John Privett

Ken - where do you fly near the Tyne?   I'm originally from the area and visit family there occasionally,  but never seen any soaring along the coast. 

A few years back I had a couple of small electric f/wing models on 35MHz,  using brushed motors - never had any interference or glitching problems.   More recently a heli - initially with a brushed motor until it burnt out (as they do on small helis!) and subsequently a brushless motor.  Now have a second electric heli, also brushless and on 35.  No problems with any of them.   My i/c models are all now on 2.4 and my future electrics are also likely to be on 2.4.  

LOL!  I keep trying to retire it,  but it keeps coming back for more...  One day it's going to fall apart and then I'll have no choice - have to buy a new one, now that they're making them again.

Adrian, my Limbo Dancer which has been flying regularly since January 2000 (and looks like it has too... ) has closed loop on rudder and elevator.  The servos are mounted fairly conventionally. In fact you can just see the tail of it at the top-left of my avatar pic! Edited By John Privett on 04/08/2009 19:04:27

Posted by Nobby159 on 03/08/2009 22:58:36: Hey Kiwi better than any bungee launch  I can't help wondering how many planes they accidentally set fire to whilst perfecting that setup!

Posted by Basildon Biggles on 03/08/2009 17:39:36: You can use any xtal of the same frequency.  But, it is not recomemended.  PPM ok  PCM, not so.   "Check before tryin'.   BB It's been stated many times elsewhere that there is more to a crystal than simply its frequency and differences for instance in its capacitance can cause a transmitter with an "alien" crystal to output a signal on a different frequency to the one intended.   I've only tried this once - and it failed.  A transmitter crystal from a GWS radio was tried in an old Futaba FF6 (we wanted to buddy-box it with the GWS Tx) and with this combination the GWS receiver failed to respond.  A check with a radio scanner showed the Futaba transmitter was now transmitting on a frequency between the intended one and the adjacent channel - but closer to the adjacent one.    Fortunately this was tried at home and not at the field where the result could have been a shot-down model...    Subsequently a Futaba Tx crystal on the relevant channel was acquired and the GWS receiver then responded to the Futaba Tx and we were able to buddy-box the two successfully.  

Posted by Keat on 03/08/2009 14:52:02: I intend to use my Futaba TX's, so Iv'e ordered a Futaba 82 TX crystal today. The Sanwa stuff came with 82 installed already, so I'll put the 82 Sanwa Crystal back in the Sanwa RX.    Yes, that should be fine. Posted by Erfolg on 03/08/2009 15:03:05: The sanwa receiver should work a futaba Tx should it not? If each has its own make of crystal. The basis for this statement is the thought, for sake of argument, you transitting on 70, the output signal should be that wave length and that specific wavelength is what the receiver should be processing. I also understood that the PWM had been standardised on all sets?   These are questions, not answers.   ErfolgErfolg, you are correct.  As long as you're using PPM rather than PCM then anything you're likely to encounter on 35MHz should work together.  The only incompatibility I can think of is that the wiring of old Sanwa servo plugs differs from the "standard" used by everybody else, and indeed by Sanwa for the last (I'm guessing here...) 10 or 15 years?   Edited By John Privett on 03/08/2009 17:08:22

Posted by Timbo - Moderator on 20/06/2009 19:19:43: I beleive there is such a thing written by a lady I think some years back..not sure TBH but something rings a bell with me on this subject You're probably thinking of AnnMarie Cross' book,  "Futaba 7C The User's Guide." It's distributed over here, by - ahem - a certain other magazine publisher...  Though, a few years back when I bought the Don Edberg book on the FF8 I found it was far cheaper to buy direct from the publisher than via Traplet - and it only took about 3 days to arrive from California.  Plus, I even got the author's "autograph" on the customs declaration form...

Posted by John Horsfield on 02/08/2009 22:08:37: I agree with John, be careful when using other branded crystals in Sanwa stuff. (The TX will defiantly need a Sanwa crystal).  Just to clarify what I hope John H meant...  If you use the Sanwa Tx then it will need a Sanwa Tx crystal.   If you use your Futaba Tx then it will need a Futaba Tx crystal.   Regardless of which Tx you use the Sanwa Rx will need a Sanwa Rx crystal.  

Posted by Bill Wood on 02/08/2009 14:03:12: Why is it that  for IC motors lubrication is so important yet for electric motors of similar power it doesn't seem to be an issue.   On an I/C engine the lubrication is mainly for the big-end and little-end "bearings" and also the piston to liner fit - all of which are just plain metal to metal.  Larger petrol engines which have roller bearings on little and big-ends require much lower percentages of oil in the fuel.   None of these of course are applicable to electric motors.

I signed-up to twitter a few weeks ago, but only because I thought it might make it easier to follow the Vulcan twitter.   I've never input anything onto it myself, and see no reason to ever do so - however I seem to have already attracted 3 or 4 "followers" who obviously have nothing better to do than to see how many people they can follow...

You should use the make of crystal that matches what you're plugging it into.  So use a Futaba Tx crystal in the Futaba Tx,  and a SANWA Rx crystal in the Sanwa Rx. Other combinations might appear to work, but will probably have decreased range.  As long as you're using PPM, the Sanwa Rx doesn't know whether it's "listening" to a Sanwa Tx, a Futaba Tx, a JR Tx or indeed any other Tx.

Ken - I was in Maplins yesterday and noticed the prices of their 12v lead-acid batteries.  I thought they were rather pricey....  Chris - Do bike batteries differ significantly (apart from the size!) from car batteries?  When I had my first car (late 1970s) it seemed that batteries lasted a couple of years and then gradually died.  I "nursed" one failing battery through an entire winter when I was a student by always parking on hills and bump-starting the car as often as possible to avoid spending valuable beer-money on a new one! These days car batteries seem to last for much, much longer.  My 8-year old Mondeo is still on its first battery (unless the original owner had it replaced during the first couple of years - unlikely!) and our 14-year old Previa has had one replacement.  But when modern batteries die they do so very suddenly - or so it seems to me.  

Typing "fms usb futaba" into Google seems to bring up a fair number of hits.  Amazon say they're out of stock,  but others (both here and in the USA) seem to have stock... (ALs Hobbies,  Avicraft and rc-bargains.co.uk are amongst those.) Edited By John Privett on 01/08/2009 19:35:36

Posted by Kiwi G on 31/07/2009 06:10:37: ITs a long day waiting for you guys to wakeup, up there. especially if youve got something to say.... Damn forgot what it was. HE HE HE HE LOL!  Of course it works both ways.  You lazy so-and-sos down there have a habit of going to sleep in the middle of OUR day...

Posted by Terence Lynock on 30/07/2009 19:28:13: Do any of you guys think a slot for aerial photography would be worthwhile on the forum?   regards,        Terry What, you mean pictures like this;   Sorry - I'll behave now!    I haven't tried any myself for quite a while,  last attempts were in the pre-digital era using film - complete with a long wait to see what the results were before trying again the following week.  I do enjoy looking at aerial pics - especially of areas that I know.

Traditionally it's usually been something like this that people have used.  I use probably a slightly older version,  rated at 6.5Ah.  It runs my power panel (glow connector and fuel pump) and starts the OS 37 in my heli.  I usually hand-start my fixed-wing models and for my use this battery is fine.  I charge it whenever I remember to - probably only once every couple of months...  You might want something a bit bigger if you're starting bigger engines, and especially if you're field-charging batteries for electric flight - then you're likely to need something with a much greater capacity! Edited By John Privett on 30/07/2009 21:43:28

Not tonight as I'm away from home at the moment.  I'll keep a lookout for an RCM&E session when I return tomorrow.  The new version 2.5 seems to connect much more reliably than the previous 2.0 which I could rarely connect to multi-player sessions.

If it's any help, mine is an 8-digit number starting with 300.

Went to Sunderand, and XH558 DID fly.  Tomorrow's weather looks grim.

The BBC have a story on their new website about the Swedish guy who's flying his across the channel today.  There's at least one other Blériot plane doing the crossing as well,  plus a 1/2 scale R/C model that a French model club have built. The skies are going to be busy around Dover!

Posted by ken anderson. on 24/07/2009 21:32:03: ps--forgot to post-we have the 'sunderland international airshow' up here tomorrow...the vulcan is going to display................Edited By ken anderson. on 24/07/2009 21:34:33  Yep - up in the NE for a few days visiting parents, so planning to go to Sunderland tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that XH558 makes it - they had problems and didn't fly today, but that's apparently sorted - all but the paper work ....  Weather for the rest of my stay here doesn't look too encouraging.

I didn't hear about the donation to charity.  Excellent! And if United can learn something from this then so much the better.  Actually,  if they can't learn from it they don't deserve to remain in business!  

Peter - Did you see,  United have finally given the guy compensation to pay for his guitar repairs.   And in the meantime they've received enough negative publicity to last them a lifetime! 

BB - I whole-heartedly agree with your concern.  I was quite surprised to read in the previous BMFA News that this was going to be their future approach.   The majority of the obituaries I read in the past were for people I'd never heard of - but that is not the point.  It could be argued that the obituaries are most relevant to our more senior members - as it is more likely to be their acquaintances being honoured.  And arguably it is these more senior members who are less likely to have internet access - or if they do, to restrict themselves to a little emailing and not much more.  (OK - a sweeping generalisation, I agree!) But it is precisely for such people that the obituaries should remain in the printed copy.  IMHO.