TTL devices. Average search time is 0.8 seconds and the unit will identify an unknown logic IC when AUTO is selected and will test the IC and display PASS or FAIL for its truth table. For further information, contact L&M Satellite Supplies, 33-35 Wickham Rd, Moorabbin, Vic 3189. Phone (03) 353 1763. Protel for DOS has become the standard when designing and laying out printed circuit boards. With its schematic-to-board design capabilities, single and multilayer boards can be designed quickly and easily. Now there’s a utilities collection from SWR Computer Solution called ProToolbox which will make Prate! even more popular with designers and enthusi­asts. ProToolbox is a collection of six useful utilities that expand Protel for DOS, giving it more options and greater versatility. The first of these utilities, Parts”, will generate a parts and wire list from any schematic or Autotrax net list. It can produce ei­ther full or summary parts lists with all components given sorted compo­nent identifiers (ie, Rl, R2, etc). It’s great for making sure that you haven’t left any components off the circuit! The output is in a form suitable for importing into spreadsheets or data­bases, both DOS and Windows ver­sions. “ReAnnotate” allows you to reannotate or renumber component identifiers on a PC board pattern and it automatically back annotates to the schematic drawing. This is great for making components easier to identify on the board, as well as eliminating skipped numbers, making servicing a much easier task. instead of having identifiers randomly spread around the board, they can be now allocated to different regions which you can specify by defining board “strips”. All components inside a particular strip will be annotated in numerical order, with each strip following on from the last. The strips can be made any size and work both vertically and horizontally. Other options include the ability to lock in particular components to prevent renumbering as well as a choice of numbering schemes. December 1994  87 Programmable power supplies from Tektronix Tektronix has introduced a range of four program­ mable power supplies with keypad entry for complex testing routines. Two models have GPIB interfaces which suport the SCPI (standard commands for pro­grammable instruments) format. The PS2510 and PS2510G (G indicates GPIB interface) deliver 0-36V and up to 3.5A, while the PS2511 and PS2511G deliver 0-20V and up to 7A. All models allow programs with up to 100 different combinations of voltage, current and timing to enable the automation of repetitive tests. For further information, contact Tektronix Australia Pty Ltd, 80 Waterloo Rd, North Ryde 2133. Phone (02) 888 7066. “Rotate” allows you to rotate either components or entire PC board patterns or sections by any angle in 0.01 degree increments. Rotation can be about the component reference point or any desired point on the board. No more of Autotrax’s 90-degree-only moves! If you’re looking to pack in the components into a tiny space then this program will help you manoeu­vre them into the optimum position. “NetComp” is a quality-control utility which allows the user to compare two net lists and report on any discrepancies between them. You can compare two PC board patterns, PC board to schematic, schematic to PC board or two schematic files. Smart error sensing within the program reduces the number of unnecessary or duplicate errors displayed. This is a handy little program which can find errors in any part of the de­sign process from schematic drawing to the final board artwork. It could save lots of hassles by getting rid of the bugs before production begins. The last two utilities are conver­sion programs, one for PC board files and the other for graphics informa­ tion. The former is called “PCBtoCSV”, which converts the information from a PC board file into a CSV (Comma Separated Variable) file, which is suitable for databases. The file contains component identifiers and values, as well as board coordinates which is not only great for robotic assembly plants and pick & place machines but for generating parts lists straight from the PC board file. The last utility is “SchToDXF” which, as its name might suggest, con­verts the schematic file to a DXF draw­ing file. This utility makes it so much easier to import schematic files into drawing programs such as AutoCAD and Generic CAD. All of the programs run under DOS and are very easy to use with file Electronics parts trays from Jaycar These trays are made from white styrene with little rectangular com­ partments, making them suitable for small components such as tran­ sistors resistors, capacitors and di­ o des. Each tray has 36 compart­ments, each measuring 70 x 24 x 15mm, in three rows of 12. The overall dimensions are 395 x 260 x 20mm deep. They can be supplied with a snugly fitting lid, which would help avoid accidental spill­age. Being white, the tray 88  Silicon Chip can be directly written on for the purposes of labelling using a permanent marker. The tray is available from all Jaycar Electronics stores at $6.95 each (Cat HB-6340), while the lids are priced at $2.75 (Cat HB-6341). menus and 3tep-by-step instructions, making it a fast and suitable addition for Protel. This collection really does add the finishing touches to what is already an industry-standard PC design package. For more information and a free demonstration disc, call Scott Robinson at SWR Computer So­lutions on (015) 213 400. Kenwood car amplifiers have built-in equaliser For some years now car audio prod­ ucts have been designed with equalis­ing circuits separate to the main power amplifier. By incorporating the equal­iser directly into the amplifier, Ken­wood has been able to dispense with the need for a dash mounted unit, creating a less cluttered appearance. Designed to fit under the seat or in a boot installation, the KAC-Q74 delivers 180W per channel maximum in stereo (bridge) mode or can deliver 80 watts into four channels for front and rear sound. Both models can also be configured for Kenwood’s unique trimode operation driving 3 channels, for example left and right channels, with the third channel driving a subwoofer. The 5-band equalizer (one for each channel on the KAC-Q74) provides ±10dB in 12 steps at 50Hz, 200Hz, 800Hz, 3.2kHz and 12.8kHz. The KAC­ Q74 is priced at $699 and the KAC­-Q62 at $499 and are provided with gold plated line jacks and speaker ter­minal screws. For further information on these and other Kenwood car products call Kenwood on (02) 746 1888. Audio engineering degree from Sydney The University of Sydney is currently planning a program for diploma and masters degrees in audio engi­neering. The program will be based in the University’s Department of Archi­tectural and Design Science and will utilise courses from the Master of De­ sign Science program together with courses from the Departments of Music and Electrical Engineering and the School of Physics. Scheduled to begin in 1996, the program will initially be available on a part-time basis, two nights per week. Some courses will be available in 1995, with successful passes being credited towards enrolment in 1996. Portable DRAM tester The Chroma 3201A is a portable instrument capable of testing all types of dynamic memory devices such as 30-pin 8 or 9-bit SIMMs, with 64Kb, 256Kb, 1Mb, 4Mb or 16Mb capacity, IBM PS2 72-pin 32 or 36 bit SIMMs and all types of single DRAM chips. Adapters to suit non-standard memory modules are also avail­able. Key features of the unit include cycling and bouncing of the test­ ing voltage setup; quick, normal and loop test modes; automatic search mode; statistics mode for The diploma will require two years’ study while the masters degree will require three years. The program is open to people with undergraduate degrees or other terti­ary qualifications, members of the Audio accumulated error counts; and in­ built printer interface. For further information, contact Nucleus Computer Services Pty Ltd, 9b Morton Avenue, Carnegie, Vic 3163. Phone (03) 569 1388. Engineering Society and peo­ple with substantial experience in the audio industry. For further information, contact Associate Professor Fergus Fricke on (02) 351 2686. Affordable vice has tilting head Scope Laboratories has released a tilting head vice with a capacity of 90mm. The base of the Panavice Model 201 ‘junior’ has three mounting holes and is designed to be fastened to a bench. A ball joint connects the head of the vice to the base. A single locking action allows the head to be fixed in any position. The jaws are deep and have four V­grooves to grip any round object or a PC board. With a recommended price of $49.50, it is suitable for modellers and electronics enthusiasts alike. For more information, contact Scope Laboratories, 3 Walton St, Airport West, Melbourne, Vic 3042. Phone (03) 338 1566. December 1994  89