homemade reciever?

[lundell]

Anyone here know if one can mae a reciever at home 2??

[Daddy O]

Well the components are available, but you wouldn't be pleased with the results.

Gosh, not to mention the scopes and being able to tweak it to match your xmiter. If you have a xmitter and no receiver or even want to operate a second boat using your only Xmiter, please just go buy a receiver of the same manufacturer as your Xmiter, at a hobby store or mail order. I'd still check with the RC guys in your area to locate someone they trust to fine tune their equipment.

Radio problems are the biggest headaches I know of, and embarrassing to boot.

Do not allow me to dampen your spirit here, just do your homework on this. OK?

[lundell]

Well i didnt think that far hehe

only thought it would be fun to make one if it did work and didnt think of the problems :(
Ooops

thanks for the fast reply :)

[AndyKunz]

lundell,

Was that you asking this same question on ezone?

The parts to purchase in small quantities could easily exceed a manufactured unit.

Andy

[Daddy O]

There was a company some 20 years ago that put out a kit for RC systems, Royal. I'm not sure they exist today. Just FYI if you must build one.

I had one of there 9 channel units. I worked with a young IC Engineer that Just had to build one. Without our instruments here at work, He could have never turned it up. I got it at cost, and he tuned on it for weeks getting it right. It was nice but for the same money you could buy a superior unit. Hint Hint.

Hope you were listening.20 years

[AndyKunz]

Royal wasn't the only one. I have a Blue Max at home.

I had a couple Ace Silver 7's.

The problem now compared to 20-30 years ago is that the specs have tightened up significantly.

In the USA, if you want to build something, see if you can find an old Silver 7 on 27 MHz. The specs there are still the same after all this time.

Andy

[lundell]

andy

nope it was not me
i got interested when i read about making ur own esc :)
like do them on a single board or some and really small for a really small boat :)

20 years seams lika a long time hehe


//Erik

[jdwxly]

Don't forget good old Heathkit. My first radio was a GD-19 kit that required assembly of everything: transmitter, receiver and servos.

And I've built my share of Silver 7's, too.

[Daddy O]

But don't you all agree todays prices, far out weight the effort you'd have to go through to complete a radio system. That had a warranty along with being tuned.

No reply is necessary, I think this thread has run it's distance.

[jdwxly]

Nowadays, when I need another receiver, I almost always reach for the same solution: Hitec. In my experience they have been reasonably priced, extremely reliable and well supported when I have had a problem.

[twmaster]

Originally posted by jdwxly
Nowadays, when I need another receiver, I almost always reach for the same solution: Hitec. In my experience they have been reasonably priced, extremely reliable and well supported when I have had a problem.

I'll second that. And the cool part is they make recievers that will work with every common brand of transmitter including the positive shift brands like JR and Airtronics.

FMA (www.fmadirect.com) has a wide selection of reasonably priced receivers too.

There was an article in last month's MMI about cheap build it yourself receivers. Only problem is the English are on 40 Mhz mostly!

[BruceC]

Originally posted by AndyKunz


I had a couple Ace Silver 7's.

Andy

Wow, I think I remember building an Ace Radio R/C receiver kit with my dad back around 1958 or so. I was ten years old at the time. I remeber it had a small vacuum tube in it. That was back in the days of single channel and rubber band powered Babcock MKII escapements.

Am I old or what!

Bruce

[Daddy O]

Wasn't there one called the "Galloping Ghost"? It was a pulse release escapement type.

For those that haven't a clue what this is, I'll give a breif discription.

Transtitter/reciever: Allowed you to press a button and pulse a solenoid. The solenoid released a quarter turn on a bellcrank, this bellcrank operated your rudder, the rotation of the crank produced movement of the rudder. The power to produce this rotation was a twisted rubberband. The posessions were, i.e. center, right, center, left, center and so on.

So while in flight to make a left turn, you might have to pulse 3 times, from straight flight. Once straight flight was returned to and a second left turn was another 3 pulses. For the rudder only wagged back and forth. There was no proportionate turning as we have today.


( This is not to be taken as any form of historical value, but that of memory I have carried for 43 or so years. "Uncle Brad had one. ") We were still doing U-control and Monoline.

[BruceC]

Originally posted by Daddy O
Wasn't there one called the "Galloping Ghost"? It was a pulse release escapement type.


Hi Daddy O,

Boy, brings back memories. Actually, your description is pretty close to the way we flew the rubber band powered escapement, single channel, rudder-only birds. Galloping Ghost was actually one of the first true proportional systems, albeit still on a single channel. It used an electric motor as a rudimentary servo that continuously wagged the rudder back and forth.By varying the pulse width of the single channel pulse train, you could cause the rudder to spend more time on one side than the other. With the stick in neutral it wagged the rudder equally on both sides. Losing the signal was a bad thing, as it kicked the rudder full right and left it there.

Galloping Ghost then evolved into the "Kicking Duck" system, which still used a single motor/servo to continuously both wag the rudder and kick the elevator up and down. By varying both the pulse width and pulse rate on the still single channel you could get proportional control of both rudder and elevator. It looked funny as h&ll, but it worked. My Dad had a kicking duck system in a Rudder Bird about 1962 or so. I was the one flying it when it got smaller and smaller and it just kinda disappeared, never to be seen again. I let it get out of range of my ability to tell what it was doing. My Dad was most unhappy.

Those are the admitttedly fuzzy recollections of a then 14 year old. (I had the ham licence at the time so we could use the six meter band.) But that's my story and I'm sticking to it! ;>)

Hope I'm not boring everyone with this old story, but the mention of the Ace radio brought back old memories.

BruceC

[Daddy O]

I was 11 when "Uncle Brad" had his. He was more into the monoline speed planes. He divorced my aunt and died a short time later. All his old stuff is gone, wife #2 never even gave his kids anything. Those aluminum belly sreamline planes were so sweet, the drop off wheel assembly was not. Gosh makes me want to see if the monoline speed stuff is still around, just to see the pictures.

He had the best money could buy Italian motors too. Can you still but fountain pen ink bladders? Do you recall the use of the bladders Bruce?

Hint pressurized fuel, fuel injection....We may need to take our old stories to another section. We are just old dudes rambling thoughts. I'll start a string on "Geezer Chat" how does that sound.

[BruceC]

Originally posted by Daddy O
I was 11 when "Uncle Brad" had his. He was more into the monoline speed planes. He divorced my aunt and died a short time later. All his old stuff is gone, wife #2 never even gave his kids anything. Those aluminum belly sreamline planes were so sweet, the drop off wheel assembly was not. Gosh makes me want to see if the monoline speed stuff is still around, just to see the pictures.

He had the best money could buy Italian motors too. Can you still but fountain pen ink bladders? Do you recall the use of the bladders Bruce?

Hint pressurized fuel, fuel injection....We may need to take our old stories to another section. We are just old dudes rambling thoughts. I'll start a string on "Geezer Chat" how does that sound.

Ahhhh, yes. The old Dyna-jet Redhead ramjet engines. Never had one (or even saw one outside the magazines) but always thought they were cool. I did a little bit of U-Control stuff back then, but being a budding EE wannabe I liked the R/C stuff more.

And yes, I remember the old Shaeffer side lever bladder filled fountain pens. Actually there's still a few around. I'm still a fountain pen fan. I have three that I currently use (Cross, Parker, and waterman) that normally use cartridges, but can also use a converter that that has a screw thingee to fill the bladder rather than a side lever.

Back in the 60's and 70's my dad was a frequent contributor to Model Airplane News, Flying Models, and Radio Control Modeller magazines. The last cover photo he had on RCM was in Nov '96.

I guess maybe one of the moderators will move this "Old Geezers" chat over to the Off Topics section? I don't know how.

Regards,
BruceC

[AndyKunz]

Originally posted by BruceC
Ahhhh, yes. The old Dyna-jet Redhead ramjet engines. Never had one (or even saw one outside the magazines) but always thought they were cool. I did a little bit of U-Control stuff back then, but being a budding EE wannabe I liked the R/C stuff more.

My brother has one or two, and original and a new one. Really neat stuff but LOUD AS CAN BE. He is making a 4' long one now as a project in his backyard machine shop. Did you see the twin Dyna-jet powered model that was written up in MAN recently? I saw it at Toledo - very slick looking!

Back in the 60's and 70's my dad was a frequent contributor to Model Airplane News, Flying Models, and Radio Control Modeller magazines. The last cover photo he had on RCM was in Nov '96.

I don't have any recent Tower Catalogs, I mean RCM's, around, but I have LOTS of FM and a good few MANs. Who was your dad?

Andy

[BruceC]

Andy,

My Dad is Bill Coons. I remember back when I was a kid in the late 50's early 60's in upstate NY my Dad knew the editors of MAN and FM. He used to write field and bench articles for both. He was a commercial photographer, and did a lot of photo layouts and cover shots. I remember him doing articles on the Galloping Ghost and Kicking Duck systems when they first came out. Also the first articles on the foam wing cutting technology. I think that MonoKote was just replacing silk about that time.

About 1969 or so, while I was in college, he moved to Chicago. He worked with a guy named Dave Platt, designing the original Contender stunt plane. I think Dave worked for either Carl Goldberg Models, or Top Flite, not sure which. (These are 30+ year old memories.) They had a team of R/C pilots that went around the country demonstaring the Contender at R/C airshows. My Dad was on that team.

Dad kinda dropped out of R/C airplanes in the 90's. He was really into ham radio and getting into real airplanes. He got his pilot's licence at age 68 and bought a 1946 Ercoupe to restore. He's 76 now, spends a lot of time flying the Ercoupe around to antique airshows and working with the FAA volunteer program. He still builds an occasional R/C model. In fact, the Nov '96 cover of RCM shows both his real Ercoupe and his matching scale model Ercoupe. he had another cover shot on RCM awhile back, but I don't know which one.

I hope this old history isn't boring everyone. Anybody elso go back this far?

Regards,
Bruce

[Daddy O]

Well we managed to trash Lendell's "Homemade Reciever" question. Try moving our chat to General Discussion / Off Topic section, I started a Geezer's Home string. What do you say to moving this there. Kinda leave this to The Builder Board, OK?

[BruceC]

Roger that!

Thread drift can be really annoying.

On my way.