2doggies

Hello:

I wanted to tell about when I was a young man and very interested in airplanes and RC especially. I guess it was 1957 and I was 9 years old. My Dad took me to an airport (where I later learned to fly in High School) and there were these two guys with an old car with wires hooked to the battery running to a big box on the ground with a long antenna coming out of the top. There was a model airplane with these two things that wiggled on the top of the wing. I now know it was galloping ghost rudders. One guy had a small box in his hand and it had some knobs on it. The plane took off and flew away, out of site! The guy with the box looked at his watch and after a while he turned the knobs and pretty soon the plane came back and he landed it. I was fascinated by all of this.
When I was in Jr high school, there was a hobby shop in town that had a Babcock RC transmitter and receiver and the owner sold it to me for $15. It was a tube tx and rx. The tx had 135 volt plate, 1 1/2 volt filament, and 15 volt bias batteries, the rx had two tubes and a relay output. The tx was 27 Mhz and used a constant carrier with a tone when the only button was pushed. I used a compound excapement and a throttle escapement, both had to be rubber band powered. I flew this in a big (5' wing span) plane with a veco 35? I think. Later I built a transistor single channel rx and used the tube tx for it also. It flew in a Schoolboy with a .15 COX with throttle. Worked well. One button push on the tx was left turn, two pushes and hold was right turn and three pushes was throttle change. This worked on the bench all the time, but when the plane was in the air, You might get the result you wanted but usually it was a surprise. AH, the good-old-days! I still have this equipment, it still works, but propo is SO much more enjoyable to fly.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this story about the RC of the past!

w8ye

My Feedback: (16)

I went through all this also back then

Had all ACE radios that came as kits (assembled them myself). Had a big box transmitter with the 9' sectioned whip with the little remote hand held box. 27.255 MegaCycles. That was before they discovered Hertz?

Came across a Citizenship 465 outfit. It didn't work as well as the Ace. Also had a Berkley XFG1 gas tube outfit that was impossible to keep tuned.

I'm 2 yrs older than you

jcw111

This is very interesting to me and also brings back old memories. Had much the same experience with most everything that was available during the 50's. W8eye mentioned the McNab 465 radio. Aside the fact that it was heavy and big I did fly my Live Wire trainer with it. The problem with the darn thing was the sigma relay which was a bear to set up. I read an article about adding a transistor in the circuit to boost the current to the relay. I picked up a PNP transistor at Radio Shack and wired it in and boy what a difference it made. No more sensitive relay problems. Flew the heck out of it with few problems. Also had a system made in UK called ED. This also worked well. Anyway could go on and on. By the way I think I trump all you guys as to age. Will be 80 in July and still fly everything I can build including turbines. Reflex as good as ever.

Jim Whitney

CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

I guess that I got in on the end of the tube era in 1964. Mine had B batteries for transmitter and receiver, 135 volts and 22 1/2 volts. Plus an A supply of 1 1/2 each. Then a separate 3 volts for the escapement, which was triggered by a mini-relay.

Got a older tube receiver once for next to nothing. Per poop sheet it required a B supply of 135 volts. I wrote to dealer on East coast, and he said it gave OK service down to 85 volts on B side. Did this as our only local supplyer of B batteries was a Radio place, and he could get the Burgess U-30, a 45 volt battery very easily. I then ganged up two of them together to make 90 volts, and would run until it got to 85 volts. Seems at 84 volts got nothing, zero. I mention this as found an old dead U-30 in glove compartment last month. Now where did that come from?



Wm.

Zor

Hi guys,

I can share all your old times experience.

That is a long time ago

Zor