Radio Technique
PREFACE: In my AMA position as frequency coordinator for District II, I receive requests for loan of the scanner that the AMA has assigned to the district. I usually interrogate the requester to find out what kind of troubles are being investigated. It usually turns out that most of them can be solved mathematically. For the rest, I usually think how futile the monitoring effort will be, because the person who will do the monitoring doesn't know what to look for-or how to identify it.
WRAM Show '89
THE FORECAST on Friday, February 24, was for 10 inches of snow by rush hour. Decision time. Should I go to the WRAM Show or wait out the snowfall? Since the van was equipped for the Alaska trip, I reasoned it should be ready for anything. I went to White Plains. This show was held in the renovated Westchester County Civic Center. The renovators did a fine job. There was more room for the show (150 booths), a nicer theater for the movies and for the District II meeting, and more room for the static displays and for the Swap Shop.
Radio Technique
THE AUTHOR of a recent column in another modeling publication took me to task about certain things I had said in my June 1988 "Radio Technique" column. The specific criticisms were that I had called RC crystal swapping "illegal," and that I had claimed that the ICOM IC-R7000 receiver was not good enough to use in measuring transmitter power levels in the tests necessary to certify that a transmitter meets the AMA/RCHA "Gold Sticker" or "Silver Sticker" performance tolerances-and that I was not technically qualified to make the latter statement.
RC in "The Great Land"
I SPENT THE SUMMER touring the Great Northwest (Alaska, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory, Canada). I found many opportunities to indulge in our favorite hobby of RC flying, and this story tells you how to find them. The people I met were warm and friendly, the scenery was spectacular, and the weather was remarkably good, according to the people who live there. Actually, the normally rainy regions of southeast Alaska were experiencing a drought that hadn't been equaled since 1917. Most of the time was spent in sunshine (even at night), with daytime temperatures usually in the seventies (sometimes lower in rain) and nighttime lows dropping into the forties. Having only three or four hours of darkness in the 24-hour cycle, I found that I was active at least 18 hours a day. You can get a lot done in 18 hours.
WRAM Show '90
THIS YEAR'S edition of the Westchester Aero Modelers' annual midwinter show was bigger and better than ever, thanks to the efforts of show manager Frank Devore and the volunteer work by WRAM members. Though some familiar vendors, Futaba, JR, and MRC among them, were absent this year, virtually every room in the show was filled to overflowing. The directory listed 144 booths. Part video fair, part model aviation flea market, the WRAM Show reliably forecasts the coming technology in the RC industry. If this year's show had a theme, it would have to be the TOS-EPROM (Transmitter Operating System-Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory). These systems have been around for a while in PCM sets, but this seems to be the year when they move into the design of every future set. The TOS-EPROM is what liberates a transmitter design from the rigidity of hardwired mixing and fixed control throws.
