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PRODUCT SHOWCASE ezySTAMP BASIC Stamp Kits Auckland-based eSource, a Parallax distributor, has released another incarnation of the popular BASIC Stamp1, the ezyStamp. Building on feedback from teachers and industrial customers who were asking for a new solution to their demanding needs, eSource has redesigned the BASIC Stamp to offer previously unheard of functionality, convenience and robustness. The company is now offering this as a retail package to resellers in Australia and New Zealand. A programming cable is also available. There is also an ezyStamp beginners kit which includes the ezySTAMP plus an experimenter’s breadboard with connecting wires, various components, a 9V battery and a floppy disk with sample software. It suits students aged 12 years and up and anyone wanting to start with the basics of programming. Recommended retail price (not including GST) of the ezyStamp is $AU75, while the programming cable should sell for $AU15. The ezyStamp Beginners kit has a rrp of $AU115. Contact: eSource Ltd PO Box 14 077 Panmure, Auckland NZ Phone 64 0800 376 8723 Fax    649 521 3832 Website: www.esource.co.nz Kycon’s VESA & PS/2 Combo If you’ve ever needed a single keyboard, mouse and monitor connector, this new one from Kycon could be the answer! It has two PS/2 mini-DINs and a 15-pin VESA (D) socket moulded onto the one assembly. Kycon are based in San Jose, California, and can be contacted via their website (www.kycon.com) or phone 0011 1 408 494 0330; fax 0011 1 408 494 0325. Long-range Uniden cordless phone from DSE The new Uniden DS825 longrange cordless phone is the first digital that has additional handset capability. These can also double as “walkie talkies” when out of range of the base station, so can be used, say, on a camping trip. Like the cordless phone itself, they offer a range of up to one kilometre. Up to six additional handsets can be used and there is a keypad on each handset plus one on the base station (with speaker-phone). The phone uses 900MHz spread spectrum technology, which is claimed to give superior voice clarity along with digital security. The handsets feature caller ID, 60-number memory dialling, a back- lit keypad and adjustable earpiece volume. The rechargeable battery has a talk time of up to 4.5 hours and can be left off the base station charger for up to 10 days. Retail price of the phone (with one handset), is $298.00. It is available from all DSE stores, Power-House stores or via DSE Direct Link mail order. 84  Silicon Chip Hart calibrators now from Fluke Australia Following Fluke Australia’s acquisition of Hart Scientific, Fluke is now the Australian and New Zealand source of Hart Scientific Dry-well and Hart Scientific IR Calibrators. Dry-well calibrators are ideal for use at industrial sites, calibrating temperature devices such as thermocouples and RTDs. Hart’s HT9100S is one of the smallest dry-wells on the market. At less than 1kg and a temperature range of 35 to 375°C it is highly portable. The next model up is the HT9102S, which offers two wells; one for a reference thermometer to increase the accuracy. Again the unit is very light (1.8kg) and very easy to operate. The Portable Infrared (IR) Calib-rators (HT9132 and HT9135) provide a stable large (57mm) blackbody target for calibrating non-contact IR thermometers up to 500°C. With an emmissivity of 0.95, the isothermal target can be controlled in set-point increments of 0.1° from 50-500°C. For even higher precision, a contact calibration well is located directly behind the blackbody surface. Using an optional digital RTD thermometer such as the Hart HT1521 and a calibrated secondary probe, accuracies of ± 0.1°C can be achieved. Contact: Fluke Australia Ph: (02) 8850 3333 Fax: (02) 8850 3300 Website: www.fluke.com Contact: Dick Smith Electronics Ph: (02) 9642 9100 Fax: (02) 9642 9153 Website: www.dse.com.au www.siliconchip.com.au Jaycar’s new 2002 catalog Packaged with this issue of SILICON CHIP (or mailed separately to subscribers) is (or was!) the new 2002 Jaycar Electronics Engineering Catalog. At 356 pages, it is the largest and most comprehensive yet produced by the company and is crammed with over 5,000 products and hundreds of new, interesting & innovative items. All product ranges has been expanded and improved, from individual components to kits, projects and fully functional items including test equipment, alarm systems, car sound, home audio, surveillance equipment and much more. Of particular interest are the Cold Cathode Fluorescent tubes which are available in a range of colours. If your copy of the catalog has already been purloined, or you want another copy, it is available from any Jaycar store or via their website for $2.95. A $2.50 CD-ROM version with be available in May. It is fully searchable and features an easy-to-use browser style interface and ‘online’ pricing updates. For more information, contact your nearest Jaycar store or visit their web-site at www.jaycar.com.au TOROIDAL POWER TRANSFORMERS Manufactured in Australia Comprehensive data available Harbuch Electronics Pty Ltd 9/40 Leighton Pl. HORNSBY 2077 Ph (02) 9476-5854 Fx (02) 9476-3231 New micro concept Clamp-On Power Meter aids in Energy Conservation The CW120 series of low-cost clamp-on power meters from Yokogawa have been designed as simple tools capable of measuring power values and instantaneous values. With support for a variety of connection types – 2-wire to 3-phase/3-wire or 2-wire to 3-phase 4- wire, up to 495V per phase – plus a comprehensive range of current clamps from 50A FS to 3000A FS, the CW120 can be used for many energy monitoring and logging applications. The CW120 works with very small electric energy values; users can easily change the decimal point position and display units – Wh, kWh, MWh, GWh – on its large backlit LCD. Data can be saved at 1-second inter- Tandy’s Microscope Set vals. This allows the CW120 to respond quickly to load fluctuations and measure transient responses in equipment. Having support for large capacity flash ATA memory cards, measurements can be taken by the CW120 for extended time periods. The CW120 also comes with a Windows-based software package, known as Toolbox. Contact: Yokogawa Australia Pty Ltd Centrecourt, D1&D2, 25-27 Paul St, North Ryde NSW 2113 Ph: (02) 9805 0699 Fax: (02) 9888 1844 Web: www.yokogawa.com.au In these days of all-electronic kits and toys it’s nice to see someone come up with a product to challenge the mind which is not microprocessor-controlled! This 9.5-inch diecase microscope from Tandy has a 10x, 30x & 60x objective lens and 67 items to get you started, including slicers, blank slides, dissecting needles, filters, prepared slides and much more. It’s available from all Tandy Electronics stores throughout Australia for only $64.95 and comes in a hard plastic carry case to store the microscope and all the goodies. www.siliconchip.com.au The NetServe 300 is ideally suited for firewalls, gateways, IP servers or thin clients. Inside an anodised aluminium enclosure is a powerful but low-power single-board-computer based on a Geode GX1 300MHz CPU. Interface connectors are mounted on the rear of the enclosure giving the front a clean and neat appearance. Among the interfaces are: a CRT interface supporting non-interlaced CRTs up to 1024 x 768 resolution and an audio interface compliant with AC97.2 consisting of Mic In, Line In and Line Out. Dual Intel 10/100Base Ethernet interfaces and SSD interface supporting Type I/II Compact Flash are also included. 2 x USB, 2 x serial and 1 x LPT ports are also supplied. The NetServe 300 requires only a single +5V, and a stand-alone power supply is included in the price. The whole unit measures just 178 (W) x 65(H) x 106 (D) and weighs 400g. Contact: Amtex Electronics Phone: (02) 9809 5022 Fax (02) 9809 5077 Website: www.amtex.com.au April 2002  85