The RC airplane crash that CGRetired mentioned above was due to a local radio station saturating the local flying bands with test frequencies during the airshow. There was no evidence of faulty equipment or mishandling and the pilot was cleared of any wrong-doing in the incident. The pilot had a very sophisticated and thorough PCM radio setup in the plane including failsafe settings, the result was two dead and four injured.

Radio safety isn't something to be taken lightly. I believe in thoroughly range checking an airplane before its first flight and I will not fly any airplane that displays even slight issues during a range check. I also don't "play around" with radio equipment or experiment with what may or may not work.

That having been said, while I am a very happy Futaba owner (7CAF, 4YBF, several R127DFs, and 1 FP-R138DP PCM receiver), I don't think Futaba and Hobbico should have a license to fleece me at their will. Hobbico has enough faith in the quality of Performance Devices crystals to sell them for GWS and Airtronics radio systems through Tower Hobbies. They just don't want to cut into Futaba crystal sales, so they don't carry the Performance Devices crystals for Futaba.

Tower Hobbies gets $12.99 each for Futaba dual conversion 72Mhz crystals, while my local Hobbytown USA whacks us $16 or $17 each for these crystals. Why can Hitec sell their dual conversion crystals for $7.99 or less while JR and Futaba get $13 to $17? Anybody who's flown Hitec dual conversion receivers knows they're at least as good as the other major brands. Hitec receivers and crystals sell for 30% less than comparable JR and Futaba units, but are just as good.

Futaba makes the Tower Hobbies brand radios, and they make the Hobbico and Tower Hobbies brand receivers. A Futaba R168DF 8-channel FM receiver is $59.99 plus $12.99 for a Futaba crystal from Tower Hobbies. The same receiver badged as a Hobbico Command receiver or a Tower Hobbies System 3000 receiver will only run you $49.99 including the crystal.

Tower is selling Futaba crystals with their Hobbico and Tower Hobbies brand receivers, so at some level matching receiver brand to crystal brand isn't necessary. Granted, in this case, all three receivers are basically identical units except for the decals and packaging. I can't imagine why the Futaba packaging and decals are worth an additional $23 versus Hobbico or Tower Hobbies, but Hobbico thinks they are.

I have personally seen Performance Devices crystals in Futaba and GWS receivers and the planes in question flew perfectly with typical field radio traffic present. I've also flown the same GWS receivers with the $3.99 OEM GWS 72Mhz dual conversion crystals at high altitude, distant range, and fast speeds and again there was no glitching, no radio problems, nothing but rock solid performance.

I'm not advocating never spending more than $4 for a radio crystal, I'm just saying that there are high quality, safe alternatives out there to paying your LHS $17 for a receiver crystal. The GWS RD8SL shows that top quality FM receivers don't have to cost $50 or $60 and that top quality radio crystals don't have to cost $13 to $17. My experiences with Performance Devices has shown me that you can get top performance wihout having to use OEM crystals in your receiver. If Hobbico doesn't agree, then it sure is strange that Tower Hobbies is selling Performance Devices crystals.

Futaba makes great products, but Futaba's pricing scheme is stupid. Tower Hobbies will sell you a full 4YF radio system w/ flight pack for $3 less than the cost of the flight pack alone plus a receiver crystal. They pay you $3 to take their transmitter, transmitter battery, and wall charger. Suckers buy flight packs alone instead of saving three dollars and then selling the transmitter set. Suckers pay $72.98 for the R168DF and a Futaba crystal when they could buy the exact same receiver and crystal in the Hobbico or Tower Hobbies package for $49.99 instead. Suckers pay $13 to $17 for a receiver crystal when proven alternatives are available for 4 for $20.

Anybody who thinks I'm wrong had better be reading this e-mail on a geniune IBM brand PC, because nothing else is OEM.