By Scott Fuller
FPV Sign – As many of you have seen, the FPV sign is in use. Don’t be surprised if you go out on a weekend and see FPV cards posted all over the thing. The use of FPV equipment is not limited to just the RotorPlex. Flights can take place at the main runway as well. We need to do our best to coordinate frequency usage between any parties sharing channels. Also don’t forget you can also change your channel. It just requires coordination between everyone out there. If you don’t know how to change your FPV channel, talk to one of the FPV guys. They’ll help.
Please take your FPV cards home with you! Folks have been leaving them in back of the sign. While this is alright to do.. That guy sleeping under the table might find them as treasure and steal them. Right now the FPV cards are free. Later, replacements might incur a monetary value. #JustSayin!
Track Gates – Up until recently what we call ‘The Turtle’ was looking more like a ‘Sad Panda’. There’s been a few iterations of the track gates out at the field. One thing that was noticed was ‘The Jungle Gym’ has been standing up strong. This consisted of four stakes placed in the ground. Then four candle sticks with the hoops going inside of them. To replicate this I’ve modified all the gates to a similar format.
You’ll now find each gate is staked into the ground. This prevents it from being moved. It has a PVC pipe sleeve over the stake. From there the hoop is placed into the pipe. Hopefully this resolves some of our gates that were becoming limbo bars.
After IDD and our Club Race in May, the track will change once again. Please shareyour track ideas with Kyle, Ian or Scott.
Race Timing System – In preparation for International Drone Day, thanks to the generous sponsorship of local San Diego companies Aerial Mob and 5D Robotics, the board has purchased the iLap timing system. This consists of transponders and receiver units. The system is pretty well known throughout the drone racing community. About 90% of the folks signed up for the IDD Race already have a iLap transponder unit.
The club has also purchased a batch of transponders. We’ll be lending them out for folks to use. The transponder need a 5v source. You’ll put the transponder on before the race and take it off after. I’d suggest you check out RCLapCounter.com and purchase your own iLap FPV Drone Transponder from them. As we’ll be using the timing system more frequently at our monthly races..
I understand the monthly club races are a gentleman’s Sport. The timing system offers a lot more efficiency and statistics. As an example we have folks running 15-16 seconds on the inside course. It also allows us to be a world class facility. Over the next couple months you’ll see a format change to our races. Namely as we work with the software and find what works for us. Over the next couple weekends I’ll be out at the Rotorplex with the timing system. Allowing folks the ability to test it out and get a feel for it.
