President’s Perspective - 2006/07
How times have changed—or have they?
How many of us "old-timers" remember the days when RC clubs were principally the stomping grounds of electronic geniuses who spent more time talking about and working on the radio-control system than on the model airplane?
Common language included items such as:
- RK61
- 6AK4
- superregenerative
- clock parts made into escapements
- resistor color codes
- "micro-microfarad"
- plate voltage, A and B batteries, and Morse code
I remember those days, and I remember the days immediately following that era when RC equipment became commercially available. Suddenly you didn't need to be an electronics guru to take part in this new aspect of aeromodeling.
I remember feeling as if I didn't belong in the same club or on the same flying field with those old-timers. Many of them were not happy with this new type of RC aeromodeler—those of us who couldn't have cared less about the bits and pieces which made up the RC system beyond the necessities needed to make it work (plug this plug into that socket!). Most of us were interested in model airplanes which could now be "radio controlled" rather than radio control for model airplanes! Most of us had a background in control-line or free-flight aeromodeling and were interested in building and flying models that were free to fly without strings but were controlled so that we didn't need to chase them—at least in theory!
How many of you remember that first trip to the RC club field during that era? I'll bet that many of us don't have fond memories of those first encounters with the "RC guys." I didn't know anything about electronics when I started flying RC, and I can remember getting the feeling that some of the old-timers in the club would rather I go away because we had little in common to talk about. How times have changed—or have they?
Today's old-timers grew up building model airplanes. They are having the same culture shock to "their" hobby when someone shows up with an RTF as the early RC club members had with those of us showing up with radios which we didn't build or know much about technically.
Today's old-timer has had to get used to those ARFs, but at least those required that the modeler installed the equipment, engine, tank, etc. Those guys weren't "building" their models, but I guess we can call them modelers.
This new breed shows up without knowing the difference between a pushrod and a hot rod. They are not "modelers" to the old-timers, and unfortunately this feeling becomes obvious on their first visit to the flying field.
Most of us who have "lived" this hobby most of our lives will admit that the vast majority of our friends are others who are infected with this "disease" we call aeromodeling. I still remember my little buddy Johnnie Clements, AMA president a long time ago, referred to it as having "hobby pox."
How many of us old-timers will go to the field and occasionally spend most of a day without even flying our models? We love to spend time with "the guys." The social time is as important as the flying time.
Look around and see all of the gray hair. Our average age is increasing. Soon we will run out of friends if we do not get some new blood into the sport. That new blood is banging at the door; all we need to do is to welcome it.
Til next month. MA
Dave Brown AMA president [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
