ORIGINAL: twoturnspin
So back to your original question "Why use PCM?", the main reason in my view is safety. I have changed all my glow (and electrics other than foamies) over to PCM because I would rather lose a plane than kill/injure someone. I did this after reading about a young person killed in the UK by a runaway aircraft - yes a freak accident but one that would have been avoided if the owner of the plane were using a PCM Rx set to idle on failsafe.
I was at a pattern contest earlier in the year when an Rx in a 5kg model went off line (crystal fell out) and it was terrifying. Sad thing was that the Rx was PCM but the failsafe position for throttle had not been set or didn't work for some reason. The model was in the middle of a loop when the Rx failed and continued to loop between 200 and 500 or so feet in the air for about 10 minutes before it ran out of fuel, by that time it had flown over the town before landing in the grounds of the town's university (amazingly landing upright with no damage). No problem in the end but that was pure luck. It could just have easily crashed into a home, sporting field, town street, etc - or worse a person. If this had of occured that would have been the end of that flying field and incredibly bad publicity for our hobby nationally were a death to result.
Of course PCM does not stop unfortunate incidents happening but it does reduce the risk significantly and I reckon that's a good thing.
All my PCM Rx are set to throttle to idle and hold the control surfaces. All my Rx are JR, I have 2 x RS10DS (dual conversion synthesised), 2 x NES649 (single conversion), 1 x RS77S (synthesised), 1 x R770S. All seem to work ok.
I reckon you just had a bad R1000DS, this could have occurred with a PCM or PPM Rx so it's really nothing to do with the modulation of the Rx.
I hope this helps to answer your question,
Twoturnspin
PS. I'll bet the re-scuplting you did with a hammer felt good!
Yes I read your post Twoturnspin.
Valid points, but I also am well versed in that terrible accident in th UK.
In that particular case, sure, would have helped. Crystal falling out, not part of the discussion, just stupidity.
As far as not being convinced after the "excellent article", its quite easy. I have been around RC stuff for a long time, that is enough to not be convinced.
I think, as you pointed out, that there will be many contrary views, that I should retract the question and just forget it. Especially with the opinion of banning PPM on models above 40 size. Any engine/model, no matter how big or small is lethal when out of control.
And just for the record, I have seen more models go out of control and crash, on PCM than on PPM. Sure, the failsafe part is a good safety feature. The Lockout? I think is a totally bad design.
Enough said.
I think it best if I will ask to have this thread removed.
Thanks for all input.