BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

After a shootdown two weeks ago (by a guy with a trainer that pulled my flag and turned on) I decided to go to 6 meters. I went and got my Technician last weekend and now I'm looking at radios. It seems that the 9CAP by Futaba is the least expensive way to go but I'm wondering if anyone out there has some experiance that they can share regarding any other options.

Also does anyone know where to find instructions for increasing the power to the full watt allowed on 50MHz or specific regs written for RC and what's allowed?

Thanks, KG6WFR

tadawson

I don't know what you own, but you can put any JR radio that is module based on 6Meters with nothing more than a module change - about $50.00. The 9C/9Z should be the same . . . no need at all for a new radio if you have one of these. All you MUST get is a new RX, since they are non-convertable. I have no idea on the power increase, since I get more range that I can see already, and (to me at least) it would be pointless . . . .

- Tim, N8EAU

Rodney

No need to increase power, in fact you would be doing a disservice to the rest of us on 6 meters as you could be causing interferance problems. Present power will suffice for any normal flying (at least a 1 mile range). N4MCZ

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

why not build a microstar? can be used with the standard FMA/JJM rf deck or its own synthesized 50-53mhz deck.

far more capable than a 9C and much easier to program. very good user base to help with any building/programming issues

let me know if you're interested


dave

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Yes Dave, are there any links to the Microstar, I'm not familiar with it. Tell me more.

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

[link]http://www.mstar2k.com[/link] this is the designers site. he also sells all the PCBs and is a very helpful guy.

[link]http://www.jensenjetmodels.com[/link] marv sells built encoders, parts kits, gimbals, cases and has just recently started reproducing the excellent FMA rf deck.

there is also a yahoo user group called "mp8k" with lots of good info.

the microstar can be very cheap or very expensive depending on how you do it. i've recently helped a friend convert an old metal cased futaba, PCB from Gordon, electronic parts and LCD from digikey, rf deck and crystal from Marv....altogether less than $150 plus some solder and time.


dave

The PIPE

Dear BasinBum:

The PIPE here yet again...and it's at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MP8K/ for the location of the Yahoo Group for the MicroStar...AND for the older Ace RC MicroPro radios!

I guess Zagnut just forgot to include that Yahoo link in his recent post...but now YOU have it!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Rodney,
If you have a properly tuned transmiter how could you cause interferance even at a higher power?

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

Remember a good ham only uses the minimum power needed to do the job! :-)

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Matt,
The job is trying to insure I don't get shot down. While I respect the regs and have no desire to cause harmful interferance I am curious as to my options. Now shouldn't you get back to your poker and d!ck jokes?

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

HAW!

mr_matt

My Feedback: (10)

But seriously, get a new module, and send it to Tony Stillman and tell him what you want done. If it can be done he will do it.

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

First, IIRC most of modern xmitters are running at about .6 watts of power at the RF section. True, 72 MHz allows .75 watts and ham allows 1 watt. The inverse square law says that to notice a significant signal change at the received end, you would have to increase to 4X the power. Basically, you would need to got to 2.4 watts.

Now your battery life is shortened and you will need to change to larger batteries. Where to put these, oh yea, strap them on the outside of the xmitter with duct tape. Now we will need a heavy neck strap, xmitter holder to rest all this xmitter weight on. I could go on, but you see the point that any action requires another action.

Yes, a properly tuned xmitter can cause problems due to overloading the front end of a receiver even though the receiver is tuned several channels away. In the case here, that is very unlikely if the new xmitter is only running 1 watt versas .6 watts. Increase that xmitter to 25 watts and watch the results. Case in point. I have a video xmitter on 900 MHz at 2.5 watts and it over loads the receiver front end on both 72 and 50 MHz and it was 4 feet away from the Rx. Proximity of the RC xmitter did not matter. What it did was reduce the range of the RC system by 1/2. There was no glitching, just reduced range. Image you were flying and suddenly your range was cut in half.

I have been on 6 Meters now for years and have not had any problems. Just monitor the band for skip running as our freq's on the ham bands are a gentlemens agreement and 6 meters is not used that much by other modes of xmission.

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Dan,

Thanks, that's the kind of info I was hoping would be posted. What if someone were to use the frequency I was flying on? At what power/ distance would it take for me to get shot down?

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

I'm really don't know the direct answer to that question and there are many varibles involved. All I can say is that over the last many years I have only lost two planes that I can't explain what happened. However, I feel that any ham interference would be very remote. One was on channel 00 (50.8 MHz) and the other on 53.3 MHz. BTW, I fly on 00, 04 and 53.1, 53.3, 53.4 and 53.8 MHz. I use ACE MicroPro 8000 and Futaba xmitters. Various brand receivers. I feel 100% more safe on the ham bands, even with the remote chance of a high powered xmitter possibility, than on the 72 MHz band. I've seen some stupid mistakes made on 72 MHz by a couple of fellows that could have put an innocent flyer down and no one would have known what happened.

If we use your xmitter as a constant of 1, it would take a xmitter with four times the power to put an equal signal to your receiver if the other xmitter was at twice the distance to your receiver as you are. Double his distance again and it would take 16 times (If my math is correct). I think you can see it would take a healthy transmitter to cause problems.

The PIPE

Dear BasinBum:

The PIPE Here yet AGAIN...and if you go to http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/ , you can start to actually LOOK for those "possibly OFFENDING" six meter repeaters in YOUR area of the USA...before they EVER get a chance of downing you!

I found two in Southeastern MA, one in Quincy and one in Sharon, MA, on the 53 MHz band...it just makes me GLAD that I decided to shift everythng over to 50 MHz instead...!

Just "give it a try" and you MAY be surprised...OR relieved...depending on what you find there!

Yours Sincerely,

The PIPE!

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Well Pipe, If I am reading that correctly there are no repeaters on 50 MHz in California, a good start.

Volfy

My Feedback: (23)

BB, welcome to the Ham world. Lately, about the only use I got out of my Ham ticket is RC use of 50MHz. Still, more than worthwhile IMHO. I have visited the Basin when I lived out in SoCal, and I personally would not fly a ParkFlyer there on 72MHz, let alone anything else.

As mentioned before, raising power to the legal limit is not going to net you any appreciable gains in interference protection. If you just want to experiment, battery power is not really a limitation. I build my own TX and RX packs, and the last TX pack I built was with 2100mAh NiMH AA cells. I can leave my TX on for the whole flying day and not run out of juice. In fact, because I am always the only one on ch.08, I have on a few occasions forgot to switch off my TX. Yes, me bad, but this was when I used to fly with two older guys on Sunday morning at a secluded field. These days, you can get 2500mAh NiMH AAs. Even if you raise to 1W and double your current draw, a pack like that will last for hours and hours.

What you might want to be careful about though if you do go with a commercially available TX, is the current handling limitation. I know my 9C TX module gets fairly warm to the touch at the factory preset power. I think it would get practically hot to the touch if I crank up the gain on it. The 9Z 'PK' module is supposed to handle more power, so you may want to start there. It is compatible with the 9C TX module.

Royling

You might invest in ARRL's TravelPlus for Repeaters CD. I did a quick check and found many 6 meter repeaters in California. I suggest using the frequencies listed on the ARRL Band Plan for 6 meters. You can find them at the ARRL web site or the following site.
http://www.azfreqcoord.org/bp/6mbp.pdf

BasinBum

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks Royling (and welcome to RCU)....
I've been flying on 50mhz since Feb. with my new 9CAP with no glitches or problems what so ever. Range checks go beyond what I get on 72mhz and I never have to share the channel with the myriad of people at the Basin. It's the single best thing I have done for peace of mind in regards to the hobby ever. I'd recomend it to all the folks at the field but that would defeat the purpose wouldn't it?

I also invested in a Yaesu VX5R, which besides being a nice handheld triband, let's me scan 72 and 50 mhz. I have heard ALL kinds of noise on 72 and never a peep on 50. I have looked into the predictions for when propogation on 50 will be at it's best and it is several years away so I think we are safe for a while from a lot of DXing on 6 meters.

The most common noise on 72 at our field has been what sounds like broadcast television audio which has shown up on various channels for about ten minutes at a time. After a PCM lockout occured (while flying on 72 and luckily went away withing about 20 feet of the ground) I switched on to hear the same noise.

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

Check with a FM radio when you hear the noise on the scanner and see if the noise is a FM radio station. Even if the noise is hard to make out, listen to it with one ear while tuning the band on the FM radio for FM stations. When you match it it will be very apparent.

We have a FM tower about a mile away and I get it on two scanners (Icom ICR3 and Rad Shack Pro-26) on both 72 and 52 MHz. This tower has two FM stations on it at 104.5 and 105.5 MHz. It's the 105.5 one that I receive and I have been unable to pin point if it is a problem. Last Thursday the station was there in the morning but the noise went away at about 11 AM? I made contact last week with the station and am waiting a call from their engineer.

peejay

I've just been reading this thread with interest... I've been a UK ham for nearly 20 years, but inactive for the past 10. 50 MHz is available in the UK, and I'm wondering if I could fit a 50 MHz module to my JR PCM9X2, replace a couple of Rxs and have a life free of sharing frequency pegs :-)

Anyone in the UK doing this?

And if anyone has links to suppliers of 50MHz JR tx modules, or 50 MHz receivers please could you post them.

Thanks,
Phil

iflyj3

My Feedback: (7)

Phil,

Here in the states 50 MHz rx's are available from http://www.fmadirect.com.
Also www.horizonhobby.com is the JR distributer. There brochere I saw advertized 50 MHz rx's so I assume they have a 50 MHz RF deck for the xmitter.

Of course, I don't know what's available in your country.

ZAGNUT

My Feedback: (1)

yes, horizon has 50mhz modules but be prepared to do a lot of digging as their site is still a steaming pile.

and the FMA receivers usually cost more on 50mhz except for the very nice FS8...but with their new prices it's now only $90 instead of the previous $120. good deal.


dave

CFIMEI

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