chall

I just got an old (10 yrs?) 4-channel Futaba AM transmitter in with a bundle of used airplane parts. Is this transmitter legal any more? I thought I understood that there was a major switch in frequencies about 10 yrs ago, and that all the older transmitters were scrapped.

But I'm a complete newbie, so perhaps I misunderstood completely. Even if illegal, can I disable the transmitter somehow and still use it with a flight simulator (presuming I can figure out how to connect it to my PC of course!). Or am I still beaming out banned airwaves...

Thanks for any advice you can give. I'd hate to get off on the wrong foot in a new hobby!

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

www.futaba-rc.com

Go to the Futaba site above and check FAQ's and there will be a listing of the models numbers that are still legal. Also check on the back of you radio for a gold colored sticker labeled RCMA and a date. This would indicate if the radio had been updated to "narrow band" standards. Those standards took effect in 1991.

John

Lynx

The frequency's weren't really changed, the bandwidth of the signal was reduced a bit to squeeze more space and eliminate problems. Namely they went from 10khz bandwidth to 5 (I think at least) You should still be able to get the transmitter narrow banded if it's not, it's usually just a matter of swapping out a few of the components on the board and checking the RF signal on a scope to make sure it's clean enough.

strato911

Actually Lynx, they went from 20Khz bandwidth to 10Khz (channel freq ±5Khz). Although there are a few places still converting wide-band radios to narrow-band, it is illegal to do so.

If your radio is narrow-band, it is legal to use. I still use my old AM Futaba Attack Tx.

If you're unsure if it's narrow-band, click here to check.

strato911

Chall - if you want to add a trainer port to a radio which doesn't currently have one (like a Futaba Attack) for use with a sim, check out http://users.belgacom.net/TX2TX/. It worked with mine, so I will be retiring it as soon as I replace the AM Rx with an FM Rx.

chall

Thanks to everyone. These answers have been immensely helpful!

C. Hall
Raleigh, NC

chall

Just a postscript... the Futaba unit is Model FP-T4L (72.830 MHz/Ch. 52) and appears to be obsolete. I pulled the crystal to avoid broadcasting, and was able to wire it for use with the FMS simulator after first finding where to tap off the signal; then using a single transistor to invert the signal.

I'll post the details on the FMS website under "Futaba FP-T4L" in the Parallel Port forum.