I recently threaded about having problems with my GWS receivers. I've been using these inexpensive receivers on my foamies for a couple of years now. Until very recently, I've had only minor glitch problems. In the last few weeks, all my GWS receivers (ranging in age from a couple of years to a few weeks) have started glitching severely. This is using two different radios (a JR 662 and a JR 6102) and on multiple flying sites. At first, I thought it was a problem at our local field (two other fields are 4 to 5 miles away) but I'm getting the glitches at other flying fields. These problems are on receivers that until just recently worked just fine. I attended the Hodges Hobbies Fall Fly-in on the 15th & 16th in Americus Ga. and flew fine on Friday but the same planes glitched severely on Saturday, grounding me and crashing one plane. Most of my flying friends using these receivers are having similar problems. I use much better receivers in my larger more expensive planes and there hasn't been much difference there. One buddy at Hodges Fly-in told me he flew in a field by his house all the time (he lives out in the country) and never had a problem, until the last few weeks. Now, his GWS receiver glitches badly at this location. I've had many suggestions as to why this might be happening, including: Pager towers, Cellular towers, Hunters powerfull CB radios and Hunters dog collar locators. My favorite is the one about the Aliens landing on our planet and their signals are causing the problem (someone actually suggested that and I think he was serious, I avoided him the rest of the day). Anyone have any theories!?

If you can find someone with a spectrum analyzer or a frequency scanner... Just monitor the flying sites for a while and see what you get.

As a member of the AMA, and a member of an AMA-chartered club, you would be entitled to borrow your district's frequency scanning equipment.

We are making arrangements to do that the next time I fly at Hodges Hobbies in Georgia.