WRAM Show '82: The Year of the Receiver
LAST YEAR, I reported the WRAM (Westchester Radio Aero Modelers, Inc.) Show as "The year of the Chip (NE5044)." I told you that all the manufacturers were in the process of shifting their transmitter designs to a new, cheaper design that would offer servo travel reversing, mixing, control conditioning (LIN/XPO/Dual-Rate), and other sophistications. It started with the Ace RC Silver Seven and has spread to such labels as Airtronics XL, Circus Hobbies, Kraft, Futaba, and World Engines, as I'm sure you've observed. This year, the emphasis is on receivers.
Radio Technique
NEW FREQUENCIES, OLD FREQUENCIES, AND SCANNERS. As I write this, it seems pretty likely that we will have new frequencies available for the 1983 season. This brings up two thoughts: Frequency Monitoring and Frequency Control. Frequency Monitoring means listening to what is going on in the RC channel you propose to use before you turn on the transmitter. Frequency Control means making some kind of provision to assure that no one else tries to use the same channel while you are using it.
Better B&W Pictures With Colored Filters
THIRTY years ago, every camera left the store wearing a yellow filter. The argument, then, was that you needed the filter in order to get a "natural rendition" of colors from the film. Of course, B&W has no color, only shades of gray. But the point is that there ought to be a different shade of gray for each color in the spectrum. Proper filters make that possible.
Radio Technique
THE WATSON STABILIZER. No, it isn't a gyro! When you hook it up to the yaw (rudder) servo of your Helicopter, you convert that servo's function from a force control to a yaw rate control. More stick deflection means a faster (constant, stabilized) rate of yawing (no speed-up). A gyroscope is a device that tries to maintain a constant position in space. The Watson Stabilizer doesn't care anything about its position in space.
Radio Technique
A NICE RC Helicopter system: The Circus Hobbies Apollo D6C-4SHM and the JRJ-100 Gyrosensor. The D6C-4SHM is a lot better helicopter RC system than you'll learn from reading the advertisements or the owner's manual! My flying has improved immensely since I put the Apollo into my Heliboy. To do it, I had to remove the Heliboy's stock mechanical mixer, fabricate a new cabin structure and new pushrods (including a pushrod directly to the tail-rotor collective-pitch bellcrank), install the five servos and the Gyrosensor, and readjust the whole machine. It was worth it.
