MikeGreenshields
Posts: 172
Joined: 3/15/2005
From: Fountain Valley,
CA, USA
Status: offline
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Range is a great question. This is going to be long. Sorry...
In our industry, there is really no definition of "full range". If you look through other radio manufacturer's websites, you'll find no one actually publishes range specifications. They all tend to use two basic categories "Park Flyer" or "Full Range".
The reason that no one publishes the exact numbers is because a giant amount of different conditions affect range with these radios. There are several reasons for this including being limited to 100mW output and the short wavelength among others.
So, when we set out to "categorize" the range of the radio, we looked at two things.. 1. As compared to other radios and their technology, is this more of a "Park Flyer" radio or more of a "Full Range" radio. 2. In actual use how did it really "perform".
Condition 1. Park Flyer or Full Range. In terms of output, this is a full range radio. "park flyer" radios at the time (and some still are) had only 10mW. This radio is closer to the 100mW maximum output allowed by the FCC. (There is some variance here because output actually varies in use, so it's more of a range of mW output rather than a fixed number..) So in terms of technology, output, and comparison of those design conditions it is a full range radio. Our radio also, of course, is certified and meets all FCC and Canadian regulations.
Condition 2. How does it do in practice. This is obviously a more difficult question to answer because there is no stated industry standard and none of our competitors really make a claim about range. So, we simply looked at two things in this area..
How did it compare in actual side by side tests?
Can you fly a reasonable/normal type flying model without worry of going out of range?
Side by side field tests were pretty easy. We turned it on and walked the tx away from the rx with the different radios all at the same time. At the places we did this with, the radios we used for comparison (other brands, claimed full range, 100mW output radios, same basic price range) all had over 4000 feet of range on the ground, line of sight. That's not a claim, that's simply what we found. Just so you know, the two people could not see each other and had to communicate by mobile phone so that they could tell each other if the signal was good, servo response was correct, etc..
We, of course, flew the radio a lot in a lot of different types of models in a lot of different places. In every case we could fly the model farther away than we could see it. We have several test pilots that actually used binoculars so that they could see the plane farther than normal conditions. We quantified most of these results and found that 40-60 size planes typically cannot be seen or oriented much past 3000 feet and the plane was in control even when it flew out of sight. We find that the sailplane guys are actually the most demanding. They will actually fly more than 3500 feet away from themselves as low as 10 feet off the ground chasing thermals. You can't do this much with a 40 size plane but these pilots with their eagle eyes and 120" span planes do it regularly. They all report the same. The range was fine and they never lost control.
In our research we found that most flying at power plane fields is done within a 1200 foot radius from the pilot. The guys flying 40% scale are maxing out at around 2500 feet at the most (expect as those pilots improve their skills, they actually tend to fly closer....)
From a comparative standpoint, the radio is "full range". And to us, full range means performing as well as our contemporaries in general and in practice being able to fly the plane farther away than it can be seen. That seems to be between 3000 and 5000 feet in the air and 3500 feet on the ground and in the conditions we tested it in, the radio did these things.
There is no 1-answer on range because installation, battery, weather, sun spots, amount of local interference and other variable affect it. That's why our competitors tend not to make any scientific claims about range and why it was frankly so hard for us to test the radio. We had no industry standard to compare to really and no standard conditions to use. So, the rating is full range and with proper installation, except for the most extreme of examples perhaps, the radio is going to have vastly more range than your eyes.
If you're planning on using a camera and tv screen and want to fly it 20,000 feet away, you'll need different equipment because with 100mW of output, it simply is not going to have 4-5 miles of range in any "real" environment. No 2.4GHz radio does today.
We flew this radio in helis, gliders, sport power planes, big and small electrics, SAM stuff using old magneto ignition, turbines, edf big and small, big scale, little foamies, indoor foamies and helis. It works in every application we found and had range that always exceeded the pilots needs or expectations.
It would be great if the industry came up with a standard and we all used it to measure I guess. But in the end, the actual use matters much more than the theoretical standards that may not even properly represent real-life use anyway. And in every case, our pilots have shown the radio to be reliable and to demonstrate proper range that back up the claim of "full range".
Mike
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Mike Greenshields
Product Manager
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RE: *Airtronics RD8000 2.4 GHz* - 
