Hi all... Pincher or thumber.... Do you pinch your transmitter sticks between thumb and finger or fingers or just use your thumb?
I am a pincher and need to know advantages of each. What say you and why???
Thanks,
RC

I pinch- it's more comfortable that way.

Do what you like and what works for you, as you're the one flying at a contest, not someone else.

im a thumber , its what felt natural when i was learning, and its the way my instructor told me to hold the sticks....i was 12 yrs old when i learned...... A few people have told m i need to use the pinch method, ive tried and its hard to learn a new method.... If thumbing is good enough for QuiQue Somezini, its good enough for me

Thumbs for me, Mainly I grew up playing XBOX It just kinda felt more natural.

Pinhcer? Thumb and first two fingers with the heels of my hands near the top edge of the transmitter. Originally learned as a 'thumber' but switched when I started to experiment with trays to stabilize the tranny. Now I have a simple, self designed, strap system (worn like a guitar strap) that supports the tranny like a tray and will fold to fit in my pocket.

Terry in LP

I've morphed into a Pinchumber. I pinch the right stick (ailerons and elevator) and I thumb the left stick (rudder and throttle).

Kurt

Thumber. I tried playing with the pinch, but for me I find that I mix in aileron with elevator, etc., when I pinch. I haven't played a lot of video games, but probably enough to make using my thumbs much more comfortable and seemingly natural when I fly RC.

I can say I've noticed a definite increase in controllability of my aircraft when I pinch, however I thumb as I found pinching felt quite uncomfortable for me, and I kept kicking rate switches with my fingers all the time.

Just couldn't deal with it. These days I fly thumbing it, with the tranny hung low and clipped to my belt on the base and neck strap to allow the tansmitter to hang about 15° down.

very comfortable.

Pinch style is easier to manage if you don't have to hold the transmitter. Stiffer springs also make it easier to separate left/right from up/down stick movements no matter which style you use. Look at old pictures of Hanno Prettner's (and others) position while flying. The transmitter tray is very low allowing him to grip the sticks from the top and use the greater resolution of control motions from the shoulder instead of from the wrist or three joints of a thumb.

Terry in LP

Thumbtalk.

Once a thumber always a thumber,

I did start flying in the period of reeds, so thumbs.

We did use the equivalent, no reeds but electronic audio filters, in Europe (Schumacher, Germany) and because of the needed high speed TPM we did get very fast thumbs.

My thumbs have a great breadth in the distal phalanxes so I can easy press my thumb on the stick. They are also attached to such a mobile metacarpus, which also produces the needed opposability, that I can easy move my sticks in any position while keeping my transmitter in the palm of my hands.

Picture 1

I keep my transmitter in my hands with my right hand in some higher position to reach the full power and full left aileron position. During landings sometimes I place my right hand on some lower position so I still have a better control over aileron and throttle.

My first proportional transmitter I did held in side position so I did not see the antenna between me and the plane.

Weather

Also the weather had influence on the position of the transmitter,
Antenna vertical or square to the plane to have most range but also to keep the sticks dry in the rain.
When I do fly “in the sun� I can use the transmitter as a shield.

Picture 2

Because we did use “long antennas�, I even TLC, the CG of the (tile) transmitter was important, I always did want to have the sticks in most upwards location in the case. For that I did have my electronics on two circuit boards stacked together and mounted above the sticks.
To have easy full control I did use the shortest sticks (attention for play) and did mount them in most possible side ward positions in the case. To have a low Centre of gravity the battery was mounted in the most lowest position and beside the (heavy) loader which I also could use to load the battery of the plane. On this transmitter I did mount the antenna on the left side so I could keep the transmitter easy it in front of me, see also picture 1.

Picture 3

While I can use my new transmitter also “pinch style� I still fly with my thumbs because I learned it that way and they are F-A-S-T. My slow middle finger I use on the backside of my new transmitter to activate the trigger switch, the electronics do generate the repeated pulses to make pictures with a in flight camera. While not photographing the electronics still make pictures in a cycle time of minutes to keep the camera wake up.
Only thermal gliders I control sometimes in “pinch style� because the control actions never have to be fast. My new transmitter has a flexible antenna mounting, for that I still prefer my old ones in strong winds.
For the Oldest Taurus on Earth I am thinking about use my old tile transmitter for that, after some updating. I already have the sticks for that. Long antenna, strong wind? I prefer a straight mounted antenna on a tile model transmitter.

Footnote:
TPM = Thumb Pulse Modulation
TLC = Top Loaded Coil

Hanna loves my new transmitter, picture 4

Cees

Rick,

This purely a matter of preference and what feels right. There are guys at the very top who fly trays, straps, or nothing, and guys at the top that fly thumbs or pinching. It really doesn't matter as long as its comfortable to you,

Arch

rcpattern,


Oh I forget one, safety, double security, what about a broken strap?

Cees

Well, after 28 years of flying R/C I have yet to see a broken neck strap. Especially with the new wide ones. I've never taken the possibility of a broken strap into acct for how I fly and see absolutely no reason to do so.

I actually kind of fly a combination of the two. My thumbs are on top of the sticks, but I place my pointer finger on the "front" of the stick. So I guess instead of pinching, I'm flying thumbs with some assistance from my finger.

Arch

Arch,
That's actually how I fly. Just curious. It looks like there is no real advatage just what feels comfortable.Michael is a thumb guy. He is growing up in the XBox generation. I'm a little beyond that. I am from the Pong generation.
RC I know. What is Pong????

Rick,

I'm not that young, plus I have a computer background. I do remember pong. I remember playing video games with actual joysticks.

Andrew is one that I know that doesnt fly with any strap and just thumbs. Chip flies with a strap, but with thumbs. In Europe trays are very big. Totally personal preference.

Arch

Well, in my experience period of nearly 45 year my antenna was hit by a low pass flying plane, full power MERCO 61, RC1 Robbe Maxi.
I lost my transmitter and antenna but not my head. I had no strap on and was happy for that.
The tip of the wing must have past a few inch from my face!! The damage on the LE of the wing was near the root,

I could stick some remains of the antenne in the grounded transmitter again and could safe my plane. The parts of that antenne were 10 feet away from me.

IF I had a strap I would have been hqappy with a broken one.

Real story and no reason not to use a strap, it only happened to me.

Cees

I don't think the issue in that instance was the strap or no strap it was someone else flying unsafely. That kind of like making an argument against air travel because at some point in time an airplane crashed. Yes it could happen, but I'm not you could actually even calculate the risk factor.

With today's 2.4 setups you'd have a hard time hitting the antenna.

I think you did not read my post,

Cees

I started with thumbs and realized that "pinching" was far more precise FOR ME! I do use a tray with extended sticks and heavy duty springs. I used to fly single sticks and I'm about to make my own single stick from an old World Engines single stick and the guts from a DX6i tx. Yeah, I know that the DX6i is not the most advanced radio out there but it is more simple to convert. I now use a X9303 and will miss the excellent programing. But, hey, I'm getting older than dirt so I won't miss it that much!
Frank

Cees...I think you did not read Arch's post. The way I read both of your posts was that you relayed a story of events that happened to you and Arch stated that even though that did happen it is a very slim chance to be repeated and did not really bear on the issue at hand. Am I mistaken in this?

At any rate, back on subject...I pinch and just started to use a strap. The strap is optional but I tried flying with my thumbs up on the sticks and it was worse than my flying by pinching the sticks which is really bad.

I squeeze gently - you can desensitize your fingertips if you squeeze (or thumb) too hard. I started flying in 1969 (age 12) with a Heathkit transmitter that was too thick for me to 'thumb' comfortably. I sort of flew in single stick mode (but mostly 3 channel airplanes), only adjusting the throttle when necessary. Until I started using a strap (which I cannot fly without, now) I would thumb the left stick and pinch the right (mode II). I hate holding the TX, it seems more comfortable to me to rest my hands (which are on the small side) on the TX face. Every once in a while I will hook the strap on so the hook part is not fully extended. Invariably at some time during the ensuing flight the hook will shift causing a momentary (and fractional) drop of the TX which always provides a nice little adrenalin rush [X(].
Happy Flying (however you choose to grasp the sticks)!!

pinching seems far more precise to me...what ever works the best for you is the best way

Flywilly

For me the tile transmitter has to be as thin as possible, this is my first transmitter of that b/w picture.
from front to back, 46 mm / 1 13/16 ", the machanics of the sticks were the limit

Cees

I thought I was the only freak that does that