Next Meeting is this Saturday, July 9th, Bookland at 9:30

June 11, 2005 Minutes

Members Present:
Bob Buxton, Glenn Collins, Rick Hallett, John LeClair, Ken MacDonald, Mark Higgins, Charlie Kerr, and Mike Farnsworth

Treasures Report:

Treasurer Ken MacDonald reported that the club kitty is at $751.25

Recent purchases: chutes

Secretaries Report: Our Club Secretary was not present, so the VP said it for him: no correspondence.

Library: Michael Moore has the new DSC Video produced by John LeClair

Old Business:

DSC Trainer – Glenn has the second transmitter and receiver. The club trainer needs a new receiver.  Members discussed putting the receiver from this transmitter into the club trainer. Sumner is rumored to be heading the DSC Trainer program. We need somebody who has a little time to make the Wednesday meetings with the club trainer. Editors Note: Our BOT (Bird of Time) has just been sitting in my cellar collecting dust. I have not had the time to do anything with it let alone my own stuff. It needs attention and flying time with some beginners. If nobody is willing to step up, then I feel that the club should sell the darn thing.

New Chute update- Rick reported that the new chutes work very well. 

New Business:

Mark Higgins mentioned a new source for DLG wings. They are priced at $100.00. Mark says that they are comparable to wings manufactured by Phil Barns. They are from a new DLG glider being produced by Scott Lister in conjunction with Isthmus Models. I did not find any mention of the glider on the Isthmus web site www.isthmusmodels.com . Contact Mark if you need more information.

 

Wing Launcher – Members at the meeting asked where the new wing launcher is. Those present did not know where it is. Is it at the BAM field?

 

New DSC DVD – Thanks to John LeClair for producing a high quality DVD of the 2005 Spring Thermal Contest. The DVD was played at the meeting for all to see. John shot the video using his personal camcorder. He provides some great footage in the video. This is the first video documentary of the Rick Scoring System™ in action (that we know of). As special bonus, John also shot the bouncing burger incident. What was the cause of the culinary catastrophe? Was the 5 second rule violated? View the DVD to decide for yourself.  In addition to the footage, John printed a very nice DVD label and Jacket sleeve insert. It looks better than other DVD’s that we have purchased. Great job John! – Michael Moore now has possession of it.

 

8/13 Meeting – The date of the August meeting coincides with two other events. The first event is the BAM fun fly. The second event is the CRRC Thermal Duration Contest. The General consensus of the members present is that the meeting will be a bust. Most of the active members plan on going to the CRRC contest. Others plan on going to the BAM fun fly. The meeting will be discussed at the July meeting. Most likely it will be canceled. If we do not intend to have the meeting at Bookland, then would should tell them and free up the room for the day for other uses. Jim, who is our contact person?

 

DSC Handlaunch contest – Members decided upon July 9th as the best date for the DSC Hand launch contest. We have been looking for a mowed/hayed field. Some should be hayed by then. The Hand Launch Contest will be held after our normal meeting in Bookland. We are tentatively planning to use the field on the Brown Road in Durham as it has been recently hayed. The weather for this Saturday may not cooperate. Topical storm Charlie is supposed to be haunting us that day. Even if the rain stays away, it could be too windy. It the weather does not cooperate, we will move the event to a date sometime later this fall.

 

Mark Higgins reported that some acquaintances of his donated a deep discharge battery to our club. He is using it with the second winch.

The Flap Zone - editorial by Mike Farnsworth:

Our club has purchased many items for club use over the years. Only a few seem to be frequently used. Other items tend to be used as personal items or even not at all.

 

Our retriever is not used because it requires almost perfect conditions for it to work correctly. We seldom fly in the right conditions. It must be used with braided line that is on the club winch Many of our members prefer to fly off of monofilament. We usually end up using our members personal winches instead of the clubs. 

 

When was the last time the Club Trainer was used? Last year or longer? A problem developed with the radio and it has not been fixed yet. Most members do not really want to fly it because they do not want anything to happen to it while they are flying it. It has been a year and we still do not have a written or active trainer program. We have at least two radios, at least three airplanes, and none of them are working to my knowledge. The trainer's box is a nice cozy spot for my cat to sleep in.

 

The club trailer seemed like a good idea.  Both Jim and I put our hearts and souls into the project, Charlie donated the trailer, but it still flopped. Where is the trailer? I am not sure. I went looking for it when I needed to use a trailer for my own personal use - not at Jim's: oh well. We did agree to sell it, but, who has time?

 

Most of our pictures are taken by members with their own video and camera equipment. A good example is the latest DVD produced by John. When was the last video produced with the club camcorder? Jim does use it to take pictures with for the club. The video capabilities do not seem to be used. Most members cameras provide better quality though as the camcorder is now 3 plus years old.

 

The items on my winner list: Batteries, Popup shelter, DVD’s. These items have been used quite a bit over the last year. The winch made it to all of our contests but was never used. It is good for a backup though. The second winch is being used by Mark. I hope he is getting some good use out of it. The batteries have been used at every contest and most flying sessions. They are often used as backup for personal batteries at contests. Our pop up shelter has been used numerous times. It has been to contests in Maine, Massachusetts, and (Vermont or Philadelphia).

 

Nobody wants to deal with maintaining the equipment unless it their own. Even if it is maintained, somebody still has to bring it to meetings and contests for it to be used. Some purchases seem like good ideas at the time but later prove ill advised.  I feel the club should continue to support buying equipment on listed in my winner list. Items such as cameras, winches, trailers, radios, and airplanes all require maintenance and do not seem to get the use intended at the time of purchase. These items are all good ideas but end up being used more for personal use than club use, if used at all. Voice your opinion at the next meeting or on the forum!

 

Thats all for now. See you at next Saturday's meeting and HLG LContest...