January 2006

[ghee-grose]

Here's our current thread for impromptu flying times and such. :cool:

[Jim_Marconnet]

I just read something on another R/C parallel universe that might, if true, be helpful to us should we run down a LiPo pack too far.

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?p=33866&posted=1

Charging a LiPo when too low of voltage.
When a cell is below 3.7 volts, it should be charged at C/10 , 0.1C.
Very often even charging a low voltage cell at 0.5C will cause it to puff.
IMO that is why you read so many reports such as “It was fine last time I flew it but today when I charged it the cells puffed up.”

I'll be watching to see if there is some logical explanation given for this. And I will tend to charge at the lowest rate my LiPo charger will go if I have plenty of time before the next flight day.

[ghee-grose]

Just sharing an interesting video I ran across....

http://media.skoopy.com/vids/vid_00933.wmv

[Mars Flyer]

Just sharing an interesting video I ran across....

http://media.skoopy.com/vids/vid_00933.wmv


Hey, was that a water loop?

I kindof did that with my Slow Stick on floats once. That must have been an exciting ride.

Rob

[ghee-grose]

That sounds like a proper name for that maneuver!

[Fyrwalker]

hated to been the ones on the bank!

[Tram]

Wow.. ruined a nice bird!

[dleviner]

Cool deals on inexpensive LiPo and brushless setups:

www.RCHotDeals.com

As well as $8 TowerPro servos.

[UAGrad2001]

Watching some video on RCGroups and reading some of the posts gave me an idea. I saw where some people attached the GWS Airplane Floats to their SlowSticks. There was some nice video of takeoffs and landings. Then someone mentioned flying underneath a bridge.

Now for my idea/challenge. What about attaching some floats to a slowstick (or if your really brave go without floats) and trying to fly underneath the bridge across the ADTRAN lake. Maybe its not possible but then again, maybe there is someone out there who would want to give it a try. Just an idea.

Christopher :eek:

[Tram]

I'll fly under it.. :) Just show me where it is.. :D

[ghee-grose]

How much clearance is there?

[UAGrad2001]

I would say 4-5 feet or so depending on the water level. With support posts about every 25 feet.

[Tram]

Who cares.. Breaking them is half the fun. :)

[dee-grose]

I'm told that the lake is only a few feet deep, so it wouldn't be that tough to jump in and get it if things went bad. Lemme go look out the window...

[ghee-grose]

That shouldn't be too hard on a calm day, as long as you have a good view of the whole part where it's under the bridge.

[dee-grose]

Yep, 3 maybe 4 feet at one end....more like 2 at the south end. Shouldn't be too bad.

[Jim_Marconnet]

Rob and I went early today to Horizon Elementary first and later to N. DD. Enjoyed takeoffs and (Rob) touch and goes on the track. I found the two soccer goals to be a real mental obstacle. But did not hit them.

With my SS with brand new Tundra Tires I felt like a real Renegade. Did my first several ROGs there just fine. The DX6 worked just fine. Did some throw, D/R, and exponential settings changes to make it more comfortable to fly. I like computer radios! Rob helped me set up the trims.

Later when the wind came up some, we went to NDD. Rob maidened my BeginAir. Had some intermittant throttle/motor glitches, so it was a short exciting flight with a happy ending.

I flew the Cessna 3 short flights. It has no mass, so the wind really blows it around. Needs calm, like everything!

Rob flew his SS and showed my how he can "kite" it. Something for me to try much later.

Guess I'll shelve the BeginAir and the Cessna for now and try to get in some serious SS flying time as the weather cooperates. Or possibly swap the Rx from the Cessna to the BeginAir to see if that cures it. Or perhaps just wait till the separate Rx is available for the DX6. That should eliminate any glitching.

[dee-grose]

Jim, good to hear you're having some fun with your SS. :)

Andy

[Mars Flyer]

Yep. We had a good session in spite of the bitter cold at the beginning. The BeginAir looks like a good plane and checked out OK during range check and pre-flight, but it was a booger in the air. The motor was revving and the plane was twitching even when fairly close overhead. It seemed to calm down at low or no throttle so the problem may be motor noise related. It did have the 2 noise suppression capacitors installed on the motor. It was all I could handle and then some.

I helped my GWS Pico radio problems on the Slow Stick by improving the antenna system. It had the short 1/8 wavelength (19 inch) antenna and is terrible at any range. I added some wire to extend it to the full 1/4 wave and also added a 1/4 wave counterpoise on the negative servo terminal so I've now got a 1/2 wave dipole running along the wings. No glitches even at range! I haven't found any mention of doing this on the threads but it makes sense from a radio perspective and seemed to help. It could be that the longer antenna was all that was needed but I think I'll leave it as is for now.

Rob

[dee-grose]

Wow, Rob...you lost me on that one. Sounds like a good mod for those receivers though. Maybe you could mod all the Renegades' Pico RX's for us?!?!

Andy

[Ken Fidler]

Rob and Jim,
Looks like I missed you two out at Horizon. I went there around 12pm and the weather was nice. Flew my Slinger 3 times, I had fun doing some belly-slide touch and goes. The soccer post (without nets) will make for a nice limbo.
Ken

[Mars Flyer]

Ken,

We left there around 8 or 8:15. It was cold but calm then.

Rob

[Moonbeam Six]

Jim and Rob,

I found a good review of the BeginAir at:

http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=443

The person doing the review decided to reduce the control throws and sensitivity after the first flight, but was never quite happy with the plane's stability.

Frank

[Mars Flyer]

Frank,

The reviewer mentioned "pitching left to right" twice. I presume he meant "rolling". The plane has little dihedral so I expected roll instability. That is what ailerons are for. The reviewer may have been coming from the big dihedral 3 channel world and hence surprised by the lack of roll stability. I didn't notice the throws being too large because I was dealing with the motor revving and what seemed to be control hits. With throttle off it handled fine.

The plane concept is good and I think it will fly fine eventually. I'm not sure it is a good beginner plane but probably wouldn't be a bad aileron trainer.

Rob

[Jim_Marconnet]

Jim and Rob,
I found a good review of the BeginAir at:
http://www.rcuniverse.com/magazine/article_display.cfm?article_id=443
The person doing the review decided to reduce the control throws and sensitivity after the first flight, but was never quite happy with the plane's stability.
Frank
I had seen this review earlier. I missed the part about it having a top speed of 50 MPH. Scarry! Honestly, I thought this was a Trainer when I bought it.

I got a kick out of Rob's first comment pre-flight that it did not seem to have much dihedral; and then his post-flight comment that it was NOT fun to fly (throttle glitching!). Perhaps when I get to this plane I can tie a string between the two wingtips or do something similar to get more dihedral.

[ghee-grose]

Here's the first in-flight pictures of my Wattage Hyper Wing. *thanks honey for the camera work* :D

[Jim_Marconnet]

Here's the first in-flight pictures of my Wattage Hyper Wing. *thanks honey for the camera work* :D
Andy - When I bought my Cessna at Rick's Grand Opening Sale, I looked at both the Wattage Cessna and the Wattage Hyper Wing. Both were the same price with similar radios inside. Rick told me to go with the Cessna, that I'd likely get more flight attempts with it. Later I saw the wing was sold. I'm guessing you bought it.

Hope it's a blast for you.

The Cessna has turned out not to be as easy/fun as I'd hoped. And now that the DX6 radio is available and I have one, my decision to buy the Cessna "for the radio" looks like less of a deal after all. I'm living and learning.

[dee-grose]

Jim, just hang on to that Cessna until your skills progress. You might end up liking it later on. Either that or dump it off to somebody for cheap so you can fund another DX6 RX...

btw, the Hyperwings didn't come with radio gear.

[ghee-grose]

The hyper wing is a handful for the first couple flights (and that is ME saying that). I wouldn't recommend this plane to anybody without a lot of aileron experience.

[Mars Flyer]

Guys,

I have stumbled across several links to tips for beginning flyers. We can collect a few of these and post them on the essential info thread. Post if you find some good ones. This might help the new pilots in the gang.

Rob

Rocket City RC tips - some are fuel-specific but others are universal
http://www.rocketcityrc.com/rcrc_rookie_tips.html

Really good one from pre-flight to landing
http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/bhabbott/flight.html

Patrick Plawner's tips
http://www.plawner.net/3/

Battery basics
http://www.rcbatteryclinic.com/

Soaring guide - but some of this is applicable to electrics
http://www.moneysmith.net/Soaring/soaring.html

Free flight simulator - FMS
http://n.ethz.ch/student/mmoeller/fms/index_e.html

Post or PM if you have a favorite beginner link.

Rob

[UAGrad2001]

Optic 6 Owners,
How do I know that my radio is charged. I plugged in the charger and the Tx LED came on. The manual says to charge for 15 hours. Is there some sort of visual notification that the radio is fully charged? Thanks.

[Mars Flyer]

It is probably charged. Turn it on and you'll see the battery voltage display after a couple of seconds. A full charge will show around 11 volts but that will drop off into the 10 volt range in a few minutes. It will start beeping when you get down to 8.8 volts and you should land and go for a recharge then. Be sure to push the clear button to reset the run timer. This will show you how long the transmitter has been on since you last pushed the button. It is a great way to keep track of time on a battery charge. You should get around 45 minutes to an hour on a charge if you have the Spectra module. I have a single frequency module and get more like 1:20.

I got tired of recharging after each flying session and just got a 2300 mAh NiMH pack for mine. I put a JST connector in the line so I wouldn't risk breaking the little battery connector when I take the battery out to charge it on the peak charger. That is an option if you find that run time is too short.

Hitec published a great Optic 6 tutorial to supplement the users manual. It is available at
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=441890

A lot of other Optic 6 questions have been asked and answered in the Hitec forum.
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=169

Hitec has an amazing customer support track record in case you have any problems. Just post on the forum or call them up and they will fix your problem.

Rob

[Jim_Marconnet]

It is probably charged. Turn it on and you'll see the battery voltage display after a couple of seconds. A full charge will show around 11 volts but that will drop off into the 10 volt range in a few minutes. It will start beeping when you get down to 8.8 volts and you should land and go for a recharge then. Be sure to push the clear button to reset the run timer.......

I got tired of recharging after each flying session and just got a 2300 mAh NiMH pack for mine. I put a JST connector in the line so I wouldn't risk breaking the little battery connector when I take the battery out to charge it on the peak charger. That is an option if you find that run time is too short.


Thanks so much for sharing these voltage observations. My 8-cell Nicad DX6 gives voltages behaving just like you say, but the manual does not explain what voltages to expect. So I had wondered. Not any more!

And about the low battery beeper, they say 9 volts, but actually it's 8.8 or 8.7. Now I feel more confident my Tx battery is charging and working right.

Last night I turned my Tx on with a kitchen timer (no built-in timer in this Tx) and let it run an hour. Ran just fine and was still up in the high 9 volts. So I'm guessing 2 - 2.5 hours as others have reported. Should be good enough for me unless I took up sloping!

[GLIDERGIDER]

So I'm guessing 2 - 2.5 hours as others have reported. Should be good enough for me unless I took up sloping!

Jim
I also use nimh & get lots of time on one charge. One charge goes all afternoon on the slope with time to spare when done.
Never fear though, as 2 hours on the slope will be plenty of excitement for any new sloper.
Dave

[ghee-grose]

And if you decide to join in slope combat, chances are you won't be flying anywere near that long!!! As long as Dave "the bully" is around! :D

[Johnnie Paul]

Can someone tell me what the thread is on the prop shaft for the 300 motor supplied with the SS? I need some spare prop nuts and I did not bring the plane with me today to "marry-up"...

Johnnie

[Miderror]

For a common charge if your flying LiPo and a big pulse if you want your Tx on stand by for long times this is the way I've gone.

LiPo does not discharge like NiCd or NiMh which is typ 10% as day.
(Charge on the 1st, fly a month later)
I know of some guys that charge after every 5-10 times out to the field.

Just a option to consider


http://www.shulmanaviation.com/

[Moonbeam Six]

Johnnie,

It is a 3 mm shaft, but I don't know the thread pitch. Maybe someone who has bent a shaft would be willing to part with a couple of nuts and washer. Torque them down a little tighter this time.

Frank

[Miderror]

Can someone tell me what the thread is on the prop shaft for the 300 motor supplied with the SS? I need some spare prop nuts and I did not bring the plane with me today to "marry-up"...

Johnnie

3mm

[Mars Flyer]

For a common charge if your flying LiPo and a big pulse if you want your Tx on stand by for long times this is the way I've gone.

LiPo does not discharge like NiCd or NiMh which is typ 10% as day.
(Charge on the 1st, fly a month later)
I know of some guys that charge after every 5-10 times out to the field.

Just a option to consider


http://www.shulmanaviation.com/

Don,

That is an interesting option. It certainly does have a longer shelf life but at 3x the price and a lower 1800 mAh vs 2300 mAh I'm pretty happy with the NiMH route.

Rob

[Johnnie Paul]

Johnnie,

It is a 3 mm shaft, but I don't know the thread pitch. Maybe someone who has bent a shaft would be willing to part with a couple of nuts and washer. Torque them down a little tighter this time.

Frank

Yeah, I found that out today, and I have a large supply of M3 nuts that fit the prop shaft perfectly...a slightly bent shaft as it turns out :mad:

Thank you Frank and miderror

Johnnie

[Moonbeam Six]

Johnnie,

Very early on in my Slow Stick experience, I found that bent prop shafts were something to be dealt with. I made a tool to straighten a bent prop shaft. It don't do a perfect job, but it can return a not-so-badly bent shaft to a usable condition.... if you don't mind a little wobble. A wobbly shaft will surely cause premature wear of bearings, but I've concluded that if you fly the Slow Stick a lot, you will be replacing motors and gear boxes from time to time. Replacing components from time to time is just a by-product of having fun. I'll try to remeber to take and post a picture of the tool in the Slow Stick Advice thread.

Frank

[ghee-grose]

I've found that a small, hollow-shaft nut driver (1/4" or so) does a nice job of straightening bent prop shafts. :D

[ghee-grose]

OK guys... I just ran across this thread and thought some of you would get a kick out of it.


*****
Imagine a plane is sat on the beginning of a massive conveyor belt/travelator type arrangement, as wide and as long as a runway, and intends to take off. The conveyer belt is designed to exactly match the speed of the wheels at any given time, moving in the opposite direction of rotation.
There is no wind.

Can the plane take off?
*****
taken from http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=446465

[Johnnie Paul]

Do we have a local source for 1/4" thick Depron Foam?

Johnnie

[ghee-grose]

None that I know of. Rick was thinking about stocking some when he got into the new shop, but I haven't checked with him since to see if he still is going to. You may want to ask him next time you're there.

[SYAWLA INVERTED]

Ghee, if I understand the question correctly, then Im going to go with YES the plane can take off. The "speed" the wings see is what caused the difference in pressure above and below the wings traveling through the air. The rotation of the tires is not important. The conveyor belt could actually travel faster than the plane and the wheels would even spinning backwards when the plane takes off the ground.


If a helicopter hovered in one spot for 24 hrs would it have traveled around the world?

[ghee-grose]

I wouls say it wouldn't take off. It states "no wind", therefore no flow across the wings to lift it.

Anyone else have an opinion ?

[Moonbeam Six]

I say YES, it would take off. The prop creates thrust, which accelerates the fuselage and wing, thus creating relative wind (to the wing). When the relative wind is sufficient to generate a vertical lift component exceeding the weight of the aircraft, it will lift off of whatever it was on. What the wheels and whatever they are in contact with are doing during the acceleration are of no factor. In fact, I am not sure the conditions given regarding the wheels and conveyer belt are even possible when one considers that the axles have to accelerate with the fuselage.

If you like that kind of thinking, try this. Three guys check into a hotel. A room is $30, so they all chip in $10, and go up to their room. The desk clerk realizes he's over-charged them, and gives the bellman $5 in ones to take back to them. On the way up, the bellman decides to give himself a $2 tip. He gives each man back $1. That makes each of them paying $9, or a total of (9x3) $27 for the room. $27+$2=$29 Where is the other dollar?

Now, don't you feel foolish for wasting your time on such as this, when you could be building an airplane? I'm feeling foolish for even writing this instead of working on my Miss Stik Junior. Please forgive! I'm outta here.....

Frank

[Jim_Marconnet]

I just read something on another R/C parallel universe that might, if true, be helpful to us should we run down a LiPo pack too far.

http://www.wattflyer.com/forums/showthread.php?p=33866&posted=1

Charging a LiPo when too low of voltage.
When a cell is below 3.7 volts, it should be charged at C/10 , 0.1C.
Very often even charging a low voltage cell at 0.5C will cause it to puff.
IMO that is why you read so many reports such as “It was fine last time I flew it but today when I charged it the cells puffed up.”

I'll be watching to see if there is some logical explanation given for this. And I will tend to charge at the lowest rate my LiPo charger will go if I have plenty of time before the next flight day.

Up till today, I never got an explanation there or found one anywhere else, so I PMed the original author. He told me he never searched for a explanation of why charging an overdischarged LiPoly at a normal rate causes puffing. But he got it verbally from several good sources and has verified it himself. So that's good enough for me.

I also learned that he mistakenly discharged a 3S down to 1.66 volts and "recovered" it with very very slow recharging. But the later discharge curve was noticeably less good. So even if you can recover from an over-discharge, it's clearly not good for the LiPo in the long run.

Hope no Renegade ever needs to use this info :)

[SYAWLA INVERTED]

Andy, it says no wind ...not no air. I think is says no wind just to clairify....so some engineer (like my self) does on have a way out like on a test that will allow them to be correct. "Not if there was a 65 mph tail wind" or something like that. The prop, or jet generates a force that accelorates the plane forward assuming that there is little friction in the wheel bearings. Once the plane moves forward the belt moves with it so the wheels do not turn but the wings are moving through the air and eventually they will create enough upward force to lift the plane with the wheels stopped. Just think of a plane on a lake of ice with its emergency break on. Once the static friction is broken and the plane is sliding it will take off just like normal.

[SYAWLA INVERTED]

Heres the scoop on the hotel. Each of the guys paid $10 for the room orininally. But when the bell boy gave them each a dollar he failed to tell them that he "stoled" their money and put $2 of their dollars in his pocket. So the 3 men actually paid $9.33 1/3 of a penny each out of pocket. Well you get the point. (Don't ask me where the penny went) So 3x$9.33 is $30 Actually I am wrong. In typing this I realized the men have $9 in there wallet. So that means the hotel was supposed to cost $25 but it really got $27 if the bell boy came clean and have the $2 back to the register. Does either of these make sence? Anyhow it is something like that. No magic dollar here.

[dee-grose]

Mike, I think you meant Gary instead of Andy.

[Moonbeam Six]

Syawla,

The point is, it is all in how you think about it. The same with the plane paradox.

Frank

[brn-grose]

Hey MB6, how's the MSJ coming along ? got any recent build pics to post in the "workbench" thread? my MSJ is still in the box. too much going on lately.

Brn

[dee-grose]

In case any of you are in the market for some cheap reciever battery packs or switches, servocity.com has a decent sale going on. Thought some of you sloper types might need some of these items...price can't be beat!

http://www.servocity.com/html/web_specials.html

[ghee-grose]

Hey guys, in case any of you are interested in a micro R/C plane for cheap...

Target has these for $29.99!!! They have a Lipo battery built in and from reading on the threads they are great little planes. I think Tram has bought several of these and has got several friends/family to solo them with no prior R/C experience.

They come in 3 different channels; A, B, and C (all on 27mhz band) with 3 colors per channel. Until 11:00 today they had all 6. :cool: I got the red/yellow one that's on channel B.

Here's some threads that discuss them with extensive (optional) mods.

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=444953

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=401484

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=460819

[ghee-grose]

Here's a little more info...

stats:
3 channels, A, B, C - 27mhz
130mah lipo
45mm counter rotating props

motors:
thrust 8-10g
5.3 ohm 6mm coreless
390mA draw per motor
6-10 ohm motor possible replacement

weight:
stock weight:
biplane 19.68g - monoplane 17.02g
breakdown:
receiver including antenna but w/o charging socket and switch 1.35 grams.
Motor with leads and prop weighs 1.83 grams
Cell weighs 3.8 grams
Fuselage pod 1.4 grams
Wing 3.42 grams
Stab/rudder 0.71 grams
Tailboom assy 1.8 grams
Motor mounts 0.42 grams

size:
length 23cm
wingspann 23cm
weight 18grams

[dee-grose]

Target has two left now :D

[ghee-grose]

They will only have one after I get there in the morning!

I just got through watching Matthew fly this one and let me tell you... this little thing flies reeeeaaaaal nice!!!

[ghee-grose]

They have one left now!!! It's the red/yellow one on channel B like I bought yesterday. This morning I bought the black/grey one on channel A.

[ghee-grose]

Some pics of it....

[Ultralight]

They are out at Target but Wal Mart has them for $39.98. :(


Jason

[ghee-grose]

Hey, I just got through flying mine in the back room here at the office!!! The room measures 20'x32'

Pictures and video coming soon! :D

[ghee-grose]

They have 5 of them at the Target on Carl T. Jones for $29.99!!!!

[ghee-grose]

Check out my Gallery for the video and pictures!!!!

http://www.rcgroups.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=30350&sort=1&cat=last1&page=1

[Jim_Marconnet]

Check out my Gallery for the video and pictures!!!!

http://www.rcgroups.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=30350&sort=1&cat=last1&page=1
Great videos! I especially love the "thunk" sound when it hits something. It must be pretty light/sturdy the way you kept picking it up and flying it again and again. Or did you buy 10 of them? Just Kidding.

I want one!

[ghee-grose]

It weighs .7oz (yes, less than an ounce) so it doens't have much mass when it does hit. Also it's made of EPP foam so it bounces quite nicely. :D

[ghee-grose]

Me and Matthew had a nice time flying them together this evening even though the winds were kicking around 10mph. You have to be real careful or it will get carried away real quick. :o

[Moonbeam Six]

This almost sounds like a stupid question, but are all the little bumps on the wings of the Air Hog functional, or an artifact of the manufacturing process? Should one try to remove them? The obvious answer may not be the correct answer. If they are they by design, then why?

Frank

[ghee-grose]

I doubt they are by design. I think it's a result of a quick, inexpensive EPP mold job. From what I've read, EPP doesn't sand down very good. Might be best to shave them off with a nice sharp X-acto blade or straight razor.

[nitro125]

All of the Wal-Marts ive checked only have some estes sky rangers or something like that. Wjat walmart are you guys talking about?

[Mars Flyer]

This almost sounds like a stupid question, but are all the little bumps on the wings of the Air Hog functional, or an artifact of the manufacturing process? Should one try to remove them? The obvious answer may not be the correct answer. If they are they by design, then why?

Frank


Frank,

That question has been discussed at length on the Easy Star threads. As I recall the answer seemed to be that it is a manufacturing artifact of Elapor foam but that the little bumps act as turbulators which, as you know, lowers the stall speed. At the low speeds they fly the bumps are probably a good thing.

Rob

[Moonbeam Six]

Frank,

That question has been discussed at length on the Easy Star threads. As I recall the answer seemed to be that it is a manufacturing artifact of Elapor foam but that the little bumps act as turbulators which, as you know, lowers the stall speed. At the low speeds they fly the bumps are probably a good thing.

Rob

Rob,

We used to strap 2x4s on edge along the top of the wings of 0-1 Bird Dog before we put it on a sling underneath our Chinook for aircraft recovery missions. They acted as spoilers to keep the bird from flying up into us.

Some vortex keeps the airflow attached to the wing at higher angles of attack, thus reducing the stall speed. But these bumps are all over the wing, and, in scale, relatively large. Pilots are advised to clear frost and snow from wings before attempting flight. Flush rivets are used to keep the airfoil aerodynamically clean.

Perhaps an aero engineer will jump in here.

Frank

[ghee-grose]

All of the Wal-Marts ive checked only have some estes sky rangers or something like that. Wjat walmart are you guys talking about?


If it's worth $10 per plane to you, make the trip down the parkway and to Airport Road, cross the hill and into Jones Valley to that Target. They have them for now.

[ghee-grose]

A fun link for the AeroAce

http://www.aeroacemods.com/aam/default.asp

[ghee-grose]

Friday night we had an Aero Ace Indoor Fly In!

Dad, Andy, Matthew, and me had our Aero Ace's charged and ready to go. Andy got temp access to his church's gym that has a full size basketball court. :D We had a couple hours worth of fun. Matt's and Dad's are both on channel A so they couldn't fly those at the same time, but Dad had his Gym Swallow (72mhz) that he flew around in there and Matt had a few of his R/C cars there to speed around with.

The funnest thing of the whole night was me standing on center court and launching my Andy's and Matt's AA at the same time and see who was the first one to hit me. That was a blast!!!! :D I got my head buzzed several times!

The only down side to the evening is nobody brought a dog-gone camera to catch any of this!?!?!?

[Mars Flyer]

http://www.rocketcityrc.com/events/2006-SwapMeet/index.html

RCRC and NARCA are sponsoring a swapmeet on March 11. Check the link for details.

Maybe the Renegades could chip in on a table for any stuff needing a new home.

Don, this is a good entry for the thread/sticky on events you suggested today. You oughtta start one up.

Rob

[dee-grose]

Wonder if Rick is gonna have a table at the swap meet like he did a couple years ago? He had some awesome deals then...

[ghee-grose]

Rob, (or anybody with the answer)

I was reading some posts about the Great Planes Electrifly 4-channel receivers and how good they are for the few dollars more than a GWS. I looked them up on Tower and saw they sell them for low or high channel frequency. I've never heard of this. Since I operate on channel 23 then I would buy a "low" one, and a channel 23 crystal. It also looks like the shift is automatic.

What's your take on this low/high thing?

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCRK0&P=0

**from the product details**
COMMENTS: Special Notice about Frequency Changes-
*72MHz- Low band channels 11 to 35; High band channels 36 to 60.
Receiver crystal channels (11-35 or 36-60) Within Each Band
Can Be Changed, and Do Not Require a retuning of the receiver.

[Mars Flyer]

Rob, (or anybody with the answer)

I was reading some posts about the Great Planes Electrifly 4-channel receivers and how good they are for the few dollars more than a GWS. I looked them up on Tower and saw they sell them for low or high channel frequency. I've never heard of this. Since I operate on channel 23 then I would buy a "low" one, and a channel 23 crystal. It also looks like the shift is automatic.

What's your take on this low/high thing?

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCRK0&P=0

**from the product details**
COMMENTS: Special Notice about Frequency Changes-
*72MHz- Low band channels 11 to 35; High band channels 36 to 60.
Receiver crystal channels (11-35 or 36-60) Within Each Band
Can Be Changed, and Do Not Require a retuning of the receiver.

Gary,

That band separation is probably a sign of a better receiver. That means it has some tuned circuits in the "front end" that are so narrow band that they are tuned specifically for each end of the band. The band is only 1 MHz wide and it is easy to make a radio that covers all of that without retuning, but a wider band radio is usually not as sensitive or selective. The sensitivity spec for this radio isn't dramatically better than the GWS (890ft vs 500) but who knows what that is based on. "Real" radios like the ham gear I use have specs that can actually be compared (measurable sensitivity and selectivity parameters) but these range claims are hard to compare since you don't know what signal to noise ratio is involved. Since you seldom get a small plane that far away, range isn't as important as selectivity - which is a measure of its ability to reject signals on nearby channels and avoid interference glitches.

BTW, Tower shows the real specs on the Electifly receiver. I couldn't find similar specs for the GWS receivers on their website. Only the 500 ft range.

With all that said, I have no idea how good the receiver is. I've finally decided I'm not going to risk a plane worth over $100 just to save $25 or $20 on a receiver. My last 2 receiver purchases have been an Electron 6 and a Berg Microstamp. No more cheap receivers for me. You generally get what you pay for. I've had plenty of glitches with $25 receivers and never one glitch with a $40 to $60 receiver.

Rob

[ghee-grose]

Well said... sounds like good advice from a good source. Thanks Rob!

[Miderror]

One other Mfg that has always sold Rx as high or low.
http://www.futaba-rc.com/radioaccys/futl26.html
BTW GP is US distributor of the Futaba line.
Can you guess the origin of the Great Planes Electrifly 4-channel?

I'm with Rob, I like Electron 6 and a Berg Microstamp but also fly JR 610s.

Don


Rob, (or anybody with the answer)

I was reading some posts about the Great Planes Electrifly 4-channel receivers and how good they are for the few dollars more than a GWS. I looked them up on Tower and saw they sell them for low or high channel frequency. I've never heard of this. Since I operate on channel 23 then I would buy a "low" one, and a channel 23 crystal. It also looks like the shift is automatic.

What's your take on this low/high thing?

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXCRK0&P=0

**from the product details**
COMMENTS: Special Notice about Frequency Changes-
*72MHz- Low band channels 11 to 35; High band channels 36 to 60.
Receiver crystal channels (11-35 or 36-60) Within Each Band
Can Be Changed, and Do Not Require a retuning of the receiver.

[ghee-grose]

Here's a picture I snapped in between the kamikaze attacks Matthew was doing at my head this afternoon while we were doing FULL CONTACT combat. That means, hit the person, not each others airplane. **got that idea from Tram** :D

[Jim_Marconnet]

I was doing some searches about motors, ESC, and LiPos and ran into a post somewhere where a guy redid his Easy Star with a substantial brushless motor, etc. and then discovered that it would ROG. Rise Off Grass! That I'd like to see. :)

[SU Jags]

Jim, follow this (http://www.mpx-easystar.de/) link to the video section, and look at Zoom Zoom's vids. That ROG is pretty cool.

[Mars Flyer]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=471385#post4967592

Check out this electric festival in Arizona. Scroll down and check the photos. They look like a scene from Aerofly Pro simulator. Gotta love those blue skies filled with electric planes.

The following link is for the entire forum for the festival. Lots of great photos including some beautiful aerials. I miss the desert :(

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=369

Rob