The St. Louis Admirals R/C Model Boat Club UU http://stlouisadmirals.com UU BROADSIDE 28 September 2020 Commodore – Jane Benefield (636) 447 - 4016 Secreta ry – Bob Keeler (314) 434 - 8640 HH Vice - Commodore – Kent Morgan ( 314) 892 - 8669 Asst. Secretary – John Ziemer (636) 566 - 8810 Asst. Vice - Commodore – John Ziemer (636) 566 - 8810 Editor – Jane Benefield (636) 447 - 4016 Treasurer – Lin Blaszkiewicz (314) 843 - 4995 NOW HEAR THIS YOUR COMMODORE FROM THE BRIDGE I would like to advi s e and urge everyone to take care of yourself and your families and hopefully everyone is doing as well as can be expected considering the coronavirus issue. My hope is that everyone is using this time to get back into to work on what you enjoy most, i.e. ship building, rea ding, etc. or just enjoy watching nature. Every organization has encountered this difficult coronavirus issue … these are trying times – so please stay safe. Emil Wolfshoefer just called me, and he was in the hospital for a couple of days but is now ba ck at home recuperating, we wish him well. Scheduled Events Wednesday, 7 October 2020 Cancelled Monthly Meeting Wednesday, 4 November 2020 Cancelled Monthly Meeting Wednesday, 2 December 2020 Gathering if possible Wednesday, 6 January 2021 Monthly Meeting??? NOTES The following Gathering s are suspended until further notice : Prior to our 5PM monthly 1 st Wednesday - of - the - month dinner - meeting, sailing is from 2 - 4 PM at our usual St. Ferdinand Pond, Florissant, MO – weather permitting. Dinner is set for 5:0 0 PM at our Handel’s Restaurant , 599 St. Denis, Florissant, MO 63033m followed by our 7:00 PM meeting at our meeting place at the Old St. Ferdinand Shrine , the Old School House , 1 St. Francois Street, Florissant, MO. The following Gatherings are suspended until further no t i c e: 3 rd Sunday every month (2 - 4 pm) , March thru November: Sailing at St Ferdinand Pond -- weather permitting. Gratefully, Jane Commodore ************************************************************************************* John Ziemer , thank you ever so much for providing us with this interesting article “The Birth of Radio Control” on behalf of Group B , for September 2020 newsletter. Th e Birth of Radio Control By Johnny Ziemer The small unmanned boat demonstrated by Nikola Tesla . In 1898, Tesla demonstrated a radio - controlled boat (U.S. Patent 613,809 — Method of an Apparatus for Controlling Mechanism of Moving Vehicle or Vehicles). ... While the crowd thought that Tesla was controlling the boat with his mind, he was sending signals to the mechanism using a small box with control le vers on the side. In 1909 a demonstration of radio control was used on a torpedo. In 1917 The first use of radio control was successfully on an aircraft. In 1922 the US installed radio control gear on the obsolete US Navy battleship USS Iowa so it could be used as a target ship and was sunk in gunnery exercise in March 1923. In the 1930s the Soviet Army used remotely controlled tanks against Finland. Also, in the 1930s the United Kingdom developed the radio - controlled Queen Bee , a remotely controlled u nmanned Tiger Moth aircraft for a fleet's gunnery firing practice. The Queen Bee was superseded by the similarly named Queen Wasp , a purpose - built, target aircraft of higher performance. During the World War II radio control was further developed, primarily by the Germans who used it in a number of missile and bomb projects. And radio command guided anti - aircraft missiles. Both the British and US also developed radio control systems for s imilar tasks Radio control systems of this era were generally electromechanical in nature, using small metal "fingers" or "reeds" with different resonant frequencies each of which would operate one of a number of different relays when a particular frequenc y was received. The relays would in turn then activate various actuators acting on the control surfaces of the missile. The controller's radio transmitter would transmit the different frequencies in response to the movements of a control stick; these were typically on/off signals. The radio gear used to control the rudder function on the American - developed “Azon” guided ordnance, however, was a fully proportional control, with the "ailerons", solely under the control of an on - board gyroscope, serving merely to keep the ordnance from rolling. These systems were widely used until the 1960s, when the increasing use of solid - state systems greatly simplified radio control. The electromechanical systems using reed relays were replaced by similar electronic ones, and the continued miniaturization of electronics allowed more signals, referred to as control channels , to be packed into the same package. While early control systems might have two or three channels using amplitude modulation, modern systems include 20 o r more channels using frequency modulation. The first general use of radio control systems in models started in the early 1950s with single - channel self - built equipment. We have come a long way from the analog control that was used as recent as the 50’s. More recently, high - end hobby systems have come on the market that provide a computerized digital bit - stream signal to the receiving device. However, loss of transmission during control has become more common, in part because of the ever more wireless soci ety. Some more modern FM - signal receivers can, thanks to the use of more advanced computer chips in them, be made to lock onto and use the individual signal characteristics of a particular RC transmitter's emissions alone, without needing a special "code" transmitted along with the control information . Thus, insuring a more stable control session. In the early 2000s , 2.4 gigahertz spread spectrum RC control systems have become increasingly utili zed in control of model boats, cars and planes . Now, these 2.4 GHz systems are being made by most radio manufacturers. Some manufacturers even offer conversion kits for older digital 72 MHz receivers and radios. As the emerging multitude use of 2.4 GHz band spread spectrum RC systems they usually use a "frequency - agile" mode of operations, that do not stay on one set frequency any longer while in use, the older "exclusive use of a frequency " provisions at model controlling sites made a frequ ency managing system mandatory . Remote control military applications are typically not radio control in the direct sense, directly operating flight control surfaces and propulsion power settings, but instead take the form of instructions sent to a complete ly autonomous , computerized automatic pilot . Instead of a "turn left" signal that is applied until the aircraft is flying in the right direction, the system sends a single instruction that says "fly to this point". A couple of outstanding examples of remo te radio control of a vehicle are the Mars Exploration Rovers such as Sojourner . Today radio control is used in industry for such devices as overhead cranes and switchyard locomotives . Radio - controlled devices are used for such purposes as inspections, an d special vehicles for disarming of bombs . Industrial remote controls work differently from most consumer products. When the receiver receives the radio signal which the transmitter sent, it checks it so that it is the correct frequency and that any securi ty codes match. Once the verification is complete, the receiver acts on the command. Notes: some of this information was provided by Google and Wikipedia. A Few Extended Thoughts About the Two Earlier Interesting Articles In This Newsletter by Mich ael Benefield (on added behalf of Group B, 24 Sept 2020) Two very interesting articles by Johnny Ziemer, The Birth of Radio Control , and Jonathan Kinghorn, Model Yachting Before The Advent of Radio Control . Commodore Jane had the foresight to pair them i n this newsletter. After having read them, several thoughts came to mind that linked the two articles conceptually: adapt aspects of modern radio control boating as originally conceived by Tesla to select classic free sailing pond boats today, where pond boat originalism is not a salient factor. Pond boats in their originality is rightfully a passion among some aficionados where beauty and function remain from the end of the 19 th Century into the turn of the 20 th Century classical design period and beyond … over 100 years ago. In Johnny Ziemer’s exceptional article, while Tesla was engineering radio control systems in the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, Pond Boating, or free sailing … sometimes thought of as th e ” purest form of sailing ” … was a popular Western - World avocation in the same era as articulated in Jonathan Kinghorn’s free - sailing, pond - boat’s exceptional article. This was particularly the case in England, France, Germany, and the United States. Adul t aficionados of free sailing in England and other parts of Europe continue today to restore, refurbish, and redesign old pond boats, much as has captured Jonathan’s attention with his Wasp . Another notable example is Grove Pond Yachts (grovepondyachts.co m) owner Cliff Grove, who innovates with different pond boat hull designs and steering mechanisms, such as the wind vane rather than screw - gauge method or the Braine - quadrant approach (more in a moment) mentioned in Jonathan ’ s article. Cliff Grove in his workshop at Haughton Castle, Northumberland northeast region, England. He is devoted to preserving the spirit of all free - sailing pond - boat interests. Cliff Grove and His Workshop, Haughton Castle Cliff Grove’s Carved and Reinforced Hull Approach to Free Sailing Pond Boats In the photo below, o bserve the smooth and graceful hull lines of Cliff Grove’s carved pond boat -- with minimal longitudinal water - resistance from waterline down to the keel, yet with weatherly lateral beam and keel stability enhancement -- a hull with classic speed and beauty in mind.