Channel 21

Channel 21 sucks.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Good flying, desmobob

Hey bob, Mr AKimoto hijacked your computer. mk

Good one. :-)

I was trying to be funny. I put a long row of periods leading down to a smiley and my sig, but after messing around with the trail of periods, I FORGOT THE DARN SMILEY!!!

Good flying, desmobob, on channel 53; probably the best channel ever developed for R/C flight.... ;-)

If you get an Optic 6, get one with the Spectra Module. Then if you ge

stuck with somebody else on 21, have some other xtals ready to chang your receiver frequency. I have a series 8 Futaba with a syth module and one set of xtals fo the receivers. Seldom have to change, but can do so if needed

-- indoruwe

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| I think I am going to ask Santa for a new Hitec Optic 6 radio ... and | I guess I will get it on ch 21 to be compatible with all of my | receivers. | | So my question ... is there any reason not to continue with ch 21?? I | am thinking about occasionally attending a distant flying meet to see | what it is like to fly with a club and would ch 21 be overly used and | busy? or?

No, I think you have a good grasp on the pros and cons of switching or staying. You'll just need to make a decision one way or the other.

The advice to get a Spectra module was good, and it does look like the Optic supports it. Another good option would be an Eclipse 7 with the Spectra module.

Looks like the Optic 6 is around $190 with the TX, a RX and the Spectra module, though with no servos.

Depending on what sort of plane you fly, you might find the Spektrum DX6 to be a better choice. Similar features, similar price (well, $10 more), but includes 4 micro servos and also has spread spectrum, so you won't have to worry about channels at all.

The downsides are that it's meant only for parkfliers right now, and it won't be compatible with your existing receivers. That, and it's due out next month some time -- for now, it's still vaporware.

Spektrum needs to get off their butt and 1) get the DX6 out, and 2) get the next version out that gives full range for larger planes (and some more channels.) It'll be like a license for them to print money!

There are a finite number of freqs available. You are guaranteed to run into somebody sometime on your freq. I ran into conflicts at one club using 44, at another club using 38. I would keep your current channel. Its all a crapshoot anyway.

Thanks for all of the comments folks, yes the Spectra module may be a good idea, I noticed tower has the optic 6 radio with spectrum module for $179 (gonna have to be extra nice to santa this month) , yes the DX6 looks cool but their website makes it clear that there first version is for shorter range park fliers only.

My only concern with the spectra is that the manual states it has

400mw output and several other radio's have 600-700mw output (750 is the legal max) but folks tell me it is a good long range radio so I guess I can depend upon it for fast movers? S

I used to fly a World Engines six channel Blue Max radio back in 72. Its output was a mere 125 mw. That was in the days of broadband, when the power density was much lower than today for an equivalent amount of power. I never once experienced a glitch that I could attribute to running low Tx power. In fact, I never experienced a glitch at all with that system.

Don't let the power output of the Tx put you off. It is inconsequential for the type of "line of sight" operation that we utilize.

I would worry more about the sensitivity of the receiver. And only then if it was glitching.

Ed Cregger

I'd stick with 21. Interference on certain channels will vary from area to area. Too many flyers on one channel will be random also. Our club has at least a half dozen people with transmitters on 44 but they are rarely there at the same time. For no reason I can understand, 44 is highly stocked in Dallas. One local hobby shop had 3 or 4 radios on the shelf on 44 and no repeats at all on the other 15 to 20 boxes.

Carrell

| I'd stick with 21. Interference on certain channels will vary from area to | area. Too many flyers on one channel will be random also.

The advantages of sticking with your original channel :

1) all your planes will work with the new radio, and the old (unless a given plane needs more channels or programming than the old radio provided.)

2) thanks to #1, you only need to take one radio to the field, no matter how many planes you take. It makes charging beforehand simpler too.

3) no confusion about which channel a given plane is one.

The advantages of a new channel :

1) If you go to the field and bring two planes and two radios on two different channels, then if one of your channels is in use, you can just fly the plane on the other one.

2) if you sell something to a local guy, there's less chance of running into him at the field and only one you being able to fly at a given time.

Personally, being that it's late 2005, I'd suggest just getting something synthesized. It doesn't cost very much more anymore, and the convenience is well worth it.

If you do get synthesized radio gear, especially if both TX and RX are synthesize, I'd suggest picking a few frequencies and sticking to them whenever possible. Make sure you've made frequency flags for these channels, and actually change them when you change channels.

Don't just pick a random frequency every time you fly. That way, the odds of getting confused are far less, and so you're much less likely to shoot somebody down.

My Hitec radio came with a neat frequency flag gizmo. A plastic pouch that could be hooked up to your antenna or in my case I hooked it up to the carrying handle. Inside the pouch are two strip of paper with numbers on it, so when you fold them the right way, you frequency showed up. Tried to buy more of these but was unsuccesful

-- indoruwe

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I use to fly on channel 21 in the DFW area. However, someone else had the same frequency at the club and I switched to 19. Never any gliches using 21 or 19 with Hitec and Airtronics recievers. So as far as I am concerned, go ahead and stay with 21. Just don't come to our field on 19 please!

I did upgrade to the Hitec Eclipse transmitter with spectra synthesizer. It works just fine. The Eclipse transmitter will fly any type of reciever and so I can fly with just one radio. However, if you decide to do that, just becareful of having different models set up on the same radio. If I'm flying my pink racer but have a different model on the transmitter (7 total different models held in memory), then my servos will be opposite of what I have programed in on the other plane.

Bruce

Strange. My series 8 Futaba "knows" for each model that I hav (possibility of 16 models) how everything is set up, including i servos are "reversed" from one model to the next

-- indoruwe

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You can get a 99 memory, fully synthesized radio from Polk's Hobbies for $200 with a fully synthesized 8 ch receiver. Why bother with the Optic? No silly little dials, frequency selected by memory and I can fly anyone's FM receiver I want... Airtronics, Futaba, Hitec, whatever fits the application. I've got one and so far it's very sweet. Granted when/if they get spread spectrum that will be nice, but it won't run the 8 receivers I already have!!!

Jack

I've seen the ads for these and was wondering if anyone had their hands on one yet. Any other opinions? Seems almost too good to be true...

Steve

I've had the Tracker II for about 3-1/2 years. In my older version, the programming is a little less than user friendly, but useable. I believe the Tracker III shows some improvement. If you're programming needs aren't very complicated, it's fine. I've been essentially happy with mine and had up to

13 aircraft programmed at a time. I've used JR, GWS, Berg, Plantraco, and FMA RXs with no problems.

Single biggest annoyance: having to save all changes to programming, and having to save and recenter trims.

PCPhill

Steve, Go to

and click on support/rcforum. There's a section in there devoted to their radios and such where you can see the sometimes brutal opinions of a bunch of folks who have Tracker II's and III's. I won't lie to you and say it has been totally trouble free. You'll see there have been a couple of issues with the radio since it started shipping a couple months back. But so far they have been minor and Polk is pretty well known for good service. They are already talking about a software update by month end with a bunch of improvements suggested by the user community on that forum. That's the good side of a small manufacturer. I am sending mine back now because of a loose wire on one potentiometer but the company owner/president is the guy who responded to me and asked me to send it back to them and that makes me feel pretty good about my chances for a quick fix. 5 year warranty too. I've had to send back another manufacturers brand new radio 3 times before they got it fixed so this is annoying but not unheard of. These things are complicated and shipping around the globe is hard on electronics. I bought my TIII for 3 or 4 main reasons. First, I wanted a true synthesized, set the frequency in memory type radio. Swapping modules in and out and rotating tiny little dials is ridiculous (it was outdated technology in 1990). I owned a Spectrum module for about 3 months before I sold it. There's a computer in there for goodness sakes! Next on the list is the ability to handle positive and negative shift. I buy receivers based on the physical layout/size/weight/capability I need for an airplane. I couldn't care less if it's positive or negative shift. Of course both (now all three of) my present radios (Airtronics RD6000, RD8000, Polk TIII) can do that. The Airtronics can do PCM(Airtronics proprietary) as well! The RD6000 is like 5 years old and if it does it, why not all those newer radios??? It didn't occur to me that others couldn't do that until I started checking. I almost bought a 9CAP until I found out it couldn't. Again, ridiculous. It is incredibly simple to be able to do either and the only reason I can imagine they don't is that they WANT to be incompatible with other manufacturers. Being proprietary with good reason is one thing, but this is just plain dumb. How much does that thing cost again? Last two reasons was 99 memories (won't run out anytime soon) and price. $200 for an

8 channel rig with a synthesized receiver as well... I'll put up with a couple small growing pains for all that. OK, off my soapbox (for now). Polk is apparently working hard to take care of the few issues that have cropped up with the TIII so far and I expect by Jan 1 to have a good solid radio with lots of features. I doubt anyone is going to sell their 14MZ or JR10X for one of these but for those of you who aren't flying high end competition and just need a good sport radio with a moderately comprehensive set of programming options... you ought to look into the TIII.

Jack

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