ORIGINAL: Thomas B
Horizon/Spektrum has repeatedly stated that they will not be doing Spektrum modules for aircraft use, for any radio system including JR.
I have always felt this was a very shortsighted postion, but with some of the new features of the DX-7, it is now much harder to module the system for older radio use. The new DX-7 has done away with PPM encoding on the TX and sends direct digital from the sticks to the DX-7 tx rf unit to the DX-7 RX, speeding up the link.
If they modulize the DX-7, they would have to add a PPM or PCM translator to the front end of the module, which does slow things down a little bit more...
Some people have converted DX-6 tx boards to work with the 9303, Hitec and Futaba module systems. There is a thread over on R/C groups in the DIY electronics section if you care to research it. To be fair to Hitec/Spektrum, this is probably not the forum to duscuss the details of those conversions.
Untill someone else rolls out a 2.4 gHz module solution, the XtremeLink module system that is close to being released is the only game in town.
http://www.xtremepowersystems.net
It seems like they (JR) are going to be loosing money if they don't come up with some sort of module conversion. At the same time if they do I would imagine it would put Spektrum out of business (or seriously reduce) because why would I buy a Spektrum when I could just convert my beloved 9303. Right now I'll tell you this, the first time I see someone show up at my field with one of the Xtremepowersystem setups and it is a good as they say my money is going to them. I have frequency conflicts at my field now and I'm holding off buying the synthesized module so I can go 2.4gig. I could see buying a module but not a whole new radio system. The claimed capabilities (of xtremepwr) is pretty impressive, including all the sensors you could possibly want (for real time telemetry) and even enough bandwidth for live video! Impressive if they can actually deliver. It seems to me that JR would benefit from providing existing customers the ability to upgrade existing transmitters. Even if it wasn't quite as good, such as no video capability and even no telemetry I would probably still go with the JR module over xtreme because it a factory supplied upgrade, but if it's not available then I guess there is only one choice.