Safety Comes First
Frequency control at the RC flying field is certainly a safety consideration! Safety check your rubber-winder. Weight limits on RC models. Ether in diesel fuel. More. I think that most RC modelers would agree that safety at the flying field begins with a system to control the use of the various radio frequencies. In the May 1982 issue of Model Aviation this column discussed the merits of the two frequency control systems that are most commonly used by RCers. These are the "Take a clothespin off a board and clip it to your antenna" system and the "Put your clothespin (or other marker) onto a board" system. For simplicity I'm going to refer to these two systems respectively as the "Subtractive" and the "Additive" systems. In the first, and probably most prevalent system, you must remove (subtract) a marker from a board before turning on a transmitter, and the absence of the marker on the board indicates use of the frequency in denotes. In the second or additive system you must add a marker to a board, and its presence on the board denotes frequency use.
Safety Comes First!
MORE on RC frequency control. In last month's column, there was a discussion on how to control the use of RC frequency channels at the flying field. A letter, recently received from Paul Samaras. Safety Officer for Jefco Aeromodelers of Lakewood, CO, tells us about the system they use to prevent frequency conflicts. But, before quoting from Paul's letter, a few words about the Jefco Aeromodelers flying field-Chatfield Aerodrome-might be in order.
Safety Comes First!
SOME of you may be wondering what happened to the Safety column in the May 1983 issue of MA. I don't know. Somehow it got scrambled in the pipeline between writer and printer. I think everything that I wrote is there-but not in the same order that it was written. No prize is being offered for the first person to unscramble it, but if anyone wants the unscrambled version I'd be glad to supply it on receipt of a SASE.
Safety Comes First!
THIS column is being written April 30th, and the issue concerning a change in the weight limit for model aircraft has yet to be resolved. During the past month, I received a letter and a phone call on this subject, both of which had suggestions that are worth repeating here, and which will also be passed on to the AMA Safety Committee. The phone call came from Kent Walters who, as many of you may remember, submitted one of the three requests to the Executive Council to change the model weight limit.
Safety Comes First!
GREAT response! Two topics recently discussed in this column have generated more readers' letters than anything else that has been mentioned since "Safety Comes First" appeared in the January 1980 magazine. The two topics were Frequency Control and Flight Training Programs. I'm trying to respond to all who took the time to write, but now that summer is here, it's difficult to keep up with the incoming mail. If you happen to be one of the writers on these subjects and you have yet to receive an acknowledgement, I apologize. Let me thank all of you here and now for providing the input that keeps this column alive!
