On Fri, Jun 11, 2004 at 08:29:56AM -0700, Bill Malvey wrote: | On 6/11/04 8:26, "Brian Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
| > I know I have been advised against this, "but" I still want to try the 50 | > mhz portion of the ham band for RC... | | Can't help you with the Stylus stuff, but I am curious about who and why you | were advised against using 50 megs? Probably because of the danger of getting stomped on by licensed hams. Here in Austin, TX the 50 mhz band is very lightly used, but I hear that in other places it's a lot more popular. The band plans do set aside a specific range of frequencies only for lower power (1 watt) R/C use, but that doesn't mean that people couldn't be transmitting on these frequencies, intentionally or not. Also, hams can transmit with up to 1500 watts legally -- compare that to your 1 watt transmitter, and guess who's going to win? Hams typically listen to the frequency before transmitting (they're usually considerate to a fault) but with your one watt and mediocre antenna, they may not even be able to hear you -- but they could still crash your plane from 30 miles away (and probably even further, especially if they have a directional antenna aimed in your direction.) How big of a concern this is really depends on your local traffic. Do you have a scanner? If so, get it to scan the 50 mhz band frequencies for a few days, leaving it on all the time and see if you hear anything. If you don't, it's probably safe enough -- after all, you run the risk of being shot down on 72 mhz as well, it's just that it's different people who might shoot you down. (If you don't have a scanner, get one. Even the cheapest ones can scan 50 mhz just fine, though the cheap ones can only do FM, and while that is the most popular mode on 50 mhz, there is CW and SSB too -- stuff that a FM scanner may not hear at all, but it could still interfere with your plane, though probably to a lesser degree.) I've got some 50 mhz radio equipment myself. (I traded for it over in rec.models.rc.air.) I've scanned the local airwaves enough that I'm fairly confident it's safe, but I have yet to actually use the equipment yet. When I do, I'll probably make sure I have my scanner with me, just in case I do get shot down, so I'll be able to listen and bitch and whomever it was that shot me down (after all, hams have to ID themselves every 10 minutes.) -- Doug McLaren, [EMAIL PROTECTED], KD5YRD/AE Good programming is 99% sweat and 1% coffee. 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.
