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Graupner Variophon S

Posted: 21 Mar 2020, 16:47
by Phil_G
Always wanted one of these. When I was a kid my Dad use to take us to Firth Park boating pond in Sheffield to sail his Aerokits Sea Commander with his homebrew carrier-wave valve radio. We never had any success in controlling the boat, the radio worked fine on land but never on water. At the pond we frequently met a bloke with a sailing yacht controlled by this space-age looking radio - beautifully controlled and perfectly reliable. As a kid I was so envious! Since then I've always hankered after a set just like his, and here we are at last :D

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Its just a transmitter and appears not to work so this one will have a Reeduino fitted and will be liberated from its shelf for a new life down at the field (once we're allowed down the field again!)

Its a 10 channel set with aileron, elevator, rudder & throttle on the sticks (8 channels) plus a pair of buttons for channels 9 & 10. I'll use one button for trim (Tiny-6 style) and the other one for the S/C escapement emulation.

I've also acquired a boxed RCS Guidance System in very nice condition, with its original RCS superhet receiver. I'd not realised how huge the RCS receiver is, about 3" x 2" and an inch deep. Massive by any standards! This one will remain standard as I'm already flying an identical 2.4g Guidance System. When I've a mo I'll see if it still works and fettle it back to life if not:

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Re: Graupner Variophon S

Posted: 21 Mar 2020, 21:21
by Mike_K
Hi Phil

Sorry, I didn't know you were after a Variophon, I have a spare one that is loaned to BMFA Buckminster.

It'll be great when you've converted your Variophon S, you can then join Pete Christy and me flying them, they certainly make people look twice when you turn up at the field with one! If yours is the same as mine (and I think Pete's), you'll need to clean all the switch contacts, which are a bugger to get at, but it is worth it in the end. I started out with mode 2 and I removed the "cross-shaped gate" that stops you selecting aileron and elevator at the same time, but in the end, I went back to the intended mode 1, ailerons on the right and elevator on the left and just practised heaps on the simulator (and had you buddy box me at Ponty).
Variophon.jpg
Variophon_internals.jpg
The RCS Guidance MK2 superhet Rx was quite large, but the MK2 super-regen nd the MK3 Rx were quite small, they did improve over time. I don't have an MK1 Rx to see how big they were, but they look enormous in the adverts.
RCS_MK3.jpg
Hopefully, we'll get some fly-in's sometime later this year to see the Variophon.

Cheers

Mike

Re: Graupner Variophon S

Posted: 22 Mar 2020, 09:09
by tiptipflyer
Congratulations to the Variophon transmitter Phil.
I still remember very well, when I had my original set at age 14 to 16. I used it in my first modells, Graupner Amateur and Amigo 2 and several boats.
Of course I have a converted one (35MHz, 12c reeds encoder) and use it regularly since several years to fly Consul, Amateur, Amigo 1+2, Taurus, Floride etc.
Because the original transistor radio, the case came from, is very rare to see, I attached a picture of it again.
Amateur10S.JPG
MotoBoy.JPG
Cheers
Frank

Re: Graupner Variophon S

Posted: 22 Mar 2020, 14:24
by tiptipflyer
And also it has a hidden switch in the aerial socket.
If the aerial is not connected, the transmitter will not work.

Re: Graupner Variophon S

Posted: 24 Mar 2020, 07:24
by Wayne_H
Phil_G wrote: 22 Mar 2020, 13:53 ...., I quite like the idea of an Amigo, that would be a really nice combination ;) ........
Amigo + reeds = very pleasant, lots of fun!
I recommend the combination :D

Re: Graupner Variophon S

Posted: 02 Oct 2020, 17:37
by stuart mackay
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Just completed the Retromod Reeduino conversion using FrSky XHT (D mode) powered by 2 cell Li-Ion of the Variophon 10S.
Thanks to the plastic outer case, it uses an internal aerial which gives about 90 paces at reduced range check power on the ground with the original twig mounted.
I used channel 9 control with a centre- biased elevator trim toggle which works in the same sense as the elevator and channel 10 is the global trim button.
The battery is mounted underneath the paxolin cover of original fuseboard and I refitted the other PCB on the other side to restore some weight to the otherwise stripped out Tx.
Very pleased with the result.
Thanks as ever to PhilG for parts & perspiration and Mike K for inspiration!