dna9656

Hi! I was in the hobby in the early 80s, now have time to do it again. I have a Mr. Darby ocean going tug that has a leaky stuffing box and needs a radio/servos to be operational again. I have 1,000s of questions because so much has changed in the hobby. My RC interests are boats, subs, and airplanes.

Hydro Junkie

Darn, too bad you didn't post this before last weekend. There was one or two clubs that build and run various scale ships that were at the NW Hobby Expo at the Monroe Fairgrounds.
That said, a leaking stuffing box can be fixed by filling it with waterproof grease. If there isn't a hole in the top of the stuffing box, drill a small hole inside the hull. With the drive shaft in place, pack the stuffing box full of grease until it starts coming out both ends. Wipe off the excess and you should be good to go.
IF your radio is pre-1991, it's probably not legal any more. You can get both twin stick and pistol grip radios fairly inexpensively now days on line.
As far as servos go, what you have may or may not work with a new radio. This is something you will need to check on if you replace your radio.
If your batteries are early 80s vintage, replace them. Battery tech has come a long way since then
That should be enough to get you started. Hope it helps

dna9656

I no longer have a radio, yes it was prolly illegal as it was bought in the early 80s. I still have some servos though as I mentioned.
FYI I was checking out an on line hobby supplier. I want a 2 stick radio, the ones with the wheel on the side seem to apply a brake when a trigger is released, there are no "Brakes" on my tug boat. When I got my radio the seller told me it had non-flying crystals in it so as not to affect airplanes and the like. Can non flying crystals still be used or has it got more complicated (after all the gov't is involved), do I have to ask for certain frequencies? What are all the lettered prefixes and suffixes about in the name or model number of the radios? There seems to be receivers that take some sort of action (through programming) when certain conditions are met. What are those conditions and do the apply to boats. Back in the day if my boat got out of range my airplane radio would slow the throttle and put the boat in a turn (circle) so it wouldn't get away. I never saw that happen, the boat got so far away it was difficult to see (got very small!) so I just turned it around and brought back.
Do the local clubs (in Monroe) have web sites?

Hydro Junkie

DAMN!!!! You're right in my area!!! I live in Marysville
Alrighty then, let's talk radios.
Modern radios use a completely different type of transmission protocol than what you're familiar with:

• back in the old days(pre-1991), radios transmitted on either an AM or FM modulation pattern that allowed the signal to vary by up to 40KHz above or below the frequency shown on the crystal.
• in 1991, to get more channels, the 40KHz allowance was reduced to 20KHz by the FCC. There was a period of time where radios could be sent in to repair facilities and retuned for the narrower bandwidth and still be legal to use. That period ended when the parts needed for retuning were used up. It has been possible to still buy crystal radios but, with the modern tech, they are just about gone from the market

The "latest and greatest" is the 2.4GHz systems. These are full of "bells and whistles" but are actually very easy to use. The biggest thing is not to get overwhelmed by the bells and whistles. Since I run Futaba in my boats, I am most familiar with them and will use them as examples:

• https://futabausa.com/product/4yf/ This one is a basic 4 channel aircraft radio. That said, it can be used with anything that only needs 4 channels or less. It doesn't have a model memory or any mixing features that I know of but does use the 2.4GHz frequency hopping system that minimizes one radio stepping on another, something that was common with the older crystal radios, often requiring you to obtain a "frequency pin" before turning your radio on
• https://futabausa.com/product/6l/ This one is similar to the one above except it has two more channels, one with an on/off switch and the second with a rotary knob. One would be good for lights, the other for maybe rotating a spotlight or ?
• https://futabausa.com/product/4grs/ Now we get into a more advanced computer radio. First off, it's three times the cost of the other two above. This, in many cases, is a deal breaker. That said, this one is actually very much like the wheel radios you were leaning away from, other than the sticks vs wheel & trigger. For me, the only functions I would use on that radio would be the steering speed(it slows down or speeds up the rudder servo), fail safe(which is the system you were referring to that makes the model circle when out of range) and the model memory. Another thing I would do is not use the AA battery tray or batteries. I would use the optional NiMH or LiFe battery packs. Unlike the AA batteries, the rechargeable batteries will last several years, if properly taken care of. The other advantage is that the battery packs won't leak like an AA cell will. I also like the telemetry for keeping track of the charge on my batteries in the model.

I could keep going on radios but you've already got the basics. As far as clubs, there isn't really a club in the Monroe area. There are a couple of model shipbuilding clubs in western Washington. One is(IIRC) in Burlington but I don't have any contact information on it.

One thing I missed is you were asking about the numbers and letters in the model number. Normally(always with Futaba) the number refers to the number of channels the radio is capable of operating. In the case of the 4YF, it's a four channel radio, the YF just being a code that differentiates it from other four channel radios