Your first radio?...

[aeronca52]

And speaking of sensitive...My Dad had all kinds of radio problems flying a Berkley Sea Cat which was painted silver. Seems the silver pigment gave the radio reception fits. Finally smite the earth. I still have some of the large pieces. A very graceful looking model.

[MadMonkey]

Originally Posted by aeronca52

Mad Monkey-Attack 4-I still have 8 Attack electric receivers and used them frequently. (I quit counting how many Tx's I have) If you remember these rx's were for electric models and had a BEC built in within the rx case. Way ahead of their time. They went out of favour 'cause several magazine columnists thought the BEC idea was too far fetched to work and said so in their columns. And the mindless herds followed.

Huh.... you know, I remember something like that, but it's been a long time so I don't know for sure! I started flying around 1995ish. My second radio was a Hitec Focus 6... now THAT was a big jump in capabilities. Funny how I wouldn't even consider one nowadays

[billmod12]

Here is my Dads first radio and plane 1953 and my first radio and plane 1960

[50+AirYears]

Wow! Are those Dmeco (DeBolt) servos along with those old recievers? I havent seen those in years,

[billmod12]

You Bet!!! those were never used, they were tested but the plane they were in, a Debolt Champ, was a fly away.They worked on the ground and when my dad hand launched it, it flew straight as an arrow till you could not see it anymore. It was found 12 years later hanging in a mans family room.

[EpoweredRc]

Okay here are some radios.


The 3 channel one stick is just like the one i had with my first powered glider strofoam plane.

The red one is a single stick from in the 1960's when my father got into the hobby. 1969 autally he just said he thinks. along with a mini X. not sure what year it was used.

The radio beside my DX7 is a heli computor radio from around 1993 or so. WOW. Only thing I wish they had done from back then that don't now is put the LCD screen on top of the radio...

There is also a Futaba from the 1990's when I started flying and a Jr radio we used a lot in the 90's look close you will see there Am ones, yes we flew on Am's for a while then in about 1995 I belive went to just FM

[chrisudy]

Tower Hobbies System 500 (Silver) on channel 40. It was late 1980's, if I remember correctly.

[PDARR]

First off my first radio was bought in 1973 when I came home from Nam. A World Engines Blue Max semi kit. I flew that baby for about a year or so then I purchased a Cirrus 6. But I remember going with my dad when he flew control line speed and jets, then my grandfather when he flew R/C and it took two people to carry the transmitter from the car. I still have my grandfathers AMA number (250). He knew personally all the guys that made or hobby, electronically, what it is today. I saw many many fly aways when I was a kid. Tried to run them down but my legs even at that age couldn't go fast enough. We have a great hobby fellas, weather it is expensive or not.

[50+AirYears]

One problem that sometimes caused problems was somehting called "Swamping!" Basically, the transmitter outputs were so stong, that they could overpower the reciever if the two were close together, such as when bench testing your installation. Very annoying. Worst I ever had was an old Otarian micro miniature (meaning slightly smaller than a matchbook. With a Citizenship single channel radio and Babcock SE2M escapement, the system woould swamp within 6 feet when the transmitter was keyed.

[Tom Sawyer]

1980s Futaba Challenger-still use it today but I still havent flown the EZ Sportsman my dad originally bought it for!

(never did join a club to learn to fly it but went electric and self taught because I could never get the sportsmans K&B .45 engine to run properly!)

[gramps2161]

Coming in when I did I missed all the fun and excitement of fly aways and 2 man radios. Kinda nice to say I had it easy. My first radio was the garbage that came with the Sky fly 2 then the SC and it's radio. Then I got a Futaba 6ex, and a little while ago I picked up a nice slightly used Futaba 7c. I have been very happy with these radio's and I have not had any issues with either of them except for the neck strap coming undone on the 6ex while I was flying that was a fun time.
I remember the radios my uncle had when I was a kid funny when I think back that he sometimes didn't come home with the plane I guess the radio gear was the problem. I never asked where the plane was as he was not himself he was kinda grumpy.

[quorneng]

My first RC - a Macgregor TX & RX kit and a home made case.

The TX - note the huge battery compartments for the 96v HT and 1.5v heater batteries.

The RX with five of those new fangled transistors!

It was used with an Elmic Conquest rubber driven escapement.

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by quorneng

My first RC - a Macgregor TX & RX kit and a home made case.
Attachment 132965
The TX - note the huge battery compartments for the 96v HT and 1.5v heater batteries.
Attachment 132966
The RX with five of those new fangled transistors!
Attachment 132964
It was used with an Elmic Conquest rubber driven escapement.

Wow! What kind of vaccum tube is that? It is amazing to think how important vacuum tubes where back then. They were in everything.
VP

[old grump]

My first was an ACE single channel 27 mgh,back in the 50s .You had too build it . Sometimes it actually worked! Then a KRAFT GOLD 4 channel two stick That worked , and it was ONLY $350 .That was a big step forward in the RC hobby. Now it's Futaba and HITEC . I'M still flying almost every day out in back of my house. Retired &79 and RC is more fun than ever. THE OLD GRUMP

[CHELLIE]

My first RC Radio was a Sanwa 2 channel radio that came with a COX plane, it was a low wing foam plane with a cox 049 eng. the plane did not last very long, i got it up in the air at the flying field, the plane was headed towards the rest rooms, i pulled full up and right turn, made a perfect stall turn, then it crashed into the rest rooms roof I used that same radio and gear and built a Wander 2 meter glider, and continued my RC Education with a Glider, I could handel the glider with out to much problems at first that was way over 20 years ago and the addiction continues Take care, Chellie

[swapdaddyxx1]

Still have my first, a single channel citizen ship Mule,bought used, a a little receiver ordered from an ad in one of the model mags, and I believe the escapement was also citizen ship.
CB radio had just gotten popular, and you could actually hear some of the conversations when the receiver was on. The escapement was actually acting as a speaker!
was installed in a semi scale Midwest aeronca,but never flew because the cb interferance was always there. Still have the aeronca also, as well as another one someone else built that I purchased later, and a still new unbuilt kit.
Also have Blue max setup I purchased and never used.

[50+AirYears]

I remember reading about skip, but hadn't ever experienced it till one day I spliced an ear bud into the output of a Pioneer reciever, and started listening to a conversation. Picked up a few clues, including one speaker saying he just got to the Big Sur, that led me to believe the speakers were in California. Hot stuff for somebody in North Central Ohio. Led me to buy a Knight Kit multi band short wave radio reciever kit. Had that thing for over 20 years, till the irreplaceable tubes went bad. Later in the USAF, I heard another example. I was in Northeat Brasil trying to contact our headquarter site in Brasilia. Had to work through 2 other ground stations. A bit over 900 miles. One problem was we were being swamped by, and were interfereing with ground approach at Wake island in the Pacific, almost 4000 miles away. By the time I got my last job, I was already prepared for the odd ball results I got when doing RFI and EMI testing.

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by CHELLIE

My first RC Radio was a Sanwa 2 channel radio that came with a COX plane, it was a low wing foam plane with a cox 049 eng. the plane did not last very long, i got it up in the air at the flying field, the plane was headed towards the rest rooms, i pulled full up and right turn, made a perfect stall turn, then it crashed into the rest rooms roof I used that same radio and gear and built a Wander 2 meter glider, and continued my RC Education with a Glider, I could handel the glider with out to much problems at first that was way over 20 years ago and the addiction continues Take care, Chellie

I remember the Cox-Sanwa kits. I used to drool over the ads in Flying Models. Never got one though, instead I got a 2 channel Futaba radio with a steering wheel. I used it with a Jomac Jerobee car and truck. I still have the radio and it works.
VP

[50+AirYears]

Had one of those 2 channel jobbies. Was about to throw it out the door, when I saw an article in RCM on how to convert it to a single stick by using some DuBro hardware and some piano wire. Previously, I'd had trouble switching from elevator on RH stick to elevator on LH stick.

[Heli Jim]

my first TWO radios were both HEathkit's

the first, my dad bought at an auction and it had servos about the size of a
pack of cigarettes. I bought a newer Heathkit in the 70's

[Gonnacrash]

OS Pixie.......boy were those the days
S/C "Spirit".........they wore a McCoy 19 out.

Don - Basehor,Ks

[Rhea]

This was a kit. I thought I would be the “first kid on the block” to have an ALL TRANSISTOR, tone modulated, receiver so I built the latest Kraft receiver kit. I added a tone modulator to the Babcock transmitter. It worked great ‘til the plane flew away one day. I went back to the tube receiver.

David

[Grasshopper]

My first radio was a used Kraft 4 channel. I build an RCM basic trainer from a kit with an OS .15 on it. Thought I hit the big time when I moved up to a Futaba 4 channel. I had the Futaba on a Sig Kiwi that I also built from a kit with a K&B .40 on it.

[Victory Pete]

Originally Posted by Rhea

This was a kit. I thought I would be the “first kid on the block” to have an ALL TRANSISTOR, tone modulated, receiver so I built the latest Kraft receiver kit. I added a tone modulator to the Babcock transmitter. It worked great ‘til the plane flew away one day. I went back to the tube receiver.

David

Hi
How were vacuum tubes installed and powered in a plane? Tubes need very high DC voltages to operate.
VP

[50+AirYears]

Some earlier tubes were mounted in regular tube sockets. Later, some small glass envelope pinless tubes were developed such as the 1AG4 and the RK-61 gas tube that had fine wires comming out through the envelope. Some of these came with a warning about not touching the leads with the hands because skin oils could work their way through the glass/wire interface and interfere with the correct tube operation.

These tube type receivers were usually powered with a 3 Volt battery for the filament (heater) and one or two 22.5 Volt batteries for the plate. These usually drove a relay, so you also needed another 3 Volt battery to operate the escapement or early servo. If you were really masochistic, and played with pulse proportional, you might have 2 three Volt bateries to drive a motorised servo back and forth from the relay. A frequent operation at the field was tuning the receiver, since the tubes tended to drift with temperature. You also had to watch the position of the receiver in the plane, because engine vibration could affect the receiver and relay.

Tube type Transmitters could have as much as 135Volts for the plate and another extra 3 to 6 volts for a bias Voltage. Going to transistors eliminated a lot of batteries, and also reduced the mathematics for circuit design.

Here's a sample of some tube circuits from 1955. High tech stuff then.