dougnlynn

My Feedback: (1)

Just received my Polk Seeker II. Works as advertised on the bench, and I haven't read anything bad about them, so I'm going to give it a try.

Saw in the literature from Polk that this is a "narrow band" receiver (which is a good thing), but doesn't say anything about dual conversion. I thought single conversion was for park flyer receivers.

If it is single conversion, is this a concern? Or does the Seeker technology not need "dual conversion"?

doug

mr.rc-cam

The cheap $30 park flyer Rx's have given SC a bad name. Please see these docs:
http://www.bergent.net/SC-DC.pdf
https://www.fmadirect.com/support_docs/item_1075.pdf

strato911

The seeker is neither single nor dual conversion. It utilizes PLL (Phase-Locked-Loop) technology to lock onto the frequency much the same way a digital radio tunes into a station.<Correction> I just learned the Seeker DOES employ dual conversion.

Lynx

PLL's don't have anything to do with weather or not a receiver is dual or single conversion. PLL's just replace the crystal for frequency stability. Dual/Single is because the parts required to deal with an RF signal at it's native frequency are so expensive due to them having to have very high tolerances. If the native frequency is down converted to a lower frequency cheaper parts can be used. If you use extremely high quality temperature and voltage compensated parts/circuits you don't need to convert the signal at all. But in the real world at high frequencies this is just not practical. The reason single conversion receivers are usually used in park fliers is because the circuit (hence the size and weight) for them is lower. They're also usually lower ranged, but a high quality single conversion is just as good as a dual conversion. The quality and tolerances of the parts used to make it up are more important than the technology that drives it in a lot of cases.

strato911

Although I haven't disassembled my seeker (and don't plan to), I have noticed they have used very high quality components in the transmitter. Possibly even military spec.

<Edit> I just noticed Doug asked Mr. Polk in the manufacturer's support. Here is his reply:

Lynx

I have no experiance with them personally but so far from all the posts here I've read and all the information on their site they have top notch products. After the seeker has been around for a while I'll more than probably pick one up. No crystals is a nice thing.

dougnlynn

My Feedback: (1)

Sorry guys, still getting used to posting on here. I should have come back to this thread and mentioned both that I had posted to the mfg's forum (which I found after posting here) and that I had recieved an answer from Mr. Polk.

I also want to point out that I had my answer from Mr. Polk within hours after posting my question - great response.

doug

strato911

Actually Lynx, the Seeker Rx has been around for many years (20?), and even owners of the original Seekers have posted to say they have never had problems. The release of the Tracker II Tx has brought them back into the spotlight.

I have to agree with Doug - Polk's Hobbies service is top notch. They are very helpful on the phone, and Mr. Polk is usually very propmt at replying to emails and questions posted in the manufacturer forum.