Focus On Competition
Technical Director
Steve Kaluf skaluf@modelaircraft.org
ENTRIES FOR THE 1999 Nationals are coming in at a good pace. We are expecting approximately 1,200 competitors at the 73rd National Aeromodeling Championships.
Preregistration
Remember, if you have not preregistered, please do so. Preregistration makes your life (and ours) much easier and will minimize the amount of time you spend at Nats HQ for check-in. Preregistration is required for all Soaring events this year.
Check-in
Everyone coming to the Outdoor Nats must check in at Nats HQ. This includes all officials, volunteers, and participants. Having everyone check in is the only way we can handle an emergency that would require us to contact a certain person. It is also the only way we can assure that only those who should be on a flightline are there.
- All attendees (officials, volunteers, participants) must check in at Nats HQ.
- Check-in enables emergency contact and flightline access control.
Low-Power FM Station
We will be operating a low-power FM radio station at the Outdoor Nats this year. The station should be able to be heard almost anywhere on the Muncie site.
Weather, event, and special-event information will be broadcast on this station; we may also post some scores on it from time to time. Participants will be able to hear the broadcast over any car or portable radio. The frequency to tune to will be in all participant packages and will be posted at the entrance to the site. We hope this new enhancement will make for a safer and more enjoyable experience for all concerned.
Contest Classifications
Each year, Contest Directors send in Sanction Applications for events that they have classified as Class A, but the application sometimes contains deviations from the rules as printed in the Competition Regulations. I am required to review these deviations and determine if the event still meets the intent and safety requirements of the Competition Regulations. If it does not, I have to reclassify the event to C (non-Rule Book).
We have seen several applications in which the Contest Director indicated a desire for the event to be Class A and circled an event number on the Sanction Application, but in the event listing portion of the form has indicated "following club X rules" or "following SIG XX rules." These are not acceptable deviations, and I will reclassify these events as C every time.
For a deviation to be considered, it must be spelled out on the sanction form. Our Competition Regulations exist to provide a national standard for the events included in it. At some flying sites, deviations will be required to make the event fit the site; these are acceptable deviations in most cases. But deviations simply because a club does not like the current rules, or prefers rules set up by a Special Interest Group, are not acceptable.
That is not to say that these events should not be flown; they should, but as non-rulebook events. If pilots prefer these alternative rules, they should be submitted as a Rules Change Proposal for the AMA Competition Regulations.
AM Radio Control Systems
AM radio control systems are not illegal, any more than FM systems are. All transmitters must meet the narrowband specifications set forth by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). It makes no difference if the system is AM or FM.
There seems to be a huge amount of misinformation floating around regarding this, coming from hobby shops, clubs, and many other sources. It is true that most manufacturers no longer manufacture AM systems; this is not because they are illegal—they are not—but by choice.
Most AM systems that are not already up to current specifications can be upgraded fairly inexpensively. In most cases you will need a new receiver.
One important thing to watch (for your pocketbook): will your older system need new batteries? In many cases, if the system is a basic radio and needs new batteries as well as an upgraded receiver, you are better off purchasing a new system. The price will often be about the same, and you will get more servos. But for the record: AM radios are not illegal just because they use AM as their form of modulation.
Rules Change Proposals
October 1 is the deadline for new Rules Change Proposals being accepted at AMA HQ. Proposals must be in prior to that time to be considered for the current cycle and inclusion in the 2002–2004 edition of the Competition Regulations.
Very soon—perhaps by the time you read this—the current version of the Competition Regulations should appear on the AMA Web site. Keep an eye on the Web site in the Competitions section. As soon as we have the actual URL, we will mention it here.
Till next time...
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
