First, some pictures: Hope you like them, http://www.sendpix.com/albums/03100722/2254260000000925a30f58668782e315256e2073bbc5c9/
Next, Gotta tell you about one heck of a great guy - George Joy - Peak Electronics - Sirius Chargers - etc... I took off a little late from Phoenix Thursday night to make my annual pilgrimage to Visalia. Got through LA, onto I-5 northbound, past Six Flags Magic Mountain, and then on over the grapevine towards Bakersfield... I was getting sleepy and the boy (13) had watched all the DVD movies we took. I decided to stop for the night in a Ramada roadside motel at about 11:30pm. Figured another 2 hours in the morning would leave plenty of time for practice and camp set up on Friday. I parked as close to our room as I could get, opened the window of our room to hear if anything went amiss during the night.... and slept through my truck being burgled... lost all my radio gear, and 8 years worth of hobby tools with my toolbox. They had the decency to leave my Hera and my backup plane (an oldish Victory C), and all my chargers and electronic stuff. But they got my Radios (all three of them). Bummed.... almost decided to turn around and head back to Phoenix, after all who'd have a JR radio on 50Mhz channel 04? (Ham Band Channel) The boy talked me in to going ahead, after all I wasn't going just to fly, but for the fellowship/fun/nightflying/fireworks/etc... (Most of all the nightflying/fireworks/potatoegun!) After filing a police report with the local Sheriff we continued on. Upon arriving at the flying site, it became obvious just how obscure my frequency was. Only one other flyer in a contest of over 300 was on my channel... Bummed.... The appeared George Joy! What a guy... I explained my problem and he dug out not one, but TWO different radio setups on my channel, and took hours out of his booth setup time to help me get it all working with my JR thumbs... (Airtronics radios are all Greek to me!). He stayed with me until everything worked... Flaps, differential, launch mode, camber, V-tail, etc/etc/etc... over 2 HOURS of help... even followed me out to the winches to make sure I was happy with the way everything felt! When flaps didn't work quite right, he dug out the tools to adjust my linkages... (my tools were gone too!). All I can say is a huge THANK YOU to George for all his help. I placed higher in this contest, flying a completely different radio than I was used to, than I had ever placed in a large event before (81st! - Top half for a change!) To me, this is what our hobby represents. Guys, who for nothing more than the thanks they receive, go above and beyond to see that the 'little guy' gets a chance. I've got one of just about everything George sells, so I'm not sure how I show him my gratitude (although I did order a nice new Airtronics Stylus from him, counting on my insurance to pull through!), but can highly recommend him as a really great guy and my new-found friend. thanks George! Skip Richards - Phoenix, AZ - WB7VXM RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
