Company History
Ace
Ace Pulse Commander
By Jay Mendoza
December, 2009
The Ace Commander dates back to the mid to late 1960s when Ace began to offer a companion superhet non-agc receiver on 27MHz for their Commander tone transmitter. I have not been able to verify if this is a Don Dickerson design, but his name appears on several Ace Pulse Commander schematics. The original Ace Commander receiver used a SPDT relay to drive relays, escapements, actuators, and motors using a separate battery for them, and a second battery for the receiver. Later on Ace offered a version, which was relay less. An add on switcher kit (AOSK) was offered for driving Adams type magnetic actuators.
This led up to the next version, which was specifically designed for pulse, and for driving the Adams actuators, which was called the Ace Pulse Commander D.E. The DE meant it was double ended (2 PNP germanium output transistors) to drive a 3 wire Adams magnetic actuator. Next, Ace offered an accessory board called the Drain Brian for improved performance with the DE receiver.
From about 1969 to 1972 Ace had an open collector output version that was specifically designed for use with Rand GG and Dual Pack actuators, it was sold with their galloping ghost systems, and came in an aluminum case with antenna coil tuning hole, and used a 3.6 volt battery supply. There was also a mini/micro version of this receiver available that had no case and used 1/8-watt resistors to save room and make it smaller. I refer to these models as the GG versions.
By far the most common, as it was produced in the greatest numbers, was the next improved version called the Ace Pulse Commander R.O. (rudder only) which eliminated the need for the third center tap wire to the actuator and switched the full 2.4 volts across the entire actuator coil for more power and less current drain. Essentially this was a refinement that had the “Drain Brain” built in. Today, Jay Mendoza of JBR offers a reproduction version of the R.O., designed by Mike Dorffler, which is about 30% lighter, and the same size. Custom GG and escapement versions are also available on special order.
The Ace Pulse Commander 72 was a 72MHz version of the RO with a double tuned front end and agc, there was a 53MHz/ 6 meter version also offered. Along with the RO and 72 series, Ace had a special version that was setup to drive an external 100-ohm relay and compliment their Wee One transmitter, a single channel tone unit.
Ace produced the Pulse Commander in one form or another spanning 3 decades, making it the longest enduring of any R/C receiver ever manufactured, and is a testimony to it’s simple, yet successful design. All versions were primarily designed for 2.4 NiCad battery operation, but are easily be modified for 3.0, or 3.6 volt batteries. They work optimally with a 1400-2000 Hz audio tone. Of note is Ace never supplied any tuning instructions other than the antenna coil tuning procedure, and for a good reason: It is not possible to tune it using a current meter, and even if you use a scope, it has to be carefully tuned slightly off the peaks to avoid glitching at close range. On the plus side, they have excellent range when properly tuned up.
