Hey guys,

I'm new to rc aircraft and was wondering as to the logistics of building my own transmitter etc. Is it possible to use variable resistors, A/D converters, MCUs and a transmitter module to control the rudder, for example? I know that just stringing these things together won't make a plane fly but is this general concept correct or am I off track?

Your feedback would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Jordan

First question is why would you want to build your own Tx?

Whilst building transmitters (and receivers) from components was not uncommon when I started with planes (don't ask how long ago) modern gear is so good that there is little reason to try and build your own (except maybe just for the h*ll of it).

If cost is the issue you are probably better off looking for a second hand Tx, with lots of people moving to 2.4 there is a lot of cheap 36Mhz gear around over here, I assume it is the same with in En Zed!

Terry

Long long ago in a far off distant time there was a place called Heath Kit that offered a build it yourself TX, even a tach. One of my friends fathers started with the kit and I have his tach today. Like all things of the past, kits and electronics that we made ourselves, these are things I haven't seen offered in decades. For those of us that enjoy building and tinkering I wouldn't even know where to look these days for the components to do it. Radio Shack is now a place to buy toys and cell phones and if you ask the hired help for anything in the electronics section {what there is of it} they sort of point you to the drawers and let you fend for yourself. All I can do is wish you good luck. I can understand your desire but these days building anything yourself is becoming a lost art. I don't think they even teach radio shop in schools any longer, or much else.

Even if you could build and calibrate a proportional control transmitter, you'd wind up with a product vastly inferior than what you can buy in the marketplane here for $25.