District IX — Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming
Jim Tiller — Vice President
[email protected] Box 828, Custer SD 57730 Tel.: (605) 390-3878 www.amadistrict-ix.org www.facebook.com/amadistrictix
District IX Scholarship Fund
The District IX scholarship fund has been in existence since December 2014. I am extremely pleased with the responses to this effort, both from clubs and individuals.
I must note one contribution I received shortly after the announcement went out. On December 20 a letter arrived from the treasurer of the 95th Street Group, Bill Alexander:
“In response to your email, I am responding as treasurer of the 95th Street Group in the Kansas City area. The club would like to donate $880 to the District IX Scholarship Fund in memory of our former president, Darrell Watts, who passed away last month.
“Darrell probably did as much, or more than, any other AMA member when it came to aeromodeling education, promotion, and public relations than I can think of, and this scholarship program would be right down his alley.”
This single donation was enough to ensure that Matt Carlson, our first scholarship recipient, will attend the 2015 Camp AMA. What a touching tribute to the memory of Darrell Watts. We now have a scholarship committee in place to review and select other young District IX fliers who are worthy of our support.
District IX Membership Meeting
Many AMA districts have an annual membership meeting. This is a place to meet your AMA officials, ask questions, and give input on the direction your leadership should take. For the first time, District IX will have such a membership meeting. It will take place in 2015 in conjunction with the Grand Island Modelers’ RC Exposition and Fun-Fly, held June 19–21 in Grand Island, Nebraska.
I encourage you to come and be part of this event and put in your “two cents” at the membership meeting. I will be there with all of the associate vice presidents (AVPs) and any other AMA officials I can muster.
From Nebraska AVP Ed Paasch:
“We are honored to have the Grand Island event be named the District IX membership meeting. Many of you have attended in the past and know what great fun this long-standing event is. Turbines, helicopters, ultra micros, Giant Scale—anything goes. Primitive camping spaces go quickly, so reserve now. For more information, go to www.grandislandmodelers.com.”
I hope to have this general membership meeting move to various venues throughout the district. If you’d like to have the 2016 District IX membership meeting as part of your club’s event, please let me know.
Webmaster and Arduino RC Transmitter
Norm Berger, District IX webmaster and Colorado AVP, is a wizard with computers and electronics. He is also active in the Vintage R/C Society. Norm recently combined both passions by reengineering an old Kraft radio with up-to-date electronic innards.
Inside the transmitter is an adaptation of an Arduino microprocessor that controls the 2.4 GHz radio. If you Google “Arduino RC Transmitter,” you will find many such designs. The one Norm used was prepared by Phil Green in the United Kingdom, who often contributes ideas to the Vintage R/C Society. For more information, visit the Vintage R/C Society website at www.vintagercsociety.org, or contact Norm directly.
New Year’s Day Flying Events
Here in the heart of America we have learned how to deal with long, cold winters. Many of us schedule a New Year’s Day event just to laugh in the face of Mother Nature. These events have many names throughout the district:
- Frozen Finger Fly — Beresford, South Dakota
- Nitro Chili Burn — Fremont County, Colorado
- Frost Your Buns — Rapid City Propbusters (Rapid City, South Dakota)
Hot comfort food is always the reward after flying. In South Dakota this January 1, sun, six inches of snow, and approximately 30° greeted the Rapid City and Beresford groups.
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
