Gary Morton

Posted by Bob Cotsford on 10/12/2020 23:21:54: Was the Microtrol the homebrew that used a massive PCB filling most of the back of the tx case? If so I built one from the book but can't honestly say that I had much luck with it, probably due to my home etched boards and cooking transistors. Both RM and RCM&E published systems iirc the RCM&E one started on 27MHz and a 35MHz update was published using revised coils and filters. Was it also sold as a kit under the name Viking? Indeed that was the design which I attempted to build and failed miserably! I really wish that I still had the home made PCB. The author has posted in this thread. I have two of his books, but I have never tried to build anything else ... but hopefully that will change soon. Mine is the second edition from 1974 (older than I thought).

Posted by John Wagg on 10/12/2020 20:50:39: DIY:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjBnFZGfsjI&feature=youtu.be Yes. Fascinating. I saw this very recently. Until I viewed it, I was unaware that radio control had moved to the UHF band. I thought that the way he made the case was very clever. I didn't know that this material even existed. I want to go old school to begin with (i.e. transistor encoder), however at some future time I will use an arduino to read the pots and generate the modulation waveform. I also want to go old school and construct the radio frequency parts of the TX and RX, as they are a bit of a challenge. As a kid 27MHz seemed a really high frequency, nowadays its well in the bandwidth of most low cost scopes. I've now ordered to RC gimbols(?)/joysticks from AliExpress. Thanks to interest by makers and robotics fans, the price of servos now really low and I have already bought a couple, although I have yet to use them. BTW, general question, if I were to post pictures and information on my own TX and RX, would that be on-topic for this forum, and if so under which catagory should I post? Thanks again.

Thank you everybody for the warm welcome! Thank you Peter for the multiple links (I will be sure to check them out), and the clarification of AM/FM. Since my interest was back in the 70's when I loaned books from the local library, I still have an interest in vintage equipment, and I see that there are parts of the forum dedicated to that, so I will browse further. I recently spent a few hours viewing YouTube videos of vintage RC electronics, and it has sparked a new interest . I recently spoke to a friend, who has a friend who has lots of back issues of RCM&E (nowhere near me). He is going to see if he can borrow some to scan articles of interest for me. If anyone could provide any specific dates of any TX/RX projects it would be most appreciated. I could pass this information to my friend to obtain the right issues.

Posted by Nick Cripps on 10/12/2020 14:19:28: Hi Gary, welcome to the forum. Section 24 of the BMFA Handbook gives a list of legal frequencies for model use in the UK. Thank you. Found it using google. I also found some other web pages which has given me a clearer picture. For some reason I assumed that 27MHz had been "discontinued", so was almost surprised to see that it still can be used, although I read that some clubs do not allow it for airplane use, due to possible interference I suspect.

Hello all, first posting, noob here! My interest in RC comes from when I was a child and I used to visit the local model shop in York (early to mid 70's). My interest is actually in electronics and not the actual model flying, in fact I have never operated a RC model. I wasn't able to afford anything as a kkid , but things are different now . Back in the 70's RCM&E used to publish electronic schematics of radio control TX and RX. I used to browse the magazine to have a quick look. These circuits have always fascinated me and I do actually have a few books. I also have some of the R.H.Warring books I used to get out of my local library back in the day. Back in the 70's I tried to build a 5 channel "Microtrol"7MHz AM TX and RX, but it was a complete failure, because I didn't have the knowledge or tools to diagnose. Now I am retired I fancy building some RC electronics and putting them in a model of some kind. Sadly I didn't keep the home made PCB, but I did keep the tiny RX, which I tested a few years ago only to find out instead of using a NPN transistor I used a PNP. No wonder it never worked! My question is about change in legal frequencies. Back then equipment was 27MHz AM. I have found a website which was helpful. I see that 27MHz can still be used (albeit not for aircraft), but there is now 35MHz, 40MHz and UHF. Out of interest when did these new frequencies become legal/appear? For each frequency which mode (AM or FM) is allowed and/or preferred. Note: I'm not interested in UHF. Did RCM&E every publish any designs for 35MHz or 40MHz? I'd like to find a suitable design in order to build my own TX and RX, visit the local model shop (now Huntingdonshire) to buy a model plane, and next year I will find a local club to learn how to fly. Many thanks for any answers.