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With the return of the fine weather, you’ll doubtless be enjoying lazing around of an evening on your patio or in your garden, but even if you’re not surrounded by marshes or other shallow water it’s very likely some intruding mosquitoes will come along to spoil this idyllic scene. Although indoors it’s easy to get rid of them these days, indeed even to prevent them coming into the house, the same can’t be said for the great outdoors. We might mention the well-known Chinese coils – the only thing Chinese about them is undoubtedly their name – which very often drive people away as much as mosquitoes, if not more! Moreover they are nasty things to handle.... [read more]

This is an example of a set/reset flip flop using discrete components. When power is applied, only one of the transistors will conduct causing the other to remain off. The conducting transistor can be turned off by grounding it's base through the push button which causes the collector voltage to rise and turn on the opposite transistor.... [read more]

Readers who do not care to modify the power supply of an old PC into a suitable halogen power source (see our April 2006 issue), may find the present design a welcome alternative. The circuit does not need any changes to the power supply. It allows the halogen lamps to be initially powered from the 5V rail of the supply via RE2, so that they are preheated. Subsequently, they are powered from the 12-V rail via RE1, while at the same time the 5-V rail is disconnected.... [read more]

Stabilised tendency of catering: Vcc=12~16V Frequency of emission: 88~108MHz Consumption: 100~400mA... [read more]

This circuit uses a sensor made of a small piece of etched PC board and a simple SCR circuit to detect rain and sound a buzzer. The SCR could also be used to activate a relay, turn on a lamp, or send a signal to a security system.... [read more]

When power is applied, the 15K resistor and 10uF cap at pin 15 will reset the counters to the zero count where pin 3 is at +12 and all other outputs are at zero. The 2 diodes (1n914) and 15 resistor form a AND gate so the clock pulse will be passed to the right side counter when the sequence starts.... [read more]