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Contents Vol.28, No.6; June 2015 SILICON CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Features   14  At Last . . . We Drive The Tesla Electric Car The Tesla is the only all-electric vehicle that really competes with highperformance luxury cars. We had one for a whole day! – by Ross Tester   23  Real “Hands-On”: Owning A Nissan Leaf Electric Car What’s it like to own an electric car? SILICON CHIP staff member Ross Tester bit the bullet and bought a Nissan LEAF. Here are his impressions . . . Bad Vibes Infrasonic Snooper – Page 36.   25  Tesla’s 7/10kWh Powerwall Battery: A Game Changer? Dreaming of going off-grid? Tesla’s new 7/10kWh Powerwall lithium-ion back-up battery is likely to be a game-changer – by Ross Tester   28  The Bionic Eye: Artificial Vision Is Becoming A Reality, Pt.1 New research is leading to promising advances in artificial vision. Pt.1 this month describes the problems and the challenges – by Dr David Maddison   78  SPIKE: Improved Software For The Signal Hound Audio Signal Injector & Tracer – Page 60. Enhanced software for the USB-SA44B mini spectrum analyser – by Jim Rowe Pro jects To Build   36  Bad Vibes Infrasound Snooper Got a problem with low-frequency vibrations? This Infrasound Snooper lets you listen directly to low-frequency sounds that would otherwise be inaudible – by Nicholas Vinen   60  Audio Signal Injector & Tracer Low-cost unit comprises a 1kHz oscillator & an in-built amplifier so that you can trace signals through an analog circuit to locate faults – by John Clarke   68  AM RF Demodulator Probe For Signal Tracers AM RF Demodulator Probe For Signal Tracers – Page 68. It uses just a handful of parts and will detect the amplitude-modulated RF signals that should be present in an AM radio circuit – by John Clarke   74  The Multi-Role Champion Preamplifier Use it as a general-purpose stereo preamp or as a dual-channel preamp, with a mic for one channel and guitar or other audio source in the other. It gives good performance & will work over a wide range of supply voltages – by Leo Simpson   81  WeatherDuino Pro2 Wireless Weather Station, Pt.4 Final article completes the Weather Station by building a handy little Wireless Display Unit (WDU) – by A. Caneira & Trevor Robinson Special Columns   53  Serviceman’s Log Diversifying – it’s not that easy – by Dave Thompson  71 Circuit Notebook (1) Wireless Door Chime Repeater; (2) High-side Mosfet Switch With Optocoupler Control; (3) Low Ohms Meter Has LCD The Multi-Role Champion Preamplifier – Page 74. Weather Station Wireless Display Unit – Page 81   84  Vintage Radio The Philips model 198 transistor radio – by Ian Batty Departments    2  Publisher’s Letter   4 Mailbag siliconchip.com.au  89 Product Showcase 90  Ask Silicon Chip 95 Market Centre 96 Advertising Index AJune pril 2015  1