Best RC transmitter for underwater torpedo type thing I want to build.?

Ok I鈥檝e got this 4鈥欌€?O.D. x 50" pipe that I鈥檓 going to build a torpedo shaped underwater sub thing in. It will have pumps, a camera, lights, servos, and batteries, homemade circuits all that good stuff. But what鈥檚 the best way to control the thing I was thinking an RC transmitter but that might be sort of hard and I don鈥檛 know how good it would work underwater, but I was also thinking of doing it with Parallax transceivers and a homemade remote dashboard control thing maybe even computer software if I get adventures. Or is it better to do all this with a tether.



Any questions for me please feel free to contact me justin-hulbert@hotmail.com I鈥檓 looking for any help i can get and if you have built something similar id love to see any pictures or CAD drawings you may have.

Best rf transmitter is not an RF transmitter at all. At most RF frequencies water either attenuates or absorbs the radio waves to such a degree that transmission at most useful frequencies is almost impossible.

You can use som eVLF, or very low frequency rf to transmit data. Best bet would be to use a modulated sonic or ultrasonic system to transmit and receive data and contr0l signals. Basically sonar. Something in the 50 to 100KHz range should work.

You will need to find either surplus sonar transducers, or possibly get a hold of an old Fish finder or depth finder from Ebay or another source. You can probably modify it to send and receive data other than finding fish or the sea bottom depth.

Believe it or not, it would be a relatively simple process to say, modulate the sonar wave with a signal from an IR remote, and detect it at the other end as a sound wave that modulates an LED and couples the data transmission to one of those $3.49 IR detector/demodulators that Radio Shack sells. couple that to an onboard microcontroller like one from Microchip, and you might have a strange, but entirely feasible under water remote control!


Sounds like an interesting projects. Feel free to contact me and I might be able to help you out more. I started a few underwater projects myself, including an underwater "GPS" system for divers...Can help with the microcontroller stuff too.

Also, remember to come up with a dead reconning system to bring the thing back to the surface.
Oh yeh, the tether approach woul be much easier, but what fun would that be?

You'll want a tether, RF does not work well underwater.
I'm guessing you want to see the what the cameras are receiving in real time? you need two way communication and a fairly high band width, while very low frequency radio can work underwater to some extent, it is not at all suitable for real time video.

I agree, radio underwater will not work.

either a tether, or a antenna that floats on the surface (which is what real subs do)