I will chime in on that too. And follow up on what Minnflyer and Jester wrote.

At our club, we have a frequency control panel that has one alligator clip for each of the channels (frequencies) in use for 72 MHz operation. Each clip (actually a spring clothes pin.. you know the ones that look like an alligator clip) has the frequency or channel on a large (1.5" x 2") plastic plate that is glued to the pin. So, that frequency is visible to all at the field. (the same goes for the ham band, 50 MHz radio systems in use by some amateur radio people).

When a person shows up at the field, the very first thing that person will do is go to this frequency control panel and check to see if his channel/frequency is in use. This will be obvious because the person that wants to use a particular frequency grabs the pin for that frequency and replaces it with his/her AMA card. The new arrival will know know two things: 1. that his frequency is in use by someone at the field, and 2. who has that frequency pin (the AMA card).

Then it becomes HIS responsibility NOT to turn his radio on until he has the pin in his hand, which means the other flyer has turned his pin in and has taken his AMA card.

We also do this for 2.4 GHz only to keep track of who is on what at that time, and to be consistent with our practice of having 72 MHz people take the pins for their active channel.

This way, in theory at least, no one will come to the field and accidentally turn his/her radio on until he/she has their channel pin.

And another thing is that we limit the number of people flying at one time to 5. Never more than five people on the flight line flying their planes.

If you look at the picture I uploaded, on the left is our frequency control panel. You can see the frequency clips on the left and an information panel on the right.

Hope that helps.


CGr.