Rodney

A friend just bought a new Futaba computer radio. It has programmable modes 1, 2, 3 and 4. What are modes 3 & 4 and what is their origin if known please.

sigrun

Transpose the mode 2 sticks and you have mode 3. Same mode 1 to 4.

Modes 3 and 4 are uncommon to find in practice (R/C air), but certainly used. We have an import in our club who learnt mode 4 in his native Ireland, and flies it well.

majortom-RCU

My Feedback: (40)

I recall a post from Eric Henderson, FAI flyer & Model Aviation precision aerobatics columnist, saying he uses I forget whether it was Mode 3 or Mode 4, but pointing out that he had throttle as usual on left stick, plus aileron on left stick side-to-side; elevator as usual on right stick, plus rudder on right stick side-to-side. So basically a 'standard' set-up except ailerons and rudder were swapped. A significant benefit of this is that a lot of tailfeather mixed inputting is done with the right stick rotating in a circular or oval pattern--for instance a rolling harrier is done by moving the right stick around in a circular pattern while holding left stick aileron steady and managing throttle. Rolling circle is also controlled primarily with a circular or oval right stick movement. The way 'we' do it in Mode 2 involves the coordination of elevator on right stick with rudder on left, and the movement has been likened to patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time, which takes some learning, not a natural movement, hard to get the timing and coordination right. If I were to learn RC all over again, and knew I wanted to fly pattern or IMAC aerobatics, I'd want to learn Eric's method, where putting in rudder while taking out elevator etc. is all done in a rotary motion of the right stick.

Krysta

Hi Rodney,
The 4 modes are as follows, Mode 2 is most often used in the United States.


Mode 1--- Right stick---- up/down: throttle
---- left/right: aileron
Left stick ---- up/down: elevator
left/right: rudder

Mode 2---- Right stick ---- up/down: elevator
left/right: aileron
Left stick ----- up/down: throttle
left/right: rudder

Mode 3 ---- Right stick---- up/down: throttle
left/right: rudder
Left stick------ up/down: elevator
left/right: aileron

Mode 4 ----- Right stick-----up/down: elevator
left/right: rudder
Left stick-------up/down: throttle
left/right: aileron

I hope you find this information helpful. You can also reach our Futaba support technical team at 217-398-8970, or via fax at 217-398-7721.

Sincerely,
Krysta Hunt
Lead Futaba Customer Service and Programming Technician
Futaba Service Center USA