Transmitter Handling - The Antenna isn't the Handle

[from the March-April 2001 newsletter]

by Ned White

The other week when I was at the Hobby Barn, I got to talking to a man who was telling me about a problem he had with his new Futaba radio (less than a year old). He told me that he had had two (2) flights for the day and was in the middle of his third flight when he started to get intermittent glitches or interference. So as soon as he could he got his plane back on the ground (safe & sound). This is where he took the wing off and checked all his connections, battery voltage, etc, pre-flight check. After his pre-flight checkup he put the airplane back together, did a range check and a check of the other flyers to make sure no one else was on the same channel. All looked good so he fueled up and took off. This is where this story goes ugly. Shortly after takeoff the plane starts acting funny again, then it stopped acting at all. He told me it was as if someone had just turned off his transmitter. Well the plane was a total loss, but the engine and all the radio gear looked unhurt.

While this fella was trying to figure out what caused his airplane to be rekitted, one of the other fellas at his club came over to him and asked to see his transmitter. Now when he passed the transmitter over to the other flyer, the other flyer stopped him and said there's your problem. This sounded strange to this guy because the other flyer didn't even turn the radio on or even hold it!! This other flyer then showed him what he was talking about. When he was passing this guy his radio he grabbed it by the antenna and after time he pointed out this practice can cause your antenna to become loose inside the transmitter case. This is just what happened to his airplane.

He told me that this was how he had always picked up his radio, but after that day he changed his way. He told me then that a bad habit is a tough one to break.

So the Moral of this tail is break the habit not our planes.

"Thanks Jack"

Ned