Hi all;
A few quick questions about receivers. I have a Futaba 7C radio, (new last year). Can I use after-market receivers, such as Hitec, for a second and third plane? If so, do I simply order the RX with the appropriate crystal? Whan about servo plug compatabilities? I'm looking to save some money, but maybe it's not worth it.....I'm sure some of you more experienced modelers can tell me why.
Thanks!!

Yes. Hitec makes receivers that are compatible with Futaba. Make sure you get a negative shift receiver so it will work with your Futaba radio. Other than that, match the channels and all will be fine. All of the servos that you have will most likely plug right into the receiver. THe only non standard servos as far as wiring are the old airtronics (i'm told). As long as you have futaba, or hitec, or JR servos, you'll be fine. I use Hitec receivers almost exclusively with my JR radio....

I use Futaba, Hitec, and Tower receivers with my Futaba radio. All work well. The Tower 7 channel receiver is supposed to be a rebadged Futaba receiver. Since it comes with the crystal, it's a good value. When you look at receivers, make sure the plug slots have the cutouts for the tab that's on the Futaba style plugs. If you buy one that doesn't, you have to cut the tabs off in order to plug in the servos and battery.

The JR "universal" reciever is good too, and cheap, i just bought one of those to use with my 7c. There is a jumper inside to set whether you need - or + shift...

The FMA receivers are also very good and can be obtained to match any brand of transmitter.

all recievers are either Positive Shift, Negative Shift, or the handy AutoDetect Shift

Futaba & Hitec are Neg Shift, so any neg, or auto, reciever would work. Keep an eye on the crystals, use only the crystals the RX manufacture says to use, or aftermarket you trust that say compatible with that particular RX. You will run into more probs with crystal mismatch than RX compatability. LHS or at the field can help figure out Iffy crystals.

FYI, Hitec makes both positive and negative shift receivers. Some can be switched while others will only work for a specific shift.

Another FYI. You can use the older Airtronics servos but you have to rewire the plug on them. It's not difficult at all to do. In fact, you can use just about any servo out there with any brand of radio as long as you pay attention to how the plug is wired.

Hope this helps

Ken

if you look under the label of any tower system 3000 equipment it will have the futaba part number. the system 2000 stuff you'll reveal the hitec part numbers.

as stated when getting hitec make sure it a negative shift reciever and use a hitec duel conversion crystal. if using an FMA reciever, also make sure it negative shift and use an FMA crystal. polk i shift selectable

You might take a look at the Polk synthesized receivers as well. They are reasonably priced, very reliable and compatible with just about ANYTHING - no crystal required!

I've used a couple of the Polk synthesized ones as well, and with the synthesized tx module on my 9C I don't get stuck when someone else is flying on my regular channel.

-tychoc