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 January 2018 Issue Next Meeting January 21, 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: December 17, 2017 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, Stephen Knackert, who became our newest member. 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 brought up that our club was founded in 1968, which will make the club 50 years old starting in January, RRCC started using the current flying field in We will have been at the same flying field for 43 years as of Vice President Roger Nicolaus has a tentative date of March 3 rd for the Annual Banquet at Roma Lodge. Secretary/Treasurer Bill Flannery reported membership for 2017 is currently 67: regular 21 senior 35, junior 8 and non-flying 3 members. Safety Officer Dan Pozel mentioned that we should be careful of falling on the icy field this coming winter. The corn has been harvested so off-field landings will easier to spot. Field Chairman Darrel Hossalla was unable to attend the meeting but Jim added that anyone who will be attending the January 1 st turkey dinner should post the dish to pass on the web site to prevent duplication. Newsletter Editor Dennis Vollrath has several copies of the newsletter for anyone in need. 1

2 Jerry Rose indicates that the January 21st meeting will include signing up for 2018 compost duty. Also, VP Roger Nickolaus March 3rd at the Roma Lodge on Spring Street, same place as last year. The price will be the same as last Tractor Chairman- Eric Armantrout was absent but sent the message that all equipment has been winterized. Compost Director Jerry Rose said that the year went by with no no-shows at the compost site and no complaints. He will have the 2018 compost sign-up sheet at the January meeting. Web Master Bob Houin requested that if anyone is having difficulties getting on the website to please contact him for assistance. The newly revised handbook is also on the website for anyone that has any questions about the operations of the club. Old Business Jim Dumke was concerned about the viability of the club continuing to host a Fun Fly as a revenue maker. Jim Litwin listed the funds raised by the Fun Fly at the meeting and in the last newsletter for the past 11 years. The profits usually coincided with the weather on the day of the event. Discussion followed. The motion to continue the Fun Fly was made and seconded and unanimously approved. The First in the Air and turkey dinner party will start at 9 A.M., January 1 st. The food the guest will be bringing will be listed on the club news site. Larry Petricek reminded the members that the Milwaukee County RC Assoc. will be having their annual sway meet on January 28, 2018 at the Washington County Fair Grounds starting at 9:00 A.M. New Business- The issue of the membership dues for 2018 was brought up by Jim Litwin. This is an annual financial evaluation by the members. Both Jim Litwin and Bill Flannery felt that the field improvements and the equipment were in good shape with no immediate need for funds were required. Rich Kegel made the motion for the dues to remain unchanged and seconded by Nat Cerami and unanimously approved. Jerry Rose made the suggestion that we should emphasize our 50 th anniversary for the Fun Fly and celebrate the event at our club picnic. There was a very positive reaction from the members present with comment that the 50 th anniversary should improve attendance at both events Ray Fisher suggested that we have an annual banquet award given for the most crashes during the year. Several members thought the suggestion was self-serving and the motion failed for lack of support. New Pilots No new pilots Show & Tell No new airplanes Raffle Drawing The winner, after much pocket searching, was Ron Dixon. Close Meeting- The motion was made and seconded to adjourn. Next Meeting is on Sunday January 21 at 1:00 PM. The First in the Air party is New Year s Day, starting at 9:00 with food served at about 11:30. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!!!! year, $23 for singles, and $45 for couples. Preliminary info is there will be no bar service, but we may be able to pick up bar service at the Lodges main bar. Contact Roger for more information. 2

3 JIM'S CORNER The year 2018 is here, and so far it has been, for the most part, colder, but with a lot less snow. The excess wind and the cold have not made winter flying enjoyable. Those who attempt it seem to get back to the wood stove pretty quick. We had another enjoyable New Years Day "First in the Air" event, with Eric Armantrout flying his electric plane, and Roger Nickolaus with a gas powered plane. No glow power planes were flown. Really cold day, with temperatures around 3º and windy. Hoss and others, including Ed Witt, got the shelter stove started early and there was even an electric heater in the Porta-Potty. Great food and a good time by all. At the February meeting the club will be voting on award recipients for Give some thought to this. Some members typically step forward and are recognized each year, but we should also recognize others who may not always be in the lead, but are steadily there when needed. Our club banquet will be held on March 3, 2018 (Saturday) at the Roma Lodge as we have done the past few years. The cost will be the same as last year; $23 for a single; $45 for a couple. If you are interested in attending contact Roger Nickolaus. A topic of discussion that I will be bringing up at this month's meeting is dealing with requests for speakers, and requests for club demonstrations. It takes people, and so far the results have not been very satisfying. Perhaps more discussion is needed. The Milwaukee RC Association SWAP MEET / AUCTION is taking place on Sunday, January 28, 2018 starting at 9:00 AM at the Washington County Fairgrounds. This is the event previously held at the Waukesha EXPO Center. At the upcoming club meeting we will also finalize the event calendar for the year, including the annual picnic and the Fun Fly event. The shelter is usually warm during the day, so if you have time, stop out. Maybe get a little winter flying in, and sit by the fire and solve a few of the world's problems. Fly Safe & Have Fun Jim Litwin President This Guy needs a little help! 3

4 Dennys Stuff As our RRCC members know, I lost my Wife Judy last November after years of poor health. What many members may not know, is Judy had a botched surgery at a Milwaukee hospital in 2001 that took her from walking 2 miles a day, to permanently disabled, never being able to work again. That botched surgery with botched follow ups is the direct cause of her many problems, including a massive staph infection in her lower spine that did permanent damage. She came within 2 weeks of being permanently paralyzed from the waist down. A recent article in the newspaper indicated that one of our Representatives in Madison is Dennys Stuff Here we go again!! Today, Hoss gave me another receiver slide switch that he indicated was giving intermittent operation. I took it home, and gave it the usual internal investigation, after checking its contact resistance with my home made microohmmeter. A number of our RRCC members are using that locking type of toggle switch available from among other places. The contacts on those switches measure around one or two milliohms. And they have four contacts in parallel. Hoss s switch measured around 45 milliohms, a figure that isn t really to bad for a slide type of switch. trying to get a requirement to put cameras in the operating room. I ed the six pages of documentation I have on what happened to Judy to that Rep. (The hospital file was some 4 inches high.) After getting permission from me, she forwarded the information to Courtny Gerrish, a reporter at WTMJ TV. Courtny asked if I d be willing to partake in an on-camera interview on what happened during the last 6 months of I agreed. Courtny has indicated that interview is scheduled for the WTMJ 10 O'clock news next Tuesday, January 16, 2018, pending any major national news that might come about, like another mass murder or something similar. It took around 1.7 grams to move the sliding contact. As a comparison, a penny weighs 2.5 grams. Even worse, that basic switch is configured as a 4PDT switch, with four poles in parallel. But, the switch was only wired to use two poles, leaving the other two poles unused. Take a look at two photos of this switch. These results makes your editor a bit leery of using any of these slide switches to control receiver power on our models. (Not Used!) But, as Hoss noted, jiggling that switch arm caused the resistance to jump up to 450 milliohms, a value that WILL cause receiver/ servo problems. Next, the switch was disassembled, for a look inside. Again, this type of slide switch uses very small sliding contacts, shaped like a mini horse shoe. I checked the force required to move that contact with my scale that can measure fractions of a gram. 4

5 Dennys Stuff High Power MosFets Your editor has purchased a couple of these very high power MosFets, mainly used as switches, along with being using in high power switching power supplies. The MosFet I have is rated at 200 Amperes, and 100 Volts DC. That is not a misprint. I m only using #12 wire on this setup. Going to 200 Amps would require appropriately heavier wire. This unit will be used on my new Extreme Flight Turbo Bushmaster. This model has the electric motor battery slid forward under the front of the model, making access to the battery plug rather difficult. The MosFet will allow switching motor power on and off with a simple mini-toggle switch. Here is a photo of the entire setup. Turning Dennys Stuff Transmitters and receivers The majority of our RRCC members are using the Spektrum brand of transmitters. One feature the Spektrum transmitters has is their patented Model Match system. Basically, how this Model Match system works, is each transmitter has a unique internal number, something like a serial number. And, each receiver also has a serial number. The process of Spektrums binding the transmitter to the receiver involves matching a given transmitter serial number to another receiver s serial number. And, when properly bound, only that receiver will respond to the transmitter it s bound to. the unit on requires providing Volts DC at very low current to the white wire leading from the circuit board. The circuit board used came from another project decades ago, so it was modified to work on this project. That is NOT true of the Futaba radios. After a bit of investigation, I found that Binding the Futaba transmitter binds all receivers bound to that transmitter. Just like having an old 72 Mhz transmitter, and a pile of receivers all on the same frequency. So, turning on your 72 Mhz transmitter will operate every receiver you have on the same frequency. OK, Say, you re flying an electric model with your Futaba transmitter. You land, put the model on the ground, and forget to unplug the first model. Next, fire up another electric model. Now, when you turn on your Futaba transmitter plus the second model and take off, BOTH MODELS WILL TAKE OFF! This has been verified on RCGroups. So, it is very easy on the Futaba and similar radios to take off with the wrong model on the transmitter. Or take off with the wrong model. With the Spektrum system, if the prearranged binding between the transmitter and receiver doesn t match, the model is DEAD. 5

6 To Get there, drive North on Hy 41, watch for the Hy 45 turn off to the right. Drive 8.5 miles toward West Bend, and watch for the complex on the right hand side of Hy 45. The Exit is Pleasant Valley or PV. This place is huge, you won t miss it. 6

7 Thanks Buzz for the Photos NEW YEARS DAY AT THE FIELD. IT WAS COLD AND WINDY, BUT WE STILL HAD A VERY GOOD TURN OUT WITH PLENTY OF FOOD! 7

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