Tuesday, March 18, 2025

RC Winter In A Nut Shell

Where Are We Today

Yuma Lakes RV Park

 

 Our time in Arizona is quickly coming to an end. We left our park in Quartzsite on Sunday March 16th and headed south to Yuma. With one more visit to the dentist in Algodones, Mexico, we decided to move down here closer instead of driving the 150-mile round trip in one day.  Also, this is a nice area that we like to spend time in and it will keep us on a more southern route when we leave here on the 28th of March.

Here we are set up next to Ken & Kim at Yuma Lakes RV Park.
Thanks to Pat for the Picture. 


Pat has kept you all updated on our day-to-day adventures, so this post is centered around my hobby of RC Model Flying.

When we arrived at our RV Park on November 1st, the flying field was already open and many members were flying. Each winter brings its own challenges in regards to weather (wind, rain), landing on a paved runway and flying. At home, I fly off a grass field, so you can land anywhere but here we have a paved runway to land on, which takes some adjusting to hit a narrower strip to land on. Even if you miss judge you can still land on the desert floor which is stone.

 

 

Busy day of flying

 

The first week here, I lost my Somethin Extra, dumb founded as to why. 
Our Flight instructor lost one of his a week later in the same manner and place.
We think there was some kind of interference.

 




This airplane I picked up down here, recovered it and put my own
 receiver, servos and engine in it.


Here it is in flight.




The club set up a booth at the Quartzsite Fall Festival in the park.



We attended the Quartzsite Sport, Recreation and RV show in 
January for nine days.


We built boxes to hold the club speakers
 that we use at our Air Show.
Here Dave and I cut the pieces out
 of 4x8 plywood. VP Tom looks on. 



Duncan and Kobus assemble the boxes




I picked up this airplane and had the club instructor do the maiden flight.
It got 30 feet off the ground, rolled and dived in, lost all control, don't know why.





We had a great turn out for our Air Show.




Final crash of the winter, my Night Timber.
It has crashed and been put back together
so many times. This was it.



We left Quartzsite earlier then normal this year, so there are still a few guys left flying. Most of the field equipment has been put away, with a few flight tables and chairs left out yet. There are only 3 members of the club that live in Quartzsite all year, the rest come from the mid-west to west coast and from Canada. It will soon be too hot and the spring winds prevent the guys from flying. By mid-October, they will start to get equipment out and we will hopefully do it all again.

Thanks for stopping by for a read, until the next time, fly straight and keep those wings level. Remember, take-offs are optional, landings are mandatory.



 

4 comments:

  1. Not into RC Planes but remember RC Cars cracking up due to Signal Interference, especially when the same thing happens to multiple members.
    I recall staying just up the road from your field in 16-17 and recall some were quite loud. It could be someone nearby causing the problem. They would need a powerful device that can be aimed and will affect more than RC transmitters.
    Stay Safe and Enjoy the rest of your adventure.

    It's about time.

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    Replies
    1. We do believe that there is intermittent interference at times. A few years ago, someone came with a spectrum analysor and found some interference but could not tell from where it was coming from.
      There are a couple of gas engine planes that fly at our field, especially at the air show, but about 98% of the planes are electric and much quieter then 10 years ago.

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  2. Hi Bill, Pat, 'Gibbs': So good to finally hear from you! We've tried many times to get through with no success. How can we reach you via email? Jeff/Joan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jeff, I have sent you my email address 2 time s this winter, check your in box.

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