SCAT Electronic News June 6, 1998
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- Category: Archive 1998
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SCAT Electronic News June 6, 1998
Table of Contents
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Western FAI Challenge - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
F1 Rules Change (Creating more old timer events) - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Re Technology - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Battery Storage for Trackers
Thanks to Risto
Western FAI Challenge
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Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
I have just received word that due to Army training excercises, the
Strat-O-Bats will be unable to hold the Western FAI Challenge in 1998.
Please cancel on the schedule. I am terribly sorry for the short lead
time but hope people understand the challenges we in the NW face using
an Army training area to fly. They will not commit to us until the last minute. We were scheduled for July 11 and 12.
Thanks and very sorry
Mike
F1 Rules Change (Creating more old timer events)
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Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Rules change that has been drafted seeks to out law the following
three capabilities.
1. Use of accelerometers, gyros and air speed sensors coupled with
computational chips and servo controlled surfaces to fly a "perfect buntpath."
2. Use of thermistors in wing tips controlling the rudder for the model to turn towards the thermal.
3. Variometers that would control the rudder to make the model fly a
straight flight path when not in up-air and circle in lift.
I don't see why we would want to outlaw these capabilities. Today we
have variable pitch props on F1B models that sense the torque and
give you the "perfect blade angle" as the motor winds down.
Why is it wrong to fly a preset pitch attitude vs airspeed as the
model climbs through a bunt?
Today I can trim my F1A model to turn in 60 second circles when it is
not in lift and then turn into the thermal and fly 20 second circles
when in lift. All by setting up the aerodynamics of the model to sense
the thermal and increase the turn. Why is it wrong to use an
electronic sensor to do the same thing?
I call any event that limits the technology that can be used in the
design an "Old Timer Event". Technology is moving forward at an fast pace
and this rules change will put the F1 events in the Old Timer category.
Twenty years ago when the GPS satellite system was launched I would not
have dreamed of being able to afford a GPS receiver. Now I can buy them
at the local discount electronics store right next to the clock
radios and pocket calculators. Well at this rate in another 20 years
they will be much smaller, lighter and cheaper. I predict that they
will be standard equipment on every car, boat airplane and bicycle.
And they will have many uses in model airplanes except for the Old
Timer Events that refuse to use the current technology. It would be
like someone today only using wooden props on his engine because that
was the technology we used 20 years ago.
In the past the F1 events have been the leaders in innovation and
technology. This should continue, we are not flying an Old Timer Event!
Matt Gewain
Re Technology
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Author : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Sounds to me that what everyone is worried about is taking the human
element out of the sport. It doesn't matter how well the aircraft
performs as long as the human element remains a factor in the outcome.
With smart manufactured models and electronic thermal detection, we
have almost eliminated the skill of the sportsman as a factor.
True, there still remains the rubber winding or engine tuning and
of course the launch, but not much else. So it is not a problem of
excessive performance, but one of dehumanizing. With high quality,
reliable airplanes, the key factor in free flight today is air picking.
My suggestion is we stop fussing over technical innovations in the
airplanes, but outlaw the use of devices for detecting thermals.
It is the thermal detection equipment that takes the human element out .
of the sport, not the technical progress. If we don't design the .
airplane, and don't even build it, and the thermal detector tell us .
when to fly, what is left to do but throw it?
So lets put the sportsman back in the loop by making him learn the
basic skills required to sense a thermal. Let him observe the atmosphere,
the grass, the birds and bugs. Learn a little micrometeorology, and
how the behaviour of flying insects correlates with temperature and
air currents.
Let him learn to quiet the rattle in his mind and be one with the
free flight environment. It's more fun and better for you than staring
at the thermal detector. We might even find ourselves feeling good
at the end of the day, win or lose.
Bruce Augustus
Battery Storage for Trackers
============================
The batteries in Walston and similar transmitters last much longer than
just one contest. However when removed from the transmitter thay need
to be individually stored. These batteries have metal cases and if not
separated from each other will short out. There are 6 cell battery
packages made for some kinds of hearing aid batteries that can be used
for this purpoase. These holders have a rotating cover that accesses
the 6 separate compartments. Ask a friend who is a hearing aid
user [F1C flyer :-)] for one.
Thanks to Risto
===============
Thanks to Risto and Maria for discussing SCAT Electrnic news with me
.. and suggesting indirectly that I put a table of contents.
...................................
Roger Morrell
