Electronics Now articles from August 1995

Electronics Now archives from August 1995

GPS motorist-aid system. (global positioning system)
August 1, 1995... A remote emergency satellite Cellular Unit, or RESCU, based on global positioning satellite (GPS) system and the cellular telephones will be an option in Lincoln Continental cars in 1996. The system will track the car's location and put a...

System for making denser, faster integrated circuits.
August 1, 1995... Efforts to cram even more components on a silicon substrate to increase component density and increase speed of ICs have paid off. A new photolithographic system that can imprint integrated circuit features one-thousandth the width of a human...

An easy, new way to remove surface-mount components from PC boards. (personal computer)
August 1, 1995... Everyone who is active in electronics, whether as a hobby or as a profession, should be familiar with soldering. Good soldering skills are essential for building a kit or for prototyping a new circuit. Just as important as soldering is...

Engineering and compromise. (Windows software package)
August 1, 1995... Windows 95 will not satisfy everyone. Compromise is a dirty word to many. Our individualistic society admires purity and single-mindedness. Nonetheless, compromise is necessary for survival. Nowhere is our ambivalence toward compromise...

Has DSS been hacked? (digital satellite system)
August 1, 1995... Has the hot new Digital Satellite System fallen victim to signal pirates? The RCA Digital Satellite System (DSS) was introduced with much fanfare in mid-1994. The all-digital, direct satellite broadcast system delivers high quality TV...

Satellite signal piracy: the European experience.
August 1, 1995... Hackers have repeatedly compromised the satellite-scrambling system commonly used in Europe. Signal pirates are threatening to break the encryption system used by the RCA Digital Satellite System. Hackers, armed with the knowledge gained by...

Remote control adapter.
August 1, 1995... Couch potatoes, sit right where you are - this circuit lets you control virtually anything with any infrared remote control. Have you ever wanted to make good use of all those infrared (IR) remote control units from TVs, VCRs, and other...

Analyzing remote control output.
August 1, 1995... Put on your electronic Sherlock Holmes hat and investigate the output of your infrared remote controls. The consumer electronics market has become inundated with low-cost pre-programmed infrared (IR) remote controls. These can produce codes...

Wind monitor. (microprocessor-based wind monitoring system)
August 1, 1995... Keep tabs on the weather with this stylish microprocessor-based monitoring system. We live in a weather-conscious word. There's even a 24-hour-a-day cable TV station dedicated to nothing but weather. If you're active outdoors, you'll...

Card reader for your PC. (personal computer)
August 1, 1995... Build this infrared card with $10 of parts. Here's a neat little project that consists of only five components and a simple Basic program. Construction time is about an hour, and parts cost less than $10, and are all readily available. What...

AC & DC control circuits.
August 1, 1995... Learn about circuits that will control lights, AC/DC motors, and appliances as well as the fundamentals of DC power control, and put this knowledge to work. Five more ac control circuits will be discussed in this article. These include...

Fourier series analysis. (waveform analysis)
August 1, 1995... Plus plated-through hole alternates, classic computer resources, a $290 GPS receiver, and NewTek's Video Toaster. Every time that I mention Nicola Tesla's name in print, I get bunches of static from card-carrying members of the cult of the...

Listening tests.
August 1, 1995... Sex and the experienced listener For many years, I was an audiophile in a rather privileged position. if I were interested in, say, a newly advertised speaker system, I simply called the manufacturer and a pair would be shipped to me...

A PC board for the audio router. (personal computer)
August 1, 1995... There's not much work left to be done on the audio router circuit that I've been describing since the March 1995 issue. The circuit, as it exists so far, is an extremely versatile one. Although I'm using the circuit to control audio, the...