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Last year's competition was a great success bearing in mind it was our first. It has been decided to have another open/res/2m competiton flying to Australian Thermal duration rules (for the open class). The rules for the res and the 2m competition will be decided on the day dependent on the weather. We might split the res/2m field on the second day to give those less experienced pilots a chance to win a trophy, providing that we can get enough competitiors. We would really like to see as many 2m and res flyers as possible. Winches will be no problem as we have enough available.
We have decided that to get more flying in and to enable people to get to the field without having to rise too early, we will start the competition around 12pm on Saturday 2nd October, fly until about 5pm and then fly from 9am Sunday 3rd October and finish in the afternoon early enough for people to get home at a reasonable time. The club will put on a barbeque on Sunday at least and a toilet will be available if we have enough prior interest. Due to the nature of our lease, camping on the field is not possible but there is plenty of accomodation available locally.
We hope to see you there. Reply to either me or Brian (paul.gibson2@bigpond.com or lindsayracing@optusnet.com.au)
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I was at the Millennium Cup comp at Canberra yesterday, managing to break my plane in the 35knt winds that prevaled towards the end of the first and only complete round. Steve Truscott had a converstion with Don Farrer of the Berkley Vale club just south of Wollongong and they have some rules that might appeal to get an electric comp under way. They use HLS's set to 100m, they have a target time of 5min.Everyone launches at the same time on the CD's signal. He also gives the 5min signal. All in the air at the 5min signal get a point, the others do not. A number of rounds are run (no landing points in this format) and at the end of the set number of rounds the pilot with most points wins. In the event of a tie, the target time is increased to 10min and rounds flown until there is a winner. In the event that no one makes the 10mins the pilot that flies the longest gets the prize. For your consideration.
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I got my HLS from Greg Potter two weeks ago and have been having a play with it. The unit is small and easy to programme for the three heights (50, 100 and 200m). I tried it out at the 200m setting and thought that the height cut off point was lower than I expected so next time I went out I installed my height logger too and tried all the height settings. No problem with 50 and 100m but only 120m for the 200m setting. I contacted Greg Potter and he pointed out to me that there is also a 30s limit built in too and if the motor is not powerful enough then it will not reach 200m before cutting out. I checked the cut out time from the graphs that the logger software gives you and yep, it cut out spot on 30s after turning the motor on. I have now installed a more powerful motor and it points out that the Easyfly un-modified will not get to the proposed 200m within the time limit of the HLS.We need to see if the other foamies get to the height and am happy to let it fly in other members planes to check out their power system.
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By scanning, reducing, converting file types and getting up at 4am, I have managed to upload Bruce's article. I hope you enjoy it. Go to Thermals under LINKS.
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John Rawlins has informed me that he has been in contact with Greg Potter, the importer of the Height Limiting Switches and that the newer, cheaper, simpler switches are now available for $75. We believe that with the variations found on even the foamy models in the club the only way to run a simple comp is to use these switches to give a standard launch height. There are 3 selectable launch heights, 50, 100 and 200m. The switches zero themselves when you switch on so they switch off at the selected height relative to the launch point. John is prepared to act as a clearing house for the order so if you want to join in the fun of foamy comps then contact John with your $75 and then we can organise a comp real soon.
John's Phone Number is 0249 842221 and email is johnrawlins@bigpond.com
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Bruce Abell has sent in a number of pictures from the veterans gathering this year. The pictures are in the picture gallery
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Just a final thought about these sets of rules. I think anyone who seriously proposes a set of rules should be prepared to run a couple of competitions to his/her rules. This should wonderfully refine the mind - and the rules!
Paul
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John has been in contact and would like to recommend the use of the british electic flying rules found on the eSoaring site (www.esoaring.net). These rules obligate the use of a hieght limiting switch and split electric gliders into two classes, open and 2m. It is said that using this set of rules any electric glider, foamies or built up or composite can be competitive, a good thing I think.
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1) ARF's as agreed by club, CD, Committe whatever. Any modes to be declared (eg hi-vis paint job, minor strengthening). No aerodynamic refinements allowed.
2) Battery to be no more than that supplied with the model. Battery to be checked and sealed by the CD before any flying starts and batteries may not then be removed or recharged until the end of the comp. Seal can be a strip of tape across the battery connector, signed by CD.
3) Number and required flight time of rounds to be clearly stated before flying (suggest 3 with CD's discretion if necessary). All rounds closed (ie start and finish on CD's signal). Rounds may be broken into heats if the number of competitors justify it.
4) No relaunches. If a competitor cannot complete a flight as specified below his score for that round will be flight time only, up to not more than 75% of a max (% may be varied after a couple of trial competitions). Unless the problem is not connected with motor or battery this competitor is now out of the competition.
5) A landing area to be defined whithin a clear view of the competitors and so placed that no one need overfly the flight line. Area should be of reasonable size for the conditions but not to exceed (say) 500 sq metres (25m circle - ed.) Landing inside the area gains (say) 10% of the flight time. No one to enter the area for the purposes of retrieval until the round (heat) has ended.
6) unlimited use of motor but it must be used twice in a flight for a minimum of 15 sec (say) each run. If the motor will not complete the run time the flight is to be terminated immediately and no further rounds can be flown by that competitor.
7) Any tie to be determined by flyoff with motors run (say) 15 sec every 2 min until all but one competitor is eliminated
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To continue on from my last blog on the subject. I believe that this is primarily a gliding competition so I propose that:
1) There only be one motor run allowed, the flight time to start when the motor stops.
2) A reasonable period should be allowed for the weaker planes to get to height so I propose a 7min working time for a 6 min flight. Timing stops when the working time expires and no landing points are given if you are not on the ground before the end of working time.
3) Points are to be given for landing but to avoid damage to motors these should only have a smallish value, 20 points 0-5m, 15 points, 5-10m and 5 points 10-15m. We have plenty of tapes, so each pilot will have his own tape. The tape will be laid out down wind, the pilot will stand 3 m up wind of the 0 point of the tape. This will be his launch point. When landing the tape can be moved to measure the landing point from the zero (staked) point. The measurement point is the nose of the fuselage whatever the orientation of the plane when at rest.There will be a spacing of at least 10m between pilots. To discourage over flying no landing points if the plane lands past the zero point in the direction of the competitiors
In order to better control the height achieved during the motor run a height limiting switch would be ideal. I am getting one of these soon. This will be the cheaper version of what John Rawlins has and will cost about $70.
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Les Esquilant has contacted us and asked if we could put the following on the web site:
Wanted,
old,small engines about 2.5cc. Prefer diesel but glow considered. I would be interested in any make e.g.: DC,ED,Albion,Mills,AM,Frog,Bambini,Taipan,Sabre etc. There must be some of these collecting dust somewhere.
Phone 0249455282 oe email lesquilant@hotkey.net.au
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There has been a discussion about getting a competition going for 2m foamies, Radians, Easy Gliders and Easy Fly's are currently available and owned by club members. I think just about everyone likes these planes because of their good performance relative to their cost and some crash protection through using EPP foam in the construction.
Many clubs both here and overseas have comps for this class of plane but the rules vary and we want to come up with a simple set of rules that will result in a level playing field. This is because although similar the planes are not identical and the Easy Fly in particular has a weaker motor than the other two. The Radian is also Rudder/Elevator/Motor and the Easy Fly and the Easy Glider Pro have ailerons as well.
The first rule that comes to mind is that the number of channels in use should be limited to three, one of these being motor. The other two would then be rudder/elevator or ailerons/elevator. In the latter case the ailerons would have to be worked off one channel, i.e a single aileron servo or a Y lead from a single channel to two servos. I have tried my Easy Fly with both systems and it flies best with aileron/elevator but with mechanical differential built in, via an angled servo horn, this allows more up aileron than down purely through the linkage geometry.
So, all the gliders can be made to fly with the same number of channels being used (3)
The space on these blogs is limited, so I will continue with the next rule on a separate entry.
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The 30th Sailplane Expo has come and gone. It was a big meeting with over 60 competitors in the various sailplane and electric classes. There was a special prize for nostalgia models and this was won by Matt Lowe from Heathcote flying a 30 year old Paragon, which it is said he learned to fly with. RES was won by Rebecca Richards with a Super Ava.
There were 46 entries for open thermal including 2 ladies this time, Rebecca and Carolyn Michael from Goulburn. Brian and I were the only NACA fliers, John Rawlins wanted to come but in the end other commitments prevented him from attending. Brian and I had almost the opposite experiences during the comp. I started on a high and was 8th after the first day and 4th some time during the second but being a typical pom I managed to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory and ended up 16th after the last 4 flights were dreadful. Brian went the other way, starting off slowly but really picking up on the last day with amagnificent save by slope soaring a small hill about 6-700 m east of the field. He came 19th. Our friends from HSL were round abouts where we were except for Jack Murphy who had a blinder with his new Aspires and ended up 8th or so.
The weather started fairly still but by the end of the comp it was blowing steadily. It is worth the trip and there is always a chance to win RES - I won it 2 years ago with one of my Velvias just 2 months after my big operation. Carl Strautins won Open as nearly everyone expected. He used a 300m winch line instead of the standard 400m because he was practicing for the World F3J Championships to be held in France later this year.
Everyone was helpful and a good time was had by all (except the last 4 rounds for me!)
Some highlights were the hand launched gliders which were being launched to over 100 feet and thermaling off in the smallest bit of lift. The open electric models were impressive with climb rates at least as fast as a winch launch (mind you the winner was getting over 2kW out of his motor!)
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John Rawlins contacted me the oher day to suggest that we get up a working bee to get rid of the small woody plants that are starting to appear on the field. These plants are particularly destructive to winch lines, snagging and damaging them, so their removal would benefit glider guiders in particular. All that is needed is to bring along a spade to take them out. I will raise this at the next club meeting and hope to come up with some dates.
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