Hello this is my first time in a forum. I need help I am trying to piece together a spad thrasher plane to try and save some of my balsa planes until I get better later.
I have a JR Quattro TX and a Futaba 4YBF TX with all of the matching recievers and servos in two of my RTF trainers right now. I just bought a Hitec reciever it says rcd 3500 fm/hfd-08rd on it I t has HS422 servos with it. I am trying to make this work with one of the two transmitters that I listed above. I would rather use thr JR it feels better in my hands. Can I just buy a Hitec RX crystal on a channel to match either the JR or futaba. The hitec RX says Futaba compatible on it am I stuck using my futaba TX?
Will the wall charger for either the JR or Futaba charge my new Hitec RX battery? What kind of battery and other gear will I need to make this all work together?
I have so many ???'s and no one to answer all of them. Any help would be appreciated.

Hitec and Futaba are compatable, Not so with JR. Jr uses a positive shift, Futaba and Hitec use negative shift. You can buy Hitec receivers that are compatable with JR but they must be special ordered. Always use a crystal designed for that particular brand, i.e. Hitec in Hitec, Futaba in Futaba and JR in JR as they are not usually interchangeable due to minor differences in the electrical designs of the internal oscillators. You can also buy aftermarket receivers from FMA that will be compatable with any one of the above, just specify the transmitter type when ordering the receiver. If you are new to the Radio Control stuff, you might want to check out www.torreypinesgulls.org/Radios.htm for a pretty easy to read tutorial on the different types or RC equipment and differences between PPM, PWM, PCM etc.

Hi-tec/JR and Futaba servos are all interchangeable. Some makes rotate in a different direction but this is not a problem providing you have reversing switches or can flip the servo arm through 180 degrees.

I always match the transmitter and receiver (more accurately I always use Futaba transmitters and receivers - personal preference) and a variety of Futaba/JR/Hi-tec servos. Whatever you do make sure that the crystals manufacturer is the same as the component it is plugged into (i.e. Futaba crystal in Futaba Transmitter / Hi-tec crystal in Hi-tec receiver etc)

Batterys are compatible and switches are too. Not sure about the charger though.

I hope someone can help with the rest of your questions.

In response to Rodney, the positive shift is the thing that makes the servo rotate in the opposite direction. Apart from this they are fully compatible.

My futaba radio is on ch 46, so if I buy a HITEC Dual Conv Receiver RX Crystal Chan 46 will that be alright?
Will the wall charger for my futaba charge the hitec reciever battery? I have a new MKII quick charger but to many questions about charging batteries to start aking them now
one thing at a time.

Yes and yes, the chrystal for Hitec is what you want. The Futaba charger should do just fine with the battery.

Mark Shuman

Thank you guys!! I had no idea there was such a wealth of Knowledge available.
I will be asking many more ??'s in the future. maybe soon I will be able to answer a few myself,
thanks again.

Siclic33, Sorry, you are wrong on the definition of shift. The JR and Airtonics systems transmitt a freqency which varies above the nominal (your channel frequency) by approximatelly 5 KC while the Negative shift transmitters frequency shifts down approximately 5KC as the FM signal is modulated. Servo direction has no relationship to positive or negative shift, rotational direction is determined by how the feedback pot in the servo and servo motors are wired. You can change any servos direction of rotation by simply reversing the two leads to the motor and interchanging the two outside leads on the pot. You might want to check out www.torrypinesgulls.org/Radios.htm for more specific information.

I stand corrected!

Just done a bit more research. Transmitter and Rx need to be shift matched. (I knew there was a reason I always used matched transmitters and receivers).

Servos can be almost any make. JR, Futaba and Hitec servos will work with hardly any adjustment (tab may need to be cut off Futaba plug to fit other receivers).

Rotation direction is to do with wiring and can be corrected by either re-wiring (as rodney said) or servo reversing or switching servo arm through 180 degrees as I stated in my earlier post.

The only servo incompatibility (can't JUST plug and go{well of any well known brand... can't say on the obscure stuff...}) in the last 10 to 20 years... Airtronics. They had a different wire order than anyone else (reversed + and - leads for the battery and servos)

Aritronics FINALLY got with the program and started using the same wiring order as everyone else... but that created another problem... Old Airtronics and new Airtronics, airborne components, don't mix.

You can get (or make) adapters to make things work though.

I can't remember if Airtronics uses the + or - shift.

All other airborne components... plug servos and batteries between brands (just leave old Airtronics out of it)

If you find a servo that has 4 wires... forget it. don't use it... some collecter may want it though.