Radio Issues

[Straick]

I have a size 35 glow plane. Before I use it, I always range check it and the range check has yet to fail. I always fly on channel 58 and have lost all aircraft response twice now :confused: . The first time was on a refit F-27 Stryker. The second time was with my glow plane. Both of them were using different recievers, but the same transmitter. What was weird is that the throttle went full both times and the elevator seemed(at least from what I could see) to go full down. Both times were nose dives, one with a busted nose, the second with a destroyed wing :( . I was wondering if there would be any way of knowing what is causing these response loses and to prevent it if possible. Thanks in advance.

[aeajr]

A few possibilites I can think of:

1) Someone else is on your channel and turned on their radio.
Are you flying at a club field?
Could there be someone in their yard, park, etc.

2) Since this involved two different planes, what kind of receivers are you using in the planes. Same model and brand? What is the rated range on the receiver? You could be getting out of range

3) You have a problem in your radio. I had this happen on my hitec Prism 7X. The trim tab for channel 2 developed a problem. All I had to do was touch it and it would full left. Destroyed my Electrajet on a landing. Hitec fixed it no-charge!

4) Were you located in about the same area on the flying field? Could be you have a dead zone or an interference area on the field.

5) are there any big radio towers in the area? Are you near a rail road? Any other possible sources of interference?

If you suspect interference or someone else on your channel, you might consider getting one of these.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXJUP2&P=ML

Won't prevent the problem but it will tell you if someone or something is on your channel.

[khalsans]

If the potentiometer (control) has a bad wiper or open connection, that control will go to max or min position, depending on which connection opened.
Dirt can cause the wiper to be intermittent. I'd suggest cleaning the pot with tuner cleaner spray from Radio Shack and checking the connections to the control.