General control line discussion > How I got my start in the hobby

Some Unusual History

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dennis lipsett:

--- Quote from: FLOYD CARTER on September 19, 2019, 01:02:24 PM ---Phil.  A 1970 Orbit 10 channel reed outfit might have been a later revision of my original circuit.  I'm not sure who helped Bob Dunham with later electronic design.  Bob was not capable of electronic design.

For those who might have known Bob Dunham, he died of lung cancer.  He smoked almost constantly.

One of my own early home brew R/C outfits was a 10 channel reed system with a very large transmitter.  It was often necessary to weekly re-tune the audio generators in the transmitter because they would drift slightly, and the reed bank in the receiver was very narrow-band.  Just a few cycles off frequency and the reed would not vibrate!  It was common to double 1 batteries labolose one or more channels while flying due to circuit drifting.  Crashing in those days was common due to radio problems.

--- End quote ---

In 1967 I was at the far east nationals in  Tachakawa AFB Japan. It was an armed service  contest with a chance to go to the nationals in the USA. Bob Dunham and Zell Ritchie were the C.D.'S of the Meet. I was still flying single channel R.C with an upgrade to Royal servos and combined with a receiver and 3 servos and 11double A batteries soldered in the appropriate voltages for each function made for an interesting heavy set up. Transmitter was a Hinode which had a system that beeped every time time you keyed the button. Made it easy to count out the pulses to get the right control movement
   To the point I had 2 really informative chats with both Bob and Zell and they were gracious enough to spend time answering my inquisitive questions. Mr Dunham asked why I did not have an Orbit outfit and I had to answer that I would love to have one but at $435.Dollars plus an additional $35.00 for the 4th servo precluded my owning one of his radios until I left the service and got a good paying job as the service was starvation wages. That was when Orbit made the 3+1 analog radio
I never did get one as I built a few World Engine radios, Heath and Royal  also when I got out.
But I fondly remember the 2 of them and their enthusiasm  for the hobby.

FLOYD CARTER:
Possibly not many are familiar with the name Bob Dunham.  But since I breought it up, and there were responses,  I'll fill in a bit more.

Bob Dunham, of course, was best known for starting and operating Orbit R/C products.

He got into R/C, but he was first a C/.L flyer.  I first met Bob in 1947.  We were both charter members of a new model club called "South Gate Skylarks", located in (what other?) South Gate, CA, a suburb of south Los Angeles.  Another charter member was Tom Lay Jr.  Tom's dad and uncle were C/L flyers, too. Tom Lay Jr. was just 9 or 10 at the time, but he could fly control line.

Anyway, Bob Dunham flew mostly speed models in the late '40s, and did OK at stunt.  In the mid '50s, Bob Dunham and I lived in Downey, CA about the time he began Orbit R/C.  He got me to look at a design for R/C receiver and transmitter.  I made some changes to his schematic diagram and I then built a receiver for testing.  His transmitter design seemed solid, so I didn't try to change it.

By the time I had finished college and I moved away, I lost contact with Bob.  When I finally wrote a letter many years later, his wife wrote back about his passing.
 

Larry Renger:
For about $120, now, you can buy a park flyer that would blow any of that stuff away....in spades! We have come a long way.

bob whitney:
in 1966 Bob Dunham and John Brodbeck were the C/D'sat the Tachakawa meet.after the contest was over Bob was putting on a show and I talked him into letting me fly his plane that was quite a thrill. .Brodbeck asked me why I was using S/T's I told him that was all I could get. when I got back to Hawaii there was a K&B 15 and 29R waiting for me.  both great guys

Bill Kuhl:
I started flying RC with Controlaire 6 channel, it was outdated at the time but my father purchased used equipment for me to start on. It was reliable until it failed and flew away but plane was returned. Moved to World Engines Blue Max proportional. I still have the reeds.

Bill Kuhl

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