Raleigh Aero MasterS News Update
February 4, 2011
Hello there.
Club Meeting: Our next club meeting is February 6, 2011. This coming Sunday at 3:00PM. Let's get together to discuss business and have a great afternoon of flying.
Website: I got a couple of e-mails from some of you letting me know that the website was down. Well!!! It is. Right now the ramsrc link directs you to a computer memory company. J.T. (president) and Larry (webmaster) will update us on Sunday. As soon as I know, after the meeting, I will let you know what will be done to get it up and running.
Membership cards
(2011): In our January meeting we gave members their cards. A few cards were left and will be available on Sunday for distribution at the meeting (3:00 PM). Those of you that renewed recently or just joined will get the cards on Sunday pending that the application form, fee, up to date AMA, membership approved status has been completed. Many thanks to Greg (Safety Officer) who designed our new logo and to Sam Goldfarb, who has been very diligent and quick to get these cards done for us. We will do our best to have your cards available for pick up on most Sunday afternoons but the official day to distribute them will be on our first Sunday of the month meetings. Come and be with us at the field and pick up your card. Sam or I (Joey) will have them available.Runway damage:
As discussed in the January meeting, our runaway has sustained some damages from trespassing recreational vehicles. There is an area where the surface has been damaged enough to potentially hurt a model's landing gear. Be aware of it when you roll for take-off and landing. When we get consistent dry and stable weather, it will be patched. Keep an eye for trespassing vehicles and get some identification like license tag. We will report them to the police. At the request of our president and agreed at the last meeting, NO TRESPASSING signs will be made by our Safety Officer to display at the field as soon as possible.Newsletter: In the past few months, it has been suggested to do some sort of newsletter. This News Update e-mail is my initial response to this request. I decided to do it by e-mail to save on paper and to allow members not attending a meeting, to get some idea of what is going on in the club. I am using the e-mail addresses you provided in your 2011 registration forms. Some e-mails were unreadable so I will be trying to update e-mails until we can get it to work for everybody. In the future I will try to get some pictures added. Hopefully I will get it to look like a reasonable newsletter. The distribution timing for this e-mail newsletter / update is not set but I will try to get at least one prior to each meeting.
Combat: WOW!!! We are getting aggressive now. The sky at RAMS is not as friendly anymore. Thanks to Joe Schodt, we have come across a nice and simple to build plan for a foamie extra 300. With a cheap motor / esc system and insulation foam from the home improvement store this plane can be built in a couple of hours. The plans are free from RC Powers (google their website). It is fun to see these sophisticated pieces of aerodynamic marvel flying around twisting and flexing their fuselages. I love it!!!. Anyways, they make great cruising around airplanes, 3-D flying and combat planes pulling a streamer. We have been experimenting with them and hopefully more of you will join us for some fun and very inexpensive combat. Ask Joe (the one with the Mickey Mouse / Disney hat) at the field if you want to know more about it. Other home made foamies are making it to the field lately. It is amazing what you can fly by just slapping a powerful enough motor. Weird stuff.
Safety / Follow the Pattern:
At our club is all about fun but safety is first. We are good about keeping things safe. We are not perfect but for the most part, we exercise common sense and follow the safety rules of the club and the AMA. I want to mention one more safety issue and that is the safety of our models. When more than one pilot is flying (limit of 4 at a time), exercise caution regarding air space. Follow the pattern: Some members have mentioned to me at one time or another that some pilots will take off and start flying in the opposite direction of everyone else. If pilots are taking off from the runway in the north direction, keep this pattern. Take off to the north, fly the outside portion of the pattern to the south and return to the runway from south to north. In the meantime do some loops, rolls and whatever you want and then return to the pattern. If no one else is flying then go at it! Get crazy and do a show for the peanut gallery. We will be more than happy to rate your performance. If the wind is shifting directions and you must land opposite to the other pilot’s pattern, call the runway for landing stating from which direction you are coming. If you are landing dead-stick, call the runway and the other pilots must stay away from you and immediately clear the runway. I know we all love to see a good mid-air or runway collision every now and then but if it can be avoided it is better. Otherwise we have plenty of trashbags.DSM2 / DSMX:
For those of us that fly JR / Spektrum 2.4 Ghz a new mode of DSM frequency system will be started. Initially, Spektrum came up with DSM 2.4 Ghz and soon changed to DSM2 2.4 Ghz to deal with some flaws. Between other things, DSM2 2.4 Ghz allowed for about 40 radios to operate with no interference. Since many flying events now can have multiple radios operating between pilots flying and pilots testing their airplanes on the ground there might be a slight chance for interference. DSMX addresses this issue by switching the frequency hopping to a random protocol, which makes for multiple more combinations. The DSMX equipment has been tested with 100 radios operating and they report that there is no interference. They tested the system at Joe Nall and SEFF 2010. It becomes available in March 2011. The DX8 can be converted through the intenet. I believe the 11X also can be inernet updated. All other JR / Spektrum radios can be converted, except the DX5 and the DX7SE, by sending the radio to JR / Spektrum. Cost is $75.00. The full potential of DSMX is obtained when the trasmitter and the receiver are DSMX. DSMX is back compatible with all the DSM2 equipment we already have. What does it mean to us at RAMS? Nothing. Futaba, JR/Spektrum and all 2.4 Ghz equipment can coexist. DSMX just gives you one more level of safety in huge flying events. For more information check Horrizon's website.Hey guys. Does this sound familiar?
See you at the field and have safe fun flying !!!!
Dr.Joey
RAMS secretary
acumed96@aol.com