Futaba 6J radio set

[Philip MitchellParticipant @philipmitchell70963]

I'm using a Futaba 6J Radio Set, is it possible to modify/change or even silence the 'Stick Position Alarm'.

I have looked through the user manual and have been on the Futaba Website and there is no mention of this alarm.

[Philip MitchellParticipant @philipmitchell70963]

Modifying alarm

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

A quick google gave me the manual for the 10J, and here you can see a stick position alarm on/off screen in the third row down. It might help?

**LINK**

 

Alternatively, Futaba tech support live here:

 

**LINK**

 

 

Edited By Dodgy Geezer on 23/09/2015 12:35:20

[Philip MitchellParticipant @philipmitchell70963]

Thanks for that, don't have that menu screen on my transmitter, have sent an e-mail to Futaba asking the question, will post again when I have an answer.

[Philip MitchellParticipant @philipmitchell70963]

Futaba have replied, the alarm cannot be changed, modified or switched off. This is because it is a safety feature and ensures you do not switch the Transmitter on with the stick in the wrong position and damage your model.

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Funny how they let you turn it off on the 10J, then….

[Philip MitchellParticipant @philipmitchell70963]

Yes, I thought that 😡😳😝

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Open the transmitter.

Locate the alarm buzzer.

Disconnect it.

Light a small cigar; look wistfully into the middle distance and listen to an air from Bach's Suite #3 in D……………..

**LINK**

DM

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

DM. So easy.

Ashley

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Ashley

I doubt it's that easy, mate! Nothing Futaba have ever done was to make things either easier or cheaper. All I can suggest is that Philip puts up with it and/or resolves to buy a different brand next time. My Hitec Optic 6 doesn't have such an alarm, BTW, and neither did the Planet T5 or the Futaba 6EX.

DM

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

My Spektrum DX7 has a similar alarm, that (as far as I've been able to ascertain) cannot be turned off, either; however, I managed to get it out of the way by switching mode so that what the t/x thinks is this the throttle sits on a different stick channel.

Such alarms makes some sense from a r/c flying point of view, where the inopportune switching on of equipment with the throttle set in the wrong position could lead to some very nasty incidents for models, bystanders or both; however, I find it a continuing source of irritation that such electronicaly clever beasts as modern r/c equipment cannot have at least a few small non-flying bells and whistles added. Yes, I know that us boaters are very mcuh a minority compared to the airborne community, and that most r/c cars (the other bigger brother version of the r/c hobbies) usually only bother with two or three channels, but would it really kill the manufacturers to throw in a basic multi-channel marine mode?

There. Rant finshed. Back to circumventing the flaps and aileron settings again …

/Mattias

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Posted by Dave Milbourn on 24/09/2015 23:08:52:

Open the transmitter.

Locate the alarm buzzer.

Disconnect it.

Light a small cigar; look wistfully into the middle distance and listen to an air from Bach's Suite #3 in ….

I find it just as easy to push a bit of blu-tack into the hole in the buzzer. You can alter the volume that way as well…

In practice, what happens is that the design team add an alarm because they have seen competitors do it and don't want to fall behind, then they get complaints so in a later model they add a 'switch-off' screen to the software. It's the usual 'cock-up' process for designing things, also known as 'continuous development'…

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Ref the alarm – if it was such a clever and necessary piece of kit then why does the (more expensive) 10J allow the user to switch it off? I know B-S when I smell it!

Ref the marine module – where do I start? The Robbe-Futaba FC16 is/was the only dedicated boat and truck radio on the market, but only because R-F had removed all of the unwanted aeroplane and helicopter programs. You still had to purchase additional switch modules to expand the system, but now that Robbe is no more the fate of the FC16 is unknown. There is the Spektrum Dx18T, but that is fearfully expensive and comes fitted with either dedicated aeroplane or helicopter modules. If you want to fit the marine ones then you have to buy them as extras and discard the ones already fitted. This is not a prospect I would welcome, having shelled out a thousand quid for the basic set! It's also on a microwave frequency so you can't use it for a submarine.

For boats I think that all of the required software is there within the aeroplane functions of most sets. These are End Point Adjustment, Servo Reverse, Exponential, Dual Rate Adjustment and Mixing. I suppose you might like stuff like servo speed adjustment (for davits, ferry doors etc) but I've not seen that on any set yet. The missing bit is the facility to add switches and knobs for all of the additional functions we like to play with. A manufacturer would need to set up a new dedicated line to produce this type of set. For an automated line this would make no sense when he could sell any amount of aeroplane and helicopter sets that line could produce, while if it was a manual assembly line then the cost would be enormous compared with the potential return.

Our best hope is the pressure from the RC truck brigade on the continent. They are happy to spend money and their requirements are very similar to ours. Sooner or later someone will step in to fill the space left by the FC16 but in the meantime we will have to wrestle with radios which weren't made to do what we want them to. As for me, I'll probably stick to making my little 2-channel powerboats and not bother too much about the ferries, ORSVs and crane barges of this world!

Dave M

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Posted by Dave Milbourn on 25/09/2015 10:57:53:

…..Our best hope is the pressure from the RC truck brigade on the continent. They are happy to spend money and their requirements are very similar to ours. Sooner or later someone will step in to fill the space left by the FC16 but in the meantime we will have to wrestle with radios which weren't made to do what we want them to. As for me, I'll probably stick to making my little 2-channel powerboats and not bother too much about the ferries, ORSVs and crane barges of this world!

Dave M

At current prices there are a couple of other options.

1 – rehome the insides of a cheap Chinese 2.4Ghz into a custom-made box, which will give you Steering, Rudder, two proportional controls and two bang-bang controls for 20-40 quid.

2 – rehome as before, but put TWO (or more) transmitters inside your custom box. That way, you can have any number of proportional controls. I think the lowest cost for a 4-function Tx/Rx combo I have seen is around £15…

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

DG

Easy enough to say, but don't forget that many of the folk reading this would shy away from the hot end of a soldering iron. Cheap Chinese radios don't tend to have computerised functions, and their two dual-axis sticks plus switches is pretty much all you're going to end up with in a customised box anyway. That rather begs the question "Why bother?". I've seen some examples of home-made transmitters and frankly they all look rather shabby and almost sad…..

Two separate radios in the same box might have implications for the RF pattern (two adjacent sources interfering with each other etc) but with those high frequencies it's hard to say one way or the other. Butchering transmitters isn't as easy as it used to be i.e. when stick units were discrete units which you could buy and screw into a case. That said, SLM still make single and dual axis stick assemblies (and very smooth they are, too) and if you're happy to have a series of rotary knobs and switches all over the front of your nice tranny box then why not? You could even leave out the throttle alarm buzzer……..

Nah – it's not going to take the modelling world by storm, is it? 99.9% of blokes would rather slap the plastic down on the counter for something cheap in a box which will plug together easily and work straight away. As for Crow Flaps and Nine-point Throttle Curves you can do what I do – just ignore 'em.

Dave M

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Posted by Dave Milbourn on 25/09/2015 14:37:42:

DG

Easy enough to say, but don't forget that many of the folk reading this would shy away from the hot end of a soldering iron.

As do I. I have always preferred to hold it at the cool end…

Cheap Chinese radios don't tend to have computerised functions, and their two dual-axis sticks plus switches is pretty much all you're going to end up with in a customised box anyway. That rather begs the question "Why bother?". I've seen some examples of home-made transmitters and frankly they all look rather shabby and almost sad…..

OK – I would expect that you would have no sticks in the final product – just a wheel, a throttle, and two extra proportional function knobs, plus any switches. As you say later, we don't need no stinking computerised functions….

Two separate radios in the same box might have implications for the RF pattern (two adjacent sources interfering with each other etc) but with those high frequencies it's hard to say one way or the other.

Yup. The alternative is simply to use two (or more) separate transmitters for your model of HMS Hood and hold them further apart. So, what are we talking about? One propo channel for the rudder. Four for the engines. Four for the turrets and eight for each gun elevation. Total of 17 propo channels – say 5 sets. At £20 each that's £100 – cheap for a 20 propo channel set. And you have 3 more channels for rangefinders and the like, and if they were 6-channel sets originally, 10 extra switches for lights, individual gun fire, etc…

 

Incidentally, did you have any comment to make on my Radiolink trainer cable question of a few days ago?

Edited By Dodgy Geezer on 25/09/2015 22:58:13

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

DG

We don't need no thought control neither……….. Connecting up five receivers inside the same model would defeat the most patient of men. That rules me out by a long way – life's too short as it is.

I know nothing about Radiolink sets and I'd prefer to keep it that way. No offence intended!

Dave M

[Dodgy Geezer 1Participant @dodgygeezer1]

Like Chinese lathes, they're fine so long as you have low expectations and treat them as a loosely assembled kit of parts which needs fettling before use….

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

No Chinese lathe could turn a phrase as nicely as that – fettled or not!

DM

Edited By Dave Milbourn on 26/09/2015 10:29:59

[Quentin MiciakParticipant @quentinmiciak17245]

Canadian Graupner guy here.

There are a few other options that I have stumbled on to very recently that have potential and it's related to combat robots. They use surface radios to fight there robots with and they need multiple channels. What they have done is learned how to reprogram aircraft radios.

Option: A

For those who are computer minded, follow the instructions on the two links to reprogram a Futaba 6 and a Futaba 9

http://www.madoverlord.com/Robots/FUTABAMIX.t

http://members.toast.net/joerger/futaba.html

Option: B

Seek out a combat robot geek in your neck of the woods to help program your radio.

Option: C

Launch land cruise missiles from boats, subs and trucks at major radio makers. Then ask them to have a programmer to post instructions on their website for surface RC folks.

Even with my French Graupner MC 16/20 Nautical there is not a single piece of instructions for programming for model ships and subs.

Option: D

It just struck me. Contact some model submarine folks.

[Author]

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