Mode Zero

Hi John

Were Heathkit radios American ? I don’t remember many uk adverts

Jonathan G6CVC

Wavemeter wrote: ↑09 Mar 2018, 15:08Were Heathkit radios American ? I don’t remember many uk adverts

Look here: http://www.rchalloffame.org/Manufacturer/Heathkit/
And: http://www.heathkit-museum.com/hvmhistory.shtml

I would imagine a Kraft single-stick from the late Sixties might be viewed as unusual, although maybe not oddball:
It's a pretty much standard system, other than being what I think is the first single stick for retail. Some of the Kraft ads in the magazines of that time showed this transmitter.

Marc

This isn't so much oddball as it is rare. I've seen some of these recently on the 'bay. I found this one advertised in a model magazine, of all places:

I think this one is an oddball. I know RS made quite a few two-stick systems but I sort of accidentally found this one at a swap meet:
I'm not sure how well the color will show here, but in the sun it's definitely in your face Orange

A little story behind the next one...

Since I'm an Exec Council member of the Vintage Radio Control Society, I received a phone call from a man near the southern side of Los Angeles. He found my name and number on the VR/CS website, and asked if I'd help him sift through his father's collection of vintage models. After most of the day sorting, he asked how much I'd like for my time. I assured him there would be no bill for helping him out. He rummaged around the back of his garage, picked up a box and handed it to me, saying "thank you and I hope you like this." I was quite more than surprised upon opening it and thanked him profusely. I didn't even know 'w s deans' made a single-stick, and here it was, complete with receiver, servos and a dead battery:
On my monitor, it shows up as more blue, but it's actually a very nice turquoise, in very good condition.

Finally, here is one of my favorite manufacturers of radio systems:
This one was actually rescued from the bin, although I have no idea why it was there. Only problem I see, is the "ACE R/C" badge is missing. While not necessarily an oddball, I thought it looked good. I do know ACE advertised a single-stick for left-handed fliers, with the stick on the left and the other switches, meter and so on toward the right side. Who knows, some day...

I set a FROG 150 next to these various transmitters for an idea on size.

Looks like I'll be needing some of Phil's arduino boards

By the way, on the other site there was a thread on making badges and nameplates. Is a similar thread available here?

Also, I just remembered, J Mendoza mentioned how Tobe said the Bonner sticks worked, like the one on that Deans transmitter. Yes, they are stiff, and on this one it seems the elevator direction is more so than other Bonner assemblies. Sort of reminds me the old joke about how you can tell if a bomber pilot in the Second War flew B-24s...his left arm was twice the size of his right I'll get a good workout with that Deans. I have a Bonner Digimite 8 and it's just as reluctant to move. How the trims worked is also odd...the trim levers move the stick in the direction of the desired trim, instead of moving the main pot or a trim pot.

Here's my Ace MicroPro 8000 single stick:



It dates from 1995 and is a computer system that even had a computer interface for downloading and uploading to a PC (running DOS!) back then! This one uses a FrSky "hack" module, and you've seen it at Ponte. Here's the "standard" version (on 459 MHz, naturally!)



The twin stick version features "crossed trims", so the trims for the RH stick are on the LH side, and vice versa. Both also have an auto-trim button, which re-centers the sticks to wherever you are holding them when pressed - and at a programmable slew rate as well!

When I was building sets with mechanical trims, I always turned the sticks around so that the trims were nearest the edge of the case:



Much better ergonomically!

More single sticks:



And a Talisman UHF that I must have set up when it was made, but had forgotten all about!




Don't ask me what all the levers do! It was obviously built to special order, and has some very strange mixers built in! Luckily, they can all be turned off!

Finally, my Digimite-8:




Still working! And yes, the trims are odd, as they move the stick centre, but not the end points! If it had moved the end points, the servos would have stalled when the linear rack outputs hit the end! Servo reversing was achieved by simply removing the servo, turning it 180 degrees and putting it back! They were completely symmetrical!



--
Pete

Does anyone know how the single stick knob on the World Engines set comes apart? - it is not obvious and I don't want to force it.