I have a very simple question: What is the maximum range for commercially available radio control units?

from what ive heard its say 1 1/2 miles to 3 miles, farther than you can see.

Usually much farther than you can determine the orientation of the model. It's strictly line of sight. You can fly so far out that you can't tell which direction the airplane is traveling or if it's upside down or which direction you are turning. 1,000' is a long way out.

Of course, that range is when the reciever and transmitter batteries are fully charged and in good condition, and everything else is working right.

Most transmitters put out the same amount of power. The range is determined more by the recievers sensitivity, usually not stated in the literature. This is usually in microvolts per meter and can vary considerably between manufacturers. Many of the less expensive park flyer types have poor sensitivity (probably intentional to prevent interferance between nearby locations) which limit range to a 100 yards or so. A typical Futaba, Airtronics, JR etc. is much better, usually in the range of a mile or two under ideal conditions. There are really two items of interest, sensitivity as described above and selectivity which is defined as ability to seperate the desired frequency from any nearby interferance usually stated as bandwidth selectivity.

I highly doubt you can control a plane 2 miles out. I have seen planes lost because it was out of range, usually about only 1 kilometer or so (about 0.6 of a mile). Again, a RX will have more range if its straighter up than farther out.

tIANci

Courious in why a receiver would have greater range straight up from the transmitter than further out. Just trying to learn.

I'm curious, too.

But to respond to the original question, there are frequency sharing agreements which indicate safety from interference beyond 3 miles. That's two fields, 3 miles apart, not affecting each other. One might make some assumptions here, and say that at a mile and a half, one transmitter could contol its plane, while a similar transmitter at the other field couldn't. I think that assumption would be flawed.

I expect the control capability drops off rapidly beyond a half mile or so. Not that I would ever fly that far away! I can't see it well at a quarter mile!

Good luck,
Dave Olson

closer to the ground and you have more sources of interference, so your signal/noise ratio goes down, with the end result being you need a stronger signal to be able to control the model.

Under labratory conditions the max limit is 5 miles. As I remember of the FCC rules for hobby transmitters. In real life 1/2 to 1 1/2 miles is max in the real world numbers.

Mark Shuman