Tonbridge Radio Flyers

 

Email Newsletter from Alastair Ramsay

No: 01/08 – 17th January 2008   

Club Website: - Tonbridge-flyers.co.uk

 

 

Hello fellow flyers,

 

As this is the first Newsletter of 2008, may I take this opportunity of belatedly wishing you all a happy new year.  The foul weather has caused a lot of interruption to our flying in recent weeks  so I hope you have made good use of the time by preparing new models for the coming season or checking out your old models to ensure they are in flying condition.  A small number of us took advantage of a brief respite in the weather to fly at Leigh Park Farm yesterday.  In the air conditions were very pleasant but underfoot were extremely wet and muddy with much surface water for models to splash down in.

 

I have been busy trying to grapple with my new duties as Secretary to the club and am in the thick of the membership renewals process.  Many thanks to the large number of you who paid your subscriptions promptly.  I have received the first batch of BMFA renewal returns and have despatched insurance documents and membership cards to many of you.  A second batch has been sent to BMFA this week with the expectation that I shall receive these insurance documents before the end of the month.  As soon as they arrive I will post them on to the members concerned.

 

May I please exhort those few who have not yet renewed their subscriptions to do so without delay to Steve Fysh, Fairmont, Palmers Green Road, Brenchley, Tonbridge, Kent. TN12 7BH.  If you need reminding of the fees, a membership renewal form is available on the club website, showing all the details.  It is also worth noting that, in accordance with the new club constitution, the deadline for renewals is 31st January, after which time a further joining fee would be applicable.

 

The last decent flying day that I can remember was Sunday 6th January when, surprisingly, we were able to run the 2nd round of our Winter Electric League.  In the “Brushed motor” class Ken Dean was the winner with myself in 2nd place and Keith Fisher 3rd.  Simon Smith triumphed in the “Open” class event with Ken Dean 2nd and Alan Twine 3rd.  Congratulations to each of them.  The full results and league table updates can be found on the website under “Competitions”.  There are also a few photos of the competition on the website, under Silent Flight gallery, just to prove that some January days are brilliant.

 

Whilst on the subject of Electric gliding competitions, you may recall that I mentioned the 200W/Kg class that was being proposed for Kent Interclub events in 2008.  This was debated at the KIC AGM on 10th January with Keith Miller and myself present.  The outcome is that the KIC Electric event scheduled for 13th July will comprise 3 competitions, a 400class which now allows motors up to 480 size, the previously used “open” class which is closely similar to our own Open class and a 200W/Kg class.  If anyone is interested in the detail of these competition rules please contact me and I will endeavour to email a copy.

 

Today I have been notified of a potentially serious fault with some Futaba 6FASST 2.4GigHz Transmitters.  Apparently a few transmitters have been identified as having a common identity code of 0000000.  This appears to allow them to bond with more than 1 receiver.  If you are using the Futaba 6 FASST 2.4GHz transmitter please check out the details of this case through BMFA at: http://www.bmfaclassifieds.co.uk/detail.php?id=41488 . Until this issue is resolved I suggest we don’t use 2 or more Futaba 6FASST 2.4GHz transmitters concurrently unless they have been tested before launching to check that they don’t take control over the  other flyer(s) receiver.

 

I will ensure that the Kent Interclub and F3J competition calendar for the coming summer is added to the club website in the near future.  In the meantime you are reminded of the following items for your diaries:

 

DIARY REMINDERS

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

 

Alastair Ramsay – Club Secretary

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