Guys,

I am sure many of you have been keeping an eye on the RCATS telemetry system that was recently announced, I know I have had my eye on one for a while now. Well, the impending flying season and my gadget bug got the best of me and I ordered one last week. Just arrived yesterday.

So far, I have been very impressed with it. Of course, with a new 6" snowfall, it's not telemetering any aviation data, but I can measure the airspeed of my breath (40 mph .. no comments please!) and the "cylinder head temp" of the electric range in the kitchen (just under 300F at medium), and the G force of waving the sensor around the shop (+/- 2G) .. well you get the idea.

I'll be installing it in my Yellow Texan for the upcoming season, and with any luck will be bringing it to Joe Nall later in the spring. Sure will be interesting to have that live virtual instrument panel on the laptop with the caller seeing all the vital flight parameters!!!

Dave

Have you seen the review in the "Magazine" section of RCU?

Kai

I have .. makes me want to hurry up and go fly mine! All installed in the plane, but the weather here is miserable...

If you have any questions on the setup gimmie a shout, I'll be glad to help!

thanks, Steve.

I think I am all set. I'm installing the system in my Aerotech P47 (see my gallery), and it's all set to go now. In fact just today I got one of the new retract air pressure sensors from Michael, and put it in too.

So I've got: cylinder head temp, rpm (using the existing magnet already running the ignition for the Brison 4.2), pitot system, and g-force. I've also included the RCATS electronic switch. Will add the EGT as soon as the mounts come in. The plane has flown many many flights, but I'm all fired up about flying it with live telemetry!

Dave

Yer gonna love it!!

I modulized mine.. (got extra pitot and temp sensors) so I can move the stuff from plane to plane REAL fast. It's the best system de-bugger I've found yet! I can set it up on a 'subject' aircraft in about 5 minutes and very quickly start recording/observing whats going on with control surface loading on IMAC and giant scale 3-D type birds. Worth it's weight in gold, literally.

Thanks for the info. I presume when you talk about control surface loading you are measuring current draw? I've made up a "4-turn" probe cable for the current sensor, but even with the 4x "gain" this offers, we are still at such a small percentage of full-scale for the sensor that the readings are a little flaky... but this is just on the bench .. perhaps while flying and holding, for example, a sustained knife-edge on an aerobat, you could see a large and steady current?

What numbers are you seeing for cyl head temp and EGT, and what engines have you tried it on? I have a Brison 4.2 on my P47, and it was duck soup to add a metal clamp that is screwed to the same nylon ring that the C+H hall sensor uses, so I am getting a signal from the same magnet that's already there.

I like the idea of multiple probes, since I am already tempted to install on other planes too! No doubt Michael would like the idea too :-)

Dave