N1903Z

1967: Testors brand. Galloping Ghost system. Single channel rudder only. 27mHz, I think. Came with a 1/2A hand launch plane.

Four Stroker

Galloping ghost was rudder, elevator and throttle. Rudder only does not qualify.

summerwind

i remember that plane and radio.........it was the coolest thing at that time in regards to a RTF.........................for me i had a Royal 4 channel built from a kit.............the radio crashed 3 planes before it was figured out that the Rx antenna needed a knot tied in it before the exit hole of the case as it would work itself loose thus losing range............after that i was able to put the radio in a Flea Fli+10 with ST.23 and really have a ball at RC..........

jaymen

Orbit single channel tone transmitter(tube) with a Controlaire superegen receiver driving a Bonner Vari-comp in a Silked Jr. Falcon with a Cox Golden Bee .049. Later replaced it with a Controlaire Galloping Ghost Tx., F&M Vanguard superhet Rx and a Rand PaK (LR-3 and battery) Next I borrowed an Ace Pulse Commander and put it in a Dick's dream, and later a GC Ranger 28, which was a bomb! First digital rig was a "World" 2 channel I purchased for Paul Bender brand new, at what was to become Hobby Shack(now Global/Hobby People), these radios were later re-named Cirrus.

All the stories have been told, winding escapements, chasing planes that had a failure, planes in trees, remembering how many blips to hold for a turn, the nasty up elevator that accompanied hard turns and throttle changes when using a Rand LR-3, underpowered overweight planes(first digital rigs were heavy compared with single channel escapement rigs), and yes the overpowered Krafts that would shoot down or glitch everyone else, watching the older guys still thumbing away on their reed toggle switches, some were better flyers than guys with propo rigs, it was amazing! Then there was the F&M shuffle and the Digimite dance, accompanied by the scream "I ain't got it!" Those surely were exciting days when as mentioned by many, a good day was when you got the plane back, in any condition.

Like alot of people here mentioned, many of the radios I has at first never worked well enough to trust in the air, and therefore got set aside. By the time I figured them out, the equipment had progressed and so they never got used. Also, I too was given my share of equipment, in retrospect because it was obsolete, but I treasured it at the time.

maukaonyx

FUN THREAD!!! Great idea. Here is a pic of my first "radio" and my current radio! First one was a MRC Futaba single channel escapement radio that costed $40 way back in the mid 60's. It was hilarious but it was the late stages of escapement radios. The pulse radios and galloping ghost stuff started to come out but that was too expensive for a high school kid like me. I had to chase the plane many times to stay in range. A few years later when I was in college and earning some money, I got my first proportional radio, a Cannon 2- channel, single stick. It was basically the right half of the current mode 2 transmitters. I learned to fly on that one, with the Midwest Lil'T glider on a slope above Enchanted Lakes/Kailua, Oahu, Hawaii. Awesome times and memories. Radios today are fantastic!!

deckerv

My Feedback: (21)

Not so old tx's in my past...

Circus Circus 4ch

well... actually a Cox single channel radio that was in my Cox American Eagle glider..

RCGeckoman

Macgregor 27Mhz 4 channel.....ah those were the days :*)

Prop_Washer2

My Feedback: (26)

Then:
At 16 years old, I got a part time job after school at the local hobby shop, I don't think I ever saw a paycheck...haha. I drove a 1971 Toyota Corolla Wagon (red). At first I put an Orbit 3-channel on layaway, but it was all dry cell, no rechargeable batteries, then before I could payoff my layaway debt with my humongous paychecks, the World Engines Blue Max 6-channel, and I believe it was a MK IV, arrived with 4-servos, full nicads, pretty gold colored box, on 72.400 Mhz. The boss let me apply my layaway money from the Orbit to that one. I bought a Sig Kadet original MK 0 for either $19.95 or $23.95, and had a Fox .19 or Fox .36. It flew, had a nasty warp in the wing, but could be alomost trimmed out. Used 3-channels only no ailerons. Man those were cool days, the radio if I remember was $350.00 or so, and I made probably $1.50 an hour or less.

Now:
I just bought a new Hitec Aurora 9, 5.1" touch screen, dual telemetry (displays flight status of the aircraft on the transmitter, receiver battery voltage, airspeed, rpm, etc...) for $399.00 from Tower, use a Super Saver coupon for a $60.00 discount, $339.00. The A9 comes with a coupon for buying a 7-channel receiver for $39.99, and you'll get an additional one free. So, for $379.00 I get a state of the art 9-channel 2.4 GHz radio with 3 receivers, and I now make $45.00 an hour, perhaps THESE are the good old days.

http://www.hitecaurora.com/Comparison_Chart.pdf

http://www.hitecaurora.com/Fly_Review.pdf

Hauling-A

My Feedback: (7)

Late 69 I think, my first radio was a 4ch MRC with linear rack servos. Had it in a Top Flite "Headmaster" powered by a Enya .19. Flew that radio for several years, but got tired of sending it back to MRC for Repairs.

I lived in Lawrence Ks at the time and I went up to Ken's RC in Shawnee Mission in Ks City and bought a 6ch EK Logitrol radio. I bought that radio because Ken was an authorized repair center for EK. In 75 I bought another 6ch EK and went on the competition pattern circuit.

At the end of every flying season, I would take both radios up to Ken for a tune up and the latest factory up dates. I never had a single problem with either one of these radios and I flew them for 7 yrs.

I also bought a 8ch Heathkit that had duel frequencys and had one of my flying buddys build it for me. Used it for my scale models.

When the 2.4Ghz systems became available I bought a Spektrum DX 6, which I still have and never had a problem with, then a DX 7, which I still have and never had a problem with.

And about three weeks ago I purchased a Airtronics SD-10G. I haven't flown it yet, but I have the Rx in a Extreme Flight Vanquish and I'm just waiting for some decent weather.

Jim

StevL

Way back when a Kraft six channel on 72.08mhz. The I left the hobby for many years and came back with a JR XP6102.

aarcuda

My Feedback: (30)

First Radio: Controlaire Single channel Mule transmitter with Controlaire Superenitive receiver, 27mhz, with what I remember was a Bonner escapement.
First R/C Plane: Carl Goldberg Jr. Falcon, price $4.95, silkspan covered with White/Red Aerogloss dope; Baby Bee .049, price 4.95.
Don't remember ever getting a full fuel run out of that equipment without early temination. 1st successful flight achieved after I purchased a Citizenship Galloping (steady) Ghost system, using one actuator for rudder only in a Mini-Mambo with a Golden Bee .049. Hand launched for a full fuel run and dead sticked it right back to the field! Can't really remember a happier day in my years in R/C.

aarcuda

My Feedback: (30)

First Radio: Controlaire Single channel Mule transmitter with Controlaire Superenitive receiver, 27mhz, with what I remember was a Bonner escapement.
First R/C Plane: Carl Goldberg Jr. Falcon, price $4.95, silkspan covered with White/Red Aerogloss dope; Baby Bee .049, price 4.95.
Don't remember ever getting a full fuel run out of that equipment without early temination. 1st successful flight achieved after I purchased a Citizenship Galloping (steady) Ghost system, using one actuator for rudder only in a Mini-Mambo with a Golden Bee .049. Hand launched for a full fuel run and dead sticked it right back to the field! Can't really remember a happier day in my years in R/C.

Crazy Legs

My first radio was an Orbit 10 channel reeds. I didn't really know what I was buying from my friend Gary Kropat in 1972, but when I told my hobby shop owner, Larry Davidson, how much I spent ($35.00) right away he asked me if it was a reeds radio. So he guessed it. Unfortunately, when I attempted to install it with three Bonner Transmite servos in a Dumas Evolution II it was like a brick with wings. My father felt bad for me and set me up with a loan ($350.00) so I could buy a new Kraft KP5 Sport Series which worked great for many years (I still have it). I used the Kraft until 1986 (14 years) until I built the ACE Silver 7 kit radio. I also built the new narrow band receiver they came out with in 1988 (it had two PC boards that hinged on some jumpers so it could be folded in half and fit in a little case), but then the FCC changed their bandwidth a bit overnight (narrow band was brand new and ace jumped the gun) and before I could put the new receiver in a plane it became obsolete! So Ace felt bad and gave me a partial refund on the price of the receiver kit if I mailed it back in. I switched to the ACE PRO-810 pre-built receiver and used that combination for quite a while. Then I bought a Micro-pro 8000 retrofit kit and used that radio all the way up to 2013. I love the Micro-pro 8000 and although the Spectrum DX-8 I have now has many more features they are not as easy to figure out as the Micro-pro. Typical Japanese instructions weren't very helpful, and the dorky "press this, hold that, and then press this" to set something up is for the birds!.

aarcuda

My Feedback: (30)

I know what you're saying about the Computer Radio's, sometimes more is just too much. I know back in the day we embraced servo reversing and even dual rates but today unless you're a computer tech, the myriad of features on the new computer radios have just about rendered them useless to the sport flyer (my opinion). I'm simplifying things moving forward, I 've sold my big complex scale models, retired my sport "big birds" and gas engines, have finally realized I will not be building the scale kits I've purchased over the years, and am focusing my efforts to a time gone by, vintage kits and small glow engines...I've come full circle so to speak.

nurseguy

Hobby Lobby (EK)5 channel 72.160 in the early '70's. HUGE receiver but the servos were small and cheap, $14.00. If I remember correctly, radio was $199.00.

EloyM

My Feedback: (194)

First radio: Mac 5 ground based transmitter, gas tube receiver, all homemade. Forget the brand - commercial escapement, probably Babcock. Plane was Mac's Robot, from
Air Trails magazine.
HARLEY CONDRA. I remember you, but only that you were handsome, intelligent and rich, but nothing else. Where and when did we know each other.
Eloy Marez, Orbit, Model Builder Magazine, RCM,. etc

aarcuda

My Feedback: (30)

Anything "ground-based" has to be old. I don't remember any of that equipment but I remember a fried of mine had such a system and as I remember it was expensive to operate because of the batteries. Seemed like they had to be 60 volt batteries or something? Don't know, we were just kids at the time and never did fly that system. I believe the radio he had at the time was an MRC 6 channel reed system in a plane called "Beam" or "The Beam".

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Babcpck Magic Wand tx with a Babcock Magic Carpet rx and a Babcock compound escapement. soldered up from a kit 1959.

John

Cara-Membuat-Email

My first first Graupner / Grundig 2-channel Variophon, nonproportional. it was very cool at the time.

EB66USAF

Controlair Mule single Chanel , Micro Avionics Green box with Wintronix servos Lots of Airman built the Heathkit when I was in Thiland in the 60s and flew
Lanier Arfs. Cutti
ng edge Technology.

grizzly59

Retired in 1999. My Brother bought me a JR 6102 to start me in RC.

AWorrest

My Feedback: (5)

The power system wasn’t particularly expense. My first transmitter was home built in the mid 50's. It was a Howard McEntee design that I housed in a 10-inch cube metal case. A wet-cell motorcycle battery was dropped from the top. It fed a dc-to-dc mechanical inverter that supplied the transmitter’s voltage. Using a motor cycle battery had the added benefit of providing enough weight to keep the transmitter upright as attached to top of the case was a nine-foot three-section steel antenna.

Allan

COL J

My first radio was a Micro Avionics 4 channel. Servos were nearly as big as a cigarette pack. Had in In a Senior Falcon.

aarcuda

My Feedback: (30)

Not exactly my first radio, as I indicated above, but these are the radios I used to dream of as a fifteen-year-old hoping someday I could fly radio control. Now I have finally acquired them and they are some of my treasures.

r ward

an Orbit 4 channel. about 1969, I was 14 and I bought it through my buddy's dad, who had a flying buddy that had one for sale. it was either that or have my buddy's dad build a Heath kit for me. he was a TV repairman and had all the proper electronic tools and brains to build that stuff and did all the time. at the time we lived about 6 blocks from a Heath kit store. I f I recall I got the radio pretty cheap because it need a new pot for one of the sticks and a servo. well my buddy's dad just replaced the pot with a Heath kit part and built me a Heath kit servo and I was in business. he donated an old Falcon 56 he had in his basement amongst the 100 or so other planes about 5 or 6 years later, I traded that radio and plane off to my cousin as part of the payment for a 1961 MGA when I think back, I should have kept the plane and radio,......the MGA had Lucas electrics.