I was receiving some kind of interferance using my current channel (channel 45) the other day at our field. I was wondering if I could change crystals and try a different channel and if so do I have to stick with something near channel 45 or can I pick up anything as long as its fm and 72 freq??

forgot to mention the radio is a Futava 6exa

not futava.....................futaba

if you want to change channels on a TX and RX you will need to send it in to be retuned to that channel you can not just change crystals.(at least without taking a chance of trouble like losing control of your plane) altho i know people do it and say it works just fine but all it takes is just once and someone gets hurt or WORSE .check out futabas website in there FAQ sections it tells all about radios do`s and dont`s hope this helps.

http://www.futaba-rc.com/faq/index.html

On the RX end, yes, you can just change crystals. Some Futaba RXs have "high band" and "low band" on them for the top half and bottom half of the channels. If your RX says that, you'll want to stay on that end of the channels.

On the TX end, if your radio has a large module that comes out, then you can change channels easily by replacing the whole module. However, if all you have is a crystal that can be removed then bassmanh is correct, you shouldn't just change the crystal. (I'm not familiar with your particular TX, and I'm too lazy to go look it up ) In fact, I am under the impression that it is a violation of the FCC rules and if something went wrong you can be pretty sure any insurance (AMA, or whatever) would try to use it as a reason not to cover you. However, a lot of guys do change channels by a channel or two with no problems, since the tuning differences would be small. You shouldn't do it, but it has been done many times.

In general, you are almost always best off with small changes anyway.

In the US, FCC regulations prohibit changing the frequency on ANY transmitter, including ours. Yes, people do it, but it can (and has) caused problems.

If you decide to risk it, and can actually buy a transmitter crystal, stay with one channel up or down.
Dennis-

Before you get too hot to change channels you may want to investigate the cause of the interferance. Your user manual should give you adive on how to test your range. Test it at home and at the field, just to make sure. If it glitches in both places you probably need to redo your antenna routing and test your connections. Make sure your RX battery is fully charged.

I don't see any technical reason why you can't do this, but I agree with loading - you should try to investigate the cause of the interferance first. Also, I think the best answer here will be "Ask Futaba"...

As others have noted, with Futaba you need to stay within the same "band", i.e. channels 36-60, plus send your transmitter in for service ($30 or so).

My recommendation? If you can, find what others are flying, and pick a channel nobody else uses.

Also, be sure to ask around, there may be channels that "everyone knows" are problems. This happened in my club. I spent the money to change to one of these channels, only to find that the club never publicized the fact that the channel was banned, because "everybody knows, it's been so many years."