communication errors at national

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally posted by Lloyd Burns
I was told Thunderchickens' radio modem data base could not have been responsible

What is this 'radio modem data base'? I've never heard of it before.

being in another band (so why can't we use talkabouts ?)

First of all, the rule about not being allowed to use Talkabouts is really not enforced. Last year I used to kindly ask teams who were using them to stop; this year I just gave up. It seems a lost cause, and no one from FIRST seems to care. One of FIRST's reasons for not allowing them may be because some of the channels are in the 462MHz range which is almost exactly half of the frequency used by the radio modems, and harmonics could be a problem. The other reason I heard they weren't allowed is because FIRST themselves used to use FRS radios for communications. Personally, knowing how hard wireless interference issues are to diagnose, if you ask me the fewer RF devices in the area the better.

Might this be the result of a large static build up on the ramp ?

We didn't notice any static problems in Houston, and I think we were the team who had the most problems with it in the first place. However, your RC could have reset which could cause your program to start over.