Ham Radio Remote Control

Midi Playing is " You Are My Sunshine"

             While stationed with the OPP ( 1956 to 1966 ) in North Bay many of us were subjected to practical jokes by a certain Corporal who shall remain nameless. It seemed that he just lived for playing these jokes and laughed himself silly at the results. He would stick raw potatoes in in exhaust pipes, cross spark plug wires on any vehicle where the hood could be opened and other things too numerous to mention.

             He purchased a new GM vehicle and was very proud of it telling everyone how it had all the various options on it, etc etc. Having played with wireless remote controls, it was not long before two of us concocted a plan to have some real fun. I designed a box with a simple receiver to receive control signals from my 75 meter mobile ham transmitter. (don't recall whether that was legal or not) The following functions were setup.....  ignition control, starter control and horn control. We enlisted the aid of the Service Manager from the GM dealer to install the device the next time the Corporal brought the vehicle in for service.  The service manager supplied us with GM plugs and wiring harness identifying the leads that needed to be controlled. We tested the device on another vehicle at the dealership to make sure it all worked. It DID!

             Sometime later we received a call from the Service Manager saying the device was installed and ready to go. Several days later, we followed the Corporal as he was going downtown to cash his pay cheque. As he waited for a traffic light to change to  green, we were ready..... as the light changed from red to green, we hit the control and switched off his ignition, his engine stops ... he tries starting it to no avail, finally as the light changes to red we allow him to start the engine. We did the same thing to him at another traffic light, we could see his frustration growing so decided to leave things for that day.

             The Service Manager calls and says the Corporal is a bit upset with the antics of his new car and  tells him to bring it in if it does it again.

             Several days later we follow him again and stall his engine just as the light turns green, allow it to start while the light is red and stall it again as the light turns green. He gets out of the vehicle looking very pissed off, opens the hood, pokes his head in to look around, we blow the horn twice quickly. He jumps back so quickly his uniform cap fall off. He stands there staring in disbelief, then we hit the start control and the engines starts up by itself. He slams the hood down looks around wildly, gets back in and drives away. We are laughing so hard that we decide that is enough for now.

             The Service Manger calls again and says the Corporal is really upset this time and is bringing the vehicle in for a check up. He calls later to tell us what happened when he brought the vehicle in. He is swearing and cursing (he was a foul mouth anyway) telling them that the vehicle runs OK at red lights but stops when the light turns green and not only that, but when he lifted the hood it honked at him and then started the engine by itself.  Of course several mechanics around listening ( who know nothing about the control device)  , start to laugh and ask him what he has been drinking. He really gets riled up then. The Service Manager is really enjoying this as he has had run ins with the Corporal as well. He tells him that they will check out the vehicle thoroughly and call him when it is ready to go.

             We did nothing for a month or so then on occasion we would start up the engine while it was parked and let it idle for hours when he was not around. This resulted in comments of poor gas mileage from the Corporal.

             The Service Manager called one night fairly late and suggested it was time to remove the "box" as the Corporal was seething because while on his way home with his wife the vehicle quit and would not start. They had to tow it in. We had not stopped it so that was a concern as to what may have happened.

              Later I discovered that the control receiver which only worked while we were within 500 feet or so ( with my 50 watt transmitter) could be triggered by high power stations under certain conditions in the vicinity as well. That ended our experiments with Remote Control , but it sure was fun while it lasted. We never did let on as to what had been going on with his car as I am sure he would have gone absolutely ballistic on  us!

             If Mike, VE3AWU is reading this, he  may realize that Ted, VE3DXG has a long history of pranks, prior to his experience with the "Missing Wood" Story. Hi Hi