Complete Pictorial Timeline Of Novak Electronics
Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2023 1:16 am
Novak Electronics was founded by Bob Novak out of his home garage in Santa Ana, CA. in 1978. After graduating from Iowa State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1968, Bob, an R/C airplane enthusiast from Omaha, NE. began working at CTS Knights of Sandwich, IL. a position that would lead to a chance meeting that same year with Don Mathes and a new job at Micro-Avionics in Ontario, CA. After multiple acquisitions the new owner of Micro-Avionics terminated Bob Novak’s employment in 1970.
It was at that time Bob joined Gordon Larson at Larson Electronics (nee, Bonner Specialties) and revolutionized the Larson product line just as he had done at Micro-Avionics. After the 1972 purchase and renaming of Larson Electronics to RS Systems by Novak he would once again find himself ousted as his business partner sold the company to Tech-Serv of Beltsville, MD. in 1975. But Bob would take with him the largest contribution to the history of his future company, the bright orange case design that originated with Larsons 5RS radio system.
Bob would spend the next few years designing and selling servos for racing airplanes himself before opening Novak Electronics in the garage of his home on S. Evergreen St. in 1978 with the help of his wife Joan and daughters Linda and Laura. The company’s initial product, the Bantam Midget servo, originally designed and marketed for racing airplane use, would, due to its speed and size, find great popularity in 1/12th scale on-road R/C racing.
The company moved into their first commercial location on Orange St. in 1980 where interest in on-road racing led to multiple championships and the introduction of their first ground use electronic speed controller, the NESC-1 (Novak Electronic Speed Controller One). Later, in 1987, with half a dozen products to their credit Novak moved to a new location on East Dyer where advancements continued, with ever increasing power handling, reduced footprints and the emergence of Novak’s first reversing speed controller, the 610-RV.
In 1993 the company moved again, this time to Teller Ave. in Irvine where innovations continued with the creation of both one touch setup as well as programmable ESC's that, with the Novak Data Link or their hand-held Pit Wizard, allowed computerized programming of controllers for the first time. In 1997 Novak Electronics hit the information superhighway with the launch of TeamNovak.com. Ever increasing product features during this time were only overshadowed by new product debuts such as the synthesized 75MHz transmitter module for crystal free channel selection.
2003 saw not just one move across town, but two moves for Novak, once to Deere Ave. then again to Armstrong Ave. all while unveiling the first brushless motors and ESC’s for R/C cars as well as a 27MHz synthesized transmitter module and receiver. Over the next decade brushless motors overtook the market, Rock Crawling, Drifting, and Short Course racing were born and Novak continued to push the electronic envelope.
In 2013 the company made their final move, this time to Rancho Circle in Lake Forest, and 2014 opened with a name change to Novak R/C as controlling interest in the company was transferred to Bob’s daughters, Linda and Laura. On June 13, 2016 however, a consensus was reached within the family that after 38 years in business releasing roughly 150 groundbreaking products and amassing an innumerable amount of National and World Championships that Novak R/C would cease operations. Bringing with it an end to the ever-advancing technological march of a little orange box whose color was the result of an evolution that started with the Larson 5RS radio system and Bob Novak’s first company, all the way back in 1970.
Below you'll find a year-by-year timeline, originally started on the History page of Novak Electronics website. Each year is its own JPG, with pages resized and graphics reformatted for uniformity as well as to fix broken images and font colors. I also completed the last 7 years of the timeline using Novak press releases to match the first 31 years. Posts are in ten-year blocks in chronological order. Some years are not present, either because no new products were released those years, press release dates placed them in a different year, or the item was never added by Novak to begin with. If you see an error, missing product, or any other changes needed, let me know as this page will be updated until it is complete ...and now... on with the show...
It was at that time Bob joined Gordon Larson at Larson Electronics (nee, Bonner Specialties) and revolutionized the Larson product line just as he had done at Micro-Avionics. After the 1972 purchase and renaming of Larson Electronics to RS Systems by Novak he would once again find himself ousted as his business partner sold the company to Tech-Serv of Beltsville, MD. in 1975. But Bob would take with him the largest contribution to the history of his future company, the bright orange case design that originated with Larsons 5RS radio system.
Bob would spend the next few years designing and selling servos for racing airplanes himself before opening Novak Electronics in the garage of his home on S. Evergreen St. in 1978 with the help of his wife Joan and daughters Linda and Laura. The company’s initial product, the Bantam Midget servo, originally designed and marketed for racing airplane use, would, due to its speed and size, find great popularity in 1/12th scale on-road R/C racing.
The company moved into their first commercial location on Orange St. in 1980 where interest in on-road racing led to multiple championships and the introduction of their first ground use electronic speed controller, the NESC-1 (Novak Electronic Speed Controller One). Later, in 1987, with half a dozen products to their credit Novak moved to a new location on East Dyer where advancements continued, with ever increasing power handling, reduced footprints and the emergence of Novak’s first reversing speed controller, the 610-RV.
In 1993 the company moved again, this time to Teller Ave. in Irvine where innovations continued with the creation of both one touch setup as well as programmable ESC's that, with the Novak Data Link or their hand-held Pit Wizard, allowed computerized programming of controllers for the first time. In 1997 Novak Electronics hit the information superhighway with the launch of TeamNovak.com. Ever increasing product features during this time were only overshadowed by new product debuts such as the synthesized 75MHz transmitter module for crystal free channel selection.
2003 saw not just one move across town, but two moves for Novak, once to Deere Ave. then again to Armstrong Ave. all while unveiling the first brushless motors and ESC’s for R/C cars as well as a 27MHz synthesized transmitter module and receiver. Over the next decade brushless motors overtook the market, Rock Crawling, Drifting, and Short Course racing were born and Novak continued to push the electronic envelope.
In 2013 the company made their final move, this time to Rancho Circle in Lake Forest, and 2014 opened with a name change to Novak R/C as controlling interest in the company was transferred to Bob’s daughters, Linda and Laura. On June 13, 2016 however, a consensus was reached within the family that after 38 years in business releasing roughly 150 groundbreaking products and amassing an innumerable amount of National and World Championships that Novak R/C would cease operations. Bringing with it an end to the ever-advancing technological march of a little orange box whose color was the result of an evolution that started with the Larson 5RS radio system and Bob Novak’s first company, all the way back in 1970.
Below you'll find a year-by-year timeline, originally started on the History page of Novak Electronics website. Each year is its own JPG, with pages resized and graphics reformatted for uniformity as well as to fix broken images and font colors. I also completed the last 7 years of the timeline using Novak press releases to match the first 31 years. Posts are in ten-year blocks in chronological order. Some years are not present, either because no new products were released those years, press release dates placed them in a different year, or the item was never added by Novak to begin with. If you see an error, missing product, or any other changes needed, let me know as this page will be updated until it is complete ...and now... on with the show...
