Shallow AMA members/complainers

| > But I can fly my park flyer across the street from your big expensive | > plane:) | | I guess that might depend on how much you would like to spend in | legal fees.

How so?

I assume you're worried about frequency control?

If so, you don't have any special rights to a given R/C frequency, even if you're in a club, even if the club is AMA sanctioned. If somebody is flying next door, you'll have to share.

The FCC has allocated those frequencies with the understanding that you must accept any interference that you may receive -- and that includes interference from other fliers. I can dig up the exact reference if needed.

If you use the ham bands, things are a bit different, but still, you have no more right to a specific frequency than anybody else.

The AMA rules say that you agree not to fly within 3 miles of an established flying field without a frequency control agreement in place -- which is prudent -- but it's not binding upon anybody who is not an AMA member. And at some level, walking over to the AMA field and putting a note on the frequency control board that says `I'm flying on channel 35 across the street -- Doug, 3:45pm, 07/19' would qualify as at least an attempt at a frequency control agreement.

As for the legal fees, I guess if you and a park flier crashed each other's planes, you could both sue each other. And I'd expect both cases to be thrown out, because you have no right to use a given frequency. Unless local laws prohibit R/C flying at all outside the AMA field, of course.

Of course, if you turned on on channel 35 at the AMA field, knowing full well that somebody was using it at the field across the street (especially if they made an effort to make SURE the AMA field knew), you might very well find yourself being the target of a suit -- and that one might not be thrown out so quickly, since it was done intentionally.

Reply to
Doug McLaren
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SNIP

stun?

Precisely!

Reply to
Six_O'Clock_High

I thought it was 5mi???? While on the subject......what is range of a single conversion vs dual conversion TX???

Mike TY for any info

Reply to
Mike R.

Mike-

3 Mi last I heard.

No such thing as single and dual conversion transmitters.

As for single conversion (one IF stage) and dual conversion (two IF stages) receivers, not a dimes worth of range difference in quality equipment of either type. I favor the Berg single conversion recievers at this time, due to their small size and weight, track record of performance, and an unscientific feel-good because they have at least one less fragile crystal to break (aside: dual conversion PPM RX's have 2 crystals, PCM Rx's have have 3) in a mishap and fewer components overall, which smells like greater reliability to me. JR has also been very successful with single conversion receivers, and more mfgrs are appearing in the marketplace every month. !0 years ago dual conversion was the only way to go. Nothing is forever.

Abel

Reply to
Abel Pranger

could be done with a summary insurance card like a AMA card. You wouldnt need the whole policy.

There might be a message in that response. So you get wether you want it or not. hmmm

Depends who is drawing the pictures.

My whole complaint on this Red is there seems to be no give on the clubs side to insurance. Just because a club is registered with the AMA doesnt mean that everything is peachy keen. I know that for a fact. Then there are egos to contend with.

Reply to
jim breeyear

As long as an organization is kept being fed it is only a matter of time before the palace is gold plated. This of course assumes that no one complains about the rising costs. We dont need an "air and space" museum. They already have a place in Wash. with r/c stuff in it that we paid for. I will have to check into the cost of extra insurance on my Home Owners to bring it up to 1,000,000 bux. As far as lobbying goes, I would think the radio manuf. would make sure that there is always radio freq allocations for r/c, after all it is their bread and butter.

Reply to
jim breeyear

Reply to
jim breeyear

If the front end of the receiver has good selectivity and the rx has moderate gain(no need to dig for submicrovolt signals) , single conversion should work fine providing the transmitter can overide the inteferring image signal.

I read that fire alarm boxes transmit > On 19 Jul 2004 19:55:52 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@netzero.net (Mike R.) wrote: >

Reply to
jim breeyear

Right, and you are going to volunteer at your club to check 365 days a year for different policy expiration dates? Get real! We can't even get people to put a frequency marker on their antenna - you expect them to keep an insurance card (one that is up to date) in their flight box?

As for no give on the clubs side to insurance. A club does not have to be an AMA chartered club. There are alternatives but there apparantly are not enough members in these clubs to pursue them.

Red Scholefield AMA 951 Dist. V Leader Member/CD

Reply to
Red Scholefield

Not going to get wrapped in this never-ending story in the big picture sense, but this supposed insurmountable challenge to any alternative for insurance other than AMA's is the most often cited. Seldom mentioned is the fact that many public entities that are owners of flying site property will not allow the kind of monopoly that AMA mandates, yet somehow clubs manage to operate there. Who checks insurance effectivity in those cases, or does the landowner even have any need for such activity? Back to the case for the AMA way and assuming there really is some requirement to review everybody's insurance, here's one little mouse hole in it: Out of the $6K that would not be sent to Muncie each year for a middling sized club of 100 members, couldn't a sufficient sum be allocated to compensate a modeler's wife to keep a list of each member's insurance expiration date? The horseshoe nail thats holding that kingdom together is getting pretty worn and rusty. Now what's next in the list of reasons it has to be AMA or nothing? I promise not to get involved in any discussion that might ensue. BTW, got that idea outta your neck of the woods, Red. Heck, you guys got a modeler's wife to run D5 for nuthing, and you didn't even have bother electing her. What a deal!

Abel

Reply to
Abel Pranger

Sorry, but most do, if only for assured insurance. Our club was asked to operate and "police" a site where there were many flyers, both AMA and non-AMA. The site owner wanted the club to ensure that all flyers were AMA (for the insurance), but did not want club membership to be required. The logistics were impossible to control. At our controlled club field, no one who wasn't AMA flew. At this open site, anyone could come out at any time and fly, unless a club member was there to check on the AMA membership. We backed out after about 3 months. It was like getting Jack The Ripper on The Dating Game.

Face it, people, whether you like it or not requiring AMA insurance is the easy, logical, cheap way to go. Dr.1 Driver "There's a Hun in the sun!"

Reply to
Dr1Driver

My State requires I carry proof of auto insurance in my car and on my person. My insurance company provides a nice little card that fits neatly in my wallet. Just like an AMA card would. And my card has my agents name and phone number, policy and such on it so verification could be easy.

Now of course, everyone will claim that the car insurance could be purchased for the card and then cancelled. And that's true but, I won't pity the poor fool who tries that and gets caught! And were similar results in store for those at the flying field playing similar games, things could be very different in the R/C insurance game. Anyway, who do you think is more solvent and has more at stake? The AMA or someone like State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide, etc?

Ain't that the truth!

Nooooooo! Not Egos! You think? :)

A method could be done but, the AMA doesn't want to give up control. With the mandatory membership the AMA draws in most of their revenue. Just ask yourself how many people would remain AMA members if:

  1. They could get the same insurance coverage.
  2. For the same price that comes out of their AMA dues.
  3. And would still be able to fly at the local club field or any so called AMA field.

What would AMA's membership do in such a situation?

Reply to
C.O.Jones

I think that is more the result of the good ol' boys club letting their buddies slide! Once again!

Try enforcing it and see what happens! Yeah, I know! Just wait until the next meeting. But if you can't enforce the rule, then why do you have it? Basically the club needs to decide which way it wants to go and either dump the rule book or suck it up and be adults about this. Don't say it! I see the problem with that one too!

Reply to
C.O.Jones

Ah Jim! Last I looked in the Air and Space, was not an R/C model to be found. And that includes the new annex at Dulles too.

Granted, it's been a couple of years since I was in the one downtown DC but........................................

Reply to
C.O.Jones

On 20 Jul 2004 21:19:44 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Dr1Driver) wrote:

DD- Thanks for expanding my awareness. I had never heard of assured insurance before. I don't doubt that it was a problem at the site you mentioned, and I'm sure it has happened at many other sites. Nevertheless sites such as Sepulveda Basin do operate successfully (guys that fly there will have varied accounts as to how successfully). In that case I'm sure it is very much a matter of being motivated to fly and having few if any other options as to where. It is owned by Los Angeles City or County (not sure on that detail) and they simply will not allow membership in any organization to be a condition imposed on users of the site. The public entity doesn't have to be concerned about feeding the lawyers and their favorite rice bowl, deep-pockets lawsuits. By state law passed a few years ago, no public entity can be sued for damages caused by a user of property or facilities under their control unless they consent to being sued. Lawsuit proof = users are responible for themselves and their own actions=no liability risk concern on the part of owner of public property. Agencies in trust of public property want it open to the public or not open at all. Leases to private organizations are often problematic where there is public contention for use of that property. Since they can't be sued anymore, there is less offsetting incentive to exert the sort of control over useage afforded by private lease arrangements. I think its a fine idea, and hope to see the day when the protection that has been afforded to public entities will be extended to private landowners that will make their property available for activities like ours. Guess that marks me an AMA basher - favoring a concept that will likely require AMA to find a whole new approach to marketing, and the products offered to the market.

Abel

Reply to
Abel Pranger

You know if you all lived in the country like me you wont need AMA and you would not have to worry about the guy next door becouse there is no one next door to worry about. I go out and fly and never worry about anyone life is so good in a small town in the middle of GA

Reply to
George Thomas

The minute large groups of people start to migrate out to the "country" like where you live, people like you start complaining about it. Seems that only a select few have the right to live in the country.

I would love to live in the country but I prefer the conveniences of suburbia.

Reply to
Paul McIntosh

This mesage is to Phil...

What you wrote was elequent and dead on. Please do a lot of AMA member a great service and forward your note on to AMA for publication in th "Letters to the Editor". The last time I went to the Nationals the were in Chicopee Mass (1992), about an hour away from my home. It was fantastic experience that may not happen again for me. The Nationals now may as well be on the moon. My opinion is that AMA does very littl to promote the hobby now that they have a central location. By changin sites for the Nationals, we can expose the hobby to many more people.

Bar

-- $modelman

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Reply to
$modelman$

I live in the country too, but what if my plane hit someone's cow

-- Foamaholi

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Foamaholic

Man, with the price of beef nowdays, you would have to sell your house!

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Paul McIntosh

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