2.4Ghz Coming of Age

[Kiwi]

Righty ho folks seeing as you have either just got home from a big event, are just about to go to a big event or are about to invent your own big event I thought it an opportune time to come back and just take a look at where the 2.4Ghz transmitter revolution has taken us over the past three years.

I clearly recall at the Joe Nall three years ago with some guys in dark suits and large round framed darker than black sun glasses secretly getting a flight in on the days before the even officially opened with radios and no antennas. Well they had a rubber sort of a doo hickey sticking out the top but that was all. It was all stealth and dagger technology and the said radio had a whopping six channels. You could not ask what it was or why or how it worked and the cameras were banned.

Ok lets take a step forward to the SEFF and the JOE NALL 2008 events. Those doo hickey antennas changed the event. The Joe Nall 2008 could not have been the Joe Nall 2008 with out 2.4 Ghz technology. Of the 600 or so registered pilots there were only 21 radios maximum in the transmitter impound at any one time. Technically the other 579 radios were 2.4 Ghz. That assumes guys had only one radio and that were not the case.

One of the finest friends I have ever made at he Nall is Mr Mark Hale and he unselfishly has taken the radio impound and pin distribution duties for the past four years or more. Well folks this year he was almost without a job. Yet despite the low number of 72Mhz radios he had to shut down two frequencies for a day and a half because the phantom pin collectors walked off with the pegs.
Mean while the 2.4 Ghz crowd partied on with not a worry in the world from shoot-downs, lockouts, time lost waiting for the pin etc etc.

Really 2.4 Ghz transformed the Joe Nall from a waiting game to an event where there was flying time and space to spare. Its a whole new ball game. One of my questions to Mark was why even bother with 72Mhz in the future, I mean it transformed the worry and accusations and lost aircraft situation to a pure dumb thumb or mechanical/electrical failure situation. There was no one left to blame for the carnage any more. It allowed the event to run twin flight lines within eyesight of each other. It allowed 14 or so aircraft to be flying inside that magic mile nearly all day.

The SEFF I did not attend but I have been told they had over 100 models in the air at the same time. No conflicts but some carnage. Who would expect less with RC aircraft in the air in plague like quantities.

My final thoughts on the matter. Well 2.4 Ghz has revolutionized RC and more than that it has made events an infinite amount easier to manage. While I'm not suggesting for a moment that you should throw away the 72Mhz gear you have I do predict large events in the future that will be 2.4 Ghz preferred and run your 72Mhz stuff if you want to manage a frequency board on your own.

2.4 Ghz is proven and here to stay. It can and will only get better from here.

[rcdart]

Very nicely written Kiwi Sahn!!

[snap a saurus]

Thank god for 2.4, very nice mate

[ConRadical]

very very nice... Great technology, I was glad when it finally hit our hobby.

[1bwana1]

This technology is sure having a positive impact in my area, and in the IMAC events I attend. This may be the best improvement to our hobby since....... ?

[alfycat]

The High Techs keeps the hobby in continuos movement, you open your eyes to new horizons once in a while to discover things that you never realize to see in front of you. I love that!

[50%plane]

	Quote: Originally Posted by Kiwi
	Mean while the 2.4 Ghz crowd partied on with not a worry in the world from shoot-downs, lockouts, time lost waiting for the pin etc etc.

Didn't MattyMatt have a lockout on his 2.4 Dalton MEL at the Nall?

[madmax]

Love it!! That was a sight at the Nall seeing all of the 2.4 goodness. I saw many folks walking down the hill from the vendor area with shiney new 2.4 radios puttin' 'em in their planes so they could enjoy the lower flight line. Love 2.4. Love it love it love it! This past few years has been a great time to be a modeler fo sho. Excellent article Kiwi!!

[Kitman]

Well put Kiwi

[scalefreak]

The only carnage at SEFF, during the Guiness Book of World Record event was one mid-air....and only one of the planes involved in the midair went down, while the other continued to fly. Pretty cool stuff!

[KAMELLO]

Like Sleepy says: 2.4Ghz its the devil

[CSpaced]

	Quote: Originally Posted by 50%plane
	Didn't MattyMatt have a lockout on his 2.4 Dalton MEL at the Nall?

Tiz true, but we don't exactly know what caused it (we're not assuming anything).

I have to say I was shocked at how empty the 72 impound was compared to last year