Almost fully converted over the FRYSKY. If you haven't been following the developments in opentx you really should be. I was one early adopters and have watched it develop. The open source community is incredible. Wish I had the ability to contribute. Chose the wrong profession.

Check out the Taranis thread on RCG. I'll blow your mind. Interesting thing, seems the big two tx company are also watching. They will and already have release versions of their transmitters that have much better programming capabilities and a more affordable price. No more paying more money for more channels

I am going to start adding new products that I find interesting to my thread.
Interesting little switch.

http://www.rcaccessory.com/powerswitchuniv.aspx

With no money I have found that the RC hobby is not nearly as enjoyable!

Alright this is absolutely enough of the cold weather.

Its been a long time since I made a blog entry and I have some down time at work today so I thought I would throw something down.

What have I been up to?
Well over the last few months I have been working on a major career change and my schedule has been absolutely crazy.

RC wise. I closed out the pattern season with a first place win in sportsman. I was really proud of that win as I had worked my but off practicing. Lately their has been virtually no flying. Flying the keyboard mostly. "No Fly, Patrick" as the guys at RCHeliNation would say.

I have a 45 minute commute for one of my jobs and over the last year I have become completely addicted to the following podcasts. I can't even get out of the driveway without turning on one of the following:

RC Heli Nation:
The guys on RCHeliNation - Well... they are an absolute blast to listen to. That's all I got to say about that.

The CrashCast
Micheal Hancock and his crew are absolutely dedicated to spreading the word about this great hobby of ours. FYI-Their's lots of talk about flying pink unicorns. Being a musician I have a sensitive ear for the quality of the voice audio recording and Crash nails it. You can tell his ham radio back ground shines through.

RCTodayShow
Chris, Bobby and James. Yeah.... these guys are just plain nutso.

All Things that Fly
I can say that everything I know about electric power systems I learned from Lucien.

Flite Test Podcast
The newest of the podcasts. For only...Continue Reading

It's been a long time since I posted in the blog. I was just playing with Dragon NaturallySpeaking and I was wondering if it would dictate into RC groups. It doesn't dictate directly into RC groups but it opens up a dialog box to dictate into which is then transferred into the post dialog box and RC groups.

It's been a very busy summer and haven't got a lot of flying done. I did fly one pattern contest and one iMac contest in the spring. But Midsummer was super busy. First contest of the season during the second round my throttle servo when out. I was flying the downline on a reverse Cuban, then pulled the level and realize that the throttle was unresponsive. I quickly checked to see if the other flight surfaces were working properly and they were but by the time I did that I was at the end of the field I made the turn for final and since the motor was still running at a low idle it acted as a speed break and I didn't make it back to the strip. It went in hard just at the beginning of the runway.

I moved up to intermediate in pattern and sportsmen in iMac. I found the competition to be much stiffer in those classes. Most everyone in intermediate class were flying electric composite planes and were really good flyers. In sportsmen in iMac, it was my little plane against the Cardens. I can tell after flying both of those two contests that my skills are really going to have to develop in order to be competitive in both. But still they were both lots of fun I plan to attend to more pattern contests this fall the Tom Bennett and the St. Clairsville contest.

Wow that summer went fast. Kids in school means it's foamy flying where ever and when ever I get a chance. And Monday flying at the field. I have been putting alot of flights on my ParkMaster. I really think it is the best flying profile foamy in its size right now. It tracks well, you can fly through a IMAC or pattern sequence and then bring it right in on the deck. The wing is really thin and its fast and stable in high alpha. I have tested it's durability at least 10 plus times and with a little CA and some more carbon here and their and it still tracks well. EPP just gets soft after awhile. Good job Multiplex. I hope they release another.

We had great weather this summer for flying which is strange for Cleveland. I attended the pattern contest at the Weak Signals field and an IMAC contest in I placed first in pattern in the Sportsman class and second in the basic IMAC class. I really enjoyed the pattern contest, the gentleman their were very helpful. I hooked up with this crazy man named Dennis on Thursday and we practiced all day and I learned enough to keep me busy for a life time. I picked different callers each round and learned something from each of them. IMAC was quite a different environment. You need to either know someone or be flying a Carden to get help. But that's not going to stop me from attending. Maybe someday I be flying a big bird and have the opportunity to rush that fraternity. For the beginner I would definitely reccomend trying pattern first. The guys are very helpful and you can fly a relatively inexpensive airframe and be competitive. I flew a very used GP Venus, that I paid 400 RTF. And I could fly it through intermediate. In scale 400 is going to get you a few servos. I sure many will disagree with that statement. Both were a great time and I learned alot and if my schedule permits I will be attending both on them next year.

I am just about packed and ready to leave for my very first pattern contest. I will be attending the Weak Signals Contest in Monroe, MI this weekend. My Great Planes Venus II is as ready as its going to get and thumbs are not. I have practiced the sequence twice out at the field. Its difficult to get out their with my 2 and 4 year old. I have did some homework. I have the sequence about 90% memorized and with the help of a caller I should make it through the sequence. It will be interesting to see all of the high dollar aircraft that will be flying in the upper classes. Hopefully I will be able to hook up with a mentor for the weekend to coach me through the contest. I am bringing my Extra 300 just in case as a back up. I hope to get a few flights tonight or tomorrow. Just to get used to a new field. Also, I need to figure out what 150 meters is from the flight line. I usually fly in much much closer than that? And then to fly through the sequence at that line. Orientation is going to be totally different. Back to packing.

I love the way Joe lets the Acromaster sink and glide through the knife edge of the rolling harrier.

mikey acromaster (2 min 55 sec)

Visit to Altantic Air hanger for the Surburban RC club meeting. Ron took us for a tour of his Hawker 800. Thing is simply a beautiful aircraft.

Just some random pictures

Well we have begun our trip to Shawano Wi. My family and I meet relatives in Wisconsin Dells for the weekend and we are leaving tomorrow for Shawano Wi.

I have posted in here in a long time. I am currently attempting to keep my Extreme Flight Extra 300 78" in the air. I have ran it with the Syssa 180 HP 30cc engine on a EScomposite pipe.

Love this little bird. It is horrible cold out here in Cleveland and I am surely not flying my planks right now. It is a tuff little thing. I have crashed maybe 20 times with out any damage. Well except for the tail motor which needs to be replaced. I didn't do the recommended mod before the cap pulled out and ruined the brushes.

Pictures of Typhoon and gear.

Stilling working on my Formosa II. I plan on installing a 42-40 1000kv motor. I have the motor mount fabricated and just waiting for the opportunity to install and do some wattage testing. I had to cut back the fuse to move the esc and I opened up the air flow. Should work just fine. I will post some pictures of the mount soon.

I just ordered the HK-450 from Hobby City. Order is still processing and quantity lists -221. So.. it might be awhile. We are getting another snow storm here in Cleveland. Expecting 12 inches of snow.

I finally moved to 4s batteries. I wanted to try my Acromaster on 4s because my 3s setup didn't seem to have enough vertical power. I purchase the Rhino 2350 4s from hobbycity. Its a big heavy battery but the extra voltage really gives it a punch. I few it last week in 15-20 winds and it was 15 degrees and blowing snow. The extra weight really helped it in that kind of wind. At this new weight the plane handled much more like a larger plane. It didn't fly like foam plane with low wing loading which it is. I can't weight to fly in in more favorable conditions.

We have a new baby in the house and I haven't been on the sticks much or build much for the last few months. However, the Acromaster is flight ready and the Super Cub is still flying.