I'm very surprised there are so many guys here flying with Futaba. Where I fly there are about 30 or 40 different pilots out there in a week and there are only a couple of us using Futaba. JR and Spektrum are number one. JR pushed to get there 2.4 systems out on the market a couple years before Futaba and Hitec, most the guys jumped on the train, pretty much everyone of them has lost at least one plane to the rushed system with there mystery crashes and brown out problems but if you speak with them today about it they are still loyal to them. Last week I got to fiddle with a couple of the new JR 18s that a few of my wealthy friends bought. Truth be told these radios are about 800 bucks so not so out of line when compared to other high end radios. I was impressed with some of the features and under whelmed with others. I got the feeling it was more of a good 9 channel with a lot of programming improvements. It's really a great radio for scale pilots and multi engine pilots. 3-D pilots with a lot of servos will also find it useful.
For most sport pilots it is just over kill though. I'm at a point in time when I'm building smaller planes with less sophistication so my old Futaba 9-C still works for me. I'm building a plane as a gift for an old friend with a like new 9-C and he has bought a couple of the JR radios. I have hopes that maybe he will see his way into handing over the old Futaba to me. Mine has been in the shop a couple of times in the last few years. I don't need better but one less used then mine would be nice!!
John, were you from one of the original farming families?? Or like me and moved there when they started building homes in the area??