Electronics Now articles from September 1993

Electronics Now archives from September 1993

How to buy a speaker system, part 2. (constructing small audio speaker systems) (Audio Update) (Column)
September 1, 1993... Small speaker systems-including those in the new subwoofer/satellite combos--can sound almost as good as large ones. A knowledgeable designer, although constrained by parts costs and box size, will nevertheless be able to produce small,...

The Green PC: Making Choices That Make a Difference.
September 1, 1993... By Steven Anzovin. Windcrest/McGraw-Hill, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294-0850; $9.95. The computer is a threat to the environment? In the long list of sources of pollution and contamination from gas-guzzling automobiles, factory smokestacks,...

Practical Recording Techniques: The Step-by-Step Approach to Professional Audio Recording.
September 1, 1993... By Bruce and Jenny Bartlett. Sams, 1171 North College, Carmel, IN 46032; Phone: 800-428-5331; $27.95. This practical book provides the reader with information that can be put to immediate use in a home hobbyist audio studio, a small...

Virtual Reality: Through the New Looking Glass.
September 1, 1993... By Ken Pimentel and Kevin Teixeira. Windcrest/McGraw-Hill-Intel, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17294-0850; Phone: 800-233-1128; $22.95. You have all seen the pictures of people wearing peculiar looking oversize goggles that make them look like...

Now You're Talking! All You Need to Get Your First Ham Radio License, 2nd ed.
September 1, 1993... Edited by Larry D. Wolfgang, WR1B, Jim Kear. man, KR1S, and Joel R Kleinman, N1BKE. The American Radio Relay League, Newington, CT 6111-1494; $19. More than two million people around the world enjoy the exciting hobby of amateur radio....

Ultrasonic radar. (rangefinder design)
September 1, 1993... IT'S DIFFICULT TO IMPRESS PEOPLE with a home computer. Even if the computer has a 486 processor running faster than blazes, from the outside it just looks like a tan box. There's not much you can bring up on the screen that will impress them...

Screen printing PC boards. (manufacturing circuit patterns)
September 1, 1993... THERE ARE MANY TECHNIQUES available for making PC boards, ranging from exposing UV-sensitive resist-coated boards to the use of heat-fused toner from copy machines. However, most of those techniques are economical only for hobbyists and small...

Iron-on PC board patterns. (circuit boards)
September 1, 1993... MAKE SINGLE OR DOUBLE-SIDED PC boards in your own home with this modern method that takes advantage of computer- aided design and the laser printer to form a resist pattern that is transferred directly to the copper-clad circuit board blank. It...

The spectrum analyzer. (applications in electrical and electronic analysis)
September 1, 1993... THE SPECTRUM ANALYZER LETS YOU view the frequency domain the same way the oscilloscope lets you view the time domain. This article is a primer (or refresher) on the spectrum analyzer, an extremely powerful and versatile test instrument that is...

Bipolar transistors. (applications of bipolar juction transistors in solid-state electronics)
September 1, 1993... THE BIPOLAR JUNCTION TRANSISTOR (BJT) triggered the revolution in modern solid-state electronics in the 1960's. Although the discrete small-signal BJT has since yielded to the integrated circuit in economic importance, it lives on in the form...

Smart turn signal. (turn-signal alert device)
September 1, 1993... EVERYONE WHO DRIVES A CAR OCCASIONALLY forgets to shut off the turn signal. That sends the wrong message to other vehicles and could cause an accident. At the very least, other drivers will assume that there's an idiot at the wheel of a car...

Aurora monitor. (magnetic field detector)
September 1, 1993... THE AURORA BOREALIS IS ONE OF nature's most spectacular nightime displays. Shimmering curtains of green, white, and even red light dance in the northern skies. Visible effects of charged particles from the sun raining down on the Earth's...