Last year when I bought my trainer, it came with an Airtronics 4 channel radio. Last week I purchased a Pico J3 Cub electric park flier. When I got it set up, I found that the throttle is on the right stick and the elevator and rudder are on the left stick. This is somewhat dysfunctional due to the right stick being self centering. I went to my LHS yesterday and they told me the Airtronics is a "mode 1" radio and that they were surprised that it worked at all on the electric plane. When I asked about upgrading to a radio that I wouldn't have these issues with, they suggested a Futaba 9c. Does all of their advice sound accurate? Also, any thoughts on the Futaba? I'm somewhat disappointed that they sold me this radio in the first place.

Thanks in advance,
Craig Hood.

sound like you just got the servos/speed control plugged in the wrong spots on the reciever.

try switchin the plugs for 2 and 3 on the reciever and try that....

also I would take anything that those people at that hobby shop with a grain of salt as it sounds like they just wanted a quick sale..

BTW. the futaba 9c is an excelent radio. i have one and I fly my hanger 9 j-3 cub, nexus chopper, and I used to fly my trainer (rip) all on that radio...

are you flying at a designated field? if so have them check things out before you try the cub... could save you a few bucks in repairs

I'll agree with the above. I only use JR equipment but either way it sounds like a fast talking salesman to me. I dont see any reason that radio shouldnt work.............

Craig:
Did you buy the GWS flight pack to go on the stick ? You have to
make sure it has an 'A' label on it. I have Hitec radios with diff.
servo conn. numbers than your Airtronics receiver. Like the other
post have said, it's just a matter of switching servo locations on
the Rx. It's too bad most help in the hobby shops aren't flyers
like it used to be.

Craig:

For my 2 cents worth, since you are like me and still relatively new to this sport, I personally can't see spending $375-$450 for a radio that may exceeds your current needs.

I started with the cheapie 4-channel job that Tower has and decided that I wanted a computer radio. I finally bought the Hitec Flash 5 that has most of the bells and whistles that the higher end radios have, but for a fraction of the cost. The Flash 5 is going for about $170 and might be worth considering.

Again, just my 2 cents worth.

Crash Master
(Crashing with finese is an art)

OK, thanks guys. Here is another question that I think I already know. Is it safe to assume that any radio should work with any receiver, as long as you have the right channel crystal?

No! Transmitters transmit on either high shift or low shift. Negative Shift For Futaba and Hitec or Positive Shift For Airtronics and JR. A high shift receiver will not work on a low shift transmitter even if it is on the same crystal. You can get some receivers like the Hitec Supreme that will work on either shift by plugging in a jumper wire into the right position. Note however that it will only work on one transmitter at a time.

So Futaba and Hitec use the same components, Airtronics and JR use the same components. When I say components I mean receivers and servos. I know I must sound like an idiot, but this is confusing to me.

Actually, I think Hitec does have a shift selectable TX, the Prism. The specs say that with its shift selectable option, the 7X is capable of operating almost any 72 MHz FM receiver regardless of what brand it is... Anybody know if this is true?

CEH:

Airtronics is an animal of its own. The wire sequence at the servo
plug is different from JR , Hitec or Futaba. I can use JR or Futaba
servos in my Hitec Rx. There is nothing wrong with the Air. equip.
They make a very good system.

f2Racer: The new Eclipse and JR 8103 have the shift option. My
older Prism 7x won't except for PPM to PCM.

That sounds like an ideal radio to have if thats the case. I would really like to know.

Nobody knows untill they ask !!!.....Alot of things still befuddle me!!

Didn't Airtronics change to JR plugs about 3 years ago and drop their own plugs?

Harry

When I bought the flight pack, the guy at the HS said that Airtronics and JR were the same.

Craig.

Craig:
I would suggest you simply stay with the Airtronics system until
you find that you want to expand to 5 or 6 channel functions. At
that time you should look at the Hitec Eclipse 7 ch. with 7 model
memory. The current price is 275.00 w/ 4 servos. Some dealers
have had it for as low as 235.00 -- I just bought mine for 180.00
for the Tx only from Hobby Horse.

I see that the Hitec Eclipse is offered in a Spectra version. What is that?

Craig.

As far as the servos go all you have to do is make sure the wires colors are matched up with whatever equipment you have. I use JR. I gave my Futaba stuff away but I still have a couple of Futaba servos that I use for throttle servos. All I had to do is trim of the little tab off of the side to make it shaped like the JR servos.

Craig:
The Spectra module lets you change to any of the frequencies
buy dialing the two screws in the module to the freq. you want
then change the Rx crystal to the same number.

I have both the Spectra and the Eclipse; each with the Spectra module. Either one can be set to high or low deviation and will run any PWM FM reciever from futaba, hiteck, airtronics or JR.