On Thu, May 26, 2005 at 01:26:07PM -0700, Jim Laurel wrote: | Anyway, it seems to me that one way to avoid these channel conflicts | would be to start using HAM band.
You're just trading some dangers for other dangers. Rather than being at risk of guys who don't take 72 mhz frequency control seriously, wireless mikes and pager towers, you're at risk of guys who don't take 50 mHz frequency sharing seriously and other hams who are out of the band plan. (And those other hams could be transmitting at up to 1500 watts.) And there's fewer ham band frequencies anyways, so if you do run into other users of them, the odds of a conflict are higher. And the ham band frequencies are legal for ground use, so somebody with an R/C car or robot could conflict with you and never know it. Also, nobody else can legally fly your plane if it uses the ham bands, unless they're also a ham operator. I don't think you can even use a buddy box unless both people are hams. (I think the law specifically prohibits third party traffic with R/C on the ham bands.) In general, I do think the overall odds of a conflict on the ham bands are smaller than the odds of conflict on the 72 mHz band, but they're not zero. I've never had a hit on channel 5 or run into another user of it, but I also know that doesn't mean I'm safe ... | At least, they don't sell this stuff in the local toy stores...I | mean hobby shops... The local hobby shop will happily order ham stuff for me. Of course, I usually just go to Tower Hobbies -- they'll get it to me faster and cheaper. The local hobby shop is a lot more expensive, and while I'd like to support him, I'm not going to spend a lot of extra money to do it. | and it's probably a fair assumption that guys on the HAM bands are | going to be strict about managing conflict. I don't know. Mistakes are made by hams just like everybody else, and people do accidently step on each other all the time. But usually, the only damage is that somebody has to repeat what they said/sent ... And they may very well assume that nobody else is using the ham band anyways -- an assumption that works MOST of the time ... I see no reason to expect that hams will be any better at frequency control than anybody else. | I have JR transmitters and JR PCM receivers (R649s and R770s). | Assuming I have at least an amateur radio technician's license So don't assume. Get it. The test is very easy. | how do I go about getting my JR stuff on 50mHz? If you have transmitters with modules, you get 50 mHz modules. If they don't have modules, you get new transmitters, or have your transmitters modified. (Having them modified may not be practical -- it depends on the transmitter. You may also be able to do it yourself if you have the skills and equipment.) As for your receivers, you sell them here or somewhere else, and then you order new ones that use the ham bands -- you can't convert receivers to radically different bands like that, not in any cost effective way anyways. | P.S., Link for RC Scan 7200. Costs more than the Hobbico, but worth $250. (And out of stock.) | it. Specs say that it will detect signals up to around 2000 feet | away, but in my experience, that is conservative. I wonder why somebody doesn't just make these with receivers as sensitive as standard R/C receivers. Perhaps they do, but the difference is due to the receiver not being up in the air ... | http://www.desert-wolfe.com/rcscan/7200.htm Looks nice. Really, the only thing that's special about the Hobbico unit is the price. But the price is so much cheaper than anything else out there, so that's pretty special. :) -- Doug McLaren, [EMAIL PROTECTED], AD5RH Just because your doctor has a name for your condition doesn't mean he knows what it is. 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
