Greetings Everyone!

 Here is a tip for callers that I picked up while at the NATs this year.

 The situation:

 I find it most comfortable to hold my transmitter with the antenna pointing down towards the ground rather than up in the air as most people do. This is only my preference; I am not asserting that this is the best or only way to hold your TX. My caller Duane doesn’t like to use the “Caller Trailing Technique” where the caller follows the pilot around in a circle as the course is flown; he likes to crouch down beside me and let me do the spinning by myself. I’ve decided to call what Duane does the “Crouch” or “Incoming—Hit the Deck—Technique” for reasons that are outlined below. I have to admit that while I do not get dizzy when I am flying a heat, sometimes I do get a little dizzy when I’m calling a race for somebody else. Perhaps Duane does too and that’s probably why he doesn’t use the “Caller Trailing Technique”.

The problem:

After several laps, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that as I would come out of turn #3 and head down the stretch to pylon #1, Duane would duck as low as he could to avoid my antenna. Sometimes, he wouldn’t duck quite low enough and he would get whacked in the head and shoulders! Not good. When this happened, it was at the very least, a distraction to both him and me and could have easily cost us our place in a close heat. If we were to have become really entangled or maybe broken the antenna, the possibility of a crash would have been a serious concern. That I didn’t crash and that I wasn’t involved in any close heats at the NATs is beside the point but you can see how this was a problem.

The thought process:

I was trying to decide if I should buy a base loaded “Rubber Duck” antenna for my TX to solve the problem so I explained what was happening to Darrol Cady. His advice was “Tell Duane to get the @#$% out of the way!” Darrol doesn’t think much of the Rubber Duck antennas and he was able to talk me out of buying one. Rhonda must have overheard our conversation because she then related her technique while calling. Rhonda is generally regarded as one of the best callers in all of R/C Racing so I was eager to listen to what she had to say.

The solution:

Rhonda simply explained that the caller should stand four paces away from the pilot. Most people are comfortable with and use the “One, Two, Ready, Turn!” count for 422, and 428. As the plane rounds #3, the caller should begin the count for the turn that will commence at pylon #1. As the caller begins the count, s/he should also take a step towards the pilot. With each progressive count, the caller takes another step towards the pilot. You can see where this is going. When the caller says “Turn” s/he is right next to the pilot and can speak directly into his/her ear. As the plane comes back to #2, the caller resumes his/her place four steps away and gets ready for the next lap. I’ll call this “Rhonda’s Four Step Technique”.

The benefits:

If the caller uses “Rhonda’s Four Step Technique” s/he won’t have to pump his/her fist to keep the tempo. The caller doesn’t have to shout at the pilot; the pilot can hear just fine because the caller is standing close by. The caller can keep other pilots and callers away from their pilot.  But best of all, the caller will be out of the pilot’s way as the plane sweeps by pylons #2, and #3.

Thank you very much Rhonda! Now if I could just get Duane to abandon the “Incoming—Hit the Deck—Technique”.

John Sandusky