MAAA Wingspan

32 33 WING SPAN NOVEMBER NOVEMBER WING SPAN MAAALogo. When a spread spectrum transmitter is turned on, it immediately searches the 2.4 GHz frequency band for an open channel BEFORE transmitting. This means you never have to worry about checking the frequency board before turning on your transmitter. You can use your radio in the pits when tweaking your airplane without worrying about having the frequency pin or shooting someone down! Shorter Non-Retractable TX Antennas The wavelength of the signals in the 2.4Ghz range are much shorter than those of the 36Mhz range. This means that both the transmitter and receiver’s antennas are much shorter. This is why spread spectrum radios have antennas similar to a cordless phone. The short antennas eliminate the headaches associated with routing the receiver antenna through the airplane like we used to. A spread spectrum receiver antenna can most always be contained within the airplane where it can’t be seen. Another great advantage of 2.4Ghz systems is that you no longer have to worry about forgetting to extend your Tx antenna. This may sound like a no brainer, but I’ll have to admit I’ve had forgotten to extend my antenna on more than one occasion. Better Response Time Latency is the time it takes your airplane to respond after you move the transmitter sticks. One of the factors that determines latency is how fast the signal gets from the transmitter to the servos. The other factors are the servo response times, load on the control surfaces etc. Because 2.4GHz radio systems are completely digital, the latency time is much less. The airplane responds almost instantly to your inputs! You may not notice it with normal Sunday flying but you will notice it while doing aerobatic manoeuvres that require timing such as rolling circles. Extended Battery Life 2.4Ghz radio systems use less current to operate than our old 36Mhz systems. This results in longer flight time and longer life of your transmitter and receiver batteries….. meaning more flights in a day at the field. Model Match Now days we all have maybe one or two main transmitters to control all our models. All aircraft may have different servos setups, channels etc and current TX/RX systems have helps to prevent many crashes, due to different end point adjustments, trims etc. Many more crashes happened due to the wrong model being selected on the transmitter. This can never happen with the Model match technology as the Receiver in the model is mated to the transmitter Range Checking The procedure for checking the range of spread spectrum systems is still of utmost importance and similar to how we used to check our 36Mhz systems. The only difference is you can’t collapse the antenna on the transmitter anymore, but place the transmitter into range check mode or reduced output power. Spread Spectrum transmitter have a button on the back that you press and hold while performing a range check. This button reduces the signal strength for checking the range. So... that’s a little on the history of our modern day 2.4Ghz radio systems and no better way to celebrate 2.4Ghz in our aeromodelling world than a little history and tech talk. Time to go charge some batteries. aaron deckys - aerospace teacher In Aerospace Systems at St Patricks College in Mackay, Year 11 students learn about Aerodynamics and the Principles of Flight. In order to investigate these concepts, students build and modify model aeroplanes. The MAAA generously donated the “Delta Dart” for the students to use. The challenge is to maximise flight time of the rubber band powered aircraft. Students assembled their aeroplanes and then tested their models. After a few failed attempts with the occasional aeroplane flying into the large tree in the grounds, a successful flight path was established for most of the students. While students have been testing their models, they have had to overcome many obstacles including; crash landings, broken wings and buildings. While all this drama has occurred, there have also been some resounding successes, with the current record for flight time being over 30 seconds, which is very impressive! The Wright brothers only managed 12 seconds in their first flight! “While students have been testing their models, they have had to overcome many obstacles including; crash landings, broken wings and buildings.”