Skymasters Help


 


Skymasters Help:
 

Help navigating our website, options available, and known issues.

Welcome to our website! Here are some helpful hints to assist in your navigation.

Tutorials

We've begun building tutorials to assist in getting the most out of our website. Below is a list of those available to you (list varies based on whether you are logged in, and your role in the club). If there is an area you would like to see a tutorial for, please let us know via the Contact Page

Skymasters Emails

Our email system gives YOU control over what information you receive. You have the ability to manage your preferences indicating the topics for emails you would like to see.
Login to our site to maintain your email subscriptions and view available emails you can send to. Return to this page after login for additional help.

If you can't login - please use the Contact Page for assistance.

Join Skymasters

Our new member application process is online!
You will need a valid AMA number to complete your application online.
To renew Skymasters membership, please login to our site and return to this page for additional help.

Not an AMA member? Skymasters is a chartered club with the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) and requires AMA membership to have flying privileges. Click the Join or Renew AMA link (here or in menu above) to join AMA.

Have a temporary receipt from AMA? We welcome your membership with a temporary AMA receipt, but we need to see the receipt. You can join online with the assistance of a Skymasters Officer. You can alsol download a Membership Application Form and apply by mail or in person at any club meeting, club event, or at the flying field. Just follow the link to join below - scroll to bottom and download the Membership Form.

  • Follow this link to Join Skymasters
    (There is also a link at top of page in Welcome area - and the first option under the Information menu button.)
  • Enter your name and AMA number and press 'Continue Membership Application'
    Your information will be validated with AMA. If we already have your information in our database you will be asked to login to complete your application.
  • Provide the requested New Member Information information and press 'Enter Information'
  • Your information will be displayed. To make changes, use your browsers 'BACK' button and resubmit.
    You will be asked to agree to Skymasters Field Rules and the AMA Safety Code. Press 'Accept and Continue Renewal' to agree and proceed.
  • You will be presented with membership options based on your AMA Membership category and time of year.
    Select your choice of membership options - and complete your application (including Paypal payment if applicable).
    You can also request a pre-filled Membership application you can mail in or bring to a meeting/event.
Please let us know via the Contact Page if you have any issues joining Skymasters.

Member Login

Skymasters Members, as well as participants in our Winter Indoor Flying (Associate Members) and Midwest Regional Float Fly all have login ids on our website.
Your default userid is your AMA Number - and may be changed after logging in.
If you changed your userid on the previous members site, you can continue to use your custom username. Your previous passwords were not able to be propagated - please follow the steps below to login for the first time:

  • Follow this link to Reset your password
    (There is also a 'Forgot your password?' link in the login dialog - just below 'Login' button.)
  • Enter either your username or email address and press 'Continue'
  • You will receive an email with a link to allow you to set your new password.
    Follow that link and the directions to set a new password.
Come back here after logging in to see more member navigation hints. Please let us know via the Contact page if you have any issues logging into the site.

Mobile Navigation

Site navigation is possible on virtually any device. Driving the menu dropdowns have several options:

  • On most desktop devices, mouse over the menu items to display the dropdown menu - click on the desired item when visible.
  • Touch mobile devices drive the high level menu with a simple touch. To access the pulldowns, there are multiple options:
    • Touch and hold over the menu where dropdown is desired. Your device will show a context menu (open with...) - dismiss the context menu (back button or touch elsewhere), then touch the desired dropdown item.
    • Each page displayed will contain direct menu links to all dropdowns for that page just below the main menu. So touching 'Information' will display all the dropdowns available under Information as a normal menu item on the next page.
  • On any device, you can navigate to a Mobile Home Page which displays information in a more mobile friendly layout, including a full 'text tree' menu with all dropdowns expanded.
Please let us know via the Contact Page if you have any issues navigating the site.

PDF Document Display

Multiple documents (newsletter and various information) are served as PDF files. By default these are shown as embedded files on a page - allowing you to scroll through the PDF while retaining full menu navigation and site look/feel.
Mobile devices tend to not be able to display (or scroll) through embedded PDF files - In these cases, we will serve the pdf file directly for your device to handle accordingly.

On your current device, you will see PDF files as an Embedded PDF file based on these settings and device information:
User setting: Default based on device
User agent: 'CCBot/2.0 (https://commoncrawl.org/faq/)'
Status: Device is NOT mobile - use embedded PDF

Please let us know via the Contact page if we are not correctly detecting your device type (include the User setting, User agent and status lines above to assist).

You can override our detection and set your desired default PDF viewing option here:
(Your browser must accept cookies to retain setting.)

Default
(by device type): 
Embedded PDF:  Direct PDF:    

Frequently Asked Questions

The following questions/answers may help you on your way!

  • Why can't I logon to the website using my previous (before June 2014) Skymasters logonid/password?
    • When we transitioned from the old site, logonids were maintained, but passwords were not moved. (Passwords are stored with one-way encryption and were not compatible.
    • The first time you access the new members section, use this link to Reset your password
      (There is also a 'Forgot your password?' link in the login dialog - just below 'Login' button.)
      An email will be sent to your registered email address with a link to reset your password.
     
  • Why didn't I receive the password reset email I requested?
    • All emails are sent to your registered email address. If the address we have for you in incorrect - or you no longer have access to that email, you will not receive the reset email. Please send your name, and correct email to us via the Contact Page and we will correct our records.
     
  • Why am I not receiving club emails?
    • All emails are sent to your registered email address. If the address we have for you in incorrect - or you no longer have access to that email, you will not receive club emails.
      If you can login to the site, you can view the email we have in your profile as well as your email subscriptions, and any errors we may have encountered sending you emails.
      If you cannot login to the site, please send your name, and correct email to us via the Contact Page and we will correct our records.
     
  • Why do I see strange characters (Â,â,€, or a ? in black diamond) in some emails received?
    • All our emails explicitly define the character set (charset) the message contains. It is up to your email client to use the charset provided. In many cases we aren't creating these emails - just forwarding them - but we do validate and remove truly invalid characters as part of the forwarding process.. Most emails will contain headers "Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8" or "Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii".
      Some email clients will allow you to override the character set used - and in doing so - the 'strange characters' will appear/disappear. (In Thunderbird for example: View -> Character Encoding will allow you to change your view of the content.)

      Email encoded as UTF-8, viewed with incorrect charset, then viewed as UTF-8: (nothing changed in the email - just the client encoding used to view)
      Correct Charset    Incorrect Charset

      If you have this issue - try a different email client to see if the problem remains. If you want us to take a look, we will need to know your email client (product and version), and the email you are having an issue with...

     

Known Issues

The following issues have been reported and are being researched. We apologize for any inconvenience - but hopefully these workarounds will get you on your way!

  • After displaying the home page slideshow for a period of time, the menu dropdowns fall behind the slideshow.
    • Affects only lower items in Information, Photo Gallery, and Members menus on desktop/laptop computers.
    • Workaround: Reloading the home page resolves the issue. Additionally clicking on the main menu item will navigate to a new page where both the pulldowns will work - and the lower level options will be displayed on the page.