mckibben

I had 2 Kraft radios gave to me They are single stick 6 channel The inspection stickers showe that it is a narrow band radio. Glod in color.
Did Kraft ever make a narrow band radio? I am wanting to know if they are legal to use or dot
Thanks[8D]

John C

Can you tell us what frequency they are on? If they are on 72 mhz, and the sticker is a little gold trapezoid with AMA (in black IIRC) on them, then te Txs were narrow banded likely by an aftermarket source such as Radio South. If they are on 27 mhz, thre was never a need to narrow band as this frequency retains the original channel spacing.

I'd be equally concerned with any receivers you may have. If they are not narrow band as well, they could be influenced by Txs on adjacent channels.

John C

SGibson

My Feedback: (2)

Single stick Kraft radios usually sell for a premium on Ebay. Collectors of old American made RC sets will snap them up if they are in good cosmetic shape. If the radios are Kraft Signature Series single stick radios, they might go for $400 to $600 each on Ebay. I know. I collect old radios.
S Gibson

gzkpez

Kraft did make the legal narrow band, AM and FM. Most of the older Kraft AM was easily updated to 91 standards at the time, did not cost to much at the time. I believe FM was always narrow band. If you have an AM you will have problems getting new receivers. If it is FM then it like JR in shift if you need a receiver. If you can put a picture up or two we can help you. There are still one or two places that can service the RF now.
They are pretty nice units.
Greg

mckibben

The Kraft radios I have as in two are FM and I have the reciever and 18 servos. They are in very good shape minus new batteries. So they very well may be nerrow band. The inspection sticters say they are
I would be willing to sell one with 6 servos if interested. I want to use the other on a cub piper. If interested get with me at [email protected]. I could email pictures to you

Thank for the info. This is a great website to find things out TOM[8D]

mckibben

Futher info They are on 72 band channel14 and 44 the recievers cane with the radio when new. the gold sticker has AMA on it.
Is there any sure way to tell? like send them to AMA or such. I want to use one of them .
Tom[8D]

mckibben

Thanks For all the info
Tom[8D]

gzkpez

The Gold Sicker was certification that they were narrow band, in the old days when one entered a large contest, or at a show they would check them and add the sicker if it passed. Silver Sicker was that it was not, but good enough till they added the odd channels. I suspect that all the Kraft FMs were, but am not 100% sure. An FM Kraft transmitter is very desirable then the AM as you can use some of the new receivers on it. Alot of us like the old nostalgia and such.

mckibben

I was glad to get all the info on my Kraft MK III radio. The sticker is gold It says R/CMA Fm check, AMA Date.
I saw they bring a fair amount of money on Ebay But I have decided to use them.
Should I use the reciever that came with it? Or use a never reciaver? And What brand would work?
I know I could get a few bucks for the two radios and 18 servos . But after I spent the money I would have no radios and no money.
They might be a nice radio to use.
I would like to know on the reciever thing.
Thanks TOM[8D]

Troy Newman

I think what people are trying to tell you is that these are very desirable items that you should sell on Ebay and then use a small portion of that money to purchase something more modern with a little better reliability.

The collectors like to have the stuff not screwed up by use.

The gold stickers were put on the radios prior to 1991. So if the radios we updated to 1991 standards they were obviously built before that and probably long before....I know that most of the current manufacturers were selling 1991 compliant equipment back as far as about 1987-1988.

The radio equipment of today is head and shoulders above those systems in terms of reliability, features and repair capability. Single Stick radio boxes are extremely high demand items as there are some old guys (just joking about that word old) that still fly Single stick and there are not any products manufactured for them. So if you learn to fly single stick eventually you will need to go to a modern radio anyway.


Look at this way. Say the radios were built early 80's which is likely. They are over 25 years old now. The reliability of electronics and the improvements of today are so much better than these older systems. Not knocking the Kraft radios they were among the best made back then.

Another look is are you using a TRS 80 or Commodore 64 to read these forums? Would you consider using one of these systems to surf the Internet on say a 1200buad modem.

If not then why would you risk your new model to something that in 1983 was state of the art but you can get a really reliable system today that has way more features, capability and solid connection to the model than those systems in question. The servos are about 400times better and more accurate than those were as well. They are also better in the conditions (vibration), smaller and lighter

By the way I have a Kraft Signature series radio in my collection of goodies as well. I would not sell it at this time however you won't find me sticking it a model either. The basic $200 radio system today is Pentium 4 system compared to the TRS80 of the past.


Troy Newman
Team JR

TFF

By the letter of the law all 72 mhz on FM has to be narrow band; the FCC required that when they wnt to the 50 channels. If the radio is in good condition use it. I got a present last Sunday at the hobby shop; I walked in and sitting in the used pile two 6C radios FM with Kraft FM recievers $20 for both. I have a Futaba 9C but I collect the krafts and have 8 narrow band radios and I wish I had more.

CESSNA 421

My Feedback: (17)

What Troy Newman says is partially true in my opinion. I purchased 2 new Kraft Signature series radios in 1980 one in the spring and one in the fall and used them for competition. I still use them today on 6 meters and have never had a problem. I doubt if any radios built in the past 15 years will be around or for that matter used in 20 years like the Kraft equipment is. The new "computer" stuff is great for what it is intended for but the new radios will never have the longevity or the class of the old stuff.

I have a JR 10X radio that I use in my 40% scale models however if I could get a large servo with match boxes and optical isolators to work with my Kraft receiver I would never have bought the JR.

Grampaw

When I got into RC, many moons back, my first radio was a Heathkit 4 Ch. Single Stick.
The Stick design came from Kraft, as did many components on the radio. Actually the Stick was a hollow shaft with wirng coming up inside and running to a Potentiometer inside a knob mounted atop the stick. So I really had Elevator on the back & forth motion, Ailerons on the side to side motions and Rudder by turning the top mounted knob. It was a blast to fly after you finally mastered the trick of it.

The TX was just a slim case that rested in the pilot's left hand, with the middle finger of the left hand working the throttle lever that stuck out of the side of the case...much like a Trim lever did.

The following summer I had to learn to fly two stick transmitters to be able to teach the new guys to fly, as most all of them showed up with a new Airtronic 2 stick TX! Made me love my single sticker more. Thanks to Phil K.

BuschBarber

My Feedback: (2)

A couple of years ago I attended a Jet meet in Winamac, Indiana. It was called the Spiderman Jet Meet and was in October. There was a young guy who only had one usable arm. He was flying a Skymaster F18, with a Two Stick Tx that had a Single Stick Knob glued to the top of the Aileron/Elevator Stick. He used that for Rudder. He was a very good pilot.

In the 80's, I helped some pilots that only had Single Stick radios. Some of my fellow RC club members, today, have Ace Single Stick Tx's.

flicka5

My Feedback: (2)

The solution of course is to update an older single stick Tx. to the new spread spectrum world. This I have done with my JR single stick Tx which works great and at a resonable price. This upgrade can also be performed on a Kraft single stick Tx. with a little more work since they don't have an easily repaced module as does the JR. The Kraft radios were built with military grade electronic components which is perhaps one reason they have demostrated such a long service life! Flew Kraft equiptment for 30 years and they were extremely smooth and reliable! Much superior to ACE equiptment!

ronwc

My Feedback: (404)

My first "good" radio was a EK single stick back about 1968 - I now have a few others and still use them. Although my main radio is a Futaba UAFS, the SS work fine. They are all gold stickered, except the Ek which is still legal on 26.995 - here are a few pics -

flicka5

My Feedback: (2)

Ron,
A man after my own heart with the thought: Single Sticks Forever. I may have 35 single sticks but don't have images showing all together! Mine include Futaba, Ace, JR, Heathkit,
and a bunch of yellow Krafts. I may have to get around to converting a Kraft to 2.4GHz to have a talking piece for the youngsters![sm=confused.gif]