Futaba 6EX 2.4Ghz Review in Nov 2007 issue

[Neil TraylenParticipant @neiltraylen90969]

Hi

I recently bought a ‘Victoria’ model yacht as a beginning to R/C sailing together with a Futaba 6EX 2.4Ghz as the radio control.  (i have mainly been involved with planes before now. Therefore, imagine how keen I was to see the promised review in Model Boats (Nov 2007 issue) – which was described as ‘reviewing its suitability for model boats’. 

I am not sure whether my issue was missing a few pages but there was nothing in the article that covered ‘suitability’ – it was all just a description of the Tx and Rx and how they were operated.  No mention of performance at all.  As I understand it there some aspects of the 2.4 Ghz frequency which could make it very unsuitable for model boats, particularly the location of the aerial with respect to the waterline and the reduction in range when used across water.

Needless to say, I was very disappointed with the article which failed dismally to provide any review of performance or real advice on the ‘suitability for model boats’.  I don’t blame the author who (as he stated) had never used the equipment but I think that it is a bit rich of you to ask someone to produce a review and a misleadingly titled one at that.

Regards  Neil

[WideawakeParticipant @wideawake]

Hi Neil

 I have to say I agree with you.  I had hoped to see at least some attempt to do range checks etc under a variety of conditions, particularly as I expect my next r/cpurchase to be 2.4gHz gear.   I am convinced that this band is where the future of r/c lies.  I have recently been in email touch with Paul Freshney on a number of topics including this very subject. I’ll copy below my comments:

 > I thought that the review of the Futaba 2.4gHz radio kit was a missed
> opportunity.   This is not a critiscism of the author, who may well not
> have a technical background.   However a few things seem worthy of
> comment. There is a reference in the article to "…two aerials.  Yes
> there really are two!" as if that is a surprise.  It’s actually what you
> would expect from a set-up which makes a point of using a diversity
> reception technique to improve performance (particularly useful in the
> aircraft environment) and the opportunity was missed to briefly explain
> this system to less technical readers.  In general the article seemed to
> be something of a rehash of the publicity material available on the web
> with little practical information added which would enable the reader to
> make an informed decision on a potential purchase.   For instance, there
> is no reference to the range over which the set will work.   I’m well
> aware that this will depend on many things including where the receiver
> is mounted in the model but it should have been possible to conduct
> tests under a range of possible conditions.  I also can’t help feeling
> that we really didn’t need to see three almost identical shots of the
> receiver in order to demonstrate that a red LED looks red and a green
> LED looks green!
>
> Further to all the above, I think a more interesting approach would have
> been to carry out a compararative test pitting the Futaba set against
> the Spektrum DX6.

I had a very quick reply but will obviously not post that here without permission.

I have suggested that if, as I hope, he uses more articles on r/c and other "electronic" things, that he might commission them from writers with a more technical background or at least provide a brief that requires something more like what you ask for above.

Cheers

Guy

[Neil TraylenParticipant @neiltraylen90969]

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