[RCSE] JR Service rocks
I did a dumb thing the other day and plugged the wrong set of charge cables into my 9303 transmitter. I found out that this can damage more than the fuse. Thanks to John Diniz and the JR Service Department for a very quick turnaround on the repair. I gave the Tx to UPS on Monday and got it back from UPS on Friday, during the busy season. I appreciate the good support. happy trails - Rob Glover RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] "Had a chance to test the Freq Checker with its Ext Antenna Tonite"
Another product that doesn't believe in center positive or signal and outside negative or ground. When I made my temporary antenna for the Frequency Checker, I assumed that the plug was wired according to the over 50 year old standard and connected it to the center. No matter, it still increased the range from 200 feet to over 1000 feet. Chuck Anderson At 07:31 PM 6/17/2005, you wrote: "Bill Swingle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >It looks like the Hobbico antenna utilizes a stereo plug (2 conductors + >grd) While Mike's uses a mono plug (1 conductor + grd). Inside the frequency checker there are two boards. One is a large LED dot matrix display that includes the antenna jack on one side. The other is the smaller rf board, which leaves enough room for the batteries to fit inside the case. Here's a picture: http://www.vvsss.com/freq_checker/both_boards.jpg The rf board has a single seven-inch antenna wire coming out of it that wraps around the inside of the case and ends at the antenna jack on the dot matrix board. With no external antenna plugged in, this seven-inch wire alone acts as the antenna. Now look at this picture: http://www.vvsss.com/freq_checker/matrix_back.jpg This is the back of the dot matrix board, which has a PIC microcontroller just above the antenna jack. You can also see the battery connectors. Notice that the end of the antenna wire connects only to the ground or shield terminal of the antenna connector, which appears to be a stereo jack. I was unable to find any connection of the tip and center terminals of the jack to any on the circuitry on the dot matrix board, nor did I expect to find any. Those terminals are merely soldered to an isolated portion of the board to help secure the jack in place. The bottom line is that it doesn't make a bit of difference whether you use a mono or stereo plug for your antenna because only the shield (ground) terminal connects to anything inside the frequency checker. Whatever you plug into the ground connection of that jack will act as an extension of the existing seven-inch antenna wire. Here's a cute animated GIF I made to show how fast the frequency checker scans: http://www.vvsss.com/freq_checker/freq_checker.gif Mike -- _ \__|__/ (O) RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] JR Service rocks
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >I did a dumb thing the other day and plugged the wrong set of charge cables >into my 9303 transmitter. I found out that this can damage more than the >fuse. I'd like to know how that's possible. The power switch ought to be a double-throw type that switches the battery and fuse between the radio circuitry and the charging jack, but always isolates the radio circuitry from the charging jack. That's the way my Quattros and XP8103 radios appear to be wired. Is the 9303 different? I wonder why. Mike -- _ \__|__/ (O) RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] JR Service rocks
Center negative! Just one of the reasons I gave up on JR many years ago. Of course I was still flying single stick transmitters at the time and only bought the JR to have a two stick transmitter because everybody on my cross country team were two stick fliers. Chuck Anderson At 06:37 AM 6/18/2005, you wrote: I did a dumb thing the other day and plugged the wrong set of charge cables into my 9303 transmitter. I found out that this can damage more than the fuse. Thanks to John Diniz and the JR Service Department for a very quick turnaround on the repair. I gave the Tx to UPS on Monday and got it back from UPS on Friday, during the busy season. I appreciate the good support. happy trails - Rob Glover RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] "Had a chance to test the Freq Checker with its Ext Antenna Tonite"
Chuck Anderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Another product that doesn't believe in center positive or signal and >outside negative or ground. When I made my temporary antenna for the >Frequency Checker, I assumed that the plug was wired according to the over >50 year old standard and connected it to the center. No matter, it still >increased the range from 200 feet to over 1000 feet. Can someone with one of the new Hobbico antennas please check to see how it's built? If you have a meter or continuity checker of some kind, test for continuity from the antenna mast, first to the tip, then to the center ring, and then to the ground of the stereo plug. Thanks. As far as industry standards for using stereo earphone jacks as antenna connectors, I wonder if there actually are any. It seems to me that there would be mechanical difficulties in connecting the antenna mast to the tip of the stereo plug and not to the ground. I think it would result in a weakness at the joint. Mike -- _ \__|__/ (O) RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
[RCSE] Hobbico antenna
I recieved my Backordered antenna yesterday. Tower Sent me 2 for what ever reason. So I have one for sale. the cost is 8.99 plus shipping or 9 bucks at the field. Let me Know. I will be at the NAts and the OVSS contests, Tnx Jack Jack Strother Granger, IN LSF V #117 //home.comcast.net/~strotherbj RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
[RCSE] Looking for Sparrow Racer wing
I am looking for a replacement wing for a "sparrow Racer" I think its about 1500 mm. I think they were originally from Northeast Sailplanes. Any help would be appreciated. Jacob -- Jacob Bloom P O Box 361 SOUTH HURSTVILLE NSW 2221 AUSTRALIA Phone 0412 636679 61 412 636679 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] JR Service rocks
I did a dumb thing the other day and plugged the wrong set of charge cables into my 9303 transmitter. I found out that this can damage more than the fuse. Center negative! Just one of the reasons I gave up on JR many years ago. Instead of worrying about all this, why not just rewire the charge jack? It's fairly simple to do that. That was the first thing I did on my 8103 when I got it. Randy RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
RE: [RCSE] Looking for Sparrow Racer wing
Contact Bob Breaux at Soaringusa.com as he stocks spare parts for all his products and you could get a very nice molded wing from a Bird, a Fredy, a MiniBlade or others. Bill DelHagen [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Jacob Bloom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Subject: [RCSE] Looking for Sparrow Racer wing Date: Sat, 18 Jun 2005 23:36:17 +1000 I am looking for a replacement wing for a "sparrow Racer" I think its about 1500 mm. I think they were originally from Northeast Sailplanes. Any help would be appreciated. Jacob -- Jacob Bloom P O Box 361 SOUTH HURSTVILLE NSW 2221 AUSTRALIA Phone 0412 636679 61 412 636679 RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
[RCSE] 8 hour day - Long!
Yesterday a group of us attempted our 8 hour LSF Level V slope task. We
chose Parker Mountain as the site. The weather pattern in Southern
California this time of year is noted for a dense marine layer along the
coast ("June gloom") giving way to sunshine in the afternoon. Parker's
location is at the end of a west facing valley, and the onshore flow caused
by the desert brings the wind straight up the slope. In theory!
There was a storm system that hit the Northwest, and we got the tail end of
it. Luckily the wind direction was still good, but our day began under a
thick cloud layer and 15 mph winds. John Yee was the first to launch. He
was flying a borrowed Marauder, a 118" RES ship. I launched immediately
after. Well, almost immediately after. Major Anderson, one of our able
assistants, followed my instructions by pointing the nose down on my Topaz
and giving it a strong throw. The wind at the lip of the bowl was gusting
to about 20 mph. The plane left his hand and went straight into the ground.
The world's fastest pancake landing. No damage to the plane, just a little
embarrassment, which of course, was recorded on video.
I picked up the plane and headed about 15 feet down the slope face. The air
was much more manageable. I gave my trusty Topaz a throw and off she went.
Anticipating a windy day, I had loaded her up with 2 pounds of ballast. I
would soon find out that I now possessed the world's fastest Topaz.
Joe Nave next launched his Ava. He had wired in 4 double A's and placed
them in his wing. This was a clever set up that added capacity and doubled
as ballast. Ian Douglas, LSF #1192 and Level V #71 (Nov. '89) launched his
2 meter after Joe. Ian is going for his Level V a second time! He was the
voice of experience in our group and always seemed to be in good air. He
was flying with 4 double A sized Li-poly packs. Plenty of capacity.
Finally Dan Borer was ready to launch. Major and Dennis Ingram (our other
assistant) were both needed to steady the wings of Dan's 14 foot Gnome.
This monster plane had successfully been flown back in 1983 for the 8 hour
task. Dan had enough battery capacity for, by his estimate, "43 hours of
flight time".
I keep mentioning battery capacity because it was a big concern of mine. By
my calculations, I figured that the 3 servos of mine might draw about 50 mah
each. Multiply by 3 then by 8 and you have 1200 mah. I have a 1850 pack on
board. Thought I would be fine. Dan, a few nights earlier, had reminded me
about the receiver draw. Oops, forgot about that one...
We now had 5 planes in the air. It was quite a sight. It looked funny to
see all these big thermal planes parked up in the sky, with all of us trying
to get a lot of altitude because it felt "safer" up there. We were later to
find out that this certainly mattered.
We settled into our chairs about 20' back from the lip of the bowl. We all
started the "multi-tasking" that is required for this endurance event. This
included simple things like opening up your bottle of Gatorade, to more
advanced things like applying the second coat of sunscreen, or the most
advanced, relieving yourself with your back to the plane. I won't get into
details on this one!
The first couple of hours went by quickly. There were patches of blue
starting to come through and the wind was fairly steady. As we got closer
to lunch, thermal activity began. You'd think that a slope is somewhat
immune to thermals, but at Parker this is not the case at all. One thing
that you really learn when flying for 8 hours is how weather changes through
the day. When a thermal would roll up the hill, the wind in our face would
nearly stop. The flags on the antennae sometimes faced towards the bowl!
The thermal would pass through followed by a huge amount of sink. We had a
couple of close calls, even though the wind speed indicator was now reading
20 mph with gusts to 25.
Dan had been giving us numbers to ponder, like after the first hour when he
told John Yee and me that we were "12%" done. We, of course, corrected him,
telling him it was actually 12.5%. Yes, conversation does get down to this
level :-)
When we reached 50% I realized why Nowell Siegel had seemed a little grumpy
when we did our slope task last year. I had finished my 4 hour, and I was
jumping up and down and Nowell just sort of glared at me. I can relate to
Nowell now! BTW, he went on to complete the task.
We weren't too grumpy, but staring into the sky for 4 hours isn't easy, and
knowing you have 4 more hours to go doesn't exactly put you in a happy go
lucky mood. One thing nice about flying with 5 guys, however, was someone
was always having some sort of adventure. We had several notable "pucker
factor" events, usually when swapping batteries for the transmitters, or in
my case, swapping transmitters. For the record, with a PPM receiver, the
procedure should be turn off T-1, and quickly turn on T-2. Don't turn them
both on at the sam
RE: [RCSE] 8 hour day - Long!
Congrtas to ALL! Chris Adams LSF 348 lvl V #8 Original Message Subject: [RCSE] 8 hour day - Long!From: John Erickson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Date: Sat, June 18, 2005 12:10 pmTo: Soaring List , Albert Wargo<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Alex Eremenko<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Bela Kenessey<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Bill Centonze <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, BillParrish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Bob Masterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,Brian Buaas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Claus Langer<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Craig Frump <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, DanWerner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Darren Levine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,Dennis McDonald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Derrick Enault<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dominic Ricci <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, DukeRovarino <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Ed Devlin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,Erick Underwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Eugene Haban<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Evan Marckwardt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,Fred Becker <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Gary Boyer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, GregNorsworthy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Gregory Mann<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Gus Ruiz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Hank Schorz<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Hayden Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, JackPatzold <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Jay Hawbecker<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Joe Wurts , John Thomas<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Keith Millett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, KeithSmith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Lowell Norenberg<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Marc Webster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, MarkJohnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Michael Hammers<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Michael Whitman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, PeterIllsley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Richard Stubbs<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Richard Webster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,Santo Boreli <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Scott Marnoch<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Steve Marks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, ThomasCsoti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
RE: [RCSE] 8 hour day - Long!
John, Can you email me. I have a new email address and have a question. Thanks, Chris RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] 8 hour day - Long!
John and all the others,
Congrats on a Job Well Done.
See Ya,
Pat
- Original Message -
From: "John Erickson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Soaring List" ; "Albert Wargo"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Alex Eremenko"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Bela Kenessey"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Bill Centonze" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Bill
Parrish" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Bob Masterson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Brian
Buaas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Claus Langer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Craig Frump" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Dan Werner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Darren Levine" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Dennis McDonald"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Derrick Enault" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Dominic
Ricci" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Duke Rovarino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Ed
Devlin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Erick Underwood"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Eugene Haban" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Evan
Marckwardt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Fred Becker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Gary Boyer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Greg Norsworthy"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Gregory Mann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Gus
Ruiz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Hank Schorz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Hayden
Mitchell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Jack Patzold" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Jay Hawbecker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Joe Wurts" ;
"John Thomas" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Keith Millett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Keith Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Lowell Norenberg"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Marc Webster" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Mark
Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Michael Hammers"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Michael Whitman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Peter
Illsley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Richard Stubbs"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Richard Webster" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
"Santo Boreli" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Scott Marnoch"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Steve Marks" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Thomas
Csoti" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2005 2:10 PM
Subject: [RCSE] 8 hour day - Long!
Yesterday a group of us attempted our 8 hour LSF Level V slope task. We
chose Parker Mountain as the site. The weather pattern in Southern
California this time of year is noted for a dense marine layer along the
coast ("June gloom") giving way to sunshine in the afternoon. Parker's
location is at the end of a west facing valley, and the onshore flow
caused
by the desert brings the wind straight up the slope. In theory!
There was a storm system that hit the Northwest, and we got the tail end
of
it. Luckily the wind direction was still good, but our day began under a
thick cloud layer and 15 mph winds. John Yee was the first to launch. He
was flying a borrowed Marauder, a 118" RES ship. I launched immediately
after. Well, almost immediately after. Major Anderson, one of our able
assistants, followed my instructions by pointing the nose down on my Topaz
and giving it a strong throw. The wind at the lip of the bowl was gusting
to about 20 mph. The plane left his hand and went straight into the
ground.
The world's fastest pancake landing. No damage to the plane, just a
little
embarrassment, which of course, was recorded on video.
I picked up the plane and headed about 15 feet down the slope face. The
air
was much more manageable. I gave my trusty Topaz a throw and off she
went.
Anticipating a windy day, I had loaded her up with 2 pounds of ballast. I
would soon find out that I now possessed the world's fastest Topaz.
Joe Nave next launched his Ava. He had wired in 4 double A's and placed
them in his wing. This was a clever set up that added capacity and
doubled
as ballast. Ian Douglas, LSF #1192 and Level V #71 (Nov. '89) launched
his
2 meter after Joe. Ian is going for his Level V a second time! He was
the
voice of experience in our group and always seemed to be in good air. He
was flying with 4 double A sized Li-poly packs. Plenty of capacity.
Finally Dan Borer was ready to launch. Major and Dennis Ingram (our other
assistant) were both needed to steady the wings of Dan's 14 foot Gnome.
This monster plane had successfully been flown back in 1983 for the 8 hour
task. Dan had enough battery capacity for, by his estimate, "43 hours of
flight time".
I keep mentioning battery capacity because it was a big concern of mine.
By
my calculations, I figured that the 3 servos of mine might draw about 50
mah
each. Multiply by 3 then by 8 and you have 1200 mah. I have a 1850 pack
on
board. Thought I would be fine. Dan, a few nights earlier, had reminded
me
about the receiver draw. Oops, forgot about that one...
We now had 5 planes in the air. It was quite a sight. It looked funny to
see all these big thermal planes parked up in the sky, with all of us
trying
to get a lot of altitude because it felt "safer" up there. We were later
to
find out that this certainly mattered.
We settled into our chairs about 20' back from the lip of the bowl. We
all
started the "multi-tasking" that is required for this endurance event.
This
included simple things like opening up your bottle of Gatorade, to more
advanced things like applying the second coat of
[RCSE] Selling one Clean NYX Ready to fly!!! Look!!
I have a very clean NYX for sale! Here are the details: NYX XLT D-Box Extra light All JR 368 digital servos Super slim receiver 1100 mAh battery Built in skeg box One year old, Very clean $1,500 invested 67 Oz. RTF $1,200.00 OBO + shipping Plane is Green top with purple bottoms Let me know who will have their name on this beauty! Edgar "The Soaring Junkie" __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
[RCSE] 8 hour follow up
My battery just finished discharging. I had 668 mah left. Voltage was 4.65v. Based on a full 1850 mah charge, it means I used about 150 mah per hour for my 3 servos and receiver, exactly what I estimated! JE -- Erickson Architects John R. Erickson, AIA RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] 8 hour day - Long!
Great post John,
Congrads to all of you. Brings back memories of my 8 hrs.
George
LSF V #82
At 12:10 PM 6/18/2005 -0700, John Erickson wrote:
Yesterday a group of us attempted our 8 hour LSF Level V slope task. We
chose Parker Mountain as the site. The weather pattern in Southern
California this time of year is noted for a dense marine layer along the
coast ("June gloom") giving way to sunshine in the afternoon. Parker's
location is at the end of a west facing valley, and the onshore flow caused
by the desert brings the wind straight up the slope. In theory!
There was a storm system that hit the Northwest, and we got the tail end of
it. Luckily the wind direction was still good, but our day began under a
thick cloud layer and 15 mph winds. John Yee was the first to launch. He
was flying a borrowed Marauder, a 118" RES ship. I launched immediately
after. Well, almost immediately after. Major Anderson, one of our able
assistants, followed my instructions by pointing the nose down on my Topaz
and giving it a strong throw. The wind at the lip of the bowl was gusting
to about 20 mph. The plane left his hand and went straight into the ground.
The world's fastest pancake landing. No damage to the plane, just a little
embarrassment, which of course, was recorded on video.
I picked up the plane and headed about 15 feet down the slope face. The air
was much more manageable. I gave my trusty Topaz a throw and off she went.
Anticipating a windy day, I had loaded her up with 2 pounds of ballast. I
would soon find out that I now possessed the world's fastest Topaz.
Joe Nave next launched his Ava. He had wired in 4 double A's and placed
them in his wing. This was a clever set up that added capacity and doubled
as ballast. Ian Douglas, LSF #1192 and Level V #71 (Nov. '89) launched his
2 meter after Joe. Ian is going for his Level V a second time! He was the
voice of experience in our group and always seemed to be in good air. He
was flying with 4 double A sized Li-poly packs. Plenty of capacity.
Finally Dan Borer was ready to launch. Major and Dennis Ingram (our other
assistant) were both needed to steady the wings of Dan's 14 foot Gnome.
This monster plane had successfully been flown back in 1983 for the 8 hour
task. Dan had enough battery capacity for, by his estimate, "43 hours of
flight time".
I keep mentioning battery capacity because it was a big concern of mine. By
my calculations, I figured that the 3 servos of mine might draw about 50 mah
each. Multiply by 3 then by 8 and you have 1200 mah. I have a 1850 pack on
board. Thought I would be fine. Dan, a few nights earlier, had reminded me
about the receiver draw. Oops, forgot about that one...
We now had 5 planes in the air. It was quite a sight. It looked funny to
see all these big thermal planes parked up in the sky, with all of us trying
to get a lot of altitude because it felt "safer" up there. We were later to
find out that this certainly mattered.
We settled into our chairs about 20' back from the lip of the bowl. We all
started the "multi-tasking" that is required for this endurance event. This
included simple things like opening up your bottle of Gatorade, to more
advanced things like applying the second coat of sunscreen, or the most
advanced, relieving yourself with your back to the plane. I won't get into
details on this one!
The first couple of hours went by quickly. There were patches of blue
starting to come through and the wind was fairly steady. As we got closer
to lunch, thermal activity began. You'd think that a slope is somewhat
immune to thermals, but at Parker this is not the case at all. One thing
that you really learn when flying for 8 hours is how weather changes through
the day. When a thermal would roll up the hill, the wind in our face would
nearly stop. The flags on the antennae sometimes faced towards the bowl!
The thermal would pass through followed by a huge amount of sink. We had a
couple of close calls, even though the wind speed indicator was now reading
20 mph with gusts to 25.
Dan had been giving us numbers to ponder, like after the first hour when he
told John Yee and me that we were "12%" done. We, of course, corrected him,
telling him it was actually 12.5%. Yes, conversation does get down to this
level :-)
When we reached 50% I realized why Nowell Siegel had seemed a little grumpy
when we did our slope task last year. I had finished my 4 hour, and I was
jumping up and down and Nowell just sort of glared at me. I can relate to
Nowell now! BTW, he went on to complete the task.
We weren't too grumpy, but staring into the sky for 4 hours isn't easy, and
knowing you have 4 more hours to go doesn't exactly put you in a happy go
lucky mood. One thing nice about flying with 5 guys, however, was someone
was always having some sort of adventure. We had several notable "pucker
factor" events, usually when swapping batteries for the transmitters, or in
my case, swapping
[RCSE] "Hey I got a Sirius Charger Today!:
Yep, me. I've enjoyed a close friendship with George and Jo (mfg'rs of the Sirius Charger) for years, but never owned a Sirius Charger...mostly cuz I had bunches of other brands..and really good and fancy ones! But losing a couple of Pikes recently (not due to batteries) really put the whole thing in perspective, it was time to get a Sirius so that dead batteries wouldn't be the next reason. It doesn't get much simplier or more worry free that using the Sirius. Its proven itself over the years to be just what it claims...a charger that insures a full battery and one that cares about keeping the batteries from decaying. I got the Pro Sirius version and very happy about it. You? Gordy
Re: [RCSE] 8 hour day - Long!
Great Post !! Congrads Joe !! --Jack Strother Granger, IN LSF 2948 LSF Level V #117 LSF Official 1996 - 2004 CSS Gold -
Re: [RCSE] "Hey I got a Sirius Charger Today!:
Title: Re: [RCSE] "Hey I got a Sirius Charger Today!: At 6:03 PM -0400 6/18/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yep, me. I've enjoyed a close friendship with George and Jo (mfg'rs of the Sirius Charger) for years, but never owned a Sirius Charger...mostly cuz I had bunches of other brands..and really good and fancy ones! But losing a couple of Pikes recently (not due to batteries) really put the whole thing in perspective, it was time to get a Sirius so that dead batteries wouldn't be the next reason. It doesn't get much simplier or more worry free that using the Sirius. Its proven itself over the years to be just what it claims...a charger that insures a full battery and one that cares about keeping the batteries from decaying. I got the Pro Sirius version and very happy about it. You? Gordy No doubt the Sirius is a good charger, but decaying battery is fact of life. When battery die, no good charger can bring them back. I cycle mine, when they go below 80% of the rated capacity, they are going to the recycle bin(or use them in my camera or shaver). Not worth loosing a model($1000.00+) over $15.00 worth of battery. A good charger and taking care of battery will prolong the battery life but will not stop them from decaying. Brian -- Brian Chan An Electric Airplane [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mateo.Ca.USA
[RCSE] NYX is sold!!!!
Okay, it's going out of state. NYX is sold!!! Thanks again for the interest. More good stuff to come shortly. The NATS is coming and I'll be clearing out some good NATS quality planes!!! As always, NO JUNK HERE!!! YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Edgar "the Soaring Junkie" Yahoo! Sports Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
Re: [RCSE] 8 hour day - Long!
Sincere congrats - recalled some similar experiences! Good Lift! Skip Schow, LSF 166, V#46
[RCSE] "If you got a Vision TX.....I have a free PCM RX for you!"
Hi guys. I got a new PCM RX that matches a Vision's PCM code. Won't match a Stylus so don't be jumping on this one! I converted the pin outs so that JR/HITEC/VOLZ/New Airtronics, well everythiing but old Airtronic servos work with it. Yep, center positive now. Plug your JR Battery plug right, but not an old airtronics plug with Center Negative. 8 channel. You pay postage. Post your address with your request, first yes gets it. Gordy Stahl9303 LeBeau CtLouisville Ky 40299502 727-9595 cell
