Range check

Different receiver and transmitter brands have different specs for range checking like that. I doubt that you could adequately predict in-air performance that way.

Most range checks are used only to indicate whether the system is operating properly and no bad interference is present. Beyond that, all bets are off.

It's been a few years and I don't recall the specifics. But I tested a Futaba stock 127 Rx on FM against a Hitec/RCD Rx (model 525 I think). Both Rx's were set on a cardboard box some 6 feet off the ground and the antennas were extended horizontal in the same direction. The Tx was my trusty Futaba Gold series FM. All batteries were fresh. The Hitec Rx blew away the Futaba in range. More than twice as much range in fact. It sold me!

Similar results. I fly lots of lightweight small stuff.

Example. A futaba 6 channel rx will net me 60 paces.

A futaba parkfly barely does ten. A jeti REX 4 is about 30 paces.

All 35 Mhz.

I have flown the futaba feather up to 300 meters no problem. Plane becomes invisible, but still responds (I can hear the throttle)

I reckon 20-30 times range from 'antenna down' to 'antenna up' easily.

| I set up Tx with aerial down in a situation where it has no influence | from metal or body parts and about a metre above ground, and then walk | away with a model or a rig of battery/Rx/servos. All double conversion | FM Rx and standard servos | | When servos are chattering I then walk back towards the Tx till they | stop chattering (Rx locks on to signal). From this point I pace out | distance to Tx.

Some PPM (also called FM) receivers detect when the signal gets unreadable and lock the servos right there rather than letting them chatter. And of course if you have PCM, it does the same, or it can go into failsafe mode.

What I'm trying to say is that looking for chatter is not a reliable way of determining range. The servos may not chatter at all, even if you're totally out of range -- it depends on the receiver.

If you have a Futaba 9C, it has a servo tester mode where it just cycles all servos back and forth. This would be a good mode for testing -- if the servos stop moving, or start moving in jerks, you're out of range. It's a nice feature -- more radios should do that.

And as another poster suggested, a range test with the antenna down is mostly intended to find serious problems before they crash your plane

-- it's not really a good system for comparing the range of system A vs system B.