Technical Update
Steve Kaluf
Technical Director
[email protected]
MY LIFE HAS been immersed in spread
spectrum radios, Li-Poly batteries, and
electric motors all winter. Now it looks
like that will continue into the summer
since I plan to fly an electric helicopter
in the competitions I participate in this
year.
If someone had told me five years ago
that I’d be flying an electric helicopter
that was big enough and with enough
power to be competitive (the helicopter,
not me) with a spread spectrum radio at
the Nationals in 2007, I would have
simply said, “Yeah right.” But here it is,
2007, and I am. Go figure.
By the way, before I get a nasty
letter, I still love my engines. There is
little that excites me more than the
sound of a large four-stroke engine
pulling a model through the air.
The point of all this is that the
technology available to our sport has
gone nuts. You cannot go to any trade
show or a hobby shop and not see
something new every month. This is
one of the things that really does draw
me to this sport. It is exciting to learn
about the new products and
technologies.
And speaking of that …
With all of these new things we have to
deal with, we must continue to be very
careful, learn about them, and use them
properly. We cannot just assume that
something will work the way we’ve
always done it in the past when there
have been significant changes to the
technology used.
We have new things such as binding a
receiver to a transmitter, high-power electric
setups that could cause a battery eliminator
circuit to shut the receiver down if the
voltage suddenly dropped too low, batteries
that are much more sensitive to proper care
and feeding and deliver huge amounts of
power, other electronics that must be
powered up properly, and the list goes on.
The Weak Signals trade show at Toledo,
Ohio, will have taken place by the time you
read this column. I expect to see huge
amounts of new products introduced at the
show this year. With these new products
will come even newer technology; use it
wisely.
As I mentioned in previous columns the
Electronic Technology Committee meets on
April 16. We have a full agenda and I hope
to see some great things come out of this
meeting that will have a positive effect on
the industry and our members. Look for a
full report in two months.
Til next time ... MA
Edition: Model Aviation - 2007/05
Page Numbers: 180