I was at a park today and there were other pilots not too far away. After I flew 2 packs with no problems, one of the guys said I was knocking him out of the air. I've heard of this but don't know how to avoid it. I asked him but he could only manage to keep uttering, check your channel. I asked how and he said, "you just check it." My hunch is that he had no idea what to do. At least, I hope that's it. What is the proper way to power up if other pilots are flying close by? And why did I not experience any problems? Lastly, if I had checked my channel, it would be one of 4 or 5 because I can pickup my feed on many channels. How do I know which is mine?

If there are other pilots in the area then either go over to them and ask them what channels they are using so you don't end up using the same one, or at least do a channel scan to find any actively used channels in the area so you can pick a different one, preferable one that is some frequency distance away from theirs.

If you're setting things up and your VTX supports pit mode then you should ideally power up with pit mode enabled. Otherwise power up on a low power setting (i.e. 25mW) which then enables you to set the channel on your VTX to one they aren't using without too much risk of blasting their feed with yours.

Also be mindful about using high VTX power settings because even if you choose a different channel, if you are on an adjacent channel then a high power setting on your quad can bleed over into their feed.

If you are talking about the radio, then there is nothing to change or check. If you are talking about video channel then there are a few etiquettes you want to follow. If I know that someone else is flying in the area, I usually just turn on my goggles to see if my current channel is picking up his signal. If so, I usually look for this person and sort out channels. I would decease power to 200mw. If your power is high 500mw+, then you just blow all signals out.

To check your channel, there are a few ways depending on your setup. Your goggles usually tell you through the VRX. You can see your channel through some VTX that have either a led display or through led lights. You can also check through CMS menu if you have Smartaudio or Tramp setup. Lastly through LUA script menu if you have that setup.

I find if I light up my VTX at 1watt, everyone around me is usually so busy searching for their quads and fixing broken pieces I pretty much have the whole sky to myself!  

Seriously though, Snow and VooDoo give good advice.

(29-Sep-2019, 10:52 PM)Krohsis Wrote: I find if I light up my VTX at 1watt, everyone around me is usually so busy searching for their quads and fixing broken pieces I pretty much have the whole sky to myself!  

Seriously though, Snow and VooDoo give good advice.

No wonder I keep picking up your feed here in California. Maybe the other guy was picking up your signal and not the OP.

   Could be...

Also, once you do know which channel everyone else is on, you can use a chart like this to decide which one is further away from theirs. Especially if you have a noisy VTX!