The first remote control for TV’s etc. that I remember was me, or whatever sibling happened to be in shouting range of Dad. We would be beckoned (ordered) to change the channel on the TV. My Grandfather had a Zenith “Space Command”, the first practical wireless remote control that didn’t have 2 legs. This worked on specific sound waves that activated motors in the TV to turn the dial, thus changing channels. The older biologic remotes could do everything, from changing channels, adjusting the volume and even getting Dad a beer.
The Space Command remotes worked in much the same way as the original Plectron and Quick-Call alert radios. Tuned rods would be struck, sending specific tones out that were received, decoded and then used to actuate the proper command. While the Space Command used ultrasonic (and probably torqued off the dog) alert radios used audible tones, again of specific frequencies, to activate receivers.
By the 1980’s ultrasonic remotes were replaced by the Infrared (“IR” remotes that are so common today. Invisible light signals would be sent by the remote to the TV (and later VCR’s, CD and BRD players and home stereos) to control their actions. These provided many more available combinations and thus more functionality as well as better range and reliability. Eventually IR remotes became ubiquitous, homes today have dozens of remote controls. Just here in my office I have 3 TV remotes, one each for the TV’s I use for monitoring my security cameras and various livestreams (or even to watch TV occasionally). Two of the TV’s have streaming devices, and one also has a GeoChron, each with its own remote. I have a digital wall clock with one as well as my ceiling fan/light and my home’s Hue lights. I haven’t even touched the bedroom, living room or even the kitchen and garage, all of which have multiple remotes for various stuff. Even my back patio has them, for my sunshades, fan/light and my party lights as well as the color lights in my pool. I even have a few sets of RGB lights behind TV’s or under shelves that have remotes.
I have a box of orphaned remotes in the garage from TV’s or other gadgets long ago trashed. One never knows when that remote might be the one for the thing you forgot about. Don’t forget the “Universal” remotes that are supposed to work on everything but usually are more of a PITA than they are worth.
While most remotes are Infrared some are not. My AppleTV remotes are actually Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), using the same frequencies as my air buds and other Bluetooth as well as my microwave. My ceiling fans use 434 MHz. RF and I seem to recall some older remotes working on 27 MHz. (I still have a wireless mouse that works on 27 MHz.!) The sunscreen, pool lights and some others are not IR as well and probably use some sort of RF, possible at 43x MHz, Bluetooth or something. My Hue lights remotes work off spread spectrum at 2.4 GHz., so they could also be BLE.
It’s the Infrared remotes that cause me issues here in the office. Like I said, I have 3 TV’s in here, from 3 different manufacturers, so each has their own remote. The problem is that even with the large number of possible codes available, pressing a button on one TV’s remote often actuates a different function on a different TV. For example, when I press the power button on the remote to turn on the TV above my computer desk it also turns on (or off) the TV above my wife’s desk. I press the Channel button on one remote, and the volume goes up on one of the other TV’s and the third TV switches the source selection. On a different remote the power button actuates all three TV’s and on the third TV the power button only actuates that TV for power but if the middle TV is on it opens the Settings menu.
I spent an entire afternoon trying to figure out a viable combination of remotes and settings to survive sane with these damn TVs. Once I did that, I moved them around and assigned them to the purposes they would work for that would not drive me crazy. Eventually I figured out that one TV would power on with a Roku remote without affecting the other two TVs. I assigned that TV to the security cameras so the wife could turn it on and off without changing something on the other two.
For the other two I found that they supported HDMI power control, turning on and off the AppleTV device would power on or off the TV it was connected to once I got the settings correct on each of the TV’s and AppleTV boxes.
I then took out my trusty P-Touch label maker and labeled each remote with the device that it controlled. I showed the wife how to turn on the camera TV, she likes to watch them when she is expecting the Amazon guy, the landscapers or a neighbor. I then went around the house and figured out what each remote in each room went to and labeled them. There were a couple strays that I couldn’t place. I think one was from an old digital clock that bit the dust a few years back, another was never figured out at all and ended up in that box of orphans out in the garage. With my luck, as soon as the trash man leaves, I would remember what it was for and couldn’t live without it.
Going back to those Universal remotes. Greta idea for sure, but the execution was bad. First off, they usually only work on TV’s, some cable boxes and occasionally a sound bar or even a stereo. Usually, they have way too many buttons and trying to program them and then switch from one device to another requires either an engineering degree (which I do not have) or trying to decipher the poorly translated gibberish they call English in the instruction manual. I had 4 or 5 of these Universal Remotes from RadioShack, RCA and some Chinese name I cannot pronounce or even spell. They all got chucked in the trash.
Want to go back on a different offramp on Memory Road? Do you remember those Palm Pilot PDAs? Some had IR built into them and could emulate remote controls on TV’s. One could select a brand name of the TV on the Palm device and usually that was all you needed to control the TV. It was great in bars and restaurants when they weren’t watching what you wanted or you just wanted to turn the thing off. I was visiting Green Bay, WI one Sunday afternoon and was surreptitiously switching the Packers-Vikings football game to “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” every few minutes using my Palm Pilot. I couldn’t care less about football but as I was from the Chicago area, ticking off Packers fans was great fun. I also did this closer to home, switching off the White Sox games in favor of my beloved Cubs. The trick was not showing how much fun I was having, lest some rabid Packers or White Sox fan take you out back and rearrange your dental work.
Even my Icom R7000 had an IR remote control, it was an option board that you installed in the radio. At the time I had 2 R7000’s and an R71, it had come with one of the radios. And I swapped it around to one or the other radios at times. It worked pretty well, and I don’t know of any other comparable receivers that had that, as an option or not.
Neat trick: Take an IR remote and view it thru your iPhone camera. You can see the IR flashing as you press buttons.
The Space Command remotes worked in much the same way as the original Plectron and Quick-Call alert radios. Tuned rods would be struck, sending specific tones out that were received, decoded and then used to actuate the proper command. While the Space Command used ultrasonic (and probably torqued off the dog) alert radios used audible tones, again of specific frequencies, to activate receivers.
By the 1980’s ultrasonic remotes were replaced by the Infrared (“IR” remotes that are so common today. Invisible light signals would be sent by the remote to the TV (and later VCR’s, CD and BRD players and home stereos) to control their actions. These provided many more available combinations and thus more functionality as well as better range and reliability. Eventually IR remotes became ubiquitous, homes today have dozens of remote controls. Just here in my office I have 3 TV remotes, one each for the TV’s I use for monitoring my security cameras and various livestreams (or even to watch TV occasionally). Two of the TV’s have streaming devices, and one also has a GeoChron, each with its own remote. I have a digital wall clock with one as well as my ceiling fan/light and my home’s Hue lights. I haven’t even touched the bedroom, living room or even the kitchen and garage, all of which have multiple remotes for various stuff. Even my back patio has them, for my sunshades, fan/light and my party lights as well as the color lights in my pool. I even have a few sets of RGB lights behind TV’s or under shelves that have remotes.
I have a box of orphaned remotes in the garage from TV’s or other gadgets long ago trashed. One never knows when that remote might be the one for the thing you forgot about. Don’t forget the “Universal” remotes that are supposed to work on everything but usually are more of a PITA than they are worth.
While most remotes are Infrared some are not. My AppleTV remotes are actually Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), using the same frequencies as my air buds and other Bluetooth as well as my microwave. My ceiling fans use 434 MHz. RF and I seem to recall some older remotes working on 27 MHz. (I still have a wireless mouse that works on 27 MHz.!) The sunscreen, pool lights and some others are not IR as well and probably use some sort of RF, possible at 43x MHz, Bluetooth or something. My Hue lights remotes work off spread spectrum at 2.4 GHz., so they could also be BLE.
It’s the Infrared remotes that cause me issues here in the office. Like I said, I have 3 TV’s in here, from 3 different manufacturers, so each has their own remote. The problem is that even with the large number of possible codes available, pressing a button on one TV’s remote often actuates a different function on a different TV. For example, when I press the power button on the remote to turn on the TV above my computer desk it also turns on (or off) the TV above my wife’s desk. I press the Channel button on one remote, and the volume goes up on one of the other TV’s and the third TV switches the source selection. On a different remote the power button actuates all three TV’s and on the third TV the power button only actuates that TV for power but if the middle TV is on it opens the Settings menu.
I spent an entire afternoon trying to figure out a viable combination of remotes and settings to survive sane with these damn TVs. Once I did that, I moved them around and assigned them to the purposes they would work for that would not drive me crazy. Eventually I figured out that one TV would power on with a Roku remote without affecting the other two TVs. I assigned that TV to the security cameras so the wife could turn it on and off without changing something on the other two.
For the other two I found that they supported HDMI power control, turning on and off the AppleTV device would power on or off the TV it was connected to once I got the settings correct on each of the TV’s and AppleTV boxes.
I then took out my trusty P-Touch label maker and labeled each remote with the device that it controlled. I showed the wife how to turn on the camera TV, she likes to watch them when she is expecting the Amazon guy, the landscapers or a neighbor. I then went around the house and figured out what each remote in each room went to and labeled them. There were a couple strays that I couldn’t place. I think one was from an old digital clock that bit the dust a few years back, another was never figured out at all and ended up in that box of orphans out in the garage. With my luck, as soon as the trash man leaves, I would remember what it was for and couldn’t live without it.
Going back to those Universal remotes. Greta idea for sure, but the execution was bad. First off, they usually only work on TV’s, some cable boxes and occasionally a sound bar or even a stereo. Usually, they have way too many buttons and trying to program them and then switch from one device to another requires either an engineering degree (which I do not have) or trying to decipher the poorly translated gibberish they call English in the instruction manual. I had 4 or 5 of these Universal Remotes from RadioShack, RCA and some Chinese name I cannot pronounce or even spell. They all got chucked in the trash.
Want to go back on a different offramp on Memory Road? Do you remember those Palm Pilot PDAs? Some had IR built into them and could emulate remote controls on TV’s. One could select a brand name of the TV on the Palm device and usually that was all you needed to control the TV. It was great in bars and restaurants when they weren’t watching what you wanted or you just wanted to turn the thing off. I was visiting Green Bay, WI one Sunday afternoon and was surreptitiously switching the Packers-Vikings football game to “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” every few minutes using my Palm Pilot. I couldn’t care less about football but as I was from the Chicago area, ticking off Packers fans was great fun. I also did this closer to home, switching off the White Sox games in favor of my beloved Cubs. The trick was not showing how much fun I was having, lest some rabid Packers or White Sox fan take you out back and rearrange your dental work.
Even my Icom R7000 had an IR remote control, it was an option board that you installed in the radio. At the time I had 2 R7000’s and an R71, it had come with one of the radios. And I swapped it around to one or the other radios at times. It worked pretty well, and I don’t know of any other comparable receivers that had that, as an option or not.
Neat trick: Take an IR remote and view it thru your iPhone camera. You can see the IR flashing as you press buttons.
