If you're willing to BUILD one, there COULD be a BETTER one available...

Dear Sea157:

The PIPE Here once more...and even though I HAVE mentioned to Gordon Anderson, the "brains" behind the magnificent MICROSTAR RC transmitter encoder at http://mstar2k.com/ , about creating a "standalone" version of the built-in digital tachometer function that's ALREADY in the MicroStar encoder, there IS another "do-it-yourself" digital tach project that DOES have me interested, and if you're not the electronics project-building type of RCer it IS something you might want have someone else build up for you...

...is what I saw at http://home.t-online.de/home/cord.johannmeyer/ , the Pic-Tacho digital tachometer!

The main feature that got MY eyes all lit up about THAT tach was the ONE RPM RESOLUTION capability...MUCH better than the TNC unit ever had, even the "PT10S" model I wanted to get for myself earlier in 2004, just as that tach was going OUT of production.

A Turkish RCer named Osman Dalaman has had a build thread on one of these at http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205136 ... for myself I'd have to have someone else program the main PIC programmable chip to operate the tach, and finding someone who COULD do that for you might tbe the toughest part...but where a few of my fellow members of the Yahoo MicroPro/MicroStar RC radio user group, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MP8K/ , seem to have the "programming knowledge" to even make a firmware programming upgrade to even the LONG out-of-production Ace RC MicroPro RC transmitter, someone THERE might be able to do the programming of that chip if needed!

I'm seriously thinking about trying to build one of these later this year (especially IF I could get the PIC chip already programmed somewhere!)...so, "just to let you know", people ARE working on newer design digital readout tachs that will be as good, and even BETTER, than the old TNC unit!!!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!