Radios 101

[Guest coaltrain]

Hi All,

 

I have bee nhalf seriouslyy looking at RC aircraft (again) recently. I am a little overwhelmed by the plethora of radio types. FM, PCM, 36mhz, 2.4ghz. etc. I get the mpression the 2.4ghz 'spektrum' jobbies do away with all the old problems with frequency keys and being shotdown (as well as crystals etc).

 

Anyone able to give me a quick rundown? I've tried looking at online RC shops radio faqs and some of the RC forums but they all seem to assume a certain level of knowledge. Which means I have to assume and guess at what the assumed knowledge that I don't have is! (confused? I know I am a little).

 

the Radio would be for electric or slope soarers....

 

Cheers and thanks in advance

 

Coaltrain

 

 

[turboplanner]

I'm on 36 Mhz, works OK for me, but there have been cases of unauthorised operations at a nearby oval a kilometre away taking planes down.

 

2.4 eliminates outside interference, but at a recent major event, several 2.4 aircraft crashed.

 

It turns out that current draw on 2.4 is a lot more, so everyone is going up in battery capacity - when that's done, that looks like the way of the future.

 

 

[Brett]

my next radio with no doubt will be a 2.4gig,,, however have had no problems with the cheap eclipse 7 hitec radio operating on fm or pcm ,,,, just love how with the new radios you never have to worry about forgetting to pull the antenna out and no worries with the antenna in the aircraft either ,,, don't laugh some people have done it before...

 

 

[Adrian Lewer]

i have the Futaba 14MZ 2.4 Ghz (do a quick search for picture)

 

i fly gas turbines with it and it if fantastic, never lost signal with 2.4 (and would not want to either with $15,000 worth of model aircraft) but have hod signal loss (lock out) with 36 Mhz once. (unfortunately in the turbine model)

 

 

[pylon500]

(confused? I know I am a little).

I knew the feeling when I got back into R/C a couple of years back.

 

I've got 3 or 4 old sets of stuff on 27meg, which is basically junk now.

 

The stories I've heard regarding 36meg versus 2.4gig are; yes, you don't need crystals (or keys) for 2.4gig, but 36meg will give you better range (this was a couple of years ago...)

 

The big thing today is the way you can program all the control responses and mixing in the transmitter. :thumb_up:

 

If you want to build a plank 'slopey', you don't have to fiddle around with mechanical mixers or sliding servo's, just dial up 'elevons' in the tranny, whack a servo in each wing and go for it.

 

You can also dial up just the right amount of aileron differential in your normal aircraft, as well as mix a little elevator trim with throttle, maybe even a little rudder trim to hold off the torque.

 

You can have flapperons on your scale gliders, auto trim with flaps, dual rate control responses, and even create an exponential effect giving you small control movements initially (for fine accurate flying) but still give you full movement when you whack the stick over.

 

Best of all, you can create all these effects in your transmitter for a particular model, then select another memory and reprogram for a ten completely different models (including helicopters), all in the one tranny!

 

Things have changed since the old PIXIE gear.

 

Arthur.

 

 

[Guest coaltrain]

Thanks for your input peoples,

 

I'll probably get a radio on the cheap end, or though a lot of the RTFs come with radios... so If I get some hours up in those then perhaps I can then migrate straight into a good Tx...

 

 

[BLA82]

I'm still using a JR2610 and cannot fault it. I currently have eight models pre programed into it and 1 Heli. It's been a great radio and even though it is 36mhz I don't think I will change for a while. They are available at a reasonable price still. Also be very carefull with the so called radios that come with RTF packages. to be honest they come free for a reason. The only one I have ever seen that was any good was the 2.4 that came with an eflite blade and to this day I still use the controller in a few park fliers i have but some of the ones I have seen that come with RC Planes are a nightmare.

 

 

[pylon500]

I'm still using a JR2610 and cannot fault it

I'm currently using the JR6102 set which a techo mate of mine modified to fit the SPECTRUM DX-6, 2.4ghz transmitter board as he liked the smaller receivers and the non crystal situation.

 

Later he got a DX-7 set and gave me the JR set with the 36mhz board refitted, which I run with a JR RS70 synthesizer (non crystal) receiver.

 

Currently flying an elevon delta, a V tail glider, a normal glider and a heli, all from the one set. :thumb_up:

 

Arthur.

 

 

[Adrian Lewer]

Hi all and especialy Pylon500, some of the information you say about the new computer and 2.4 radios is incorrect. you have always been able to do basic mixing with sets including the old 27Mhz,36Mhz as long as the radio had a basic Computer. Hitec radios came out with the Flash 5 some years back (like 15 years) which was 36Mhz and had alot of programming features, Elevon, V tail Etc.

 

2.4 only changes the way the radio transmitts the signal, also it changes the speed it is transmitted at. old sets like 36Mhz where 256 speed my 2.4Ghz is 2048. 3 times faster, but 2.4 now alows us to have 2 way communication. we can have GPS, current draw, engine RPM, speed Etc relayed real time back to the transmitter (if your 2.4 radio is capable) for in flight diagnostics..

 

this is the radio i use it is a futaba 14MZ.

 

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7476/dscf1296wq3.jpg/IMG]

 

 

[Adrian Lewer]

Hi all and especialy Pylon500, some of the information you say about the new computer and 2.4 radios is incorrect. you have always been able to do basic mixing with sets including the old 27Mhz,36Mhz as long as the radio had a basic Computer. Hitec radios came out with the Flash 5 some years back (like 15 years) which was 36Mhz and had alot of programming features, Elevon, V tail Etc. 2.4 only changes the way the radio transmitts the signal, also it changes the speed it is transmitted at. old sets like 36Mhz where 256 speed my 2.4Ghz is 2048. 3 times faster, but 2.4 now alows us to have 2 way communication. we can have GPS, current draw, engine RPM, speed Etc relayed real time back to the transmitter (if your 2.4 radio is capable) for in flight diagnostics..

 

this is the radio i use it is a futaba 14MZ, microsoft windows based 14 channels and each channel is expandable to 8 more. this radio is the duck's gut's

 

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[pylon500]

Hitec radios came out with the Flash 5 some years back (like 15 years)

True enough, although I should point out the last set of radio gear I bought was a SANWA 6 channel on 29mhz AM.

 

I then got into Gliding followed by Hang-Gliding and eventually Ultralights before coming back to flying R/C.

 

I had a lot to learn when I got involved with electrics, now it's inspiring me to look into electric ultralights!

 

Check out This Site!

 

Arthur.