Chris Marshall

My Club requires the BFMA blag pennant. My Solution is to read the recommendations carefully, where there is no definition of size for the 2.4G black pennant. Mine is therefore 5mm wide by about 100mm long- nowhere near big enough to be a hazard, but big enough to be seen when you are close enough to see the aerial. I've not actually flown at the club field yet so I'm not sure if it will be accepted.  I personally think that pennants on 35MHz actually increase the risk; it doesn't matter what it says on the pennant/flag, if the crystal is not the same frequency. I am strongly in favour of pegboard systems, and maintaining a strict discipline with them. It was this lack of discipline in some places I fly that prompted me to change to 2.4G so early.

I'll have a go.

I could find a home for this!

Yes Please!

Yes Please!

Nearly bought one of these the other week! Winning it will be better!

An extra Extra for my collection would be nice

and me please

I'll see what I can do, but I haven't used it much yet. I was hoping to this weekend, but my car died on Thursday so I am sorting out a replacement, and transport to work next week until the new car is ready, so for the moment I can only give first impressions.

Perhaps that's why I bought one. It is good.

It's what I really really really want!

Yes Please!

Andy, I think I agree with all of that. I suspect that the main reason for two channels is so that it can be claimed to be a frequency hopping system, which allows 100mW instead of 10mW, which is sort of what has been said recently on the Macgregor site.  I have come from the other side as it were, as I am an electronic designer, but have ended up doing a fair amount of mechanical design, as you say - enough to be dangerous! I notice that the receiver has two battery ports, but the docs make no mention of this- unless I have missed it. Does anyone know how they  work, i.e. can you just plug two packs in, and active switching takes care of them, or are they just alternatives for a single pack? I will have to explore and see if they are just parallel wired or there is something more subtle going on. Chris ps I am both Chris Marshall and Chris Marshall 2, I'm not sure why I have these aliases, I have tried to get rid of one but without sucess so far. I think it may be because I have two different yahoo logins. 

I think I'm not going to bother sending it back now. Having had another play this evening coupled with the range check the other night I am confident all is well. I would agree with your expectations of linear regs. Part of the documentation advises against  replacing the battery with a 3S LiPo, and state that a charge of the NiMH should last around 14 hours. That would imply mean currents around the levels you are talkingabout, making linear regs practical and cost effective. I take it you are involved in Electronics professionally? As I am. Will be interested to hear what else you discover about it. Spektrum have always talked about a significant advantage to DSM over frequency hopping without justifying it. My suspicion is because it is possible to get the data rate fast enough with a 10% duty cycle, and because of the spec only regulating mean power, it is possible to transmit at a much higher level than the 100mW figure, thus improving the sig/noise ratio. If this is the case then it does give a significant advantage over frequency hopping systems using only 100mW peak.  I don't know if this is the case, all the manufacturers are very vague about what they are actually doing and why, so it is hard to really know. I don't think it matters as all seem to be an improvement over 35MHz, once the different oprational requirements are understood. Cheers Chris 

Andy, I was considering attacking my set with a scope but you have saved me the trouble! I knew that the RF was not continuous, so I suspected that it was break through, either via power lines or RF radiation, but I was slightly concerned that it was a marginally stable switch mode supply, but I haven't spotted any in there, although I have not had a really good poke around yet. I would agree that the noise level itself is not an issue, my concern was that it was symptomatic of another problem.  Macgregor have suggested sending it to them for a check, which I may do for peace of mind, but as it is present on other sets I may just live with it. The bleep is pretty loud, so a bit of foam to mute it may not be a bad idea, and the buzzing would then be undetectable. As the frequency of the buzzing is significantly different to the bleep frequency I may investigate some sort of passive filter ( electronic rather than mechanical, to bolt on the back) but probably not until it is out of guarantee!  I haven't noticed the 'unadjust' message myself, but will have a look for it now, if it's there then it sounds like it has to go back anyway. Yakmad, I'm sure you won't be dissapointed with your DSX9 once you have it, everything else about it is fine, and as Andy says, the buzzing is not actually an issue. Cheers Chris 

After chasing City link round the county for a couple of days I finally got my hands on one. It seems to be all I was expecting and a ground range check in the field out the back of the house seemed fine. But, there is a buzzing which is quite noticeable in a quiet room, though probably not at the field. I have taken the back off and the noise is actually coming from the sounder. It is not present when in System Mode. Does anyone else suffer from this? I am wondering if it is just a bit of poor layout, ( i.e a design fault, resulting in pickup of the encoding) and I am going to have to live with it, or should I send it back. I am reluctant to do so, having waited this long, but if it is faulty then I have no choice. I will contact MacGregors for advice also.

Now you are really into an ever changing minefield! We were with Wanadoo for a while, but got fed up with them providing only one email address. It meant that whenever one of us downloaded mail the whole families mail was retrieved.  Now with BT who provide 5 completely independant addresses. No problems so far, and their prices are as good as anyone elses I think. No experience of anyone else! Chris 

Peter, let us know what you finally choose. Happy new year to all. Chris 

I've downloaded and had a play with Devcad now, it looks comparable to Turbocad and Autosketch, and the price is similar. I think it is by the same people that do Profili, so should integrate well, and probably have a similar feel. I haven't investigated ModelCad, (but a bit cheaper) but it also has a free trial, so for anyone new to the game, dwonload the trial versions and try them all. Chris 

Turbocad runs under Windows operating systems, so uses the Windows user interface in the same way as Autocad etc. Whatever you get check that it is compatible with O.S.  you have. The latest Turbocad is compatible with Vista. As to being intuitive, I think that the only truly intuitive system is a big sheet of paper, and a pencil and ruler. Wtih all CAD packages there is, as John says, a learning curve. I think that one has to consider the reasons for using a computer, and unless there are benefits for the individual, then there is no point in spending time and money. I know why I use a CAD package, but there is no point in me making assumptions about other peoples reasons.  However, the benefits  carry a price, in financial terms, as well as in the time and mental effort required to learn them. Sorry Erfolg I don't understand your reference to a redundant package? With regard to all singing  and dancing, I do not agree that there is anything to be wary (presumably, and not weary?)  of, if you don't need them don't use them. Regardless of what software you get there will almost certainly be a load of features that you don't use. I spend my working day using various CAD packages, and all of them have got features that I never use, and probably some that I'm not even aware of! That said the more features, the higher the price usually, so make sure what you get has got the features that you do want, and the packages that allow a free trial period are the best way to determine this. It is also a good way to see if you get on with it. Probably more important: make sure that there is a good manual with it- either electronic or printed, or better still a Tutorial available for self tuition.  Oh, and don't forget to do some flying!