Elektor Electronics new website

[john jardine]

[clip]

I think the main reason is that they are trying to increase
circulation figures (about 10-12k at present I guess)

The audience is there, considering the IEE has over 120k members. I
just don't know how these mags can be made attractive to them.

Good point. Myself I don't think it's any longer possible to increase reader
numbers. The whole industry has these past 30 years devolved into say an
85%-15% digital/analogue split, maybe finally to stablize at a 90%-10%
level. The people who buy the mag's just seem born that way and curious wrt
analogue systems. Digital systems/process/programming etc being regarded
only as a means-to-an-end.
The uni's must now turn out 85% DSP/computing specialists. But how many of
these are willing to fork out £3.25 of their own money for a special
interest 'DSP World' or 'Practical DSP' mag'?. How many programming mag's
are even on sale?.
Over the years I've seen 3 purely 'programming' offerings survive for one
issue only, yet I've a couple of volumes of pre-war Practical Wireless where
there was sufficient interest for (incredible nowadays) each issue to be
printed weekly.

Anyways ...
I found 'em!. (well I think the monika's right, shame otherwise

Thought I'd lost a couple of mags but you might be pleased to hear they were
found filed in the "In case of this requirement, mug up on these selected
articles before looking anywhere else" bookshelf section, (web I/O and USB
Scope).
I especially liked the 'Super regen' article. This kind of thing appeals to
me. It's off the beaten track yet offered oodles of detail and discussion.
I liked the FPGA stuff. Another article in this area wouldn't be amiss.
Maybe using Farnell available I.C's, and low (or zero) cost development kit,
article homing in on something like a fast SIN/COS converter using say
CORDIC type structures.
Essentially you seem to be writing stuff that will be of interest to readers
of EW. Shurely we're all basically enthusiasts, so whatever it is that
interests you, should also be of some interest to us. Tell us about anything
that takes your fancy!. Absolutely no chance of paying any bills but you'd
earn respect from the soldiers.

While rummaging through the issues back to 1988 I spotted a few articles
that I remember well and would like to see more of. (A personal viewpoint
and probably not representative, as I'm a test equipment nut).
March 2005. Emil Vladkov.
Sept 2004. Emil Vladkov.
May 2004. Alan Bates
March 2004. David Poynting.
October 2003. Dewald de Lange.
Nov/Dec 2002. Nic Hamilton.
December 2003 issue. Pushed most of my buttons.
Also found interesting:
December 1988. Pappas. Obolensky.
I also honestly like reading Catt.

regards
john

 

[ted]

Good point. Myself I don't think it's any longer possible to increase
reader

numbers. The whole industry has these past 30 years devolved into say an
85%-15% digital/analogue split, maybe finally to stablize at a 90%-10%
level. The people who buy the mag's just seem born that way and curious wrt
analogue systems. Digital systems/process/programming etc being regarded
only as a means-to-an-end.

Well, Ms Josifovska has done a very good job at improving the look of
the IEE magazine, so I wish her well with EW. I also hope the use of
advertorial pieces is just a temporary thing. I agree with you that if
it continues this way, it won't last. You need a bit more substance if
you are paying nearly 4 pounds for a magazine.

The uni's must now turn out 85% DSP/computing specialists. But how many of
these are willing to fork out £3.25 of their own money for a special
interest 'DSP World' or 'Practical DSP' mag'?. How many programming mag's
are even on sale?.

I think electronics has matured to such an extent that newcomers (eg
uni students) are not the inquisitive/creative types any more, but
simply implementers. It has become like other professions like
accountancy and dentistry. Learn the trade, use the tools, and that's
it. No research/innovation involved (as it used to be the case) when
engineers had to be innovative in their designs in order to get ahead.

Thought I'd lost a couple of mags but you might be pleased to hear they were
found filed in the "In case of this requirement, mug up on these selected
articles before looking anywhere else" bookshelf section, (web I/O and USB
Scope).

Thanks for the compliments. I usually write these articles on the back
of a project I was doing at the time. So that the research time has
already been done (and paid for). Writing the piece is much easier
that way. I could not contemplate researching the material just for
the article.

Essentially you seem to be writing stuff that will be of interest to readers
of EW. Shurely we're all basically enthusiasts,

Unfirtunately, a lot of areas are non-starters. I had an idea on
Zigbee, but obtaining any decent information is next to impossible.
The 802.15 bits are all easily obtainable, but the zigbee section is a
closed book to mere mortals like me. It is getting more and more like
this for all new technologies...a pity really..

While rummaging through the issues back to 1988 I spotted a few articles
that I remember well and would like to see more of.

There are a few gems around (unfort, not enough). I particularly like
innovative use of existing cheap technology. My favourite one was the
one about a sensing microscope made by attaching a tinly cantilever to
a "cut in half" piezo sounder. The tiny vibrations caused the
cantilever to move by tiny amounts causing capacitive changes,
brilliant! And yes, I have the Scientific American "Amateur Scientist"
CD. Full of amazing stuff!!!

Regards

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that ted <[email protected]>

I think electronics has matured to such an extent that newcomers (eg uni
students) are not the inquisitive/creative types any more, but simply
implementers. It has become like other professions like accountancy and
dentistry. Learn the trade, use the tools, and that's it. No
research/innovation involved (as it used to be the case) when engineers
had to be innovative in their designs in order to get ahead.

This is largely due to digital technology, and the enormous explosion of
capability that it's produced. Why bother with a clever analogue design
when you can throw a million transistors and a gigabyte of memory at the
project?

I'm not denigrating digital technology - it enables us to do a lot of
extremely useful things that are impossible, or virtually so, in
analogue, like a hand-held audio spectrum analyser. But almost all the
intellectual exercise in that, and in much else, is in software, not
hardware.

 

[Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\]

[snip]

Perhaps I am arrogant, but you've proven to be a ignorant time we've
crossed paths. Apologise to human waste like you? FOr calling a
ruskie's hat a "cossack hat"? Please. Grow up Francis!

Look who's talking!!! Doh...

 

[Graham W]

ted wrote:
[...]

There are a few gems around (unfort, not enough). I particularly like
innovative use of existing cheap technology. My favourite one was the
one about a sensing microscope made by attaching a tinly cantilever to
a "cut in half" piezo sounder. The tiny vibrations caused the
cantilever to move by tiny amounts causing capacitive changes,
brilliant!

That's the long way round of making a record-player (phonograph)
crystal pick-up cartridge! I wonder if he had considered one?

 

[ted]

ted wrote:
[...]

There are a few gems around (unfort, not enough). I particularly like
innovative use of existing cheap technology. My favourite one was the
one about a sensing microscope made by attaching a tinly cantilever to
a "cut in half" piezo sounder. The tiny vibrations caused the
cantilever to move by tiny amounts causing capacitive changes,
brilliant!

That's the long way round of making a record-player (phonograph)
crystal pick-up cartridge! I wonder if he had considered one?

Oh gosh, it was much "cleverer" than that... Cantilevering the
needle's base between the two halves of the piezo allowed for very
accurate side to side movement of the tip by a few micrometers, far
more precise than a gramophone's needle.

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that ted <[email protected]>

ted wrote:
[...]

There are a few gems around (unfort, not enough). I particularly like
innovative use of existing cheap technology. My favourite one was the
one about a sensing microscope made by attaching a tinly cantilever to
a "cut in half" piezo sounder. The tiny vibrations caused the
cantilever to move by tiny amounts causing capacitive changes,
brilliant!

That's the long way round of making a record-player (phonograph)
crystal pick-up cartridge! I wonder if he had considered one?

Oh gosh, it was much "cleverer" than that... Cantilevering the
needle's base between the two halves of the piezo allowed for very
accurate side to side movement of the tip by a few micrometers, far
more precise than a gramophone's needle.

Have a look at the groove pitch on an LP, and then consider that signals
well over 40 dB below that can be recorded and played, preserving the
waveform.

 

[Rich Grise]

I read in sci.electronics.design that ted <[email protected]>

ted wrote:
[...]
There are a few gems around (unfort, not enough). I particularly like
innovative use of existing cheap technology. My favourite one was the
one about a sensing microscope made by attaching a tinly cantilever to
a "cut in half" piezo sounder. The tiny vibrations caused the
cantilever to move by tiny amounts causing capacitive changes,
brilliant!

That's the long way round of making a record-player (phonograph)
crystal pick-up cartridge! I wonder if he had considered one?

Oh gosh, it was much "cleverer" than that... Cantilevering the
needle's base between the two halves of the piezo allowed for very
accurate side to side movement of the tip by a few micrometers, far
more precise than a gramophone's needle.

Have a look at the groove pitch on an LP, and then consider that signals
well over 40 dB below that can be recorded and played, preserving the
waveform.

So, given this groove pitch, how many grooves are there, on average, on
one side of a typical LP?

Thanks,
Rich

 

[keith]

I read in sci.electronics.design that ted <[email protected]>

[email protected]>...
ted wrote:
[...]
There are a few gems around (unfort, not enough). I particularly like
innovative use of existing cheap technology. My favourite one was the
one about a sensing microscope made by attaching a tinly cantilever to
a "cut in half" piezo sounder. The tiny vibrations caused the
cantilever to move by tiny amounts causing capacitive changes,
brilliant!

That's the long way round of making a record-player (phonograph)
crystal pick-up cartridge! I wonder if he had considered one?

Oh gosh, it was much "cleverer" than that... Cantilevering the
needle's base between the two halves of the piezo allowed for very
accurate side to side movement of the tip by a few micrometers, far
more precise than a gramophone's needle.

Have a look at the groove pitch on an LP, and then consider that signals
well over 40 dB below that can be recorded and played, preserving the
waveform.

So, given this groove pitch, how many grooves are there, on average, on
one side of a typical LP?

One.

 

[ted]

I read in sci.electronics.design that ted <[email protected]>

Have a look at the groove pitch on an LP, and then consider that signals
well over 40 dB below that can be recorded and played, preserving the
waveform.

A piezo gives far less displacement per unit volt applied. Several
volts for a few micrometer span. It also has a low mechanical source
resistance so that displacement is decently proportional to the
voltage applied, even against the back force generated by the electric
charge between the needle and the baseplate.

Also a cartridge is a velocity response device, difficult to use in a
closed loop positional system as required for a microscope.

 

[John Woodgate]

I read in sci.electronics.design that ted <[email protected]>

A piezo gives far less displacement per unit volt applied. Several
volts for a few micrometer span. It also has a low mechanical source
resistance so that displacement is decently proportional to the
voltage applied, even against the back force generated by the electric
charge between the needle and the baseplate.

Also a cartridge is a velocity response device, difficult to use in a
closed loop positional system as required for a microscope.

You clearly speak of what you do not know. Piezo phono pickups are
*amplitude* sensitive, in that the give a flat response with the RIAA
amplitude/frequency curve. **Magnetic** pickups are velocity sensitive.

There are 'crystal' phono pickups, using Rochelle salt bender bimorphs,
and 'ceramic' pickups, made of barium titanate, also bender bimorphs.
These have capacitive impedances, corresponding roughly to capacitors of
600 pF to 1.5 nF. Typical open-circuit outputs from a 1 kHz 5 cm/s
recorded signal range from 1 to 8 mV.

 

[Franc Zabkar]

So, given this groove pitch, how many grooves are there, on average, on
one side of a typical LP?

The groove is a spiral. You can calculate the number of turns from the
RPM (33.3) and the playing time (~25min).

Nturns = RPM x T = 33.3 x 25 = 833
Pitch = 8cm / 833 = 0.1mm


- Franc Zabkar

 

[mc]

One.

Right... but you wanted to know how many times it passes beside itself...
let's think a moment.

You can get 30 minutes of music on a 33 1/3 rpm disc. That's 1000
revolutions. The disc is 12 inches in diameter of which the central 4
inches or so are taken up by the label. So that's about 3 inches, or at the
very most 100 mm, from edge to center of the recorded area. So I calculate
the groove is at most 0.1 mm wide.

The typical stylus is 0.7 mil = 0.0007 inch = 0.02 mm wide at the tip.

 

[mc]

A piezo gives far less displacement per unit volt applied. Several
volts for a few micrometer span. It also has a low mechanical source
resistance so that displacement is decently proportional to the
voltage applied, even against the back force generated by the electric
charge between the needle and the baseplate.

Also a cartridge is a velocity response device, difficult to use in a
closed loop positional system as required for a microscope.

I think you're thinking of magnetic cartridges. There are also
piezoelectric cartridges, popular in cheap record players in the 1950s
because they gave nearly a volt of output (with high impedance of course),
suitable for amplification by a single tube.

 

[keith]

Right... but you wanted to know how many times it passes beside itself...
let's think a moment.

I didn't (watch your quoting). I simply answered the question asked. ;-)

 

[ted]

I think you're thinking of magnetic cartridges. There are also
piezoelectric cartridges, popular in cheap record players in the 1950s
because they gave nearly a volt of output (with high impedance of course),
suitable for amplification by a single tube.

I can see there is a bit of a misundertanding here.

The equipment in the article didn't use a gramophone cartridge
(neither magnetic, piezo, crystal or any other kind)

It used a steel needle attached to a piezo crystal (as found in a
piezo sounder for example) The metal electrode was split to provide a
tiny differential motion to the needle.

 

[Rick Fox]

well in the same forum the mag editor advises that they are working to
solve the problem so some patience may be in order. I've seen this
sort of swing before, usually the staff that do the actual work are
not to blame. I'll check again in a week's time.

Richard

Elektor have responded to the problem - their response is to only
provide free .pdf files if the layout was not printed in the magazine.
If it was, no free file any more.

They have started deleting my questions on their forum - they are
trying to censor the issue.

Please understand that I am not the dirt-stirring type. I have been a
reader of Elektor since 1983 and am simply amazed at what they have
now done, and disgusted.

Again I would ask anyone who would like to continue having access
(without paying more money) to the PCB .pdf's to email Elektor and
complain.

Rick.

 

[Kryten]

Elektor have responded to the problem - their response is to only
provide free .pdf files if the layout was not printed in the magazine.
If it was, no free file any more.

They have started deleting my questions on their forum - they are
trying to censor the issue.

I agree.

The PCB file is pretty useless without the article text,
so who cares if someone grabs it for free.
They'll still need to buy a magazine, or subscribe.