[Chris McKeon]

OK I have been having a Problem with My Radio taha sits on the nightstand By My Bed. See each night the reception gets either Clear, or the reception is fairly Clear. But each Morning after the Sun comes up, the radio becomes a case of bad Static. It really does seem to be that at night, say as late as 9:00 PM. The reception gets fairly, to quite Clear. But in the Morning as the Sun comes up. The radio ceases to function.

My Radio does seem to as far as being able to receive Stations clearly does seem to be related to the Time of Night that it is.

My Radios failure, or success regarding a Clear Static Radio reception, seems to be the opposite of My Predators ability to climb up in the Sky. If the Sun id Up in the Sky. For on a: Given Day: If the Sun is up in the Sky, then it is quite Likely that My Predator is up in the Sky.

So if anyone has their Two Cents worth of advice regarding My Radio Reception Problem, then I am all Ears.

Thank You Very Much/. Good Night Chris McKeon. 925-497-1059. THANKS ALOT Chris McKeon.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hi Chris,

I sent you this private message a while back:

Hi Chris,

Basically, the sun hitting the atmosphere messes up the ionospheric reflection of some bands of radio waves. So they travel much better at night.

There's a good explanation here: https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/am-stations-at-night

Bob

[Chris McKeon]

Thanks for the reply bob. Now Bob, do You have any Idea on how I could stay up while Flying My Predator, only sinking and landing when I want to? Up Flying in the Air, being up in the Air has always been a Hallmark of my Predators Flying Characteristics. I mean Your glider can only glide to where the next Thermal is, if You and Your Glider can remain Airborne. On the other Hand: A big SINE Surface Glider may have a good low peed sink rate while in a Thermal, But then What?

[Chris McKeon]

OK, so I really should have put these thoughts of Mine regarding how Flast that I should Fly in order to Fly the Furthest that I could in order to cover the most amount of Ground during a Cross Country Flight on the "Speeds to Fly" Thread here on this Site. I do not want to encounter any Kick-Back for My making inappropriate Comments on regarding how I wonder what. About Speeds to Fly. So, in order to avoid My being Chastised for not staying on subject. Better to post My Thoughts, actually, My Questions on My Own thread, I started this one, "Phoenix follies".

Anyways: MY thoughts, and My Questions:

Regarding Speeds to Fly By. What i do not totally understand is, is this: To Me Speeds to Fly By, makes sense if A Pilot is Flying Their Hang-Glider while naturally trying to Fly as far as They can. This makes sense, if the lift that You have just left is the last Thermal that You would experience on a Given Day. So being that Glide would be the Last Glide that You would make on a Given Day. Then absolutely, The Pilot should Fly at the Speed that allows the Glider to have the Best Glide. For at the End of the Day. That Glider Pilot Combination is leaving lift, The last Thermal that He or She would find, and let's Be honest here. When Flying XC the primary goal is to Fly the Furthest that You are able to, Correct?

OK in closing. When one is leaving His or Her's Last Source of lift. By all means vary Your speed in order to Maximize Your Finale Glide of the for the Day. By all means set Your speed to that speed which return the Best most efficient Glide in order so that You can cover the Most Ground in Your Flight.

So if anyone has any insightful, Meaningful, Pertinent Comments regarding how I could cover More Ground when Flying My Predator XC. Then BY all means please reply.
Good bye for now Chris McKeon 925-497-1059.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Hi Chris,

First, thanks for posting here rather than in the Training Manual section. The Training Manual section is somewhat specialized for people who are actually working on the writing of the manual. There hasn't been much actual writing, but we still want to keep it for that purpose.

As far as speeds to fly for maximum distance and/or minimum time, it obviously depends on an estimate of the upcoming thermal and wind activity. If you expect there to be lots of thermals all along your path, then you can just fly as fast as you want because you'll never sink out. Conversely, if you expect no thermals and no wind, then you should just fly at best glide (for maximizing distance) or at min sink (for maximizing time in the air). So picking the best speed will depend on estimates of what you expect to see along the path. But once you've made that estimate (whatever it is), there is an optimal series of speeds to take advantage of that estimate.

Imagine that you have such an estimated wind speed and an estimated lift for every parcel of air between you and your goal. With that estimate, you could imagine an infinite number of flights that you could make to your goal. Some would be faster. Some would be slower. Some would linger more in lift. Others would fly right through lift. Some would go more left, and others would go more right. Out of all of those infinite possibilities, you want to find the one that gets you to your goal the fastest. I think finding (or approximating) that optimal speed along the way is what "speeds to fly" is all about.