Tim Crow

I'd be tempted to speak to the gliding club. There's also a small free car park just S of the club on the road that goes past it. It's a very short walk to the S'ly White Horse slope from there.

Used to fly off Sutton Bank in the 70s - over the White Horse in a southerly, or walk round the point to the cliffs in a W. Nobody ever mentioned the gliders although the model club may have spoken to them - I was too young to worry TBH. Have you looked at the ridge to the N of the main A170 road/visitors centre? It's a short walk through the shrubbery to a clear patch where I've launched and landed a hang glider back then as well.

Myself and my brother had a few models in the 70s including an Elmira and it really didn't want to turn. Another chap flew one with ailerons and it was a massive improvement. I'd probably add flaps these days to give full length ailerons/in board flaps/crow brakes.

I flew an Easyglider and the only problem was getting it down. So I changed to a Heron and the addition of crow braking made it perfect. TBF If I flew a slope I'd probably have stuck with the Easyglider. I'd also say get a vario installed to make it easier detecting and staying in thermals.

Thanks for that link. I haven't had any problems with telemetry and signal RSSI seems good in the Heron ATM with the rx aerials as situated. I'm loathe to dig out the rx again to check as it's tucked well away - maybe if I get bored. I'll see how many RSSI warnings I get once the thermals get better and I push further.

Interesting replies, thanks. I'm flying a new Heron and haven't got to the limit of radio range yet - Radiomaster TX12 and FrSky GRX8 receiver. When it was in my Easyglider it was a bit more cramped so the rx aerials were not ideally positioned, but the Heron has more room and that has obviously made a difference as RSSI seems better. It hasn't really been the weather to fly it to the limit but spring isn't far away.

I fly thermal and generally push upwind until I get RSSI warnings. I want to set a fail-safe for gentle flat 360s in case I lose range, and then the breeze will bring it back closer. Any slight rudder causes it to wind into tighter turns so I wondered if anyone had any suggestions? A smidge of aileron would probably work, but up or down? I wonder if down would be better as any speed increase would cause extra drag and maybe help flatten the turn.

After a bit of overnight glueing I was able to fly again today - another lovely blue afternoon and some nice floating around to exercise the tree landing demons.

Maidened a MPX Heron in the lovely calm high pressure air today. No lift but ideal for sorting the flap/crow mixes which need a good amount of down elevator. Was all going swimmingly until the final approach which ended in a rather large oak tree. Luckily it was climbable and after a bit of judicious pruning I was back on terra-firmer, less terror and more firmer. Minimal damage; control horns came unglued which possibly saved servos, and one tip cleanly broken off so easily fixed. The various dents steamed out quite nicely using a kettle - be cautious doing this as too much steam raises the foam into unsighly bumps.

Update - Teknistore supplied a new one at half price. I then looked at the faulty one, removed the hotmelt on the pcb holding the three wires and found a dry joint which I resoldered. So now have a spare which I doubt I'll ever need (touch wood).

I opted for the budget RM TX12 and found it ideal for my flying - Opentx Companion is great for learning and setting up plus there are plenty of YouTube videos showing hints and tricks. I use this safe throttle setup which I'd never have thought of; probably works for any Opentx radio:

It first manifested as full rudder deflection on my Easyglider after 20+ mins which made for an interesting approach and landing, luckily a perfect touchdown. I suspected servo/receiver connection so unplugged/plugged etc and all worked. At that point I reduced the rudder throw which made the next fail after about the same flying time a bit easier to handle! I then realised I could check the transmitter display and this showed the stick input signal was the problem, not the channel output. As the Hall gimbals were £12 ea. from China via Teknistore I guess they're not top quality. I've swapped it out for the OE potentiometer gimbal and may stick with that. TBH I've been flying rc for 45yrs and never had an issue with pots but was lured into buying the Hall gimbals by the perceived better reliability and quality etc. so now I'm wondering if it was a mistake. I'm lucky it was rudder that failed not elevator or ailerons as I doubt that would be a landable situation.

Yes I was looking at those and wondering . .

The gimbal is for a Jumper V2 or Radiomaster TX12 transmitter - the gimbals are identical and I'm using a TX12. Looking at the spec it says; Supply Voltage (VCC): DC 3.0 ~ 3.5V Sensitivity: 2.50 mV/G Linear Output Voltage Range: 0.1- (VCC +0.1) V≤≤ Quiescent Output (TA =25°C B=0 G): 0.5 × VCC The actual small pcb is approx 13x7mm with the sensor plus surface mount biasing components. The sensor has 009 470 92 on it but I can't find any references via Google. It seems to fail after about 30mins so I'd guess it's a fault with the components rather than the wiring although I will try checking/resoldering the leads. The plug and leads look OK. The gimbals seem to be out of stock on the cheaper sites - I'm currently exploring getting an exchange but I'm not hopeful. That is why I was looking for a cheap fix and hoping to find an unwanted gimbal/sensor lying around that might fit. - attached is a picture.

Hall effect sensor wanted to repair a faulty gimbal. Does anyone have a broken transmitter with Hall effect gimbals, or a faulty gimbal to cannibalise?

Something different from the Easyglider today! Still easy with 6 gyros, although definitely not when they're turned off! Not easy grabbing phone pics single handed either.

Doesn't it only get overstressed if the servo arm is longer? Seems to me the shorter servo arm can quite happily move +/- 90 and the bellcrank less, whereas if it were reversed with longer servo arms then the bellcrank would potentially lock.

The strong breeze today was up the local shallow but useable hill so I had a nice 30mins or so with my Reaper flying wing - very turbulent but that adds to the fun. Warm enough these days to dispense with most of the winter gear which is another bonus.

Light southerly today so took the Alula to a local SW bowl for some flying. It was a bit hit and miss at first; after giving it a good toss it was either hard work and a slope landing or suddenly buoyant and specking out. Five buzzards circling around, occasionally stooping at the Alula but not making contact (thankfuly). Anyway later on it smoothed and became a bit more consistent so time to get the other wing out for some different aviation!

Nice light winds and warm sun today - was to hot standing in the sun (not complaining!). Quite bouyant at times and spotted two gulls circling close so speckled out with them before a couple of loops on the way down to land.

Today's forecast for Gloucestershire wasn't very encouraging; cloudy with a fresh N breeze all day. After a frosty morning it stayed dull until midday, although the breeze was lighter than expected. Around about lunchtime it suddenly started to brighten up, and before long there was more blue sky than cloud, lovely! I was glad I'd decided to charge the Lipo earlier just in case, and after quickly rigging my EG4 I was out and 2 minutes later in my local field flying. Nothing epic but certainly enough lifty bits rolling up the gentle into wind slope for some sustained soaring, even the odd little climb under the scruffy white cu's rolling through. I could hear buzzards calling each other as they cirled up around the place, a lovely sound that always makes me think "thermals" and after scanning around eventually spotted a couple. With wings and tails spread for max climb, they were slightly upwind circling tight under a nice lifty patch of cu. As it drifted into range three more joined in and there we were, 5 buzzards and EG4 all circling up nicely in the lift. Always makes me smile when that happens, sharing the lift with the experts! That was probably the best of it but there was enough to carry on flying for another 40 mins until chilly fingers made landing for a cuppa too inviting to refuse. Getting down was easier than staying up, and after a hot final approach and go-around I was then at just the perfect height turning on to finals. With enough speed in hand to make a nice gentle touchdown the EG4 slid along perfectly level into wind to stop literally 6" from my foot. I can't remember the last time a landing ended with me just bending down to switch off and pick up my glider. Pity they aren't all like that! Nice to think lockdown will soon be eased and allow more out to fly; the weather can only improve and spring proper means warmer conditions, no gloves or thermal underwear required! Won't be long now folks.

These last few days have been surprisingly lifty mid-afternoon despite the blue high pressure. I'm lucky to live on a small estate built on a nice round hill the top of which is a large grass field so 5mins and I'm in a good place for any wind direction. My Easyglider4 was just a speck on a couple of occasions this afternoon in blue thermal, to the point where I needed to loose height to be comfortable - the tx bleeped a couple of times to indicate low/loss of signal! Crow-braking would be lovely in that situation but lack of flaps means I usually do a few mild aeros. However when it's just a speck I feel that is risky, having ripped the wings off another glider in the same situation. So how do you all lose height with a glider lacking flaps/brakes? I have the ailerons switchable to go up together but lack the mix to dial in down trim to keep it stable so it means a bit of hit and miss leaning on the stick as well. How about a flat spin, is that stable with full rudder and elevator?

I'm currently using a Flysky FS-i6x but it only has 3 mixes which isn't enough to mix spoilerons with elevator to trim it. Any recommendations for an upgrade to something with more mixes? I only fly gliders so extra mixing is all I really need otherwise the Flysky is fine.

Odd that he got fined - in an emergency you can land anywhere! The alternative can be messy. Maybe the powers to be decided he could have used a field I guess.

All good thoughts; I'll take the simple option first of mixing a rotary switch channel to give a touch of up ailerons when the strong spring thermals make getting down hard, and a touch of down ailerons when the forecast strong thermals don't materialise. I'm conscious down ailerons will promote tip stalls, so flaps would be better and also mìght be good for short landings but I agree it's probably not worth the complication on this model as my field is a decent size.