Huge Beginner Question!

It is my understanding that the whole purpose of setting throttle / collective curves in a radio is to keep the main rotor RPM’s constant and within the power band of the engine. So after you set all the linkages to their prescribed specification and have programmed the radio to the proper percentages, how do you verify that the rotor RPM’s are constant and with in the power band of the engine while flying? Flying is obviously a dynamic situation. So measuring RPM’s during flight in a remote aircraft cannot be done cheaply. I understand the use of a governor will maintain a more constant engine rpm, but I would prefer not to use one if the same effect can be accomplished by a computerized radio. Besides, I am sure there is some tweaking involved with the use of a governor too. And that gets back to verification. How do you do it?

Knowing that horsepower is a function of torque and speed (rpm), how much does it really matter if the rpm varies a little during flight? Is it just a matter of bragging rights in a vertical drag race (my heli will beat your heli)? I would think that as long as the engine doesn’t stall out or over speed in flight it would not be that critical to the non-competitive pilot like myself. That being said, I would still like to know what steps are taken to prove you are in the ballpark. There must be some typical procedure for checking this.

What are everyone’s thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance,

Ace

P.S. I ordered a Predator Gasser last night. I think this is going to be a fun project.