January 2006 5
ith the introduction of the
first commercial spreadspectrum
radio, the world of
model aviation experienced one of
those pivotal milestones that will
affect the way we all operate.
You are probably asking, “What is
spread spectrum?” I can’t explain the
technical details, but it is a system in
which any need for frequency control
is eliminated. It works in a similar
fashion as wireless networking for
computers or cell phones.
Currently it is sold for lowerperformance
models only, but this will
signal a bright future for our hobby.
In thinking about our hobby and the
development that I have seen during
my 50 years of involvement, it’s
astounding to realize just how far we
have come. Fifty years ago, RC was
reserved for those who were radio
amateurs, the glow plug was a
relatively “new” thing, CL was the
rage, and kids were a high percentage
of those of us who were involved. My,
how it has changed!
One of the great things about
aeromodeling is the diversity of
activities that are contained within the
overall hobby. In general, hobbies can
be divided into four categories: active,
passive, possessive, and creative. In
President’s Perspective
AMA President Dave Brown
W
the case of aeromodeling, there are
aspects that involve each of these
categories.
Because we participate in actually
flying our models, most of us are
involved in the active part of the
hobby. A day at the flying field is the
best part of the hobby to most of us.
There are a few—and we all know
someone who fits this category—who
get their enjoyment of the hobby from
watching others fly. Many get
enjoyment out of the social aspects of
the hobby and seldom fly a model
themselves.
Those of us who are into collecting
all aspects of aeromodeling are the
possessive types. I have seen a few
amazing collections of model airplane
paraphernalia. We hold “collectos”
and revel in the swap-shop areas of
many trade shows. We don’t need to
be just collectors to enjoy this part of
the hobby.
How many of us have a few kits
stashed away, just waiting for the time
to build them, and how many of us
will ever find that time? The creative
aspect of aeromodeling is shown in the
building of our models. Even those
who have ARFs exhibit their creativity
when they finish up their models. And
we have all figured out some creative
ways to crash a model, haven’t we?
Yes, it’s a diverse hobby, but we
need to stick together in order to be
able to enjoy our hobby and to pass
this passion on to the next generation.
Our greatest strength is that diversity
and our ability to bond together for the
common good.
There has been a flurry of E-mail
about fail-safe systems—not how they
can be used to prevent accidents, but
how they can be misused and cause
some accidents. It seems as though the
lack of awareness of your fail-safe
settings can become a problem, and
that is easy to cure.
Please do me a favor right now. Dig
out the instruction manual for your
radio system and become familiar with
any fail-safe features it has. Don’t rely
on the factory settings to do what you
want them to do.
Have you tested your fail-safe
system lately? Are you sure that it cuts
the throttle rather than going to full
throttle? This is an even bigger issue
with electric-powered models since
those can “start” without warning if
you shut off the transmitter and the
receiver is still turned on—and the
fail-safe is not set properly.
The injury you might avoid may
well be your own. MA
Dave Brown
AMA president
[email protected]
The injury you might avoid may well be your own.
01sig1.QXD 11/23/05 10:49 AM Page 5
Edition: Model Aviation - 2006/01
Page Numbers: 5
