Transmitter/Receivers

[Adam Osga]

Hello forum,

I checked the knowledge base but many of the posts are years old. I have to buy a transmitter and receiver for my PIII and am curious what others have found to be the easiest to use. It looks like the DX series is very popular but that information seems to be a few years old. Please chime in on what system you have found to be easy to calibrate with the tank electronics. Cost is not an issue for me, low drama is most important.

Thanks,
Adam

[Vince Cutajar]

low drama is most important

I know the feeling. I am a newbie at R/C models and can't really answer your questions. All I can say is that I got a Spektrum DX8 Gen 2 transmitter and for the receiver I got the AR8010T receiver also from Spektrum. On initial test to check the drive motors and tracks it worked nicely. I had to modify slightly with a file the plugs that go in the receiver.

Vince

[Adrian Harris]

The problem is that different manufacturers are popular in different countries

I would say that most people in the UK would have either Futaba or Spektrum. In Europe, Graupner is another popular brand.

I swapped from Futaba to Spektrum because of the ease of use of user defined telemetry and because the newer Futaba transmitters are problematic with older RC electronics.

Some people use one transmitter for all their models, others buy a transmitter for each model.

There may be manufacturers in the 'States who don't supply worldwide due to the differing regulations regarding wireless signals, so we (on this side of the pond) wouldn't be able to offer an opinion on them.

Adrian.

[Brian Ostlind]

Futaba, you can also get an aftermarket throttle stick with neutral return

[Armortek]

Adam - we ran a poll a while ago to see what people are using. Have a look here:
viewtopic.php?f=43&t=6809

[Tom Roslund]

Will it be possible to use a pistol style radio for my Quad? I've a number of them for my crawlers . I know they're limited channel wise for additional functions, but would be nice for getting it running initially.

Tom

[Gerhard Michel]

IMHO the number of available channels / functions is the first question to be answered. When one likes to have one single transmitter for all his models (like me), the number of storable models is important. If you need to combine channels the number of free mixers is also important. Today telemetry is an indispensible feature.

All these features considering together can make it a little easier for you to find your favorite transmitter, depending on your country AND the complexity of your models. A tank can operate with 4 channels, an average model may use 10 channels, Reinhold's King Tiger afaik uses 32 channels of his Brixl R/C equipment (e.g. real backfire exhaust pipe flames with camping gas, cartridge ejection, radio messages, animatronic crew members..........)

[Adam Osga]

I ended up going with the DX8 and AR8010T receiver. I'll update on how straight forward it is after bench testing but I'm expecting low drama.