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3 Weeks Away! What We’re Building, Fixing and Forgetting

 

With less than a month to go before we load the vans and head south, the Jersey Droners Underground is in full prep mode. And by “prep mode,” we mean frantic soldering sessions, overnight parts orders, and a lot of us pretending we aren’t procrastinating. Rampage is a blast but the weeks leading up to it are all about making sure our quads (and our gear) actually survive the trip.

Some of us are busy building brand-new rigs just in time for Rampage, while others are still fixing the same quads we crashed last month (no names mentioned). The shopping carts are full of props, motors, and those random little screws that always disappear into the carpet. And let’s not forget the “tech checks”: goggles being updated, RX and radios getting flashed with the latest ELRS and lipos tested..... nothing is worse than finding out something doesn’t work after a 12 hour drive.

      

Then there is the TX15 and O4 mess… A few of us hit the preorder button, hoping it would land just in time before we leave. As of now, shipping updates feel like rolling dice—will it arrive next week or the day after we leave? If it shows up in time, will we have time to configure it or just have shiny new gear to look it? Let’s just say don’t put your trusty old transmitters on Marketplace just yet!  O4 Air Units seem to be on the way and preorders are being taken from a few places.  I did confirm allocation from one vendor and it seems they should be able to cover all the reservations, but shipping date is still just a guess.

And because no pilot can resist overthinking, we’ve also started long-term weather stalking. Barnwell in October can swing from perfect blue skies to sticky humidity to surprise thunderstorms, depending on the week. The early forecast is already getting more screen time than our iPads with everyone refreshing their weather apps like it’s a stock ticker. No matter what it says now, we all know it’ll change five more times before we get there. Either way, we’re packing rain jackets, sunscreen, and probably too many hats!

      

Of course, there’s always the stuff we’ll forget. Someone will show up without socks. Someone else will forget their SD cards and there’s a 100% chance at least one of us realizes we didn’t pack enough props halfway through Thursday. But that’s part of the fun.  Cannot go to Rampage without a little chaos. Don’t be a procrastinator!  Start organizing now!

~CorkscrewFPV