Hear Ye!

August, 2006
No. 471

FROM THE PRESIDENT
By Bob Sudermann

I would like to thank Vince Judd for stepping in with short notice with his
new giant profile aircraft. We had a last-minute change with the park and
had to reschedule the meeting with the Superintendent until October. Vince
was able to step in and provide an impromptu program. We would have seen
him fly, but due to a pre-meeting mishap, he damaged his only prop.

I also dragged Larry Scaggs into the program. Larry was out early testing
the Palatus Porter. This is the aircraft we saw a couple of months ago. He
and Perry Lawrence intend to use this as a tow plane for one of Perry's
sailplanes. After a little juggling of some lead, Larry was able to get
flying quite well.

Carl Sutton surprised most of us with his Piper Cub. We have all seen him
fly the Cub many times before. This time, though, he had a surprise. On a
low pass coming from the right, all of a sudden something fell out the back.
A banner! And what do you suppose the banner said?

~ V F Signal Seekers ~

Thanks Carl. This will be a hit at our next Fun Fly.

Everything else seems to be going along smoothly. With all the rain we've
been having, the field is looking better than any other July that I can
remember.

We are taking nominations for the Board of Governors. Nominations will
close after the August General Meeting. These positions are for 2007-2008.
If you are interested or know of someone who would make a good contribution,
please let us know.

Safety Topic:

The 'Zig-Zag' lanes for access to and from the runway are looking good, and
the old lanes are finally grown in. Please remember to restrain any craft
while it is being moved from the pit area to the runway and avoid pointing
any running aircraft toward the pit in or around the walkways.

Remember - Fly Safe and I'll see you at the Field.

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ALBUQUERQUE AEROBATICS CHALLENGE
by Bryan Del Monte

On June 10th, I attended the Albuquerque Aerobatics Challenge sponsored by
the Albuquerque AMA IMAC Club, while on vacation in New Mexico.
The Albuquerque Aerobatic Challenge was hosted by the Albuquerque Aerobatic
Club and held at Maloof Airpark on June 10-11, 2006.

The Unlimited Pilots present for this Challenge included Bill Hempel and
Chip Hyde. I watched Bill Hempel fly his plane, but he was having
difficulties with the engine due to the altitude of approximately 7000 feet
for this AMA flying field at Maloof Airpark on the outskirts of Albuquerque.
I saw Chip Hyde, but missed his earlier aerobatic flying.

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SUMMER READING
Recommended by Warren Barrick & Al Campana

Seth Shulman's Unlocking the Sky: Glenn Hammond Curtiss and the Race to
Invent the Airplane is an absolute must-read for every airplane "junkie."

It is the documentation of the attempt by the Wright brothers to monopolize
aviation by obtaining patents on their Kitty Hawk achievement. Their
obsession made it possible for another bicycle builder, Glenn Curtiss from
Hammondsport, NY, to develop many innovations that advanced aviation. It is
a quick, entertaining, well-documented read.

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RC FREQUENCY CRYSTALS:
WHY WE SHOULD LEARN TO LIVE WITHOUT THEM
by John Powell

Recently I experienced a couple of failures of receiver crystals. One new
one supplied with a receiver was DOA - it wouldn't work at all, though the
receiver ran fine with a different crystal on the same channel. Then, a
week later, I took a known, trustworthy plane to the flying field, turned it
on.and had no receiver response: another dead crystal in a receiver that
had previously been working fine. Before this it had never occurred to me
to keep spare crystals in my flight box!

(Well, back in the days of 27MHZ, I had a box of a dozen matched tranny and
receiver crystal pairs so I could change channels at the field if someone
was on "my" frequency. However, that collection of crystals was retired in
about 1980.)

This pair of recent crystal failures made me start thinking (read that as
"worrying") about how our current flight control systems all depend on the
transmitter and receiver crystals to operate. Just how reliable are these
things?

If you cut open a typical RC crystal, you'll find a paper-thin square of
quartz attached to the ends of the connecting pins. The quartz wafer is
ground and etched until its resonant piezo frequency is exactly what it is
supposed to be. The quartz is not supported internally or embedded in
silicone, etc., because it has to be free to vibrate mechanically at its
resonant frequency. So the active element inside the sealed case is like a
light bulb filament or the elements of a vacuum tube: free to move inside
the envelope. The crystal's case is either evacuated or filled with inert
gas.

There seem to be two major ways that the crystal can fail: physical
breakage of the wafer or the internal connections due to impact or
vibration, and an inability to start oscillating due to aging effects or
changes in the associated circuit. Either one is bad news for us.

What is paradoxical to me is how robust and reliable these crystals
generally are considering the amount of impact and vibration we actually
subject them to. On the other hand, I don't like the thought of my aircraft
crashing due to the breakdown of a weak-link component in the control
system. I'd like to see this type of oscillator crystal phased out of RC
systems ASAP.

Of course, there have been synthesized frequency RC systems around for a
while. Initially it was the transmitters that got switch-selectable
frequency since there was plenty of room for the extra circuits, but the
receivers still required individual plug-in crystals. Polk Hobbies now sells
an inexpensive system in which both the transmitter and receiver have
synthesized frequency circuits. Note that this does not mean that these
products are free of crystals! Precision RF communication depends on having
some frequency reference, somewhere. However the crystals are almost
certainly lower frequency units in robust mountings soldered onto the
circuit boards, like in a PC, and therefore much less likely to cause
problems.

The new hope for escape from old-fashioned frequency channel crystals is the
spread-spectrum method, as used in cordless phones. I am eagerly waiting
for this technology to materialize in full-spec RC systems because it will
eliminate not only plug-in frequency crystals in transmitters and receivers,
but also the entire need to have such things in the first place. I could
then finally retire my entire collection of little silver weak-link plugs.

In the meantime, do make the effort to pack your receivers in foam rubber,
and use the little rubber crystal caps sometimes supplied. After a crash, I
think you should discard the receiver crystal. The receiver, with
surface-mount components, may be fine, but that old weak-link probably
isn't!

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NOTES FROM THE SECRETARY
by Steve Kolet

1. BOG Nominations and Election.

Nominations for the VFSS Board of governors are being taken until the end of
the August club meeting. We are looking for a mix of new and experienced
members to serve and would like to have at least 15 nominees. We will be
replacing the BOG members whose term ends in December.

Folks, please help your club - serve as a BOG member.

The nominees will be introduced and will present a statement of their
qualifications to the membership at the September meeting. The BOG Election
will take place at the October club meeting. If you are interested in
serving your club as a BOG member, please take a look at the duties of the
BOG in the club bylaws and then inform the club secretary by phone, email or
in person. Please read the club bylaws to familiarize yourself with the
nomination requirements.

2. I want to thank Al Marcucci for stepping up and volunteering to return to
the BOG. At present, he is the only nominee we have and we need at least 5
more nominees to proceed with the election.

STUDENT UPDATE: Brian McDermott soloed in July. If I missed you, let me
know.

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THANK YOU

(The following letter from the principal of the J.Hampton Moore Elementary
School thanks Joe Weizer, Walt Pierzchala, Joe Yalove and the VFSS
organization for their program on aviation. VFSS members have presented the
program for the last 5 years and have enjoyed every moment of it.)

The School District of Philadelphia
J. Hampton Moore School
6900 Summerdale Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19111

May 21,2006

Mr. Joe Weizer & The Team
The Valley Forge Signal Seekers

Dear Gentlemen and Fellow Educators;

I would like to thank all of you sincerely for the energy, devotion, time
and expertise you bring to our school and our students. Yow program about
Aviation and Aeronautical Science introduces the children to a field that
would be otherwise unheard of by them. You present them with possibilities
that challenge their imaginations and prompt them to dream of talents and
skills that they can strive to develop. You all have the knack for relating
to and working With young people and capturing their interest.

Your program really does cut across the curriculum by touching subjects such
as science, math and language, and honing their manual dexterity as well as
some basic principles of construction. Your methods require listening and
following directions, cooperation and thoughtful preparation. The students
handle small tools and materials which are consumable and therefore must be
used effectively the first time. With the help and guidance of the VFSS
Team, they do all of the above.

All the Signal Seekers who have been to the school or with us in the field
have had the same high level of know-how and interest in our children. You
are all truly TEACHERS as well as craftsmen, then, when you take us to
Valley Forge National Park to fly your radio controlled airplanes you open
yet another world of wonder for us all. You add to all of this by servmg up
some Revolutionary War history "up close and personal" right there in our
own backyard!

So you see we think of you as real Gentlemen, talented Aviators and true
Educators. You are generous with your time. effort and financial resources.
We want to bring you and the program to many. manv more children. We love it
and you. Please keep coming back.

Very truly yours,
Colleen M. Wisler
Principal

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LOST SQUADRON FOLLOW-UP

(The following email was in response to the presentation by Brad McManus at
the March general meeting. Brad was a member of the Lost Squadron, a group
of P-38 fighters and B-17 bombers that were forced to land on the Greenland
icecap in July 1942 during Operation Bolero. Fifty years later, the P-38
nicknamed "Glacier Girl" was recovered from 250 feet of ice and restored.)

I was working on an email this evening and happened to see your Hear Ye
newsletter from March 2006. I am actually in the process of sending an
email to Scott AFB in Illinois regarding our PA Non-profit Corporation named
Operation Bolero Recovery and Restoration Group, Inc.

I am trying to get the word out about our organization and thought that your
organization might have an interest in our goals.

Please see our website: www.operationbolero.org. There will be updates to
the site over the next few days, such as more info on sponsors, the Advisory
Panel, and Expedition Team members. Please know that there is a German group
that is working on the same recovery of aircraft and we are in need of
support so we may bring these aircraft to Pennsylvania for restoration.

Jean Marie Meyers, President,
jean@operationbolero.org

Joe Meyers, Operations Manager
joe@operationbolero.org

Operation Bolero, Recovery and Restoration Group, Inc., Box 177, Silverdale,
PA 18962
215-453-1484 www.operationbolero.org

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CLUB CALENDAR

Tuesday, August 1 -
Board of Governors Meeting at the field starting at 6:30 PM.

Tuesday, August 8 -
General Membership Meeting - Starting 6:30 PM at the Field. Need to
finalize BOG nominations for 2007-2008.

Tuesday, September 5 -
Board of Governors Meeting at the field starting at 6:30 PM.

Tuesday, September 12 -
General Membership Meeting - Starting 6:30 PM at the Field.

Saturday, September 16 -
Fall Fun Fly - (rain date September 17) starting at 9:00 AM.

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Michael Myers, Webmaster

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