Nitro_Evader_Basher

Hi, you probably haven't seen me here because I do not own a glider, but I recently acquired an RC car and have inspired my dad to put his glider back into commission. It's has an eight foot wing-span and was built completely from scratch with no instructions, My dad built it while he was working at aerospace and it would stay up longer than the one built by the aerodynamics professor at aerospace so it is obviously very good. Anyways about 20 years ago the plane got hit by a large burst of wind coming over a mountain and one of the wings folded, and that's when my dad flew it last. Now that he is fixing it up he needs some radio equipment and I told him how much the price had gone down since his day. He only wants a 2 channel one stick radio but doesn’t care if it has more than 2 channels or 1 stick. After looking the longest range I could find on tower hobbies was about 800 feet and the Glider used to go up at least 2500 feet on a good day plus a fair distance horizontally away. He want to spend the least amount if money possible, but I can't even find any High end ones with the range he needs, any suggestions?

Nitro_Evader_Basher

Actually I found this these but it dosen't say any ranges, does anyone know?

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXRT20**&P=7

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...I=LXANT7**&P=7

Tall Paul

Any readily available aircraft radio will control the plane beyond visibility.(excluding the toy radios at the Shack and other places.)
For a starter radio, get at least a 4-channel.
They're not all that expensive, especially considering what the old timey radios went for.
The extra channels, unneeded now, will come in handy once you get flying and get more airplanes.
Either of the Hitecs will perform your task admirably.

Nitro_Evader_Basher

OK, thanks

John C

Second the HiTec radio. I'd go further and get the Eclipse 7 with the narrow RX with end plug in for the servos. It will be much more amenable to most sailplane configurations.

John C

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Here are two articles on radios that will be helpful. They were written with the new glider pilot in mind.

Radio Systems Part 1 - Standard Radios
http://www.rcezine.com/cms/article.php?cat=&id=44

Radio Systems Part 2 - Computer Radios - A Better Investment
http://www.rcezine.com/cms/article.php?cat=&id=65

Most of the radios you will look at will have ranges of better than 1/2 mile and many are over 1 mile. The range is primarily determined by the receiver. I would suggest 2500 feet or 1/2 mile is the minimum acceptible on a 2 M plane. Mst of the FM radios from Hitec, Futaba, JR or Airtronics come with receivers with 1mile+ ranges. You can't see that plane that far away.

If you must go very low cost get at least a 3 channel radio so he can add spoilers to his plane, or a motor. The cost difference is probably $10

If this is a first step toward getting back into RC flying in a bigger way, then go to the comptuer radios. Read the articles. They discuss all this.

charliey

Y'know, RC radio range discussions are largely a lot of hoke.
1) The eyeballs will give out long before aircraft radio comms unless there's a LOT wrong with the radio, one end or another.
2) Make sure of obvious things, like, the TX antenna is fully extended.
3) You can slightly optimise matters if you try to keep your antenna parallel with the a/c, in the direction it's flying.
4)Make sure the a/c antenna isn't shielded, and also is as straight out as reasonably can be in the fuse. Purists tape it outside the fuse, and to hell with drag. Don't have it wrapped around anything. Wood pushrods are better than metal. Metal CAN give a LITTLE directivity to the antenna. But why put up with any? Carbon fibre is somewhat conductive and therefore will absorb some of the Rx'd signal energy: I have made a ship with a CF rod fuse and run the antenna inside, with no evident lack of comms - but the ship never went far away. I wouldn't trust it in high performance work. Very difficult to calculate the loss.

Don't worry. Be happy.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Charlie, I would agree with you for most set-ups, but there are receivers, such as the GWS 4 & 6 channel, the Hitec Feather and others with ranges of 1000 feet or less. We would not want our friend using one of those in a thermal hunting sailplane.

aeajr

My Feedback: (2)

Both of these would be excellent choices. I always recommend the computer radios. For the few dollars more, they can bring you so many more options. Even on a simple RES sailplane, you can mix spoiler with elevator to avoid the dive tendancy that spoilers can induce.

The Flash 5 would be a top recommendation for overall price/performance for your applicaiton. It is also great for electric sailplanes, electric parkflyers and glow planes.