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smurff

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Everything posted by smurff

  1. Hello Colin We've kited on Woughton Pavillion a few times. Unofficially. They don't seem to mind. However nobody has secured a real take off and landing place in MK yet. Still looking There's two instructors. Clive Mason near Market Harbourough way and there's also Simon Westmore, who runs this site. I went to him. Both a top people and well respected in the sport. Welcome to the madness Danny
  2. I have an old SAmsung and I use my iphone. However, when it gets really cold both shutdown.
  3. Foot dragging @1:59 looked awesome. Great vid mate
  4. Nice video mate. I've been meaning to spend a day doing this myself. I liked the way you talked through it. I too have a Mav and since seeing the accident photos on here not so long ago, I start it on my back now. Pain in the a*se sometimes but just something I have promised myself now. Keep the videos coming
  5. Mostly fly with people however I bought one of those phone cases that have a battery built in just in case. True story, I flew and got lost. Called @admin (Simon W) and he arranged for @Neilzy and his lovely wife to come pick me up.
  6. Cheers yes we did check that. While at the Bore chase, there was a part where two of us idled for a few minutes and it was crystal clear. I guess I should do an update
  7. I use IFTTT for home stuff. Not thought about this. Nice one.
  8. I know of one person who had three flights, bought kit and then sold it. Due to being busy. Me and about 6 others however have been flying at least once a week when the weather permits since April. We have a What'sApp group which goes mad as soon as the weather app even remotely looks good. I think if I only had myself to fly with or I didn't have a field to fly from regularly, I can see the novelty wearing off. However 16 flights in, it still puts a smile on my face everytime
  9. I guess this should be a caption competition Just thought I would put my thoughts about the Sena 10r here because we couldn't find this type of information out and thought it was good to maintain this. Why Bluetooth vs Radio: After all the reading, we decided that Bluetooth headsets gave us Voice Activated rather than Push to Talk (PTT). Personally I am on the fence with this because I have flown with PTT while learning with @admin (Simon W) and I found having to PTT was a pain. However the 2M (I'm assuming it was, @admin (Simon W) can correct me) was clearer. Why Sena vs cheaper models: We went back and forth with this. And I think it came down to two things. First, the cheapers models we found *possibly* only allowed two pilots. Now to be honest with you, there was some doubt whether some units could do more but without buying them, we couldn't be sure. Where as the Senas could do 4+. Second, the Sena RideConnect app. This app allows more people to connect and uses your phones 3/4G therefore mitigating the Bluetooth range issue. Why Sena 10r vs Sena 10S or others: Again this was a balance between price and features. The 10r was smaller, streamline (thinner) and less weight. Personally this isn't a massive issue for me but one none the less. The 20s allowed more pilots, 8 I believe. This was the only thing that made us think we need this one because *some* of the time we do fly with more than 4. However the majority of the time it will be 4 or fewer. AND if the RideConnect app works, then we would have this with the 10r. So we went with the cheaper 10r Fitting to the helmet: Now to be honest, Lee Moss @MOSS fitted my one. And the fact I have a Cycle helmet with Peltors. So the battery is fitted to the back. The wires are sunk into the polystyrene and the ear piece is in the Peltors. It didn't take him long and please contact him for any questions. Setting up: The instructions were/are terrible. The booklet that came with it assumed you had the motorcycle handlebar controller. And looked very generic e.g. we figured out that some of the instructions were actually for the 20S. First you have to pair with the phone. This is where the instructions were wrong. Once you turn the unit on (hold centre and + button) you wait for the voice to say Hello. Then hold the centre button for more than 5 seconds until it says *Intercom* pairing. Then press the + button. She should say *Phone* pairing. Then on your phone the Sena should appear in your Bluetooth list. Once it's paired. Download the Sena app which will connect and update the device to the latest firmware. The app also provides the latest instructions however as I said before, they are wrong in some areas. As we try things out I will update this post. Now onto pairing with other Senas. One thing they don't tell you, or at least we couldn't find, is that the order in which you pair with other devices will store in the Sena as that number. E.g. I paired with Russell and he is friend number 1 on my Sena. Then with Barry, he's number 2 and so on. When using Bluetooth there does seem to be a master slave configuration. So I start by pressing the + and - button together to start group pairing. Then the others press the + button to join. There is a significant delay of sometimes a minute. Then all of a sudden we can hear and talk. The RideConnect app is more simple. I started it and it gives a 4 digit code. Which the others enter to join. We have also tried this while we are at home / driving and it works. I am informed that Russells daughter thought he looked great driving the car with his flying helmet on talking to me.... poor girl. The quality of sound in both cases were good. In the air: On this particular day, only two of us were able to fly and that's all we have managed to test while flying. We ran out of time to be honest. We flew using Bluetooth and it worked well. However once it got out of range and we lost connection. We restored this by flying close and I started again and it was fine. We didn't try the RideConnect app in flight. That's for next time. The quality of sound while flying was good. However at times when the engine was loud and the wind was fast past the MIC, we had to ask each other to repeat. I'm reading up on this and thinking theres some things we might be able to do with the MIC but thats not for this thread yet. Things for the next flight: More than 2 pilots; try Bluetooth and then RideConnect in flight to compare; Anything anyone wants us to if you leave a post here. Happy to try. Update 27th September 2017 - Three of us went flying with the Bluetooth enabled. We had already paired before so, following the instructions I turned on my Sena, held the + and - buttons together until I heard "Group Intercom". Then I told the other two guys to do the same and within a few seconds, we could all hear each other well. We all took off and we could all speak and hear each other. However, after a short while I lost connection to one of the Pilots who flew quite high. We are not sure what the distance was but we are not convinced it was over the advertised 900 metres. Furthermore into the flight I lost the remaining pilot and this time I was convinced we were within this range. We flew back to within I guess 500 metres, I pressed the + and - buttons and then I could hear the second pilot. We never regained the third pilots voice. So not a great report for using Bluetooth with three pilots. I think if we all flew close, it would be OK. Next to try is the RideConnect app which uses the phones 3/4G instead of Bluetooth. Cheers Danny
  10. And to be honest Simon, now I'm a few flights in, the weight issue compared to the the Zenith, would have done me fine. I just wanted the shiny new toy @Nick_Beds I guess I forgot to say, although Clive was close and also has a great reputation in the paramotor industry, I chose to travel to Membury and train with @admin (Simon W) Wish I wrote the training blog now. Wonder if I could retrospectively do it...
  11. Hi Nick, @Clive Mason is not far. And as far as kit is concerned, I would wait until you have learnt. But everyone and his mother will say their kit is the best. Learn to fly, speak with others on the field and go from there. And this is coming from someone who bought the full kit before learning and sold it for something else before even putting fuel in it. Good luck and welcome to the sport. Danny
  12. Hello, I'm in Milton Keynes and I know of at least four others but only met two. Here is a link I trained with @admin (Simon W) at Membury. But I have met Clive. Nice bloke and the paramotor world has a lot of respect for him. I do most of my flying in Newbury because that's where most of my flying buddies live. I have flown over MK once but again I know others do more often. Only been flying since April this year but happy to answer anything I can. Regards Danny
  13. Hi Andyy Glad to hear you're ok. Just one thing about being nervous after a shi*y incident. On my third flight *attempt* I sat down too early and broke the prop, pride and my confidence. I literally drove home and thought sod this, maybe it's not for me. And yes I was nervous on the next take off, not going to lie. However as soon as my feet lifted, I forgot about nerves and remembered why I love this sport. I've come down on my ar*e a few times since, only lately getting the flare/timing right. So I just wanted to say I think nerves after something like this is normal, it won't be like that everytime and this still will put a massive smile on your face when you nail it. Good luck on your next flight Danny
  14. Hi I've had my Mav since the beginning of July and flown it approx 7 hours. I have a Nissan Qashqai and the carry case fits in with the back seats down with plenty of space left. I build and dismantle everytime. Building is very easy and takes me about 15 minutes. Other people whom also have a Mav and I fly with, build it quicker. I'm in IT so I hit a space bar for a living while others are more mechanically minded. Access to the fuel tank is easy and I have the Moster 185 Plus and so far it's been reliable and I don't think I have ever had to use full throttle. The harness is configurable. The two main things I really like about it is that I trained on a Zenith with 80lc which was great however, the weight of the Mav and the Moster feels lighter. So more power without, what feels like, any extra weight. The second thing is that I am quite short, 5f 6inch and when I flew the Zenith, the bottom bars would hit the back of my knees while taking off. (Not an excuse for terrible take offs) Where are the Mav is mounted higher for me. Which makes it *feel* easier to take off and not a worry if I land too quick. There have been two *cons* in the pro/con list for me. 1 - When moving the throttle cable e.g. to grab my A before launch, it rev'd the engine. I emailed John@parajet who sent me instructions which was 2 minute task and it worked. 2 - The same spring clip has broken a few times. The nipple is not solid as with the zenith and has snapped. Again, John@Parajet sent me a bag of them free of charge. Overall I can only compare to the Zenith 80 and I once flew a Zenith with a Moster and can say, for me at least, I believe I made the right choice and am very happy with it. Feel free to ask me anything. I am not affiliated with Parajet so will give you a genuine reply. Regards Danny
  15. Well done Sandy. It is a steep learning curve but worth every second. Good luck Danny
  16. @cas_whitmore Yes mate. Been a long time since we had a catch-up. Looking forward it it. @Neilzy Thanks again mate. Appreciated. Basically, I went for a fly yesterday from Membury. Saw some wind turbines in the distance and thought "bucket list to fly by some of those" Great flight and thought right, time to head back.... where the f*ck am I? I couldn't see the mast, M4 or any waypoint that I normally do. Headed in what I thought was the right way and panicked I didn't have enough fuel. So looked for a field to land. Every field (or it looked like) had cows in until I saw another airfield. Landed, to the surprise of about 5 people watching. Put my hand in the air and said sorry and called a mayday in to Simon who sent Neilzy and his wife to come pick me up
  17. Well written and what a fantastic achievement. I've been lucky enough to meet Connor and what a nice bloke he is.
  18. Hello James, From a new pilot myself, (2 flights) I took my first flight a few weeks ago with Simon and his team at Membury. When I decided, I rang a few people who had been trained already to get their opinion on the training they had. All very positive and those included people that had written training blogs here too. And I went and had a day at Membury. Everyone was friendly. All different types of people and background but everyone was welcoming and encouraging and had that every visit thus far. I and a few others will be there probably wed and thur this week too, weather permitting. Come down for a coffee and chat. You won't regret it. Shameless plug for my last visit And welcome to sport Danny
  19. Thanks guys appreciated.
  20. Hi all, I've got a Thor 80 with the standard Polini CP carb. Reading up on this, they offer a Walbro WG8 for a little more money. Does anyone have any thoughts or experiences on why the Walbro would be better, what would be the improvement, any downsides and would I even notice? Thanks Danny
  21. Paul just to it mate. I genuinely can't explain how awesome it feels to be up there and I've only done 2 flights so far.
  22. No pics but a small video if anyone is interested. I love it when there's a few people there. Good laugh
  23. Some people have seen this and laughed at the fact I keep running after getting in the seat (non-pilots though to be honest)
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