AMA Nats: RC Soaring
NATS SOARING for 1988 gives us lots to talk about, but the big story has to be Brian Agnew. Brian won all three classes, plus all three special awards! This clean sweep is unprecedented in Nats Soaring history. In looking back over the past 13 years to the first Nats Soaring event in Lake Charles in 1975, no pilot has ever won even two classes, let alone all three! By taking every class, Brian automatically won the Hi Johnson award for the highest score in any one class, and the Lee Renaud award for the highest combined score of all three classes. For the Dan Pruss Team award it was nip and tuck with the Team Oregon guys, but Brian teamed with his father, John, and Lee Montgomery to win that too! Six out of six!
Radio Control: Soaring
NEW MULTIPLEX RADIO: By the time you read this, Bob Boomer of Beemer R/C West should have FCC approval to begin selling the new Multiplex Profi MC 3030 nine-channel radio. This radio is made in Germany. The transmitter in this new, top-of-the-line set can be thought of as being the third generation in RC microcomputer technology. It follows Multiplex's Profi 2000 of 1980 and Royal MC of 1984. Unlike the Royal MC transmitter, the Profi MC 3030 does not use removable soft modules. All program software is stored within its integral microcomputer. Multiplex calls its software BOSS, for (in German) "Benutzer Orientierte Sender Sprache." In English this means, "User-Oriented Transmitter Language." The four-line, 64-position liquid crystal display communicates with the user/programmer in German, but Bob will have complete instructions and translations to explain what the transmitter is saying!
Radio Control: Soaring
ATRCS radio news: The August 1988 column described the ATRCS (pronounced "A-Tracks") microprocessor conversion to the Airtronics Module 7SP transmitter. Last month Asher Carmichael told us how pleased he was with his ATRCS set. Gene Englegau and Tom Mroz of Control Systems Laboratories developed ATRCS, which stands for Advanced Technology Radio Control System, to give us all the exotic mixing features of the European radios-but at a more reasonable price. Six contestants at the F3B team-selection finals used Airtronics Module/ATRCS radios, and they all were emphatic about how happy they were with them (I mean, six in addition to Gene, who was a finalist!). (See the F3B finals report elsewhere in this issue.) Gene, being a topnotch Sailplaner, designed in all the features you'll likely ever need for flying Gliders-including flying-wing types.
Radio Control: Soaring
LATE NEWS FLASH: There's a new Masters contest in our future. Word has just arrived about a new limited-entry Soaring contest designed to determine who is the "Best of the Best." The AMA Nats is a fun contest, but with open entry and its sheer size, it's really more like old-home week than an all-out competition to determine a national champion. The Pattern and Scale fliers have annual Masters contests-why shouldn't Soaring? Many Sailplaners think this is a concept whose time has arrived. I hope you agree! That's the preface, these are the details: The National Soaring Society (NSS) under president Pete Carr, and the Thousand Oaks Soaring Society (TOSS), Miles Moran, president, have teamed up to put on the First Annual Soaring Masters, also known as the World Thermal Championships, March 25-26, 1989 at the TOSS club field in Chatsworth, CA. Chatsworth, as the crow flies, is about 30 miles north of Los Angeles International Airport.
MARCS National Sailplane Symposium
THE 6TH ANNUAL Madison Area RC Society (MARCS) National Sailplane Symposium was held November 12 and 13 at the Ramada Inn in Madison, WI. "The Paths of Future Flight" was the subtitle for these meetings. The objective was to present the latest in the world of RC Soaring and give an indication where our great hobby/sport is headed. It was a full two days of presentations, demonstrations, and discussions. I'm convinced that if there's one thing Sailplaners enjoy as much as flying Gliders, it is talking about Gliders! Also, it's a chance for the midwestern (mainly) Soaring fraternity to have one last big get-together before hibernating in basements for the winter.
