[NSRCA-discussion] Futaba and pattern

Ron Van Putte vanputte at cox.net
Sat Dec 22 11:43:55 AKST 2007


Hmmmm, I never thought of blaming my radio's resolution for my bad  
flying.  Let's see now..........

Ron Van Putte

On Dec 22, 2007, at 2:28 PM, Jerry Stebbins wrote:

> Ron, that jus goes to show that there is not a lot of difference  
> between golf and pattern flying!!
> Jerry
> Sounds like some young entropeneur otta git wif them n build up  
> some new radioos for us ol fellas, and maybe udders.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ron Van Putte
> To: NSRCA Mailing List
> Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2007 2:11 PM
> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Futaba and pattern
>
> My "local R/C electronic techie' responded after I forwarded the  
> below e-mail to him.  Some of you may remember him; he's Curt  
> Oberg, a pretty fair Pattern competitor himself.  He's what Curt said:
>
> "Ron, yep, the MP8K is alive and doing well.  A few days ago, a  
> single stick was listed on eBay and the last bid was for $360.   
> Don’t know what it ended up being sold for.    As far as using the  
> Futuba/Jr modules with the MP8K, lots of guys are doing that all  
> ready.  The legality of using them on 72mhz has been widely  
> discussed but many of the MP8K users have HAM licenses and operate  
> on 6 meters so it’s not an issue for them.  A lot of them are also  
> in use overseas.  Several of the MP8K owners have converted their  
> systems to 2.4 gig and Dan Thompson in Kentucky is actively  
> pursuing making it compatible with all the different versions.
>
> "As far as the comment that it would not be suitable for pattern  
> because it’s only 256 resolution, I think that the resolution of  
> the thumbs resting on the sticks is even lower than that,   
> certainly in my age group.  When I was working and still playing an  
> occasional round of golf, I had a co-worker that was buying a new  
> set of golf clubs after just taking up the game.  He shopped  
> around, looking at different brands of golf clubs and one day he  
> showed me a brochure of his final choice for a new set of clubs.   
> The brochure claimed that their clubs were dynamically balanced,  
> harmonically tuned, perfectly fitted, etc. and I told him that I  
> would never buy those clubs because it would reinforce the fact  
> that I just suck at the game of golf every time I hit a bad shot,  
> which was fairly often.
>
> Curt
>
>
> On Dec 22, 2007, at 11:27 AM, Ron Van Putte wrote:
>
>> Yes, I remember now.  My local R/C electronic techie raved about  
>> your MicroStar encoder.
>>
>> Ron Van Putte
>>
>> On Dec 22, 2007, at 11:10 AM, Gordon Anderson wrote:
>>
>>> Ron,
>>>
>>> There is a Yahoo email list and a good size group of subscribers,  
>>> MP8K at yahoogroups.com. A fellow named Dan Thompson has has the  
>>> MicroPro source code and has developed a few upgrades to the  
>>> transmitter.
>>> You can see my developments at www.mstar2k.com. I designed and  
>>> built an encoder that is similar to the MicroPro, I call it a  
>>> MicroStar. Mine has 1024 resolution where the MicroPro is limited  
>>> to 256. About 100 or so MicroStars have been built, its a pretty  
>>> small group of electronics geeks. The Yahoo list caters to both  
>>> groups.
>>> I have also designed a receiver and a few other items, all on my  
>>> web site.
>>>
>>> --Gordon
>>>
>>> From: nsrca-discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org [mailto:nsrca- 
>>> discussion-bounces at lists.nsrca.org] On Behalf Of Ron Van Putte
>>> Sent: Saturday, December 22, 2007 8:30 AM
>>> To: NSRCA Mailing List
>>> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Futaba and pattern
>>>
>>> I was talking with a local R/C electronic techie a couple of days  
>>> ago. He built one of the Micropro systems years ago and he still  
>>> uses it. Apparently there's a "support group" for these radios.  
>>> There are repair and service items and even new "stuff" is  
>>> available from a few sources via a url that I could find out, but  
>>> didn't at the time.
>>>
>>> Ron
>>>
>>> On Dec 22, 2007, at 8:16 AM, John Ferrell wrote:
>>>
>>>> FWIW, I am with you all the way on this issue.
>>>> It is unfortunate that the Micropro was killed in its infancy.  
>>>> The auto trim feature seems like a no brainer to me.
>>>> The rubber duck antenna was handy as well.
>>>> If the legal aspects would permit it I believe it might be  
>>>> practical to build a MicroPro type radio with Futaba and/or JR  
>>>> RF modules.
>>>> Another neat feature it had was that you only needed to transmit  
>>>> the channels you were using. I cannot remember if that permitted  
>>>> a higher update rate for the servos.
>>>> John Ferrell W8CCW
>>>> "Life is easier if you learn to plow
>>>> around the stumps"
>>>> http://DixieNC.US
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: Bob Richards
>>>> To: NSRCA Mailing List
>>>> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2007 5:56 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [NSRCA-discussion] Futaba and pattern
>>>>
>>>> Ok, my 2CW.
>>>> I really like the idea of the USB connector. Hmmm, not a new  
>>>> idea, really, I could do that with my Ace Micropro back in 1992.  
>>>> Could save all the airplane programs onto computer disk via a  
>>>> serial port. Could pull up the program information on the  
>>>> computer and edit the values (although it was not a GUI  
>>>> interface, it was still nice).
>>>> Another thing would be program independent buddy box capability.  
>>>> In other words, the slave transmitter need only to send the  
>>>> stick positions to the master radio. That information would then  
>>>> be applied to the program in the master radio. No need to make  
>>>> sure the slave and master radios are operating with the same  
>>>> program. Hmmm, again, not really a new idea, I could do that  
>>>> with the Micropro radio back in 1992. :-)
>>>> Autotrim. Lets say you have just taken off with an airplane that  
>>>> is out of trim. Instead of fumbling around for multiple trim  
>>>> levers (or buttons) you just press one button and keep flying  
>>>> the plane straight and level. The autotrim function will apply  
>>>> trim changes automatically to any of the the three flight  
>>>> channels so that the sticks slowly move back to neutral. Again,  
>>>> the Micropro had that feature.
>>>> I liked a lot of the features of the old Micropro radio, my big  
>>>> complaint was that it was only 256 resolution. That alone was  
>>>> reason not to use it in pattern.
>>>> As for the 2.4 ghz using the internal antenna connection, that  
>>>> is not likely to happen on the old radios. I like the fact that  
>>>> I can swap the module with a 72 mhz module and not have to  
>>>> fumble with mounting an antenna with an external cable.
>>>> I have flown Futaba for over 20 years, and have had good  
>>>> service. However, I wish there was better support/marketing in  
>>>> my area of the country. We had a huge fly-in last year (Fly-for- 
>>>> Tots) with over 200 registered pilots. Horizon/JR sent lots of  
>>>> stuff, including sponsered pilots to fly demos. Futaba did send  
>>>> a couple of flags and items for the raffle, but it was a hugh  
>>>> disparity with what Horizon/JR did. I am in a distinct minority  
>>>> in my club since most of the guys fly JR, so I caught a lot of  
>>>> crap as a result.
>>>> Just my 2CW.
>>>> Bob R.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Derek Koopowitz <derekkoopowitz at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Futaba is looking for some new product ideas for upcoming  
>>>> equipment and they are interested in seeing what ideas we all  
>>>> have for the pattern arena that could be new and inventive. This  
>>>> could be anything from updating current equipment to new product  
>>>> development.
>>>> If you could put some thoughts together in an email to me, I'll  
>>>> make sure that they're sent to Futaba USA's attention. I'll need  
>>>> to have this back no later than the end of the year!
>>>> Thanks!
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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