Hey Ray no problem that's a mistake most of us made when trying to sort this stuff out.

Hugger now not completely sure but with the Futaba system the trainer box must be 2.4 (fast) and since it broadcast to the 2.4 little bitty 2.4 receiver that dangles out the buddy cord plug on the back of the master and that info procedes to the master via the buddy plug, I do suspect that the master may be able to function on 72 from there to the airplane. Agine this is just speculation but I'd bet the limiting factor of which futaba you could use as the master is only the version with the square trainer plug.

If anyone knows any further info on the futaba please let us know.

Bruce thank you for your support and I agree with you that those who not have tried it then don,t knock it, Frankly because you simply don't know.

Dennis yes indeed and I too sure miss those days. At one well known 'small' airport out in Chino California before there was a tower out at the intersection of the two runways they had an old park bench for the instructors this in the middle of nowhere but a grand stand seat for watching your student do his obligatory three. At that time there were two operational firefighting B-17's based there and can remember on several occasions having a student up and sitting on that old park bench when the B-17's made departures. now that bench was right there what a grand seat that was.

On one occasision that I definately remember was the student after he did his three he was so excited that he took off and flew home to Brackett airport our home base completely forgetting me out in the middle of nowhere! Chino was the training magnet for entire inland empire area.

OK sorry for digression

John

I was having so much fun with my first flight I got a radio call asking me if i was coming back or did he need to shot me down. Dennis

Back with news on the Futaba 6EX. The system for the Hitecs is working perfectly since I started this and have found that the need for charging that 270mah Nicd to power the system has been charging it about every four days assuming four or five training flights each day. This of course is neccessary for the Hitecs.

Now I mentioned I obtained a new 6EX for cheap with the intention of making up an inexpensive unit for it so I will be able to take on some Futaba students although I prefer the Hitec for myself.

Anyway what I used is a FrSky TFR4/TFR4-B Receiver and a FrSky WTC-1 wireless trainer cable. Total cost of these two were about 35 bucks cannot give the exact amount since someone else purchased the stuff for me, also the fellow who helped figure this stuff out.

This was much simpler than the Hitecs since There is no need to power the Rx with a battery and it is powered as well as works just like the Futaba product.

The wireless cable is plugged into the Rx and this cable plugs in the standard Futaba trainer jack. This rx is bound to the buddy box and this tx becomes the master just like the Futaba system.

I have not used this one at the field yet but hope to friday. It works just like the Futaba unit in the shop. Here are some pictures and also some pictures of the my friends Futaba system plugged to a 9C.

John

I said above that I had used the Futaba system ~~ my bad, it was the "Tactic " cordless system and I sort of liked it. So far I haven't had a chance to use any other system, and if all goes well after next month I won't need any of them. After about 33 years of teaching I plan on just flying my own !!!! Think it will work ???? ENJOY !!! RED

Aw Heck no that ain't never gonna work

You know as well as I do Red that an educator can never quit and its sad when one tries Don,t let it become your "Mr Hollands Opus".


Heading out now this morning for the field and will give my 6EX with the homebrew wireless cord its first field test.


John

John , you are probably right but since I settled in Fla. it seems that all the students I get ( old farts like me ) pass away shortly after they solo . I'm almost afraid to solo someone. Hope your test works out, keep us informed . ENJOY !!! RED

Now pretty well have the setup for wireless buddy system to use Hitec to Hitec Eclipse 7 Pro and up and also the Futaba to Futaba Square plug to Square plug versions that are 2.4.

The Futaba to Futaba system cost about 35 bucks and it works just as well as the Futaba system.

Now for the last combination experiment although with the two cords and Rx's above I have everything I need to take on both Hitec and futaba students and untilize the advantages of the wireless buddy, I did set up yet another cord (a total of three cords) that using the external battery, the FrSky Rx that allows Hitec to be used as the master and the Futaba 6EX to be used as the buddy box. This is a combination that I am not likely to use but I did test this and it also worked well.

The last picture shows the three cords and the two rx's that I ended up with:

John

Well, thanks a lot John [:@][:@].. LOL, <div>
</div><div>As if I didn't have enough projects... now you've made me determined to figure the pin out to make this work on the older 72mhz  Futaba radios with the round cords. No reason it shouldn't work the same as yours, it's just a matter of getting signal to the master from an Rx instead of directly from the buddy box. I'll come back and post when I figure it out.</div>

OK I am delighted to report we had a very successful Boy Scout introductory day last saturday with a total of 39 scouts and the wireless system in use by four teams was very usefull in hanlling so many.

The teams consisted of four intro pilot instructors and all teams used a wireless buddy boxes. Here are the radio combinations used and what wireless system:

Hitec A9 to A9 - Wireless system: FrSky Minima Micro 5

Futaba 12FG to Futaba 9C - Wireless system: Futaba system

Hitec A9 to Hitec Optic 6 Sport - Wireless System: FrSky 8Ch Minima

Futab 9C to 9C using Hitec 2.4 modules - Wireless System FrSky Delta Eight

The wireless systems allow for seamless changovers of the students and we consider the wireless systems a hugh success and very much contributed to the the success of the event.

The trainers used were all Kadet Senior's. This event and others like this also do help in the pursuit of our leader club status which of course is one of the goals.

Will get some photos up in a few minutes:

If anyone were to ask me definately, Free At Last go wireless.

John