And finally...well not finally cuz its still early in this game...2.4 news. I flew 2.4 in my Marauder and a handful of guys flew various brands in their 2.4 friendly RES and Open ships. It does work if you apply those little gray cells when installing. I had a really good chat with Peter Goldsmith (Horizon Hobby) during a lull in the action and I threw a couple of what-if's at him concerning concern for 2.4 limitations...and well, he was ready for them! Yep, its about 40 Spectrum TX's that can be on at once, and it while it would be possible for a situation to arise in some fictional situation where someone would be inconvenienced...all indications in actual contest conditions so far....as in real world versus hypothetical....all indications are that its a case of don't worry...be REAL happy! This was my first opportunity to experience the out right feeling of freedom of having a 2.4 system at a contest. Each time they'd call me up to fly my woody, hand me the 16 clip I had registered for my other classes, I'd just smile, knowing that it no longer applied...none of 'it'. And flying that woody that took the MMGliderTech boys a lot of hours of meticulous building to create...knowing that it was safe from at least one threat of undeserved destruction. Each time....it sunk in a little deeper, that feeling of first freedom, then real realization of what it meant to not even consider the possibilities, responsibilities and liabilities of having to have a 'channel'. It really made me understand how worth it is would be to do the 'work' of getting those RX's installed correctly. My chat with Peter G also enlightened me about why they decided on the two RX system...its pretty logical actually. The 2.4 signal is no more or less affected by the carbon fuses we use in all of our molded ships today than 72mhz is. But we figured out how to overcome the carbon problem...by extending the antenna and allowing it to dangle free of RF signal shading caused by wings and fuses. Spectrum's dual RX's provide actual triangulation system for the signals that pass back and forth, from TX to RXs', a wider 'backstop' of sorts for the TX signal to be caught with...two hands instead of one to get a good grip on the information your thumb is trying to get to the servos. A bit of over kill for most RC applications but just enough for RC sailplanes...that fly wayyyy off, in sometimes foggy weather, sometimes blocked or deflected by tree tops, antenna and power towers..and of course timer's bellies :-). This kind of thinking comes from a company with two top RC sailplane guys in positions to offer up the 'what-ifs' to designers and engineers at the manufacturer levels. Okay does that mean none of the other systems won't or don't work? Nope, but it does give you all some insight I know I didn't have until I had a chance to ask about...after I had some personal experience with 2.4. Currently I don't have non carbon fuselages for my World's Heaviest Carbon Supra Lite, or my Perfect, or Pike Giant, or even my Super AVA...but I have some ideas to try in order to use 2.4 in those airframes successfully. I'll keep you guys posted on my experiments :-).
Gordy **************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living. (http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/ 2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)
