Do you know anything about radio control tx and rx?

Question

I need to understand the basics of radio control equipment after coming across a Sanwa challenger transmitter which looks brand new but i'm guessing almost 15yrs old?

The box info says digital proportional FM, 6 channel 35mhz ch73 and i have got my head around that bit but there is tx only and 1 servo.

I will need a rx, does this need to be Sanwa and a specific one or will any sanwa rx work?

If i purchase a used equipment which has servos fitted, do these have to be changed to sanwa and again, must they be specific ones that are compatable?

Is this Tx worth bothering with or should i just junk it for something new?

Answer 1

yes you need a receiver to control the model all it has to be is 35mhz and most servos are universal you might have to trim the plug a little so it will fit in the recevier just dont plug the servo in backwards or you will short out the servos

but seeing as how this is an airplane/heli 6ch setup and you only have a transmitter and a servo it would probley be cheaper and easier just to buy another transmitter/receiver i'm not sure with 6 ch air radios but with 2/3ch land radio most the time the transmitter/receiver and the servos all come in one package

if you want an idea on prices check out HorizonHobby.com they are the closest to most hobby shops around my area

Answer 2

People often buy complete sets to get an airborne set up and then sell the transmitter separately. Not a problem. Any 35 MHz receiver will work, providing the right crystal is used. Just because you have a Sanwa transmitter, do not assume you will need a Sanwa receiver crystal unless it is a Sanwa receiver. Sanwa are sods when it comes to servos as well, as they use their own plug. Nearly all others use the Futaba type plug. Conversion leads are cheap, as are servos nowadays. It might be best, as you are obviously new to the hobby, to invest in a complete set up, available from £100 upwards. Buy a six channel set. You won't need to it start with but, as you progress, the other channels you will require are already in your transmitter. There is no bigger waste of money than buying a four channel set and then progressing to retractable undercarriage and flaps and finding you have to buy another transmitter.
Frequencies used are 27 and 35 MHz for aircraft, 27 and 40 MHz for land and water. There is a UHF band but nobody makes sets for it anymore. If you have any more questions I can help you with other questions, feel free to email me.

Answer 3

What you've got there is the transmitter for controlling the model. You don't need Rx for the control box as the model won't be sending signals back to the controller. Your Rx system in the model does not need to be Sanwa but it does need to match the frequencies that your Tx system works on otherwise the signal won't be received. Check your frequency table on the instructions against what you're going to purchase. As far as I'm aware the servos are conected by relay systems and therefore you should be able to replace them with any kind.

Answer 4

For what it will cost, you might as well buy a new transmitter, and a receiver to go with it. I have an idea (but it may be out of date) that 35 MHz is a frequency legal only for model planes in the UK, and that cars and boats use 27 MHz.
Strikes me that if this TX was used with a plane, maybe it developed a fault and stopped transmitting, so the plane just carried on into the distance, and that's how the RX got lost!

Answer 5

I cant really help you on this I just know that tx is the transmitter side of things and rx is the receiver side of things. Just getting into this sort of thing myself.