I bought a radio system from TH. It included the Futaba R156F 6-channel micro-receiver. I bought it because I initially built a park flyer to use with the system. Now I am building a .40 sized water plane and would like to use the same receiver in it. Does anyone see a problem with using this receiver? The range is 200m, which I feel would be an adequate distance for this size plane, but I have no experience with them. Any comments?
Thanks.
Curtis
P.S. The antenna is pretty short too. It was long enough to go from the radio compartment on the PF to the tail, but I don't think it will stretch that lng on this bird. Any suggestions would also be appreciated.

I would never consider a micro receiver on anything 40 size.

Absolutely do not use a range restricted single conversion Rx in glow powered airplane you will loose it.

All students will fly too far out, a very common mistake and that pidly 200 meters does not even come close with what you are going to need with the forty sized trainer.

John


A dual conversion unrestricted micro Rx such as the Hitec Electron 6 would be fine.

What would you recommend for a Rx for this? I only need 4 ch.

To my knowledge, Futaba doesn't make any full range four channel FM receivers. I would get the R156F or R127DF.

Hitec Electron 6 negative shift for futaba and a Hitec dual conversion crystal (blue stripe) with you channel number.

One choice would be a Berg. Not only are they small enough to use in the little bitty planes but are full range, you can even use them in the 1/4 scale jobs. You can get either 4 or 6 channel units and they are relatively inexpensive. You can get them for either positive or negative shift transmitters.

Hitec Supreme II are $39 at Tower Hobbies, I know they are 8 channel but you can't beat the price and you can always use the extra channels in the future.

I have the R156F. That is the range I quoted from. What range do all of these other ones have? 300m? 500m?
Thanks,
Curtis

Exactly!

If you can get the extra RX channels ( even if your TX cannot handle them ) do it!

Your RX will be transferable to another plane later.

Nathan,
OK, I still don't quite have an answer to this. The Rx I have is the R156F. It is described as "perfect for Slo-fliers and Parkfliers", and all of the information I can find on Futaba's website lists all of their FM Rx's as limited to 200m, even the 6-channels. Neither Hitec or Berg(Castle Creations's) lists what their actual range is on their Rx's(They just say "Full Range"). Since the R156F is what you had recommended, is there any problem with using an R156F in a nitro plane?
Thanks,
Curtis

I think Nathan had a "typo" moment and meant to recommend the R168DF which is the 'standard' full range receiver that ships with most current Futaba radio systems.
The other receiver mentioned in his post (R127DF) has been discontinued for several months. You might still find one in a hobby shop if you look around.

The R168DF is vey expensive ($100 plus crystal). The Hitec that has been mentioned for 39.99 + 7.99 for the crystal is a really good deal.
Hobbico & Tower Hobbies brand receivers appear to be relabeled Futabas and cost 49.99 including crystal.

Most "full range" receivers do not give a number. Some that do list something like 1500 meters. If they say "full range" you can be assured that the range is as far away as you can see the plane (with naked eye) to be able to control it.

I don't know the range of the full range receivers but I do know that it is considerably more than 200m.
Can you fly a 40 size glow plane and keep in within 200m, yes, but you are pushing the limits and one moment of disorientation and you can easily find yourself outside the range of that micro receiver.
I have personally flown to the limits of where I could see with a full range receiver without any loss of control.
On a side note. I do have a Berg 7P and to spite what the manufacturer list is as I do not consider it full range, it is a single conversion receiver and I would not even consider putting it in a glow plane.

Oops! Yes, that was a typo (I meant R168DF). I had in my head what you already had and accidentally just typed that in. The brain can do some interesting things sometimes. [sm=red_smile.gif]

Here's my general take on radio gear. There's a big difference between inexpensive and cheap, and I never buy cheap. Down the road when you're looking to put a model in the air that cost you $1000 and countless hours to build does it really make sense to go buy cheap $4 servos and a limited range receiver? Absolutely not. Now that may not seem to apply to you, but some day you will want to put that receiver in something other than a trainer. When you do, you'll be thanking yourself for getting equipment that erases any doubt you may have in you mind. If you're idling at the runway threshold wondering if everything will be fine something is wrong.

Gotta wonder where YOU buy R168DF RX's. http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXLSX4&P=ML For $60 plus crystal for another $13.

I like the Electron 6 receivers. Even though they may be a little more $ than the 8 channel Supreme, they're quite a bit smaller. As for the eventual "need" for 8 channels, that's a highly individual thing. Most people will never exceed 5 or maybe 6 channels.

Alright, I have calmed down and realize now that I need to get another Rx. I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on one, and I don't think I will be getting an 8 channel, because when it comes time for me to get into that many channels, my 2 month old should be graduating and I will hopefully be on 2.4 by then.

With that being said, what do I need to look for when getting an inexpensive 4ch Rx for a Futaba FM system? I am looking at the Castle Creations Berg 4L (says it is full range). How about the Micro 05S? Also says Full range. Not sure how single or dual conversion os going to help or hurt.
Thanks,
Curtis

Right now probably your best buy is going to be that Supreme eight channel that misselman listed selling at tower for thirtynine bucks. A great Rx. The Electron 6 has proven a robust replacement for it in a micro size but is gonna cost around forty five bucks and this of course does not include crystal (only use hitec crystals in hitec Rx's ,ten bucks)

I can't tell you anything about the Bergs, never used one.

I hate to bring it up but we are talking a forty sized float plane here, if I read correctly and you bought your radio system complete as a park flyer system so that brings up the question of what servo's are you using? They also may be very inappropriate.

John

Single vs. Dual Conversion simply describes the type of signal filtering used in the receiver. Dual Conversion is generally considered better than single conversion, at least on paper. In actual use, however, high quality single conversion receivers from manufacturers like Berg (Castle) or JR perform as well as any dual conversion receiver.

One absolute gem of a receiver is the full range, dual conversion 8-channel shift selectable RD8SL receiver from GWS:

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...idProduct=4374

http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/s...idCategory=195

The receiver is $24.99, and the 72Mhz GWS dual conversion crystal that goes with this receiver is $3.99. If you order 2 receivers and 2 crystals from Hobby City, they come in right at the maximum weight allowed for $5 shipping.

I'm flying one of these in my Sig King Kobra with my Futaba 7C, and I can't tell the difference between this GWS receiver compared to my Futaba or Hitec receivers. It is truly a high quality bargain.

Hobby City is in Hong Kong, so it will take about 3 weeks to get your order assuming the parts you want are in stock. This is one honey of a receiver for the price and well worth the wait.

I'm using HS-311's in the .40. I have a park flyer that have the 3114's from the Tx system kit in it. I was going to use the same Rx between the two planes if I could, but I just now realized the limited range.

All is well the 311's will be fine I just got nervous that you were gonna use some littleguys.

John

Nah, I'm an ME, I got the mechanical stuff down. The electronics on the other hand, a little shaky.
Thanks for the help.

I hate to keep beating this dead horse, but I like the idea of using the Micro 05S. It is an SC, not DC, but it states that it is full range. Would this be foolish? There is quite a considerable price difference.

Thanks,
Curtis

edit: never mind, stoopid question

I could not find any usefull info online on the Hitec O5S so I compared the one I have here in my hand (it doesn't say anything on it about being full range) to an 8 channel full range Futaba.
The antenna wires are both the same length, good sign. The wire on the O5S is half as thick as the Futaba, don't know how much difference that makes but I would bet it has some effect.
My concern with the O5S is weither it can handle the amperage draw of standard size servos, keep in mind this receiver is made to use with micro servos.
I use mine on smaller electrics, it is in an Eflite Cessna right now and I have another one in a GWS Slo-Stick.

I beleve the O5 was Hitec's attempt to escape the bad press from the origninal Feather single conversion rx which of course seems to have been a disater for Hitec. I also beleve they were reasonably successful doing so however I do beleve those Rx's are not up to the standards of their DC products. I have witnessed a case of a out of range flyaway as well as experianced one myself flying a students airplane with that Rx. Can I prove it was in fact a range problem or related? No of course not and that could never be proven. However I don,t seem to have the same problem with the very large number of 555's, Electron 6's and various Supremes I most often use.

Specifically concerning the JR SC rx's, Yes this a different case and it is well known they use a proprietory filtering system (for lack of a better word) that they call ABC&W or some such and it seems to work satisfactorily. It does seem notible however that all their newer Rx's seem to now be DC

There also apparently is another filtering (agine maybe not the best word but useful for this thought) method used by possibly a few of the small companys and that I cannot address.

Because of the variouos points above I do not buy into the arguement that DC/SC conversion type cannot be used as a indicater for Rx performance. I beleve of course it can if you educate your self to some exceptions that do indeed exist such as the JR SC Rx's and maybe a couple of others.

So for me beleve it or not Hitec remains my favored product in 72MHz systems and has been my favorite since they were Aristocraft. And specifically the 555 (discontinued), Electron 6 and various Supremes. It also helps that Hitec customer service is legendary and I have seen none of the majors or makes of the past ever have such excellent service.

I only have three electrics out of a large number of glow aircraft (I am completly unable to keep any kind of count) and the very tiny Electron 6 does a wonderful job in those.

All of the above is nothing more than just my personal opinion based on my personal experiances.

John[8D]