Gordon Mc

My Feedback: (11)

Depending on how you define "a lot", I'd possibly agree with him Billy. Last time we were at Buttonwillow I went around and asked everyone what freq they were on, since there was no freq board availabe at the time and I wanted to make up a list of who was on what. I don't recall the exact number of people who were present, but I'd guess it was maybe a maximum of 30 jet pilots in total ? There were 7 of us still on 72, so that's about 25 %. That's certainly not a majority by any means, but if we extrapolate that portion over the number of pilots in the US, that's still quite a "lot" of people.

I'd hazzard a guess that we'll also see more of the 72 Mhz systems from newbies who are getting into jets. The jet guys (and some other groups like the IMAC guys) tend to be more into adopting new technology than the average RC guy, so as people migrate from the "rest" into the jet world my guess is quite a few of them will be bringing their 72 Mhz systems with them for a while.

Gordon

CraigG

My Feedback: (40)

Billy,

I'm getting a lot of it from the guys who fly Weatronic (me included). Many of us use Weatronic because of the ability to program/mix 20 channels plus have built in gyros and GPS capability. Not that easy or cheap to replicate with either the 14Mz or 12x. Plus, at $1500 and $2300 respectively and $200 a pop for an rx, I'm sure there are plenty of guys not ready to jump on that band wagon just yet. Not to mention that 72mhz becomes more attractive as more guys move to 2.4.

No doubt about it, 72mhz will go the way of the ducted fan, a steady but lengthy ride into the sunset. Just my opinion but I think event organizers will need to consider and accomodate 72mhz for the next few years (at least).

Craig

Terry Holston

My Feedback: (1)

The above is the reason we, at our club, have frq pins for 2.4 as well as 72 and ham bands.................

Billy

My Feedback: (15)

No doubt the Weatronic unit is a great device. It seemed like after I got all my planes on it, then this 2.4 sysstem started to emerge. I respect your feeling on 72 mh. I too might just have well stayed on 72 but the field I fly at is a public one, so the invention of 2.4 for our radios was the answer I was looking for to the problem of getting shot out of the sky[:@]

Wasn't there supposed to be a 2.4 friendly Weatronic unit coming out?

There are soooo many guys at my field on 2.4 that somedays I look at the freq board, and it looks like a ghost town.

I guess it works out for everyone.

Billy

8178

My Feedback: (17)

I agree. The modular radios present potential conflict problems that should not be over looked until they get replace with dedicated 2.4 systems.

rhklenke

My Feedback: (24)

Sorry Mark, but I have no idea what your point was... particularly about 2.4...

Bob

AndyAndrews

I for one do not intend to buy a $1,500.00 12x when I can buy a 2.4 module for my 10x for a few hundred bucks. It will be awhile for a lot of us 72mhz guys to come fully around to 2.4 I actually have a 6 channel and a 7 channel Spectrum though that I use for my foamies.

Boomerang1

I would EXPECT a properly run impound at an organised jet event.

The usual in Oz is to present your radio to the pound where it will be checked if it's on the indicated frequency with a scanner, a few have been on the wrong frequency either through changed crystals or sythesised modules set to a different frequency.

The radios are gathered from the pound and YOU are asked to confirm that your key is in the correct place on the board by the pound personel.

When you take your radio your name & the time is logged so you can chase up frequency hogs, fiddlers or people who just forget to bring them back.

This all works very well in practice with few complaints from the flyers.

A thing of the past? Until we are all on 2.4....no. - John.

Mark Basel

My Feedback: (24)

My wife was talking to me when I was trying to make a point You are right by bad, it didnt make sense so I edited it. My point is or was 2.4 is not totally fail-safe especially with 72MHz still being used. Scott hit it on the head with his post. We may think we have it perfected but equipment and procedures can fail and simple things easily get messed up like switching modules. So to take away any step that may make our margin for error better like an impound sounds bad to me. Is one more step really going to ruin your day? A hassle I'm willing to put up with for awhile yet. Gordons point is very good as well a lot of 72Mhz flyers out there.


I went and priced a conversion and my options seem to be; keep my 10X and convert for 300.00 for one jet and buy another reciever set for $189 for my second jet. Unfortunatetly my 3rd jet needs 10 Channels. Now it appears I need to buy a 12X for $1500.00 and buy 2 nine channel reciever sets or get 2 12 channel recievers for $229/ $300 each. [X(] I told you all I was cheap! Oh well beans and rice for a couple months[:'(]

mb

Mark Basel

My Feedback: (24)

A lot of good post! I agree with Andy and will start with my Eagle on conversion soon using my 10X hopefully for many years to come. Heck 300 is about 3 tanks of gas for my pickup[:@]! ouch.

LGM Graphix

My Feedback: (22)

I agree totally with this.
I am sad to say that I will not fly at an event that does not impound all radio's. I have already seen it happen where somebody is at the field with 3 or 4 airplanes and a couple of transmitters, one is on 2.4, the other is 72. They are so used to the convenience of 2.4, that the 72 was switched on without thinking, checking, or pinning, and another airplane was shot down.
Further to that, in Canada anyway, we are only supposed to have 5 airplanes in the air at any given time. With the radio impound this is easy to police, but without, what's to stop 8 or 9 guys from going up at once? I'm not talking jet rallies in particular, just everyday flying.

I have seen where some fields now have adopted a 2nd frequency board for 2.4, there are 5 spaces on the board, and the club holds 5 "flight pins". Whether those pins end up on 2.4 or 72 makes no difference, you cannot fly unless there is an available pin.

I have a 2.4 module in one transmitter, and 72 on a second, they are both 10X's, and both hold all the programs to all my models. Outside of the module/antenna they are virtually impossible to tell apart from each other. As such, I make sure I have a pin on the board everytime so that I force myself to check which radio I have grabbed.

Just my opinion.

SpiderJets

There's another effect with impounding radios as well, I think. It stabilizes more or less the number of active planes, no ? If you are at a 70+ pilots' event and everyone has a TX they can simply switch on without having to wait for a frequency slot, doesn't it cause a lot more running & waiting planes at the flightline too ?...