Hello everyone!

After reading these forums for quite some time, I finally decided to take the plunge and get started on learning to fly. I purhcased a Sig Kadet LT40 and a Futaba radio to get started. The LT40 was an ARF and after spending some time putting the pieces together, I am finally at the point where I am installing the radio equipment in the plane. My question is, when I plug the servos in to the receiver and turn on the radio and receiver, some of the servos seem to "chatter" even when i have no linakage connected to the servos, not even sevo arms, is this normal? The receiver is the Futaba R148DF and the servos are Futaba S3004's.

Any input you can offer will be gretly appreciated.

Great forum by the way!!

JesseV.

go for a short walk with your Rx, a couple of servos, Rx battery and the Tx. about 100yrds should do it, then give it a test.

I suggest this because alot of houses create all sorts of RF noise making servos "chatter a bit"

for instance i can't setup any of my stuff on 35.020Mhz (UK freq) due to the servos moving about too much, but at the flying site it's fine

Just be sure to do a range check of some sort at the field and you should be fine



Excuse me if my post doesn't fully make sense, but it's just gone 2am and i need sleep

It's normal. Mine do it all the time. It gets annoying but its ok.

JesseV,

First of all - Welcome to RCU. Good to have you participating.

Try moving the TX away from the plane a few feet with the antenna collapsed. You might be swapping the RX. If it still continues to chatter, follow the advise of "ice the rc man", and "Pilot Chad".

Hi Jesse. Welcome to RC flying. I'm sure you will enjoy this hobby as we all do.

Normally, servo's will chatter if the transmitter is not turned on. Turn on the TX then turn on the RX (in that order) and the chattering will probably go away. This is the normal process, TX first then RX. The problem this poses is that you must be aware of others that may be on your frequency (channel) when you are at or near the flying field, so make sure you observe the frequency control at your particular field.

Another thing that may cause the servo's to chatter is if the battery is fully charged, in other words, right after fully charging the batteries, the servo's may chatter a bit. This is normal and will go away a short time after. Note, all of the above from others is all correct and should be done on a normal basis. I range check my TX every day that I fly, as soon as I arrive at the field and get setup. It's a good practice.

Anything else might prompt you to do such things as check the routing of the RX antenna.

To explain that, most modern ARF's and kits have wooden dowels with metal rods attached for the linkage to the rear of the aircraft. This is fine. A few have totally metal rods from the servo to the horn on the elevator and rudder. If you put an antenna inside the fuselage and run it parallel to the metal control rods, you MAY (note may... not will) have a problem, especially in certain conditions when the TX signal lines up with the parallel control rods and the antenna either with the signal perpendicular (aircraft traveling directly in front of you left to right or right to left) or when all are parallel (going directly away or directly toward you). Another problem will exist if you have a metal rod from the servo to the throttle if the throttle on the carb is also metal. It is best to use something like a Sullivan rod that is non-metalic with the conversion from plastic or nylon to metal on the extreme ends of the rods then to a clevis. Or, you can use metal rods with plastic or nylon clevis's. Metal to metal can and may cause chatter from noise inteference at the vibrating engine.

Thank you all for the great advice. I will follow your suggestions. I just wanted to be sure I was not doing somthing wrong I have joined a club in my area, but i do not have an instructor assigned to me yet, and have not been out to the flying field yet when there are members flying (small club).

I was able to make all the linkage connections and test the servo and control surface travel. Everything looks good except that little bit of chatter. I will have to have some one help me test it with the tx farther away to see if that does the trick.

Again thank you all for the response.

Jesse

Servo chatter from other companies helped me make up my mind to purchase Airtronics radios way back in the 1980's! Their servos were so quiet, I was sold - and still use Airtronics.....of course the advice you received (swamping, Tx on first, etc) are all good.

And keep us informed as to your progress!

tailskid, That's the only thing that made you switch to airtronics? I mean honestly i think we all know a radio performs good and bad because of the noise of servos

I was using an EK at the time and wanted to upgrade.....Kraft, Proline and a new radio made in Japan (Futaba) was just coming on the market....so Airtronics looked real good$$$$$. [8D]

Jerry