Radio opinions

[juicedcoupe]

Are you certain the t2pl (narrow band) is suitable for old school (wide band) receivers? I suspect with a more modern narrow band receiver it would be significantly better. Narrow band happened in ‘91 iirc, so in Novak terms that would be a Polaris AM receiver

Though the AM versions aren't common, the Novak XXL takes it even farther. They are narrow band, tuned for the specific range of the transmitter manufacturer.

I have one AM versions, tuned for JR. It does still function with other brands, but works great with my XR2i.



But the Polaris is an awesome receiver as well. I have a couple of them, they are rock solid.

[jwscab]

I race my cars fairly often, though I'm not very competitive. For the price and feature set, I went with a futaba 3pv. The futaba receivers aren't too badly priced and when the orange ones are in stock at hobby king they are usable as well.


I hear nothing but good things about flysky radios.

For a cheap runner setup, I picked up takeoff units from associated rtr cars that guys split up on ebay. The basic 2.4ghz radio has some adjustments and they are usually under 50 bucks

[Frankentruck]

Are you certain the t2pl (narrow band) is suitable for old school (wide band) receivers? I suspect with a more modern narrow band receiver it would be significantly better. Narrow band happened in ‘91 iirc, so in Novak terms that would be a Polaris AM receiver

2.4 is still king tho, you can take off your motor caps and enjoy better range and no glitching.

The T2PL has been doing great with my collection of wideband AM receivers. The oldie Novak Rx's have been rock solid until I tried throwing the SS4300 setup into the mix. I'm so close to having all my options on one radio. The one thing (other than this current issue) that makes me jealous of the 2.4 is ditching the telescopic antenna. I hate accidentally bending an extended antenna.

Though the AM versions aren't common, the Novak XXL takes it even farther. They are narrow band, tuned for the specific range of the transmitter manufacturer.

I have one AM versions, tuned for JR. It does still function with other brands, but works great with my XR2i.

But the Polaris is an awesome receiver as well. I have a couple of them, they are rock solid.

I have one Polaris AM, but I'm wondering if it underwent a case swap at some point. I thought it was DOA until I tested it with an Airtronics MX-3 75mhz FM radio that came with one of my TC3 acquisitions. I might have to try that out to see if FM becomes my solution. I've also got this one oddball Futaba R123F receiver that works with wideband and narrow band AM, and with FM. I haven't tried it for this issue yet though. It's already got a home in the house loaner B4 truggy.

I race my cars fairly often, though I'm not very competitive. For the price and feature set, I went with a futaba 3pv. The futaba receivers aren't too badly priced and when the orange ones are in stock at hobby king they are usable as well.

I hear nothing but good things about flysky radios.

For a cheap runner setup, I picked up takeoff units from associated rtr cars that guys split up on ebay. The basic 2.4ghz radio has some adjustments and they are usually under 50 bucks

The Futaba 3PV looks like a nice radio, it just feels s little too much like giving in to becoming modern. That and I'd need to get a stack of receivers. It's a bummer that it doesn't come with some servos too. That used to be a great thing about buying a radio, some new servos came with it (even if they were low end servos).

[Frankentruck]

I picked up a nice narrow band AM Novak XXL tuned for JR radios, and at first try it seems to be an improvement over my wide band AM receiver. But still some glitching as the car gets at the farther distances where I normally drive it. I'm going to experiment with distancing it from the ESC more to see if that helps. There's an XXL tuned for Futaba out there, but it comes with a car I don't really want or need. Once I acquire, I'm not good at committing to selling. Are there any thoughts on if the tuned for JR and tuned for Futaba matter much for signal quality?

[GoMachV]

I could swear Futaba and Hitec were negative shift and JR and Airtronics were positive shift. I would be interested to see how the receiver made for that transmitter works in comparison.

[GoMachV]

Also this…

[Frankentruck]

I read that on the instructions, but the Novak tech support people aren't taking calls to discuss anymore. They also say don't use AM radios with brushless, but maybe it's actually ok. I'm hoping there might be some experience with trials out there.

[GoMachV]

Novak closed it doors a few years back

[Frankentruck]

Yes, the end of an era. I still prefer using their hardware whenever possible.

[juicedcoupe]

I could swear Futaba and Hitec were negative shift and JR and Airtronics were positive shift. I would be interested to see how the receiver made for that transmitter works in comparison.

As I was told, positive and negative shift doesn't apply to 27 and 75mhz, primarily 72. I asked the same question a few years ago on a different forum, one with a lot of vintage flyers.

But I can tell you that my Futaba, Jr, and Hitec 75mhz transmitters and receivers all work together.

[Frankentruck]

I relocated the receiver a couple of inches away from the ESC and did my best to route the ESC and servo input cables away from the motor and battery cables. I get slightly more than a 100ft radius of glitch free operation now. This is about 30ft better than I had with the wide band AR receivers. I wouldn't purposely be running that far away very often, but I'm still going to keep digging for receiver upgrade options that would let me keep using my 75mhz AM equipment. I crossed the orange line and have a Tekin TERX 75 AM on it's way to me.

[Frankentruck]

Quick trial with the Tekin had glitchless running, however the 'zone of doom' test area that seems to be the most repeatable glitch generator was occupied so I couldn't do a direct comparison.
.

[morrisey0]

I am using this $80 RadioLink on all my current builds: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085L3X5GQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

2.4ghz, 6-channel, 10 model, $20 shipped RXs, I don't really have any complaints about it for just running around driving. I don't do any competition stuff. When I put it in my hand and concentrate on it, yea, it feels a bit cheap and plasticly, but really, once driving mode kicks in, I don't even notice any of that. I have a 2 channel Spektrum pistol that feels just about as cheap.

I started looking into upgrading the stock Spektrum DX3 on my Infraction, and I knew I needed a Tx/Rx system with gyro steering correction, as the speeds are way to high for constant correction ...................... and low and behold, my cheap RadioLink Tx and sub-$20 Rx's do just that! On the bench, the servo corrects as expected. Tomorrow, the 100+mph test will take place.

But yea, another + for the cheapy RadioLink. Gyro controlled steering correction.

[threesheds]

I have the predecessor, FlySky GT3B, and it's great for bashing around .......something you don't find in a lot of other lower-end radios. Being able to limit your servo travel is an essential feature for me.

Just info, the gt2e has servo travel adjust for steering but I only went that route so that cheap Rx at £7 each can go in each buggy and didn't have to find acoms receivers and crystals. But purely entry level tinkering with no racing in mind. Also found rubbing down old servo plugs to fit the Rx allows them to be used with the 2.4 GHz Rx.

Sorry, what do you mean by rubbing down? I am getting ready to buy a new radio for my vintage car and I am trying to figure this out! I have old school Futaba steering servos.

A bit late spotting this question but I sanded down a servo plastic plug to fit an FS A3 receiver and it works fine.