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Video Enhancer I have just renewed my annual subscription and also at considerable cost to myself sent to you a completed 1984 Reader's Survey. I am also interested in video recording, and I have read a number of books and magazines on the subject but I have yet to come across a magazine which gives construction articles for electronic accessories. For instance I recently read a review of Enhancers costing from £ (x 1.4 USD) 45 to £ (x 1.4 USD) 270 and surprisingly one of the cheaper ones was quite good. It occurred to me that if someone can produce an enhancer for under £ (x 1.4 USD) 60. it can't be beyond my capacity to build one myself thereby learning what makes such a device tick. If the enhancer also included fade possibilities (as some do) one could make a more professional job of it. So how about it? Surely you have a competent electronics expert dependent on the bread money you pay him to call on to prepare such a construction article? Sincerely, Frank Croxson. Uhlingen, West Germany Well, mate, you could have saved yourself a 22p stamp and sent your Reader's Survey back in the same envelope! We descended into the Blade-Runner-like atmosphere of the bunker where we keep our designers chained (dripping walls, artificial light, smog. bicycles in the corridors and asked the vital question: can you do it? The reply came: whereas a simple enhancer is a simple project, anything more complicated is much more complicated. When we asked about fading. he faded! A simple enhancer will do no more than sharpen up the details on a tape-to-tape edit a little. Over several generations, however, this can amount to a considerable 'saving' in lost quality. As people making video movies are usually advised not to 'drop' more than three generations to avoid loss of quality, this could be a useful project for anyone making video movies at home and doing their own edits. So we will think about it. Our designers are not as dependent on us for a crust as you may think. One of them escaped recently. However, the poor creature had become so accustomed to the atmosphere here that he was soon forced to emigrate to Manchester to find a suitable habitat. We haven't heard from him since . . . Reunited I would like to thank you and your staff for your recent kind assistance with my problem obtaining spares and an instruction manual for my Sinclair PD1735 digital multimeter. Following your recommendation to contact Thandar Electronics I acquired from them the parts needed. as well as a manual I have written to thank Mr. Richardson of Blackburn, whose letter offering the loan of a manual you very kindly forwarded to me. Thank you again. Yours faithfully. Jem Ward, Leominster, Herefordshire In this world of trouble, pain and obsolete ICs, it cheers me no end to see a story with a happy ending. Thanks also to the gentleman at Sinclair Research who pointed me in the direction of Thandar. Why Digital? Congratulations on producing an electronics magazine which starts at the basic fundamentals of electrics but I'm sorry to say why. but why must you also include computer interfacing? Being an Instrument Technician. I have seen how more and more microprocessor based systems are coming into being but it seems a bit contradictory in the November issue on page 12 to illustrate the best ways to start to build a project, then on page 21 to write about how to interface a home computer. On top of this. with basic electronic tuition, computer electronics. robotics, and audio system problems. it seems to me that each field has enough scope to produce a magazine for each. Is it necessary to assume that everyone who wishes to start electronics as a hobby has to have the capability to run before they can walk? Yours, N. F. Humphries. Scunthorpe, S. Humberside. Some readers say that they don't want to have anything to do with computers, yet our PCB Service and components suppliers tell us that anything to do with interfacing is taken up with enthusiasm. But seriously: we're running some thing like fifteen pages of basic instruction per issue. Are all our readers geniuses, or stranded on a desert island, or can they really take in more than this, plus practical building. every month? Anyone who is in the process of learning about electronics. or who has recently gone pro, will realize that there is no such thing as a complete, self-contained electronics course. This is because there is more than one approach to any problem in electronics, and even if it were possible to cover them all in one go. it would be very confusing for the reader. Experience is picked up by tackling similar problems in a variety of situations. What seems confusing at first will bring enlightenment in due course (give or take a year or two) if the beginner makes an effort to understand it, even if he fails at first. This is why we run a variety of subjects at a variety of levels. How Many Pins? I am writing to you regarding your project in December 1984 for a cymbal synthesizer. I have purchased all the components and I am waiting on the printed circuit board coming but on studying your circuit I have noticed that IC9 is listed as a dual MOS op amp CA3240E, which is a 14 pin device but looking at the circuit IC9 is shown as an 8 pin device. Could you please clear this up for me and also any other mistakes in this project. Yours faithfully, D. Whiteford. Cambuslang, Glasgow. I'm glad you asked me that ... we had Iwo other enquiries about the same thing. Investigation showed that the CA3240E op amp is available in alternative DIL packages, 8 pin and 14 pin. The 8 pin version is stocked by Maplin, O/N WQ21X. Just to make things easier, the device is not on page 328 of the catalogue as indexed, but on page 327. It's available from a lot of other sources. Some op amps are available in a number of alternative packages. Also see: Subscriptions |
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