This response should have been referenced to my own earlier post (3 above) as an additon to that post. Sorry for any confusion, but it seems my problem / question is similar to Gary's and thought someone could shed some light on it.

The throttle push rod is as provided by Great Planes with the ARF. It is steel wire with the supplied nylon clevis at the carb. arm and a brass screw-lock pushrod connector on the servo arm. The photos are from the assembly manual but my plane is set up exactly the same except that I used a new S3004 servo for the throttle and new S3010 servos for the rudder and elevators. I also have the battery and receiver in the reverse of that shown (battery nearest the throttle servo). It is hard to see, but the antenna runs out under the elevator push rods (the ones with the double wheel collars linking them). There must be hundreds of planes with this setup, but I have heard of none with my problem yet.