Tonbridge Radio Flyers

 

Update/Reminder email from Alastair Ramsay

No: 01/07  4^th February 2007

Club Website: - Tonbridge-flyers.co.uk

 

 

Hello fellow flyers,

 

It seems as though the weather has been foul for months.  If it isn’t raining it is too windy.  The last week or so has been much more encouraging with several good flying days.  Perhaps we may dare to hope that the improvement will be sustained and that more members can start flying again.

 

A word of warning to those who have not been to Leigh Park farm recently;  The farm track has serious ruts at the edge of the road and will damage any car straying off the concrete.  Also, the storms have felled a very large tree which the farmer has dragged onto the hard standing of the upper field.  This means parking will be very restricted until either the ground firms up or the tree is shifted.

 

The inclement weather in December and January has badly affected our Thermal winter league programme to the extent that only one round has been flown to date.  This means that the scheduled “Reserve” dates will be used to try to recover lost ground.  Please note that, weather permitting, there will be Thermal League rounds flown on Sunday 11^th Feb and again on Sunday 18^th Feb.

 

The Winter Electric League has been more fortunate because the occasional good day happened to coincide with a scheduled Electric League round.  As a result we managed to complete Round 3 on 14^th January.  In the brushed motor Class Ken Dean was the winner with Keith Fisher in 2^nd place.  The Open Class was won by Keith Fisher from me in 2^nd place and Alan Twine in 3^rd.  Alan’s performance was remarkable because, having failed to fly in the first slot due to technical difficulties, he went on to win all subsequent slots.  There was nearly a disaster concerning the results of this round because I left them in a folder on the roof of my car.  I then had a ‘senior moment’, forgot all about them and drove off into the sunset.  Fortunately for me, Bob Hope left the farm after me and collected the mass of litter I had inadvertently left on the road outside the farm track.  Many thanks for retrieving the situation Bob! Results and updated League tables have been added to the website under “Competitions” section.

 

The bad weather has also prevented members from posting times for the “Winter High Time” competitions. To date there has been no claim for the Thermal High Time and only two for the Electric High Time.  The latter was started by Ken Dean achieving a 17 min 5 second flight on 27^th January and followed by my own flight of 18 min 18 seconds on 4^th February.  Now that we have started the ball rolling perhaps others will follow?  The current record claims have been posted on the website.

 

There has been much talk recently about the newly approved frequency band of 2.4Gigahertz, allocated for model aircraft.  It appears to offer a number of advantages, not least, the ability to auto select channels and do away with the need to have a frequency control “peg Board”.  Aerials are also much smaller in both Transmitter and receiver and interference problems are expected to be largely eliminated.  Full range transmission/reception is claimed and apparently modellers are flocking to the tills to buy.  When more information is available we will probably modify our rules to accommodate 2.4 Gig flyers but, in the meantime, if any one is using this equipment will you please fly a black ribbon on your transmitter to signify 2.4 gigs and also provide any relevant feedback on your experience with it.

 

My previous Newsletter reminded members that subscriptions were due by 31^st December.  If there are any stragglers who are still overdue, will you please send your subscriptions to Steve Fysh at the earliest opportunity?  Apart from the club needing the money from your subscription, your insurance will probably have expired.  If you need a renewal form, one can be found on the club website giving the necessary details including Steve’s address.

 

Keith Miller has furnished me with the dates for this summer’s Kent Interclub competitions.  I have shown these in the Diary Reminder section below and would ask Ken Dean to use them to update the “Calendar” section of the club website.  I understand that the rules for these events remain unchanged with the exception of the Electric events which have a “Power-On” time reduction to 30 seconds for both 400 and Open Classes.  Battery and other rules are unchanged.

 

 

DIARY REMINDERS!

 

1.                  Subs for 2007 are now overdue!

2.                  Sunday 11^th Feb – Thermal Winter League at LPF 10am start

3.                  Sunday 18^th Feb – Thermal Winter League at LPF – 10am start

4.                  Sunday 25^th Feb – Electric Winter League Round 4 – 10am start

5.                  Kent interclub Competitions for the coming summer are as follows:

 

   April 29   KIC Thermal Rd 1 - Medway at Sheppey

   May 6     Ron Finniss Memorial Trophy (gliders) Invicta

   May 13   F3J League Rd 1 at Leigh Park Farm

   June 3    KIC Thermal Rd 2 - Invicta at Sutton Valence

   June 10 Gravesend BARCS Open at Cliffe

   June 17  Aldershot BARCS Open 1 at Aldershot

   July 1     KIC Thermal Rd 3 - Canterbury at Dargate

   July 8     KIC Electric Day - Invicta at Sutton Valence

   July 29   TRF BARCS Open at Leigh Park Farm

   August 12 KIC Thermal Rd 4 - Bromley at Sheppey

   September 2 Aldershot BARCS Open 2 at Aldershot

   September 9 Bromley BARCS Open at Leigh Park Fm

   September 30 Towner Trophy BARCS Open at LPF

   October 7 KIC Kent Cup - Medway at Sheppey 

 

 

Best wishes,

 

Alastair Ramsay

Gliding Secretary – TRF

 

(Email AandJRamsay@aol.com, tel: 01892 534532)