Mode Zero

A chance conversation with Dave Wilshere yesterday when talking about whooshy jet things, found this tiny 4 channel Talisman on its way to Swaffham!

Dave told me it was built for him when he was a teenager so he could fit it under his jacket when riding his motorcycle from Watford to Ivinghoe Beacon for slope soaring! Looks like it is on 27 Meg, despite the pennant!

Pound coin added to lend scale, and now over to Mr Christy who will, I am sure, know so much more about this limited run Transmitter!

Heh! Heh! Yes, even the standard Talisman transmitters were pretty small, but I do recall some really tiny ones being made.

The man behind them was Peter Valentine, of Lark helicopter fame. The clue is the blue, vinyl clad case. PV bought a sheet or two of the stuff specifically for his own use, as he had a thing about blue cases! If it has a blue case, it can be traced back to him!

Mick Wilshere would have done the tin-bashing, as he had a sheet metal bender for doing the cases. The electronic boards look very much like modified versions of mine. PV was an expert at taking my layouts and shrinking them down to miniscule sizes! Note the horizontal crystal, necessary to allow the board to slot in above the stick units!

Of course, although he bought the blue metal for his own use, he didn't mind the surplus being used by other members of the World Engines (UK) family, which is how Dave's transmitter came about.

I do recall PV making an even smaller one, but I have no idea what happened to it. After PV died, most of his transmitters ended up at Mick's, so its possible Dave still has some others tucked away somewhere.

The Tx runs on 8-cell NiXX cells (10V), and you can see where two flat (physically!) Rx packs would have been glued in.

The standard Talisman Tx was the only one with which I felt comfortable flying a helicopter without a neckstrap. This came in handy once, when I had to snatch one out of the hands of a novice helicopter pilot who got into trouble, but that is a story for another day.....!

I reckon you could get one of your Lemon RF boards in where the current RF board sits, Stuart! Not sure how big a Digispark encoder is, but you could end up with a really tiny - and unique - 2.4GHz system!

--
Pete

I'd love one of those cases! My little Talisman is my favourite radio.
Meanwhile...
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=708


What are the actual case measurements please Stu?
might fancy doing a replica...

Phil_G wrote: 07 Sep 2024, 22:05 What are the actual case measurements please Stu?
might fancy doing a replica...

Will that be before or after the Versaplex?

Phil_G wrote: 07 Sep 2024, 22:05 What are the actual case measurements please Stu?
might fancy doing a replica...

Now thats odd... I thought it looked much narrower than the Cannon but its the same 5¼"
Yet the pound coin between the sticks shows them spaced further apart on the Cannon.
The Talisman Tiny 4 is shorter in height by an inch, maybe thats where the main difference is?