Practical
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Brighton
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East Sussex BN1 3RA
Editor
Matt Pulzer
General Manager
Louisa Pulzer
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Alan Winstanley
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Kris Thain
Publisher
Matt Pulzer
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ercial e ui ent or the incor oration
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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.
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advise readers to check that all parts are still available before
commencing any project in a back-dated issue.
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e ore uying any trans itting or tele hone e ui ent as a fine
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readers should check local laws.
Practical Electronics | May | 2020
Volume 49. No. 5
May 2020
ISSN 2632 573X
Editorial
What a difference a month makes
This time last month I was writing to you about PCBs and speaker
drivers. I noted a little inconvenience and possible delays, but
other than that, life outside China seemed mostly normal. Very
little seems normal now, and we are clearly at the start of a very
challenging few months, quite possibly longer.
You will all have concerns and worries, from the health of loved
ones and friends to employment security and education. The arrival
of a monthly magazine will not be uppermost in your thoughts, and
nor should it be. However, I would like to take this opportunity to
explain to you, our loyal readership, our preparations for the year
and to reassure you that we are well placed to continue publishing
and provide you with some welcome alternatives to gloomy news in
an uncertain world. Maybe you will even find time to build some of
those projects you’ve been promising yourself!
We are fortunate as a business that all our contributors already
work from home and need no training or extra support in
delivering their outstanding work. We are in regular contact with
our printer and distributors, and while they can see some delays,
the systems we have in place will continue to work. Paper and ink
will still be delivered, freight planes will still fly and the postal
service will do their job.
Opposite, you will find a summary of where we are currently (late
March), but the situation is bound to be fluid and for the latest news
on Practical Electronics, please visit: www.electronpublishing.com
Please support our advertisers!
Selling components to hobbyists has never been a route to great
wealth, and independent suppliers will need all the business they
can get over the next few months. If you do have a little extra time
on your hands and start to wield your soldering iron, please look to
our advertisers, for parts – Quasar, ESR, Cricklewood and JPG. You’ll
miss them if they go!
And this issue?
That’s quite enough non-electronic talk, so what do we have for
you this month? Lots! From Barry Fox’s excellent guide to the
best in free software to an exciting new robot buggy project in
Phil Boyce’s Make it with Micromite series, we have more than
enough to keep you occupied. Jake explains how to synthesise all
sorts of weird and wonderful noises using a simple analogue noise
generator and we have the latest XOD project from Julian Edgar.
Take your PIC
In a world of (currently) diminishing choice it’s nice to be able to offer
something new from our online shop. We have offered PCBs for most
of our projects for a long time, but for many of you that is only half a
solution. The rise of the now-ubiquitous PIC means that to complete a
project you often need a project-specific PCB and a programmed PIC.
True, we do offer PIC project software as a free download, but for too
many builders who have neither the equipment nor sufficient interest
in getting into PICs this is not a solution. From April we will address
this shortfall and start to sell programmed PICs for PE projects. Look
out for their arrival in our online shop.
Keep Calm, Carry On and do wash your hands!
Matt Pulzer, Publisher
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