Peter Marsden

Hi, I'm sure this is common knowledge, but not where I fly. I changed one of my Jets over to RadioMaster Tx16S following the failure of the screen on my Graupner MZ24. I thought I'd set everything up correctly but after take off it was clear the model was severely nose down. I couldn't get the elevator trim on fast enough so landed rather than persevere. (I was getting in a right mess. Being Mode-1 I had to let go the right hand side of the Tx to reach the elevator trim with my right hand - couldn't let go of the L.H elevator stick!) Once on the ground I sub-trimmed the elevator to where I thought it should be and attempted a take off. With T/O flap selected the model rose parallel to the ground but refused to pitch up. Shut the throttle and carried out a very fast landing. When I got home I checked out what had happened. Turns out that on this Radio, the trim eats into servo travel, i.e. 20% up trim means only 80% remaining up-travel. I use 67% Expo. so basically had no up elevator. (Glad I aborted!) I'm used to the trim changing the entire arc of the servo - it never occurred to me this is not the case here. Took forever to find a way round this, however here it is: Set 'Model setup' to 'Extended Limits' on stick travel, On the 'Inputs' screen set these at 80%, on the 'Mix screen' set at 100% and on the 'Outputs' screen set +/-125% travel. Hope this helps - (I have to say I've found a lot of spurious advice on the 'net.)

We're currently potentially losing the right to fly IC at our site so I've been messing about with sound systems. Spent a fortune, achieved very little other than burned out speakers/transducers. They all sound impressive indoors, or even in the garden. Not bad in the pits either, but in the air? - waste of time. I've since fitted one to the input jack of my 1980's 'Ghetto Blaster' utilising a slave Rx. Now we're talking! I place this next to me when flying and have to turn the volume down! Just wish I was bright enough to be able to adjust the volume dependant on where the plane was in the sky. I'm not good at operating the 'sticks' and trying to turn a volume control on the Tx at the same time! Will I stick with this method? Seems unlikely. I did hear a very loud and realistic 'Foamie' the other day. It's a Yak (9?) and at full throttle it really howls. Some say it's a feature of the airframe, others that it's the timing being out on the ESC.(?) I've also seen a reasonable attempt using flappers on the motor (like playing cards in the bike wheel) but think it'll wear out real quick.