Focus on Competition
Technical Director
Steve Kaluf skaluf@modelaircraft.org
I don't very often include a letter from a member in my columns (in fact only once before that I remember); however, I recently received a letter from member Bob Walker that asked me to address an all-too-common problem. Here is Bob's letter:
"Don't know if you are the right person for this, so feel free to pass this on. This subject seems bothersome and thought I should let AMA know, although I think I read an article on this awhile back, maybe in Model Aviation.
"I am in the Harford County Miniature Aircraft Operators Association (Swan Harbor Club, about 30 miles NE of Baltimore).
"Yesterday, there was a probable shoot down of an expensive airplane at the field. No one else claimed to be on the flier's frequency, but a check of transmitters found that another person was indeed on that frequency with the wrong flag and wrong pin. Whether that person had his transmitter on is another story. A further check of all the transmitters at the field found another transmitter with the wrong flag and wrong pin. This second person flies at contests around the country and is, by amazing luck, that he was never shot down. Who knows if he ever shot anyone else down.
"So just a suggestion for all contests, fly-ins, and meets, that crystals be checked for actual frequency. Evidently they are not, or at least not at all contests. I noticed that a lot of Futaba radios have the crystal covers with just the frequency number. My JRs have both the frequency and channel number on the crystal cover.
"Also, is there an AMA rule to require channel number flags? Nowadays people have multiple transmitters that look alike and it is easy to pick up the wrong one, especially without a flag. But in our one case, the transmitter had the wrong flag.
"So, just wanted someone out there to know what we learned this weekend. With so many $1,000-plus airplanes, this is a real issue."
Does this scenario sound familiar to you? Have you ever run an impound at an event and looked at the transmitters to verify what channel they are on? Fortunately many events do verify channels; by the same token many do not. Even if AMA required this I have no doubt that the problem would still exist.
This is an outgrowth of so many fly-ins being very large and folks changing channels in the middle of an event in order to get more flying time. Personally I only impound my module for this reason. That way there is no doubt what channel impound should issue for it, as there is no flag attached to mislead them so they must check the module to assure what channel it is on. Transmitters that do not use modules cannot do this, however, and it is very important that we make sure the flag that is attached to the transmitters matches the channel it is on.
The message is simple here. Check to assure your frequency flag matches the actual channel your transmitter is on. Make sure you pick up the correct frequency pin or that impound issues you the correct pin. These are simple steps to take to help avert possible disaster.
- Verify the actual frequency/channel on the transmitter (check the module or crystal).
- Confirm the frequency flag matches the transmitter's channel.
- Pick up the correct frequency pin from impound, or have impound issue the correct pin.
- If your transmitter uses a module, consider impounding the module so the channel can be checked directly.
Our planning meeting for the 2003 National Aeromodeling Championships is two days from now (October 12). Give us a call if you would like to know what events will run on what days and to get on the list to receive entry forms. All who have attended and flown in AMA events at either of the last two Nats will automatically receive an entry package.
Complete schedules will appear in Model Aviation shortly. The schedule should already be on the AMA Web site.
Last item: The deadline for submission of rules change proposals has come and gone.
While we did receive a significant number of proposals, the count is down a bit from the previous cycle. Hopefully this means that most are happy with the current rules as they exist in the rule book.
Early in 2003 the Contest Boards will take the initial vote. Proposals that pass this vote will continue on in the cycle. Those that do not will no longer be considered.
Till next time... MA
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
