>Some US company (I forget who) made an ultrasonic remote controlled valve TV
>where the remote was essentially tuned metal bars that were mechanically
>hit when the button was pressed. No electronics in the handset at all.
>The receiver in the TV detected one of 4 (or so) different frequencies
>corresponding to the 4 buttons on the remote, and then operated a relay
>to trigger the appropriate function (I think channel selection was done
>using an electromechanical stepping swtich, etc).
My grandparents had a TV with an ultrasonic remote. I think it was a
Zenith, may have been an RCA.
And my parents have a Sony with an ultrasonic remote. The remote is long
since dead, but back when it worked, you could hold the remote up to your
ear and actually hear it clicking different patterns for each button
pressed. The remote ceased to work after a bad battery leakage incident.
Actually, I should see if they still have the remote as the last time I
saw it, I didn't have the skills needed to repair it, but today I
probably could. They probably do have it, knowing them, it is still in
the holder on the back of the TV where I put it some 20 years ago when I
decided it was no longer working (I definitly get my pack rat problems
from them).
But at least with the Sony remote, IIRC it was transistors that did all
the work. I don't know about my grand parents one, as I never opened the
remote, but that TV was old enough it might very well have been one of
the first with a remote at all.
-chris
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Received on Tue Aug 27 2002 - 23:59:00 BST