While surfing the web today, I found something interesting on the futaba FASST website. The link is as follows: http://2.4gigahertz.com/modules/modules-receivers.html Now looking this over, it APPEARS that it's a module that allows you to convert an exisiting V/UHF radio to microwave (2.4ghz). Has anyone seen anything on these things? I'm really not sure if I am understanding correctly. If these do what I suspect, does anyone have any experience in using them? I've got an ancient 4 channel Futaba airplane radio that I'd love to be able to attach a module to and use at 2.4ghz on a ship. I'm sure I'm not the only person in that boat...
There are various manufacturers doing this, XPS was one of the first, now Assan, Corona, Futaba and Spektrum do. It largely depends on the radio you are converting and what 2.4ghz system you want to use. However, with the price of the Hobby King 6 channel computer programmable radio being about $33, with $5 or less for the programming cable, one begins to wonder if it is worth converting an old radio. However: I am planning on harvesting the module from one and putting it in a favorite 6 channel of mine (cheaper than the conversion kit). The 4 channel Hobby King, if you are wanting it solely for this, is even cheaper - under $30, and you get a 6 channel RX thrown in. You will want to investigate the voltage and signal levels in your current RX to determin if they are compatible (or need additional conditioning). Cheers,
Update - HobbyCity now has a "JR pattern" TX module for $13 and change. Ad da $15 RX, and a little cobbling, and you are good to go, it seems. WARNING= do not put this module in a real JR - the pins will short and fry the JR - you need to do a mod to make it work. Info on RCGroups. My guess is that it is cheaper to ship as well. Of course, considering the whole HK 6 channel system is only $33, you are only going to be saving on the shipping for the most part. And perhaps the convenience of having the TX module in a self-contained box. Cheers,
