About

I am a retired electronic R&D engineer whose hobby is “model submarines”. I am fascinated by projects where disciplines like electronics, mechanics and physics come together. A model submarine with its control engineering challenges such as hover underwater is one such project.

​

It all started out of discomfort. I was tired of taking the model out of the water every time, opening it and then doing something to the software, only to find out that it was still not right and I could repeat the above again. This led me to move the computer from the submarine to the shore. Now I could change settings on shore and immediately see their effect on the model. However, for doing so I needed a bi-directional data link between shore and vessel. This was achieved with the AX5043 transceiver. More on this can be read here https://www.electronicsworld.co.uk/magazines/february-22/ . 

​

Following this publication, David Forrest, former treasurer of  "the association of model submariners" contacted me. This led to the development of a 27MHz simplex remote control system for model submarines. The first prototypes of the RC system were based on the AX5043 transceiver. At the time, this was the only transceiver IC that supported 27MHz.

​

The combination of 27MHz and the AX5043 created a potential global mass-market product. However, after about six months, ONSEMI declared the AX5043 obsolete. With this, the last chance for a cheap mass-market product was lost. To still offer modellers something with which to control their model submarines, Radiometrix's transmitter and receiver modules were used. Note, Radiometrix is the only company still offering 27MHz modules.

​

All this has unfortunately led to a potential mass product becoming a niche product.