FlightplanFlightplan is published "online" by Flightmasters Model Airplane Club, Inc. of Fort Smith, Arkansas. It's purpose is to inform the membership and to promote interest in the safe building and flying of model aircraft both in the Fort Smith Area as well as elsewhere. |
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In this Issue:Editorial -------------------------- Below Polyester Plug and Mold Making ------- Page 2 Aug. 1955 "Model Aviation" ---------- Pages 5 & 6 |
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Tom Minton resigns!Upon arriving home from the July club meeting, I found that I had received an email from our Club
Secretary, Tom Minton. The email is quoted below for your reference:
Regretfully I am resigning as Secretary of the Club effectively immediately. When I took this position I planned to fill in until the elections could be held at the end of the year. Unfortunately my new job requires some weekend activities and the busiest time is from July through December. I am also teaching class for Webster University and this pretty much fills up my week days. I firmly believe that all of the officer positions should be held by individuals who can devote adequate time to the club. I, unfortunately, am unable to at this time. Thanks Tom It goes without saying that we will miss Tom serving as secretary. For those of you who do not know, the "new job" Tom mentioned in his email is "Director of the United Way"
in this area. The "United Way" is one of the premier fund raising organizations and helps many, many deserving
people every day. Our loss will be the "United Way's" gain. Now ... Having said that, Tom will still be flying at our field, attending the Fly-Ins and other activities and helping fellow club members when it's needed ... Just not as often as before! As in times past, and in accordance with our By-Laws, when a club office is vacated the Board of Directors will appoint a club member to fill that office. Hopefully, the Board will be able to announce the name of our new Secretary at or before our next club meeting! |
2.4 Ghz Radio EquipmentThe new 2.4 Ghz Radio Equipment is taking the modeling world by storm! Practically every radio control equipment manufacturer either already has a system out or is planning on producing one soon. There is an exception or two - The Polk Company that manufacturers and sells the "Tracker" series of Radio Equipment has decided NOT to produce a 2.4 Ghz system.One thing you may not know about 2.4 Ghz systems is that the Federal Communications Commission mandates that every manufacturer have a "unique" method of operation linking (binding) the receiver to the transmitter. It is further mandated that one manufacturer's equipment NOT BE ABLE TO INTERFERE WITH OR BIND TO ANOTHER MANUFACTURER'S EQUIPMENT! (That means if you own a Futaba 2.4 Ghz (FASST) transmitter, you will NOT be able to use any other receiver with it unless that receiver is designed to operate with the Futaba FASST system.) The import of the FCC's statement is that ANY NEW SYSTEM that should come on the market, MUST operate significantly different than the ones already in production. There are presently three different systems on the market: The Spektrum DSM systems, The Futaba FASST systems and The Airtronics FHSS systems. (There is another company, Extreme Power Systems, that makes Modules for older equipment but does not produce a complete system in itself.) Almost all of the newer systems can be used in ANY aircraft, regardless of size. However, some of the earlier systems were designed to be "short ranged" for small electric "park flyer" and "indoor" type of aircraft. If you have one of those DO NOT try to use it in larger aircraft! One other precaution for those of you who own the Futaba FASST systems: There is a "Service Advisory" for the Futaba 6EX, 7C and TM-7 Systems! Some of those systems were incorrectly coded during manufacture. Only certain serial numbers are affected. Visit the following website to see if your system is one that needs service: http://2.4gigahertz.com/techsupport/service- advisory-tm7-7c-6ex.html Continued on page 4 ... |