The moan post

[TheFlyingBrit]

As you get older you tend to find more and more things to moan about, they can be trivial and a slight grievance right up to a blood vessel bustlingly annoying. I find having an occasional rant helps releases all the angst and afterwards I am okay again. Usually my wife takes the brunt of my venting, with regards day to day issues. But when it comes to RC related issues, its pointless moaning to her as she doesn't know what the hell I am on about.
So to get this post started I will bring up my moan of the day.
XT60 connectors I love them along with their smaller and larger counterparts the XT30s and XT90s.

My gripe of the day is: why do suppliers insist on selling them in pairs at a reasonable price, but then increase the price when you only want one specific type ?
I've converted the odd Lipo in the past using female connectors and made up charger leads. But in most instances I just use male XT60's on my ESC's (I like to remain consistent so that all my connections are the same, so I don't have to rely on adapters and converter leads).
The problem is. I find I have loads of female XT60 connectors left over, the quantity keeps growing and I keep running out of the male connectors.
This is where I start my rant, I can buy x10 pairs of male/female connectors for less than £5. Yet if I want to buy just the male connectors alone it will cost me £11 for x10, where is the logic in that ?
So I end up buying more pairs as its more cost effective, but then my stock of useless female connectors gets larger because they just don't get used.

I am sure the manufacturing cost of male versus female connectors cannot be that different. Plus they must be producing these in individual batches of male and females they can't be manufacturing these in pairs so why the cost difference, it just seems ludicrous to me.

Anyway that's it, I've had my moan and feel better now its off my chest.

Please feel free to post your personal gripes and moans, just watch the language please.

 

[Hai-Lee]

I had similar issues early on but I found a use for them.

The excess connectors were firstly used to make adaptors so that I no longer had to keep changing the connectors on the batteries.
Later as I ended up with a number of damaged ESCs and Stuffed batteries I discovered that if you remove the plastic from the connectors you are left with male and female connectors that are the same as are used to connect motors and ESCs.

Now I look forward to salvaging old connectors and gathering a stock of spare plugs and sockets for my building projects.

If you want a personal gripe here is a big one.

WHY do those who know nothing about the actual radio operation and the technology insist upon making rules and refusing to even accept anything that they do not understand. It appears that the loud and ignorant rise to positions of authority in the hobby! Actual safety is sacrificed simply to protect their ego and position of power.

My experience is such that it seems that those who have a history of working in the commercial aviation sector are worst. It highlights another aspect of the aviation sector revealed by the recent Boeing 737 debacle. Those I have run up against seem incapable of independent thought and proper technical understanding of the radios we use but have NO issues in Bullying and other inappropriate behaviours to make their incorrect opinions appear to be factual and their antics to be justified.

Ignorance, Arrogance, violent outbursts and absolute Stupidity rule the club and national scenes. Add to the mix a good measure of mental illnesses and you may see why an increasing number of people around the world do not recommend club or national association membership.

Have fun.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

I can sympathise to some extent as I got back into the hobby a few years ago and initially joined a small local club 10 minutes from my house. It was great initially everyone appeared friendly and the chairman offered to buddy me until I passed the club test (a basic proficiency test to show you are safe to fly solo whilst at the club). Unfortunately he proved to be an inadequate pilot flying his own planes let alone teaching someone else. The last straw was when he crashed my first WOT trainer and totally wrecked it. The most annoying part I kept saying its better not to fly it and postpone the flight something wasn't right with the engine. He still insisted on flying it without pre-flight checks I might add.
Fortunately I made the acquaintance of another guy in the club, who still remains to this day a good friend. He took me under his wing (excuse the pun) and gave me back my confidence. He had me flying solo again in no time and told the chairman I was capable of flying solo. This didn't go down well and some bad feeling ensued. Then, Covid struck and the committee deemed it unsafe to have more than 3 people flying at any one time and to cut a long story short ended up through bullying, forced myself, my son, my friend and his son to leave the club. The club now probably consists of less than 10 members. Most of who ran the committee, they got what they wanted a place where a group of friends could fly together not a club.
On the plus side as a result, I joined another club which is the complete opposite. All the members are friendly, helpful and enthusiastic about the hobby and about the growth of the club. The facilities are great we have a toilet, club house with cooking facilities, tables to work on and set up models and excellent well maintained grass runway.
Since joining I passed my safe solo certificate while being assessed by a qualified instructor, so now get to fly when ever I want and basically what ever I want within reason .
I know of at least 5 other clubs within an hours drive of my home, but I would be hard pressed to find one of those clubs with all the facilities and friendly members I have met in our club, so I guess I am lucky.
I can sympathise with you regards the way some clubs are run and the selfish ignorant people who take control of them. I have experienced it myself and first hand ands was furious at the way we where treated. More annoying still these people set up there own rules and are not accountable to anyone but themselves.
However, on the plus side their are still some good people out there who are: enthusiastic, friendly and helpful who keep the spirit of our hobby alive, my good friend Bill is one who immediately springs to mind (although I have still to convince him to join the club with me). I also include all the members of my club in that statement, as I have yet to meet anyone I don't like or get on with.
The only down side of my present club is the 60 minute round trip to get there and home again. My previous club was only 20 minutes there and back. However, I am happy to pay the price of an extra 40 minutes travelling and the additional petrol cost, as the friendship and pleasure I get easily out way the disadvantages.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

I had similar issues early on but I found a use for them.

The excess connectors were firstly used to make adaptors so that I no longer had to keep changing the connectors on the batteries.
Later as I ended up with a number of damaged ESCs and Stuffed batteries I discovered that if you remove the plastic from the connectors you are left with male and female connectors that are the same as are used to connect motors and ESCs.

Now I look forward to salvaging old connectors and gathering a stock of spare plugs and sockets for my building projects.

If you want a personal gripe here is a big one.

WHY do those who no nothing about the actual radio operation and the technology insist upon making rules and refusing to even accept anything that they do not understand. It appears that the loud and ignorant rise to positions of authority in the hobby! Actual safety is sacrificed simply to protect their ego and position of power.

My experience is such that it seems that those who have a history of working in the commercial aviation sector are worst. It highlights another aspect of the aviation sector revealed by the recent Boeing 737 debacle. Those I have run up against seem incapable of independent thought and proper technical understanding of the radios we use but have NO issues in Bullying and other inappropriate behaviours to make their incorrect opinions appear to be factual and their antics to be justified.

Ignorance, Arrogance, violent outbursts and absolute Stupidity rule the club and national scenes. Add to the mix a good measure of mental illnesses and you may see why an increasing number of people around the world do not recommend club or national association membership.

Have fun.

Like the idea of re-cycling the bullet connectors
However, I now have to withdraw my previous gripe, as I have actually managed to source x20 male XT60 plugs from Aliexpress for only £3.28. That's including postage and tax happy man again. I will have to wait a couple of weeks for delivery. Its worth it to save a bit of money and still get the parts I need, instead of buying parts I don't need and wasting money.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

So to get this post started I will bring up my moan of the day.
XT60 connectors I love them along with their smaller and larger counterparts the XT30s and XT90s.

My gripe of the day is: why do suppliers insist on selling them in pairs at a reasonable price, but then increase the price when you only want one specific type ?

Marketing opportunity!

Buy them in pairs, then sell off the singles after you've built up some stock.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Gripe of the month....

Why do clubs try to recruit new members with community outreach events, then only take the biggest, most expensive aircraft they own, so when Mrs. Jones brings little Bobby over to look, Mrs Jones asks the inevitable question about price, and upon getting the answer decides that video games are a much cheaper alternative.

The follow up gripe is that clubs holding flying events to "recruit new members" only advertise in places where other existing pilots will see it. They never seem to reach out to scout groups, Boys and Girls clubs, church youth groups, or homeschoolers.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

Gripe of the month....

Why do clubs try to recruit new members with community outreach events, then only take the biggest, most expensive aircraft they own, so when Mrs. Jones brings little Bobby over to look, Mrs Jones asks the inevitable question about price, and upon getting the answer decides that video games are a much cheaper alternative.

The follow up gripe is that clubs holding flying events to "recruit new members" only advertise in places where other existing pilots will see it. They never seem to reach out to scout groups, Boys and Girls clubs, church youth groups, or homeschoolers.

You have made a very good point there and I fully concur, even in my club the recruitment drive tends to be for older members. This is probably because kids don't contribute to annual subscriptions, where as older people do which boosts the clubs assets.
By failing to attract young members to the clubs they are effectively killing off the long term future of the hobby. Eventually you run out of born again RC enthusiasts like me returning to the hobby. Kids will finds other hobbies to spend there money on and RC will die out except for the select few die hard's.
I believe one young lad has recently been and had lessons with one of our club trainers, prior to that I think my son was the last youngest person to attend the club he was 18 yrs old at the time.
I said the same thing at the committee at my last club about recruiting young members, but got ignored. As I mentioned in another thread, that clubs slowly dying now along with its aging members they are down to less than 10 members.
My grandson has shown a keen interest and wants to join, I am hoping to get him membership for next year. But he will rely on me taking him and a trainer being at the field to teach him, until he passes his test.

 

[Marzipan]

I have sciatica, it's been my gripe / moan / shouts of distress, every day for the last 8 months...

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

I have sciatica, it's been my gripe / moan / shouts of distress, every day for the last 8 months...

You have my deepest sympathy, as I too suffer from sciatica and as I get older it re-occurs more frequently. Although I must admit its my own fault, I use to partake in martial arts a lot as a young man and suffered a lot of back trauma as a result, now I pay the price.

 

[Hai-Lee]

Gripe of the month....

Why do clubs try to recruit new members with community outreach events, then only take the biggest, most expensive aircraft they own, so when Mrs. Jones brings little Bobby over to look, Mrs Jones asks the inevitable question about price, and upon getting the answer decides that video games are a much cheaper alternative.

The follow up gripe is that clubs holding flying events to "recruit new members" only advertise in places where other existing pilots will see it. They never seem to reach out to scout groups, Boys and Girls clubs, church youth groups, or homeschoolers.

I have been battling a local club with similar attitudes. What they really want is the membership fees and the power they can exercise over the fresh blood newby members that they can extract some form of worship from.
Luckily I managed to drive the club from my local fields and we are looking to start our own club.
As for the spectators we have been handing out FREE small foam chuck gliders to the youngsters as they cost little but get the kid so wrapped in aircraft that they will be back in a decade or so and can eventually pass forward the favours and friendliness.

Treat them nice and you see them twice!

Have fun!

 

[FlyingMonkey]

I have been battling a local club with similar attitudes. What they really want is the membership fees and the power they can exercise over the fresh blood newby members that they can extract some form of worship from.
Luckily I managed to drive the club from my local fields and we are looking to start our own club.
As for the spectators we have been handing out FREE small foam chuck gliders to the youngsters as they cost little but get the kid so wrapped in aircraft that they will be back in a decade or so and can eventually pass forward the favours and friendliness.

Treat them nice and you see them twice!

Have fun!

@JasonK and @Flying Monkey fab and I had a great time welcoming potential new hobbyists at an event we all recently attended together.

We're hosting an event at the same location in November as an FTCA meet and greet to discuss how to do a better job at being welcoming to non hobbyists. Hopefully some of these folks will attend.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

@Hai-Lee had the right idea with free give away gliders for younger members. However, for slightly older people I would suggest showing them the extremes of the hobby, for example:
1. The FT Flyer with a Flysky transmitter package, the cheap option as an entry level.
2. A slightly more advanced FT build like the Simple Mustang or Spitfire using the same RC gear as the FT Flyer.
3. Then show them an ARTF foam model like the Bixler or Tundra with a more advanced transmitter system.
4. Finally bring out the big balsa models like: 3D models, Warplanes planes to show where the hobby can take you.
That way it shows you can start off cheaply and simply and go where you want in the hobby, rather than overwhelming them with an all singing all dancing RC set-up and an Edge 540 running a 60cc petrol engine.

 

[FlyingMonkey]

@Hai-Lee had the right idea with free give away gliders for younger members. However, for slightly older people I would suggest showing them the extremes of the hobby, for example:
1. The FT Flyer with a Flysky transmitter package, the cheap option as an entry level.
2. A slightly more advanced FT build like the Simple Mustang or Spitfire using the same RC gear as the FT Flyer.
3. Then show them an ARTF foam model like the Bixler or Tundra with a more advanced transmitter system.
4. Finally bring out the big balsa models like: 3D models, Warplanes planes to show where the hobby can take you.
That way it shows you can start off cheaply and simply and go where you want in the hobby, rather than overwhelming them with an all singing all dancing RC set-up and an Edge 540 running a 60cc petrol engine.

That's pretty much how I "roll" up to an event. I have FT planes, ARF/RTF foamies, balsa .60 in electric and a 40cc gasser. Plenty of diversity in the trailer.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

That's pretty much how I "roll" up to an event. I have FT planes, ARF/RTF foamies, balsa .60 in electric and a 40cc gasser. Plenty of diversity in the trailer.

Great minds think alike eh.
And fools seldom differ too

 

[Hai-Lee]

@Hai-Lee had the right idea with free give away gliders for younger members. However, for slightly older people I would suggest showing them the extremes of the hobby, for example:
1. The FT Flyer with a Flysky transmitter package, the cheap option as an entry level.
2. A slightly more advanced FT build like the Simple Mustang or Spitfire using the same RC gear as the FT Flyer.
3. Then show them an ARTF foam model like the Bixler or Tundra with a more advanced transmitter system.
4. Finally bring out the big balsa models like: 3D models, Warplanes planes to show where the hobby can take you.
That way it shows you can start off cheaply and simply and go where you want in the hobby, rather than overwhelming them with an all singing all dancing RC set-up and an Edge 540 running a 60cc petrol engine.

The new club flight entry program is to use Eachine stabilised mini models on buddy-boxed multi-protocol radios. The cost is very low and when the student can fly without needing to be rescued and without crashing then he can make his/her decision as to whether to continue in the hobby at their own expense.

We also have a number of particularly skilled members who are able to provide radio setup information, build assistance, repair assistance, and proper flight instruction.

When they can fly the Eachine minis without stabilisation they can fly almost anything!

Have fun!

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Great minds think alike eh.
And fools seldom differ too

Um, well, I agree, but part of me thinks I should differ, but you're right, but I don't want to be called a fool... rock and a hard place!

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

We are a bit more strict here, the basic test most clubs expect you to undertake is based loosely on the BMFA grade 1 test below.
The student must carry out the basic ground checks, linkages and control surface operation followed by a range test etc
The actual flight consists of a controlled take off, followed by circuits left and right while maintaining a level altitude. This is then followed by a figure of eight maneuver in both directions left and right handed. The pilot is then expected to produce a low pass/aborted landing followed by a controlled landing.
The actual BMFA test is a little more stringent:
A Fixed wing BMFA test schedule
1. Carry out pre-flight checks
2. Take off and complete a circuit and overfly the take-off area.
3. Fly a ‘figure of eight’ course with the cross-over point in front of the pilot, height to be constant.
4. Fly a rectangular circuit and approach with appropriate use of the throttle and perform a landing on the designated landing area.
5. Take off and complete a circuit and overfly the take-off area.
6. Fly a rectangular circuit at a constant height in the opposite direction to the landing circuit flown in 4
7. Perform a simulated dead-stick landing with the engine at idle, beginning at a safe height (approx. 200 ft) heading into wind over the take-off area, the landing to be made in a safe manner on the designated landing area.
8. Remove model and equipment from take-off/landing area.
9. Complete post-flight checks
10. Answer 5 Supplementary Questions on local flying rules.

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

Its moan time.
I love the UK, the scenery can be amazing and most of the people are friendly. So why is it we get some of the worst weather you can imagine. I am not talking tornados, hurricanes, Tsunami's, droughts or heat waves, I am talking about rain and wind. Not excessive storms and floods, just enough to stop me and others flying. To make matters worse when the wind does eventually die down, the rain starts and visa versa. We get a brief period mid year called summer. Ha that's a joke two maybe 3 weeks with some occasional sun. Typically its usually the week when my flying club closes for a month. This is so the land owner can rent out our land for security staff to camp on, while they hold local open air concerts playing rave music near by.
Autumn is usually too windy, wet or both at the same time. Spring is generally freezing, wet miserable and overcast.
So when you guy's are out there in sunny climates, enjoying your flying in warm sunshine and moderate breezes. Please spare a thought for the poor Brits sat in their homes peering through the glass waiting for one mild dry day, so they can dash down to there nearest club and go flying.
Rant over

 

[Marzipan]

Its moan time.
I love the UK, the scenery can be amazing and most of the people are friendly. So why is it we get some of the worst weather you can imagine. I am not talking tornados, hurricanes, Tsunami's, droughts or heat waves, I am talking about rain and wind. Not excessive storms and floods, just enough to stop me and others flying. To make matters worse when the wind does eventually die down, the rain starts and visa versa. We get a brief period mid year called summer. Ha that's a joke two maybe 3 weeks with some occasional sun. Typically its usually the week when my flying club closes for a month. This is so the land owner can rent out our land for security staff to camp on, while they hold local open air concerts playing rave music near by.
Autumn is usually too windy, wet or both at the same time. Spring is generally freezing, wet miserable and overcast.
So when you guy's are out there in sunny climates, enjoying your flying in warm sunshine and moderate breezes. Please spare a thought for the poor Brits sat in their homes peering through the glass waiting for one mild dry day, so they can dash down to there nearest club and go flying.
Rant over

you think that's bad? where I live we have 304 days of cloud and rain and 52 days of sun and there is always a breeze. but it gets worse...that 52 days of sun is broken up in an hour here or an hour there over 356 days, LoL!!!

 

[TheFlyingBrit]

I don't feel to bad now