Friday 17 June 2011

Two point four or not two point four?

Having seen the number of people at F3F competitions using 2.4 GHz radio I have decided to follow suit. The idea that I don’t have to worry about being shot down by another transmitter is very attractive. No need for frequency control either. What’s not to like? **

I spotted a new pukka Futaba transmitter module for sale on RCMF and quickly bought it at a very good price (£65). I then bought a couple of Frsky Fasst compatible receivers and also a couple of Orange ones and intend buying two proper Futaba Fasst ones. The problem with the Futaba ones is the £100 price tag. Gulp! The Frsky from GiantCod cost £31 and the Orange from Hobbyking in HK are £18. I can’t help thinking Futaba are taking the pi$$ with their prices. I still need to buy at least another 4 which is ok if I stick to the Orange ones. The thought of buying 8 – 10 proper Futaba ones is waaaayyy daunting!

Apart from the cases the Frsky and Orange receivers are identical. Both made by Frsky apparently. They seem to work fine and it should be easy enough to change them over with the 35 MHz ones.

** Except; I have been reading some RCMF threads about how the line-of-sight range on 2.4 MHz can be a problem when flying below the edge of the slope when the model is visible but the transmitter can’t see the model. Also landing out a long way away can give problems when the model is very low. Hmmmm…….

I have also learned that 2.4GHz is a shared (junk) band and could give problems with other non-modelling users. Maybe I’ll stick with what I have at the moment. (BIG feardy that I am!)

One step at a time. Easy glider will be the 2.4 GHz test bed initially.

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