Futaba Receivers and 1000' Range

[Dyxxander]

Hi all... I started in R/C in 1969 with single channel pulse, (I'm sure everyone remembers those). I moved up to proportional a year or so later. Over the years I have flown with a number of different brands of radios but Futaba was the one that I flew with the most. In the early 90's I got involved in sailplanes and enjoyed the relaxed flying. I have been out of R/C for a few years and have finally found the time to get beck in. I have started researching radio systems but since I had used Futaba most of the time in the past I thought I would look at them first. The one thing I noticed was a lack of smaller receivers for their FASST systems. I e-mailed Futaba and asked about the availability of full range receivers in the 5 or 6 channel size. The reponse was to use the 6 channel park flyer receiver. They said it had a range of 1000'. I e-mailed back that with a glider in lift 1000' was not much. I also mentioned that the older futaba systems that I had used had no problems at over 1000'. The response I received was that ALL of the receivers, (FM and FASST), that they sell, (6,7,8 channel, etc), only had a listed range of 1000'. I find this interesting since I am sure people have flown outside 1000' with a Futaba system. I wonder if they are trying to cover themselves in case of an accident, (They can say that you were outside the listed range so it is not a problem with the radio), or if we have just been really lucky. I will say that Futaba was very responsive to my e-mails even if the answers were not what I wanted to hear. I am now looking at other systems such as Airtronics, Graupner and Hitec. In the old days it used to be the range was as far as you could see it to control and probably further. I guess I'll look again at Futaba when I start flying planes that are going to be not too far above treetop level. Thanks for listening.


Rich

[RCModelReviews]

The parkflier receivers may be limited range but the other FASST receivers have as much (if not more) than your old FM/PCM gear had.

Check out this post for proof.

[Dyxxander]

Hi... I understand that the Futaba should have range to as far as you can see however when I receive e-mails such as:

The R616FFM range is listed as 1000 ft which is the same as all full range Futaba receivers. I do not see where that range is limited.

Sincerely,
John G.- PS9004
Product Support Lead Technician
Futaba Programming Technician


It just makes me wonder if they are just trying to protect themselves leagally in case of an incident. Thanks.

Rich

[Rob2160]

Hi Dyxxander,

I did the range test of the futaba 2.4 ghz and have since peformed more.. I managed over 4.5 km line of sight with NO problem at all.. This was on the ground across water.. So i figure it would be at least as good in the air..

I also performed the same test with a Spektrum DX6i and AR6200 Rx, and this worked fine out to 3.2 kilometers, then started getting a few dropouts...

I am away with work again (sydney this time) but when i get back home (Perth) on friday I plan to conduct a series of carefull tests with the Futaba, Spek and a number of "new" 36mhz FM radios and my Vintage (1980) Kraft 40 Mhz Fm radio.. (not serviced since 1992)

I guess Futaba are covering themselves by quoting 1000', but after my testing I would have NO hesitation flying a glider to "tiny speck" distances...

1000' is really high anyway.. I used to be a Police Helo Pilot in NSW, and we often flew over RC sites at 500-700' AGL, the planes were always well below us (Luddenaham Model Park for example)

From 1000' in the sky, an RC glider sitting on the ground looked tiny.. very tiny...

[Rob2160]

I will add one more thing...

I have now tested 3 seperate Futaba FASST receivers with 2 different radios and in each case they were solid out to 4 kilometers (line of site)

Now 4 Kilometers is over 12,000 ft.

I now fly a corporate jet (HS125 900XP) for a living. Often we depart Perth (YPPH) on a SID (Standard Instrument Departure) that does a 180 turn back past the airport - on a number of these I noted we were 11-12,000 feet overhead the runway...

From this height 737s and 717s parked on the ground look tiny and would appear as a "speck" in the sky...

"Smaller" Learjets and Bombardier Challengers appeared too small to recognise..

So even a HUGE 4m wingspan glider would be impossible to see at this distance... and it makes me laugh to think how small my planes would be at that height...

Bottom line - I have COMPLETE FAITH in my Futaba gear (plus over 400 flights in EDF jets without a single glitch... its good stuff guys!)