Radio Control Equipment

The 7 offers more possibilities so you won't need a new transmitter later. My neighbor does scale RC and has found 7 channels is not always enough.

Phil

pkrankow wrote:The 7 offers more possibilities so you won't need a new transmitter later. My neighbor does scale RC and has found 7 channels is not always enough.

Phil

Scale is a little different, I think that's why they came out with the DX-18.

elevator
ailerons
rudder
throttle
retractable landing gear
flaps
air brakes / speed brakes

7 just for flight controls. Yea I can see 18 getting used up real quick too. Guns, canopy, bombs and other war bird stuff.

Phil

Avoid the dx5
No expo.
Very very basic.
If you must go for a Spektrum go for the 7
It's the most reliable, with the most usable features.
The 8 is awful with frame rate fluctuation all over the place
And glitches galore.
The 18 is getting near to proper radio in terms of price.
Avoid the Futaba Ex6 and FF7
Both old 35 meg equipment tarted up and converted to
2.4 not designed as 2.4.

If buying new Ian look at Inwoods. Paul will talk Turkey
And usually post (incl) at less than what are usually
Lowest UK prices.
Slough are good when they have stock as well.
Or look at the BMFA classifieds for a
Fg8
DX7
Dsx9

Sorry I should add
Dx6i
Reasonable too except for dry cell battery's and you'll
Outgrow it quickly.

John Goddard wrote:Avoid the dx5
No expo.
Very very basic.

All depends what you are looking for. If you just want a basic inexpensive radio, they are great. Heck there is on on CraigsList right now in St. Louis for $25. Don't forget, there was once a time that no radio had expo and you had to do trims on your plane manually... Now if you want a radio that is a step-up from that, would be a DX6i or DX7, but used is a lot more then $25, more like $150-$200.

Heck, my very first radio was a Futaba FG Gold Series AM wide-band 7ch

Yes that was my bedroom in high school

I also recommend the Dx6i. I have been using it for almost 5 years, and am just now wishing it had sliders and have filled the model memory. You can grow into the extra features. I just started looking into the mixes and programming flaps.

Ian --
I strongly recommend the Spektrum DX7 over the DX6i. I flown both and both are solid, but the DX7 is better suited for helicopters (which is why I have the 7). The firmware on the airplane version is the same as that on the heli version; the only difference is switch placement and the heli throttle is smooth. The aero throttle has a ratchet. If you fly a lot of heli, the ratchet throttle will not give you enough control to easily manage your collective. As a matter of fact, I like the smooth throttle so much that I've converted my other transmitters to smooth.

If you buy the DX7 heli version, the default setup is for helicopters, but when you switch to aero, you get the full aero package that comes with the airplane version, i.e., same fireware.

The DX6i can be used with heli's, but I like the 7 better, just because the heli's settings are more flexible.

andrew

I like my Spektrum DX6i for airplanes, the Tx only uses 4 batteries and came with rechargable ones.

Curious to hear more about the DX8 problems you mentioned. I have one with 11 models and 2 Helis in the memory which I've had for about a year now. No problems at all this end. I think there may have been some issues in very early versions but those issues have been fixed now.

Thanks for the comments.

I am now cogitating

Spent many minutes cogitating

But while reading came across, the misuse and stretching he boundaries of "acronyms" on more than one occasion.

I am not a supporter of the use of acronyms, it appears to be a secretive code meant to isolate on the basis of "you either know what it means or you don't!"

It is akin to some of the text messages, I have received, ignored and deleted without pursuing the apparent laziness of the sender. ("cul8r" - No you won't!")

This site is also riddled with acronyms that are confusing to the uninitiated.

CA - I thought this was short for Canada! Then I realised that it is being used to refer to glue!. So are you sticking things together with "Maple Syrup"?

The term CA commonly means:

California, a U.S. state
Canada, a nation on the North American continent
Chartered Accountant [/i]

I usually refer to "CA" as Superglue, Methyl_cyanoacrylate, Ethyl_cyanoacrylate and even 2-octyl_cyanoacrylate (if you wish to repair a skin cut!)

ARTF and RTF , usually have the "almost ready to fly" in small print but with very inaccurate description surrounding "almost". How can something be ready to fly if it is still packed in a box?

Next, there is use of LIPO.

Liposuction, also known as lipoplasty ("fat modeling"), liposculpture suction lipectomy ("suction-assisted fat removal") or simply lipo is a cosmetic surgery operation that removes fat from many different sites on the human body.

Now I know why John has trouble with LIPOs when the temperature drops towards freezing. Have you ever tried speading butter or dripping straight from the fridge or freezer?

Now for my favourite. After perusing several articles that indicated that certain transmitters could be preconfigured by downloading settings from the interwebs, I decided to investigate some of the models quoted. I then discovered that if the models were referred to by the term BNF then they were cheaper.

Strange methinks! Broken Not Flyable?

So again back to the interwebs.
BNF may stand for:

In computer science:

Backus–Naur Form, a formal grammar for expressing context-free grammars
Beta normal form, a potential state for a term in Lambda calculus
In science:

Biological nitrogen fixation, a process that converts nitrogen in the atmosphere to ammonia
British National Formulary, the standard drug reference manual
British National Formulary for Children
British Nutrition Foundation, a charity
In politics:

Balawaristan National Front
Baloch National Front, a Baloch nationalist coalition in Pakistan
Belarusian (National) People's Front "Revival", better known as the BPF, a political party created in Belarus during the perestroika times (BNF is from the Latin translitteration of the Belarusian Беларускі Народны Фронт "Адраджэньне" (БНФ):Biełaruski Narodny Front "Adradžeńnie")
Botswana National Front
British National Front, a far-right political party in the United Kingdom
Other uses:

Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), the French national library in Paris
Big Name Fan, a member of a fandom who is particularly well-known
British Nuclear Fuels (properly "BNFL")
Beneficiary (seen on wire transfer instructions for example

It is apparently none of these. After further perusal of a prospective manual, I cam across "Bind and FLY" --- Is this BNF??????

Day off Ian?

John Goddard wrote:Day off Ian?

Unfortunately not but a very welcome "quiet" time. The calm before the storm!

Those are all acronyms which are regularly used by manufacturers and usually learned shortly after starting the hobby.


BNF does mean "Bind and 'N' Fly", and has made made Horizon Hobby thrive.

microflitedude wrote:Those are all acronyms which are regularly used by manufacturers and usually learned shortly after starting the hobby.


BNF does mean "Bind and 'N' Fly", and has made made Horizon Hobby thrive.

I am glad that when I started I didn't have the hassle of learning a new language when starting to build aeroplanes. I would have struggled with BC, AD (perhaps in retrospect ER)*, following up with TP, CD and FP!

* We British have a habit of naming things by original manufacture/inventor rather than function. The term "Biro" in often used rather than "Ball Point Pen" and "Hoover" rather than "Vacuum Cleaner".

I realised now that the younger element of this site "TXT" people whereas I have spent a life BPNing them!

I have just BNFed my first aeroplane except that still isn't an accurate description. I suppose I have just B'd it!

Man, talk about names, ever since ive been in schooling for engineering, its like i have learned a new language.

As for RX and TX, i am happy with my DX5. it was cheap (20$) and it works. But then again, I only have 1 model running.

my

-S S

shell shock wrote:Man, talk about names, ever since ive been in schooling for engineering, its like i have learned a new language.

As for RX and TX, i am happy with my DX5. it was cheap (20$) and it works. But then again, I only have 1 model running.

my

-S S

I agree, although I use a DX7, the DX5 is a nice basic radio.

Well thank you all.

I was torn between the DX6i and the DX7s, leaned towards the DX7s as it had the facility to download model "setups" and save a lot of hassle. The RC planes I built during the 35 MHZ days involved a lot of jiggery pokery in setup. The first I built resulted in a wrecked tailplane because of the throw on the servo that I had set up. (learned to be careful and not waggle sticks about without checking!)

Spektrum because lots of cheap bargain models come prefitted with the RX gubbins and it is a cheap way to acquire them.

Then, to my good fortune, I came across a lonely DX8 - "unwanted gift", cast aside from a "failed relationship". So I adopted it!

Then I remembered the John Goddards posting! However, he has modified his statement to

"The DX8 is emminently suitable for an "Old Fart" like you who is hardly likely to notice the lack of sub nanosecond response times when throwing an aeroplane around the sky!"

Or something to that effect!

It has got lots of buttons, switches, sliders and "waggly" things.

My first observation is "not enough flashing lights!" and if I wanted something that vibrated I would be pursuing a much different interest!

I've been wanting a DX8, lucky dog