`WRAM's Show-1981'
WE FEEL the same way about reviewing an event like the WRAMS show. It would be easy to photograph those who attended and list what was displayed, but we feel that it is more useful to discover the trend behind that attendance and those displays. Therefore: 1981 is the year of the chip (the NE5044, that is)! Last year, the NE5044 made its appearance only in the premium-quality Ace RC Silver Seven and Airtronics XL, because it made control conditioning (like XPO) and mixing so simple. This year, the NE5044 is even being used in your basic 4-channel, no-frills, sportmodel transmitters. There is good reason. The NE5044 permits a manufacturer to vastly simplify his transmitter encoder, reducing the number of parts and operations tremendously, while taking a step forward in performance and reliability. For an example, let's look at the World Engines Expert Mark IV.
Radio Technique
IT MAY BE that a few people are confused over what the AMA frequency allocation proposal encompasses. Perhaps this explanation will help to provide a clearer understanding. 1. Our present channels in the 72 to 76 MHz Personal Radio Service (PRS) band are part of a scheme which has channel assignments 20 KHz apart, beginning at 72.020 and continuing 72.040, 72.060, 72.080, 72.100, etc., with 72.080 being the first authorized frequency in the band for radio control models. All assignments are "shared" with high-powered users. 2. AMA has proposed splitting the existing channels to produce new channels at 10 KHz intervals, beginning with 72.010 and continuing 72.030, 72.050, 72.070, through 72.990 MHz.
Radio Technique
THE ACE XPO/MIXER. The long-awaited combined exponential and mixing options board (11G515) has been released by Ace RC, Inc, Box 511E, Higginsville, MO 64037, and I have built it and tested it. The board plugs into the Silver Seven transmitter and provides two channels with XPO/LIN option, one linear channel with adjustable trim authority, and the ability to mix any two channels (whether XPO or not) except the retract gear channel. Interconnections are shown for most of the customary arrangements, including V-tail, elevons, opposed flap/elevator, coupled ailerons and rudder, and throttle/tail-rotor mixing for Helicopters.
Radio Technique
DEMONSTRATING just how a democratic republic is supposed to function, nine members of the AMA Frequency Committee, plus the AMA Executive Director, his assistant, and the AMA legal counsel met in Washington, DC on June 5, 1981 for a nine-hour working session. Most of them flew in from all over the country on either their personal or vacation time to cover many subjects in planning the future of RC in America. I am grateful for this opportunity to be the first to summarize their activities from notes supplied by the chairman, Bob Aberle. The most important result of these deliberations (in the minds of some) is the determination that existing equipment can be used on the new "odd" channels merely by changing frequencies. AMA will not ask for tighter technical specifications for Type Certification. It is probable that the prudent flier will decide to invest in new, narrowband receivers, when they become available, but the rest of his existing equipment (transmitter, servos, batteries, etc.) will continue in use unchanged, except for the frequency change.
Radio Technique
AN ELECTRONIC STOPWATCH. The Estes Skyaligner is subtitled Transmitter Aligner, which might lead you to expect that it somehow plugs into your transmitter. "`Taint so, Magee!", as Molly Jordan used to say. You plug the Skyaligner into your receiver, in place of a servo. While there, the Skyaligner is powered by your flight pack, and it measures the ON time of the control pulse that the servo WOULD HAVE received. The usual range of numbers displayed is from 1.00 to 2.00, which you interpret as milli-seconds, or .00100 to .00200 sec. I enjoy building electronic kits, but this one (see the photograph) went together so fast I hardly noticed doing it. Anyone could assemble it in 30 minutes, including the time spent reading the instructions and checking the parts. It worked properly from the first time it was plugged in.
