Tamiya F/O sherman ..what radio?
09-23-2006, 05:03 PM
#2
RE: Tamiya F/O sherman ..what radio?
It is illegal to use an air freq. for a ground vehicle. If you have any fliers in the area, you will cause them lot of grief, and give us ground pounders a bad name.
Now that the legal BS is out of the way, I use the Futaba T4YF (4YF $95 -$100) and the Airtronics VG400 ($100 +/-). Both are FM and both are ground frequenies. Simple, straight ahead 4 channel Tx. If you are going to run by yourself, or with a few friends, this type works fine. You can add more channels and features, but you don't need them to run a basic Sherman.
Polk Hobbies makes radio with a freq scanner built in (8 chan Tx, 6 ch Rx $180). It also can synthesis frequencies, without the need for crystals. If you are in a busy area, this can save you money vs buying a lot of different crystal sets. Programable
Spektrum makes a new unit, the DX6 ($200) with the BR6000 receiver (need this for tanks, don't get the AR6000) It uses cell phone technology to find an open channel and will only listen to your Tx. Just turn it on and go. No worries about you crashing someone, or they crashing you. Costs more, does more - on this and the Polk you really do have to read the manual to access all the features.
Good luck and good hunting.
Kevin O'C
<S.C.A.T.>
Now that the legal BS is out of the way, I use the Futaba T4YF (4YF $95 -$100) and the Airtronics VG400 ($100 +/-). Both are FM and both are ground frequenies. Simple, straight ahead 4 channel Tx. If you are going to run by yourself, or with a few friends, this type works fine. You can add more channels and features, but you don't need them to run a basic Sherman.
Polk Hobbies makes radio with a freq scanner built in (8 chan Tx, 6 ch Rx $180). It also can synthesis frequencies, without the need for crystals. If you are in a busy area, this can save you money vs buying a lot of different crystal sets. Programable
Spektrum makes a new unit, the DX6 ($200) with the BR6000 receiver (need this for tanks, don't get the AR6000) It uses cell phone technology to find an open channel and will only listen to your Tx. Just turn it on and go. No worries about you crashing someone, or they crashing you. Costs more, does more - on this and the Polk you really do have to read the manual to access all the features.
Good luck and good hunting.
Kevin O'C
<S.C.A.T.>
09-23-2006, 08:43 PM
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RE: Tamiya F/O sherman ..what radio?
For $10 more, you can get the [link=http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WTI0001P?&I=LXEFJ461&P=V]FM version.[/link] Well worth the extra money for the grief AM can bring with these expensive tanks with so many metal parts.
09-23-2006, 08:55 PM
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RE: Tamiya F/O sherman ..what radio?
Gotta agree with Supreme Reign here.
The FM radios generally give you much better signal to noise ratio, and are less prone to glitching given similar circumstances/environment. Not to mention most of the good ones are dual conversion, which further eliminates the noise (the advantages of aircraft radio tech benefit surface use)
One thing to AVOID though is PCM, as it does not work right with the DMD & MF units. Guys at Danville found this out rather quickly. A Futaba 4YF, 4YG, or even a 6YG would be great, or even the Futaba 4VWD radio would be fine (yea, I'm a Futaba lover).
Many of the Danville guys are going to the Spektrum now, but make sure you get a later edition of the Rx, because you want to be able to use the 'shutdown' option, and it won't work on the AR series (think I remember someone saying there was a model due out even past the BR series)
The FM radios generally give you much better signal to noise ratio, and are less prone to glitching given similar circumstances/environment. Not to mention most of the good ones are dual conversion, which further eliminates the noise (the advantages of aircraft radio tech benefit surface use)
One thing to AVOID though is PCM, as it does not work right with the DMD & MF units. Guys at Danville found this out rather quickly. A Futaba 4YF, 4YG, or even a 6YG would be great, or even the Futaba 4VWD radio would be fine (yea, I'm a Futaba lover).
Many of the Danville guys are going to the Spektrum now, but make sure you get a later edition of the Rx, because you want to be able to use the 'shutdown' option, and it won't work on the AR series (think I remember someone saying there was a model due out even past the BR series)
09-23-2006, 09:04 PM
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RE: Tamiya F/O sherman ..what radio?
Supreme Reign, Are you referring to the skysport (silver case) for $10 more? I bought that one a while back on 75Mhz, but had to send it in to futaba to have the spring added to the left stick. (throttle) I tried to drive the tank without the spring until I accidently turned on the tank with the stick fully "on", wasnt a pretty sight. Have they updated this with the spring already in it for surface frequencies? It doesnt really say on Towers sight, would be nice to let surface guys know this.
I went with the T4VWD this time since I wont be driving the tank further than 50' away at any given time, I know it comes with the spring for the throttle stick. Small details people dont know about when buying a radio.
I went with the T4VWD this time since I wont be driving the tank further than 50' away at any given time, I know it comes with the spring for the throttle stick. Small details people dont know about when buying a radio.
09-24-2006, 02:45 PM
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RE: Tamiya F/O sherman ..what radio?
Sory guys. I called Tower Hobbies to verify and they told me they no longer carry the racheted ones[:@] This is spring-return, and they have no way of knowing if any other FMs are ratcheted. Converting to ratchet-style isn't difficult, though I cannot explain it. THe service is offered by many hobby shops, or if there are tankers in your area, they can do it also.
Funny i asked and they said they did not know?
09-24-2006, 08:39 PM
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RE: Tamiya F/O sherman ..what radio?
You do want the spring return type, the ratchet type is for airplanes/heli's that use the stick like a throttle lever. I have a Futaba 9ch for my heli that is set-up that way. The only thing i know for sure is that the 4VWD does have the spring return type which is what you want with a tank. You could always order the FM skysport on 75Mhz and see if it comes with the spring return. Probably even better is a call to futaba to see. Ifi recall it was under $20 to have futaba put a spring in, and turn around was around 15 days.
