Is JR matchbox incompatible with Futaba radio gear?
There has been a lot of traffic on our club's email list on this topic. No fewer than 5 pilots have encountered problems with using Matchboxes with Futaba equipment (primarily 149DP receivers and Futaba digital servos). Specifically, everything will work fine for a few minutes and then a surface with matched servos will lock up and deflect to one direction. This has resulted in a couple of crashed planes and two of our pilots have been able to recreate the problem on the bench.
One of the incidents, a Matchbox was added to the rudder on a Carden Cap. The plane had dozens of previous problem free flights. Three minutes into the flight after the Matchbox was added, the rudder suddenly fully deflected to the right on a low pass and the plane snapped into the ground. All other surfaces functioned normally during the incident. Upon reaching the plane, the rudder was still locked and receiver power had to by cycled to regain response. The plane had dual Futaba 148DP RX and Futaba digital servos.
Consensus around here seems to be to only use the Matchboxes with JR receivers and servos. We have over 300 members and many pilots with 35% and 40% birds who fly JR and use the Matchbox and I haven't heard of any problems from them, just the people who try to use them with Futaba gear.
Jason