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By red
#400709
flybop wrote: Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:38 pmNow the windy fall season is in full swing. The fall brings strong south winds to Paradise Valley and Livingston. Winds were over 50 mph in Livingston today.
With a bit of optimism I loaded the wing to meet some visiting pilot friends at the Hog Back. We never untied our wings. The high winds is the price we pay for warm days this time of year. It was close to 70 today.
Campers,

My cure for insane high winds is an RC glider, of the slope-soaring (rapid) species. RC gear is cheap, lately; DIY Coroplast designs can be tough, swift, and cheap. You can fold up a Zagi or Mugi clone in one or two evenings. Coroplast is that plastic signboard that politicians use for lawn signs, or you can buy it in big sheets. Have an RC ace check, test and trim your RC wing. The RC computer simulators, and an RC ace with a buddy box, can make learning RC fairly painless, especially if your first RC planes are tough and cheap. Check out the S.P.A.D. designs. More from my web page:
http://user.xmission.com/~red/RCbeginners.htm

If dollars are no big obstacle, you can get virtual-reality goggles and a camera in the pilot's position, to put yourself right into the RC cockpit. This set-up is called FPV (First Person Viewpoint) in the RC world. This FPV stuff has come 'way down in price lately. I'm saving up my coinage . . .
:mrgreen:
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By DMarley
#400729
I've used my fpv RC craft for getting more familiar with new LZ's from the air. First the Spedix quad fpv, then I've rigged up my ParkZone 44" wingspan T-28 (modded as a tail dragger with flaps) for fpv and that has a glide slope and airspeed at slow idle that closely matches my F3 195.

I've also rigged up a wind tell tail on the spedix quad. Attached a ~15 ft length of heavy sail-making thread and small weight at the end along with the 10 ft long tell-tail (neon pink surveyor's tape). Awesome method of determining real-time wind characteristics aloft from launch or wherever. The pilot must be careful of not descending too fast and tangling the thread/tell-tale in the props.

I don't use fpv goggles. Tried them and they don't work with my brain. The field of view is terribly small. I use a 9" LCD monitor that I cover with a dark towel while I'm viewing it, much like the old time photographers did. Works very well and is MUCH less expensive than those goofy fpv goggles.

Also found that the inexpensive dipole Vtx/rx antennas give better reception compared to the more expensive circular polarized antennas if not surrounded by a lot of buildings or trees.

Problem is, RC is time and $ consuming, more so with fpv, but can provide more insight to a flying site's characteristics without risking the really expensive stuff.