Well yesterday my (soon to be) father-in-law handed me a Futaba Challenger 5-ch radio that he had bought when he thought he was going to get into the hobby. It doesn't have any crystals or a charger - but I understand these can be bought separately. Anyhow, I'm happy.

Just a quick question though .... If I run down to my hobby store and pick up a Futaba charger would it be compatible with this Tx??

Slow down a minute how old is this radio?

About 10 years I think.

First, if you plane to fly with a local club, make sure the radio is 1991 type accepted. Being only 10 years old, it should be, but take it to a LHS or ask a club member to make sure. Only this type of radio is AMA and FCC legal to be used, and old radios can not be converted. Now, if it is a legal radio, a standard Futaba charger whould work. Make sure of the polarity of the charger connector. I believe Futaba always used a center-positive connector to the charger. A transmitter crystal should technically only be installed by a certified technician. With a radio this old, it's wise to send it off and have it checked out, anyway. The batteries are probably shot after not being charged all this time. As suggested, slow down and check things out. Although the radio itself was free, you may end up spending almost the price of a new, complete setup to make it flyable.

Dr.1

PS This may be a stupid question, but are you sure it's a Futaba? Hitec used to make a Challenger radio.

Yep ... it's Futaba. Remember I'm in Europe so things are a bit different here No FCC .... however I do realize that the radio may need a bit of work. But thanks to my Ham Radio license I'm a bit qualified on these things. I don't think I'm rushing ... just asking questions. I like to know things BEFORE I head to the store.

Aha, across the pond, huh? That does make a difference. Go for it. You'll probably need to clean out the inside, and make sure there's not corrosion anywhere. Clean the control pots. Replace the batteries and charger, and of course, the crystal. The batteries will be the most expensive part. Just to be on the safe tuning side, I'd pick a channel in the middle of your frequency band (35mHz?).

Dr.1

Yep across the pond Already opened up the Tx - no corrosion inside. It's literally brand new. I figure the battery should be treated as suspect and disgarded. I sprayed some contact cleaner in the pots - not that they looked like they needed it *but* it doesn't hurt. Yeah we're on 35MHz. The guys from my club are going to be testing it out tonight (cause I don't have a flying plane yet) ... kind of funny but they'll be trying it out on channel 85 ... the band goes up to channel 90. So we're right at the top end. Anyhow, hope things go well!

Sounds great. After the pot cleaner dries, spray them out good with canned air. Sometimes any residue left can kill ya.

Dr.1

Will do Kind of happy that it's not a computer radio. I work on computers all day .... I'd like to avoid them at play

It won't be long before you change your mind, & go out to buy a computer radio Especially after your 4 or 5 planes deep!
Enjoy, have fun!


Mark