THE FLIGHTLINE AMA CLUB 668 SINCE 1968

Transcription

1 THE FLIGHTLINE RRCC 50 YEARS! AMA CLUB 668 SINCE 1968 RACINE RADIO CONTROL CLUB INC SINCE 1968 February Issue Next Meeting February 18, 2018 Club Officers President James Litwin (Cell ) Vice President Roger Nickolaus (Cell ) Secretary/Treasurer Bill Flannery Field Chairman Hoss Hossalla Safety Officer Dan Pozel Tractor Chairman Eric Armantrout Compost Director Jerry Rose Webmaster Bob Houin Newsletter Editor Dennis Vollrath (Cell ) WE ARE ON THE WEB Racine R/C Club Meeting Sunday: January 21, 2018 Time: 1:00 PM Location: RC Flying Field Open Meeting - President Jim Litwin called to order the meeting of the Racine RC Club. Welcome-New Member & Guests-There was one guest, Jerry Enguest attending his first meeting and will be looking around for a trainer aircraft. Minutes Last Meeting There were no additions or corrections to the minutes of the last meeting as published in the last newsletter. Reports President Jim Litwin had no comments at this time Vice President Roger Nicolaus otherwise disposed on vacation. Secretary/Treasurer Bill Flannery reported membership for 2018 is currently 28: regular 8 senior 18, junior 1 and non-flying 1 member. Safety Officer Dan Pozel had no current safety issues. Field Chairman Darrel Hossalla had the parking lot plowed out and recommended wheels for airplanes. Newsletter Editor Dennis Vollrath has several copies of the newsletter for anyone in need. Tractor Chairman- Eric Armantrout suggested that if the generator doesn t start, check the oil. Compost Director Jerry Rose had the 2018 compost sign-up sheet for all members. Remember this is mandatory for all members. The club is trying to fill in the first three months of the year up through August. Members, please check to insure that the secretary has all the correct pertinent information especially phone num- 1

2 bers, both land line and cell, and address. If they have changed please contact Bill Flannery. Web Master Bob Houin requested that if anyone is having difficulties getting on the website or not getting any club notices to please contact him for assistance. Old Business Jim Larry Petricek wanted to remind all that the Milwaukee RC Assoc. was holding the annual swap meet next weekend at the Washington County Fair Grounds with doors opening at 9:00 A.M. You can sell what you don t want and buy what you do want. There will be a 25/25/50% raffle and tickets will be available through Larry at the swap meet. New Business- Jim Litwin wanted to remind members will be voting on the 2017 Club Awards at the next meeting. Craftsmanship (membership) Instructor (instructors) Golden Propeller (previous recipients) Sportsmanship (membership) Jim also mentioned that he had been contacted by the Racine EAA Chapter for a presentation from our club to do a Show and Tell about RC aircraft, the hobby and our local club at a meeting. Jim also said that he, Dennis Vollrath and other members had done this several times through the years including a program involving their Young Eagles program to include building airplanes with the kids and attempting to fly them at our field and demonstrations of RC flying for EAA at our field. The final result was less then encouraging from their members and the Young Eagles. Coincidentally Jim also received a request from the Lakeland RC Club (Waukesha Area) to help in a RC instructional day at the Burlington Schools (2) on February 2 nd. It would involve at least 9 volunteers to simultaneously present: 1. Introduction of simulated flight on computers, 2. Building and flying of gliders and 3. Demonstrate drone flight and hands on experience in flying. This series was to occur three times on that day with three different classes. This was in substitution for the schools regular classes. The two requests were discussed by the general membership and they voted not to participate. Jim did suggest that anyone interested in RC flight was invited any Sunday when members were present and we would interact with them and showing them the experience RC flying. The Club Banquet is going to be held on March 3, Saturday, at 5:00 PM at the Roma Lodge, Spring Street, Mt. Pleasant, the same as last year. The cost will be $23 per person or $45 per couple. The sign-up roster will remain in the club house. Jim mad a motion to invite Dan Newman as a guest to the Club to the banquet. Jim is a former club member and has been our music/ sound man at the Fun Fly event. It was unanimously approved. Jim also suggested the following schedule of events : July 15 th Club Picnic August 19 th RRCC Fun Fly (Club 50 th anniversary) September 15 th Mt Pleasant Day static Display Show & Tell Hoss related an engine stopping just prior to taking off. The problem was that an ignition battery slide switch just broke contact. After hundreds of flights the switch just failed. Dennis Vollrath took the switch apart and found that only about 1/10th of an ounce of force was required to move the switch contact. There are better switches available. Ed Witt brought his new kit model of the famous 120 size 4-Star Aircraft. The original plans called for a 1 piece wing (over 6 ). Ed 2

3 made the conversion to 2 piece wing and built a different wing saddle in the body. Since that was the access hole, he also converted the cockpit canopy to be removable. Ed selected a 20cc DLE engine for power. Excellent workmanship made this craft sparkle and he is anticipating maiden flight in early spring. Dennis Vollrath brought an electrical meter measuring the radio signal of the RC transmitter and demonstrated the 90 degree fade, JIM'S CORNER Not a lot of flying going on lately with the wind and cold temperatures. Lot of problem solving going on though, around the wood stove. At this month's club meeting on Sunday, February 18th, we will be selecting the recipients' of the clubs 2017 awards. We will have paper ballots for voting at the meeting. During the last weeks of January, the club experienced several incidents that prompted us to move up the date for changing the combination code on the pad locks. Hopefully this did not cause too much of an inconvenience. I would like to take this opportunity to urge everyone to pay their 2018 membership dues. This will get you the new lock codes, and take care of your membership for The dues are the same as last year: JR $ 1 Senior $ 40 Reg $ 70 Family $ 80 None-Flyer $ 30 FIRE FIRE FIRE! One of our RC club members had a small disaster with an A123 battery pack that was inserted into his model. Seems the A123 pack caught fire! He brought it into the club house for investigation. Didn t take long to determine that showing the necessity of having two receivers with antennas at 90 degrees of each other. Great demonstration, Dennis. (More on the meter in Denny s Stuff ) Raffle Drawing Raffle Roger was absent and so was the raffle. Close Meeting- The motion was made and seconded to adjourn. Next Meeting is on Sunday February 18 th at 1:00PM. The club banquet is coming up soon, to be held on Saturday, March 3, 2018 at the Roma Lodge, Spring street, Mt. Pleasant. VP Roger Nickolaus will have a signup sheet at the meeting, and will be collecting money from those who plan on attending. $ 23 for single $45 for a couple The recent flurry of messages concerned about the financial problems that Hobbico / Tower Hobbies is having, and what that impact is going to be on modelers looking for parts and supplies for their hobby is of some concern. With most local hobby shops gone, a potential lost of this large mail order site would really hurt. Hopefully a reorganization will save the company, but we will have to see what product lines will no longer be handled. Time will tell. Remember, our next meeting is on Sunday, February 18, 1PM at the field. Fly Safe & Have Fun Jim Litwin President the battery pack was externally short circuited at the connector end of the balance cable. That placed a dead short on the A123 pack frying the #20 wires of the balance cable. It appears the balance plug got shorted out on the servo screws under the servo mounting. I ve checked the A123 pack. It is still in good shape. Watch where those wires go! 3

4 Dennys Stuff 2.4 Ghz Radio Signals Last meeting in January, your editor showed off a little project put together by a guy in that can detect the signal output of our 2.4 Ghz microwave transmitters. The guys name is Peter, so naturally, the project became known as the Peter Meter! And, your editor indicated that there will be a Cliff Hanger with the results to be published in this newsletter. So, here goes. This meter is simple, consisting only of a microwave diode and some small coils of #22 wire. I modified mine with some banana plugs along with a circuit board that can plug into one of those $5.00 Harbor Freight digital meters. I have extra diodes available. And, along with that, out of curiosity, also provided terminals to allow oscilloscope tests on the 2.4 Ghz signals. And, here is the cliff hanger! Seems these transmitters do not transmit a continuous radio frequency signal. In fact, the transmitted signal is On for 1.5 milliseconds, off for 2.0 milliseconds, On for 1.5 milliseconds, and off for 6 milliseconds, for an endless train of signals. In effect, the transmitter sends out two identical packages of data, waits for 6 milliseconds, and repeats it again. And again. And again. (The 1.5 ms signal has no relation to the 1.5 millisecond servo signals.) That explains how these transmitters can have over 100 transmitters on at the same time. They are not transmitting continuously. Take a look at the scope views. The top shows the DX8 double pulse signals The second on shows the DX9 signal. The first one is the main antenna, the second is the handle antenna. The third scope view shows only the DX9 handle signal. The bottom oscilloscope screen shot shows how the DX8 and DX9 signals alternate between them. 4

5 The Peter Meter Denny s Stuff New Spekie Receiver Your editor ordered and received a new Spektrum 8 channel receiver, part number AR8010T, telemetry type receiver. On examination, this receiver s cover is held together by a pair of small screws. Removing those screws allows removing the receiver completely from its case. Naturally, your editor did so. Take a look at photographs taken of this receivers circuit board. Note the well rounded solder joints for the servo plug in circuit board. 5

6 Also note on this close up photo the soldered area of the servo connector pins. It is hard to see, but look carefully at the vertical circuit board, between the PC board and the black pin supports on the left of the circuit board. You can see that the solder has completely filled the plated through holes of the circuit board, wicking out the left side of the PCB. That results in the entire pin being soldered on its full length inside the circuit board. This is a very strong setup. At the right is a photo found in where a modeler lost an $$$$ airplane when a solder connection broke on his FrSky receiver. The plated through holes on the lower pins were not filled with solder. They also found similar soldering issues on other FrSky receivers. The modeler reported this failure to FrSky. FrSky s response was that this is an accepted quality of soldering. Sorry, but the place where your editor worked for 44 years would call that a Cold Solder Joint, with an automatic rejection of all circuit boards of that lot. We had many field failures due to this sort of thing. Anyone that has soldered these pins to a circuit board has found that the solder wicks up the pin, filling the circuit board plated through hole with solder. Since the solder did not wick up the pins of the lower set of servo connectors, that is a direct sign that the pins did not reach soldering temperature. And, as a result, the other side of the pin has only a very thin layer of solder supporting the pin to the circuit board. Any force on that pin can break the solder joint. That, my RRCC newsletter readers is why we use radios such as the Spektrum brand. 6

7 The list below is good reading material for those RRCC members that have been involved in manufacturing. Perhaps these comments also apply to our RC equipment? ADVERTISING PROCEDURES Statement New: All New: Exclusive: Unmatched: Design Simplicity: Foolproof operation: Advanced Design: Its here at last: Field Tested: High Accuracy: Direct Sales Only: Rugged: Light Weight: Years of development: Unprecedented: Distinctive : No Maintenance: Redesigned: Performance proven: Meets QA Standards: Internal Factory Meaning Different color from previous design Parts not interchangeable with previous design Imported product Almost as good as the competition Mfg costs cut to the bone No provision for adjustment Copywriter doesn t understand it Rush Job; no one knew it was coming Mfg lacks test equipment Unit with all parts fit Mfg had argument with distributer To heavy to lift Lighter than rugged Finally got one that worked Nothing we had before worked Different color or shape Impossible to fix Previous faults corrected Will operate through warranty period Ours, not yours 7

8 Date Time Worker Date Time Worker Date Time Worker 11-Apr Darrel (Hoss) Hossalla 27-Jun Ray Fisher 19-Sep James Levandoski 11-Apr Darrel (Hoss) Hossalla 05-Jul Ron Burden 19-Sep Apr Jerry Rose 05-Jul Dennis Vollrath 26-Sep Apr Roger Nickolaus 05-Jul Sep Apr Roger Nickolaus 11-Jul Dennis Krzyzanek 26-Sep Apr Jerry Rose 11-Jul David Czarnowski 03-Oct Apr Randall Vandeberg 11-Jul Ray Fisher 03-Oct Apr Bob Houin 18-Jul Jim Dumke 03-Oct Apr Bob Houin 18-Jul Jim Dumke 10-Oct May Randall Vandeberg 18-Jul Bob Lupia 10-Oct May Dan Pozel 25-Jul Bill Flannery 10-Oct May Dan Pozel 25-Jul Bill Flannery 17-Oct Larry Petricek 09-May Wayne Greisen 25-Jul Bob Lupia 17-Oct Larry Petricek 09-May Wayne Greisen 01-Aug Jerry Engwis 17-Oct May Bob Johnson 01-Aug Dennis Vollrath 24-Oct May Nat Cerami 01-Aug Stephen Knackert 24-Oct May Nat Cerami 08-Aug Craig Manka 24-Oct May Keith Buska 08-Aug Craig Manka 31-Oct May Jim Hiett 08-Aug Stephen Knackert 31-Oct May Jim Hiett 15-Aug Buzz Paricka 31-Oct May Keith Buska 15-Aug Buzz Paricka 07-Nov May Pete Luks 15-Aug Jerry Engwis 07-Nov May Pete Luks 22-Aug Carl Bergquist 07-Nov May Eric Armantrout 22-Aug James Martinich 14-Nov Jun Bryan Bailey 22-Aug James Martinich 14-Nov Jun Bryan Bailey 29-Aug John Schaefer 14-Nov Jun Bob Johnson 29-Aug John Schaefer 21-Nov James Strelitzer 13-Jun Ron Burden 29-Aug Nov Jun Jim Litwin 05-Sep William Wampler 21-Nov Jun Jim Litwin 05-Sep William Wampler 28-Nov Jun Roger E Olsen 05-Sep Nov Steven Navone 20-Jun Roger E Olsen 12-Sep Carl Bergquist 28-Nov Steven Navone 20-Jun Eric Armantrout 12-Sep Edward Witt 27-Jun John Collins 12-Sep Edward Witt 27-Jun John Collins 19-Sep James Levandoski COMPOST DUTY ROSTER 8