FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

It's time for practical solutions to end the fears and worries about the Futaba 2.4GHz FASST Radios. It's time for those of us who own and fly these radios to take some common-sense steps to help ourselves. The majority of us are members of R/C Clubs, or at least we fly at shared flying fields with other R/C pilots. So frequency control and checking frequencies has long been a common and necessary practice. Here is a simple and workable procedure for eliminating possible harmful radio interference.

R/C Clubs (and less formal R/C groups) should set some times for all members who have a Futaba FASST Radio to bring these to a specified location, such as the flying field or a club meeting. Then with all planes safely on the ground and engines not running, have the members turn-on their FASST radios one at a time. The first two turn-on and they check for any interference. Then the 3rd person turns-on and the check is repeated. Then a 4th person turns-on and the check for interference repeated....and so on, until everyone has their radio turned-on. This test will reveal if there is a problem with any of the radios. Any radios affected by interference should be returned to the Futaba Service Center for testing and repair.

Whenever anyone brings a new FASST radio to the flying field, it should first be tested with the other FASST radios at the field, with everyone safely on the ground. It's a quick and easy test and it should be standard procedure.

FASST FLYERS need to work together. With cooperation and reasonable precaution, we can all fly safely and eliminate the concerns and worries about FASST Radios.

Best Regards
JC
I fly twice as FASST

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

My gosh, is the sky falling again?
All you need to do is have someone bring one (1) new Rx that has never been bound to this "meeting" and see if YOUR Tx controls it. If it does you have a ZGUID Tx. If it doesn't you are fine. You don't need to operate a bunch of TX's at the same time or place to test. And if you keep a ZGUID Rx available at the field (or other place) then you can test WHENEVER you feel the need or when an untested unit shows up.

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

You're right. I had a rx that was not bound and for some reason I bound it to my TX. :eek: Is there a way to un bind it to keep it as a test rx?

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

Only way I can think of is to intentionally re-bind it to a known ZGUID Tx.

Then be sure to mark it so you will know not to bind it in the future.

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Great idea Bruce!
See what happens when FASST FLIERS unite and put-on their thinking caps?
Best Regards
JC

I fly twice as FASST

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

OK, you guys have my attention. I don't fly 2.4, but a lot of the guys at the field do. How about a little background as to what brought this subject up in the first place. I'm on our clubs board and if there is something we ought to watch out for, please share it. THe guys at our field flying the 2.4s for the most part are smitten by them, you gotta get one, they are new, they are the latest. they are , they are etc. I'm not sure any of them are following the issues closely. If we, the board, can head off any problems, it would be good.

Don

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

This is what they are talking about
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_6857282/tm.htm some good points and some "the sky is falling" by Chicken Littles.:D Gonna have to read between the facts, the wild guesses and inuendo. Futaba IS working on it.

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

I just got a TM7 system today and installed it in a plane hope to get it in air later in
the week, as it turned out the plane I installed it in had a low battery all of a sudden
the servos got real slow when i checked the voltage it 3.3 volts so at least we know
the Futaba wont reboot with low voltage without the servo getting sluggish first.

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

My 14MZ 6014 RX drops out between 3.4 and 3.2 volts.
I have over 8 hours of flight time and it has been rock solid.
I also do not have the zguid issue either so I am feeling good on that.
I would also know that if I needed to bind again I had a problem and needed to look into, not just rebind and go fly.
This is a thread I started below and will post more on as time goes by. Busy with girl scouts and cub scouts right now.
in another week I should be back flying inbetween cookie dropoffs, we are the cookie center this year.

http://www.helifreak.com/showthread.php?t=55670


Tony

RE: FASST FLIERS UNITE
 

This has been known for some time. The FASST Rx's have much lower cutoff voltages than the Spektrum.