IT WOULD BE SO COOL TO HAVE AN AIRSPEED INDICATOR ON THE GROUND SO WHEN WE LAND OUR 4000.00 SCALE CRAFT WE COULD FEEL A LITTLE MORE AT EASE ON APPROACH TO LAND. DOES ANYONE KNOW OF SUCH AN ANIMAL. WHAT I THINK WOULD BE COOL WOULD BE A READOUT THAT SOMEONE COULD CALL SPEED OUT TO THE PILOT ON APPROACH TO LAND. KNOWING YOUR STALL SPEED WOULD HELP WITH POWER SETTINGS AND HOW YOU CONFIGURE THE LAND APPROACH FLAP SETTING AND SO ON. IF SOMEONE COULD COME UP WITH A REASONABLE WAY TO PRODUCE THIS I WOULD BUY IT. IN FACT I WOULD INVEST IN THE PRODUCT TO PRODUCE IN MASS QUANTITY TO RESELL.
JUST A THOUGHT.
DOUG

Bob Fiorenze has one, mine is on order and should be here in a couple of weeks.

abfbrinlee,

Hey, All caps is considered yelling, that and it's awfully hard to read. That said, technically it's pretty simple to do. There are low mass pressure sensors on the market add a pitoc tube and an A/D convertor, feed the information into a postage stamp CPU and transmit it.

The main problem as I see it is that is the last item - transmit it. Getting the transmitter FCC certified, is a major - costly problem. Then there is the problem of running out of channels - if you use the 27Mhz or 900 Mhz license free bands. You would have the same situation as someone at the field using your channel. Only for this application there are no channels. Mass chaos.

Perhaps a bright LED mounted on the airplane as a stall indicator that you could see from the ground?

Later,
John

JLLayton,

Just curious - being an engineer it's my stock in trade.

How does Bob Fiorenze's unit work? Does it use a RF signal back to a unit on the ground? If so, and I had a $4000.00 plane I was using it with (I wish). I would pick up a frequency scanner (ICOM makes a dandy) to make sure there were no interference problems.

Later,
John

PS found his web site http://www.rcaviation.com/fiorenze/

Says nothing about different channels. If it becomes popular I would highly suggest using a scanner!!!

Ham radio license, small gps, single chip TNC (tinytrak maybe...) and small ham tx. (yaesu vx-1r or icom credit card radio) total weight would only be a couple of ounces, nothing for a plane of that size.


This would allow you to send down gps data (including speed and alt), although only once a second, and receive it on a computer.

Ryan
KC0LMO

Thanks for all the posts. I will stay away from all caps.....
Doug

What about an audible one? A few years back, someone at our field taped on one of those plastic kid toy whistles (it was a hollow tube with a small plastic turbine shaped wheel inside). The whistle made a whirring sound that increased in pich the faster he went. In dives it sounded like a jet. The thing is called a "whizzer"

Here is a link:

http://www.oriental.com/webapp/comme...ispAll=&CASE=0

JNorton,
Yes, it uses an RF link from the plane to the ground. You may rest assured I will do a lot of range checking before commiting to flight.
I have had several conversations with Fiorenze and feel comfotable that they have done their homework. The target market for this unit is the Jet crowd.

Or you could just get one of these...

There was a great article in the latest RCReport in the Jets column. The unit in there measured the speed and limited the Jet to (ONLY) 200 MPH. Didn't look very expensive either.

JLLayton,
I didn't mean that the unit doesn't work or that it doesn't have enough range. What I meant was that if it doesn't use different frequencies - two models both using the unit at the same time could stomp on each other.
John

To all the last poster,

So what is the answer to the question?

Is the Fiorenze unit the only thing on the market?

Holden

A GPS solution would be fine, IF there was ZERO wind! We need AIR speed, not GROUND speed.

mtthomps,

Do you know of a good GPS solution?

Holden

all Hey, there is such a device now available. Its called Bob Fiorenzes Airspeed Indicator. I have been testing it and I reviewed it for RCM. I have flown it in two airplanes and it works great. I have been promoting the idea of having this capability built into the control system-with no luck. This gadget gives a digital readout plus and audible warning of an approaching stall. Just go to www. rcaviation.com/fiorenze for more info. There is no question but what knowing your airspeed will greatly lessen the possibility of a stall and a woeful landing or at any other part of the flight

JNorton,

I've often wished I had a stall warning horn and what you said about pressure sensors and your engineering skills has me wondering if I can get you to build it. I've seen small solid-state devices that emit a loud tone. If you could mount one in the plane and arrange for it to sound off when airspeed is below some setting (derived empirically?) it would make landing a lot less intimidating. Maybe even have two tones, one sounds off when you get down to a good approach speed and one just before stall.

You can probably guess from my handle that this is a problem for me.

If you could design a circuit, I would be willing to try to build it. What do you think?

Just thought I would add a couple notes after reading the other posts. The ASP uses the 49mhz band at very low power. The recvr works so well the antenna can be fully collapsed and it functions as far out as you would dare to fly. It does not cause any radio interference at least with the JR that I fly. Although they recommend using a separate battery to power it I have flown it using the common radio power supply with no problem. Just to be sure simply perform a comparative radio range check with the unit off and on(which I did).

I saw a neat device at Toledo....just what you are looking for! I'll look it up tonight and let you know.

Jerry

Found in the EMS booth...called the 'R/C onboard Data Logging Systems'....covers items like Airspeed, Altitude, Temperature, RPM and Voltage!

Phone # 714-692-1393 or 714-692-1330 (fax)

Hope this helps....

Jerry

tailskid

See the EMS Jomar website at: