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jaymen -> RE: Ghost help (4/30/2008 9:09:08 PM)
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Orv, back in the old days, when we all needed it the most, I had no test equipment, and even less knowledge!
Here is a funny story about my first Controlaire Galloping Ghost system:
I had read the MAN article about Butch, (Art Schroeder's kid) and the Mayfly by Meyers Models, basically an ARF for .049 Cox and the Rand LR-3. I had never seen a pulse system in opperation, as out here on the West Coast (California) they were not popular, and besides, this was Orbit, Kraft, Bonner, Micro Avionics, and PCS's backyard, everyone had Digital Proportional rigs. The only other "old school " stuff I had seen at that time was escapements, and reeds. So when I saw a used Controlaire Galloping Ghost at the hobby shop, they kind of looked at me like I was crazy to even be interested in it. But, it was only $50.00 and it had a Bonner Digimite stick, so in my mind it was the cheapest proportional rig around at that time. I could not figure out how one servo gave all three functions, but since I did not have the money to buy it, I did not ask for them to fire it up and show me that it worked.
Anyway, I must have gotten a ride up to the hobby shop with my grandfather, who often took me there, because somehow my family found out or got wind of the fact that I was enamored with getting this Galloping Ghost radio ( even though I knew I could never afford it). Before long, the radio sold, dashing my dreams of getting a proportional radio. I had a Junior Falcon with a Bonner Vari-Comp, and the Rand LR-3 equipped Controlaire seemed like an ideal improvement for it.
Anyway, that year for Christmass there was a funny brown paper bag under the tree from "Santa" which means in my family it was a gift from everyone. Nobody seemed to notice it, and finally my dad asked me who it was for, well I looked and it said "To Jay From Santa". Much to my surprize, there was the Controlaire, with the F&M Vanguard and Rand LR-3, wow, they got it for me!
My uncle Bob was there, an electronics guru, and so we fired it up. Instantly the Rand LR-3 went into pulsing and wiggling away, which really confused me, and about the only thing that did make sense was the throttle arm did respond to the toggle switch and stayed put, but everything else was gyrating away. It made no sense to me, or my uncle, niether of us had no clue as to how pulse proportional was supposed to work. My uncle suggested we try a range check after I opened the receiver and saw the tuning coils, I asked him if he could maybe adjust it to stop the pulsing/wiggling. Instead, we went and range tested it, and he determined it was receiving signal, but there must be some problem in the transmitter sending intermittant signals( pulsing maybe?) and that we should get it checked out.
I was really let down, here a $50.00 used radio was a piece of junk, I should never had thought you could buy anything good for that cheap. We looked inside the little box the airborne had been in and found a repair/service receipt from "Larson Electronics" on S. Grand St. in Santa Ana, only a few miles from where we lived. It said the radio had been tuned and tested only a couple weeks ago.
So, after Christmass, I took the Ghost over there in the basket on the front of my bike. I think Gordon Larson and Bob Novak nearly died laughing when I explained the radio would not stop wiggling! Gordon took the radio into his lab, while Bob gave me a tour of the radio factory where they were making RS Systems radios. Then, after the tour, Gordon briefly explained how pulse proportional/galloping ghost works and I humbly went home with my radio!
This single event let to lifetime fascination with Galloping Ghost systems.
I never did fly that radio, it just seemed to weird to ever be capable of working correctly, and I built a World Engine Blue Max kit proportional unit for my first R/C plane. I still have the Controlaire too.
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