Tag Archives: futaba

Receivers and Confined Spaces…. Part 2 !!

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A few days ago we wrote about the impact of RC Flying on receivers and how we might think about them in Radio Saling’s confined spaces. First a look at some of our choices:-

This is the dinky little Radiomaster 3 channel ELRS receiver, much favoured by our Commodore, Phil. Seriously compact little thing… you might be inclined to mount it eg on velcro on the back of the unit as photographed. So the important thing in this discussion is that the connecting leads (as you can see in the photo) will stick out at right angles to this surface.

Next one is the Spectrum AR620 much favoured by Craig and Rohan. Six channels and in reality hardly any larger than the ELRS above. But note : you probably will have you velcro pad at the bottom face in the photo above, and consequently your sockets will stick out parallel to the mounting surface and not at right angles. Great for flying wing planes to permit mounting inside the wing (see first article). Really the unit is so diminutive, in radio sailing it’s no issue where you put it.

Before I illustrate photos of the two current Futaba receivers that are most relevant, I may ask if you know the depth of your receiver “pot”? As I recall, the new Proteus design is “pot-less” which is interesting. In the two boats I have here, the SailboatRC pot is 105mm deep and the SailsEtc pot in my Marblehead is 80mm deep. Keep that in mind for a minute.

Two of the current common Futaba receivers are these :-

This is the six channel R3006SB receiver – note the sockets are at right angles to the mounting surface.

This is the 8 channel R3008SB receiver – note that the sockets are in-line with the mounting surface. So by the time you wiggle your two or three plugs in here, you end up with quite a long unit.

This is the R3008SB mounted in the 105mm deep SailboatRC Pot. Plenty of space and the factory have chosen the put the electrical connector end lowest in the boat. Interesting. It would be possible to install the same receiver inside the 80mm deep pot – just about… but unless you invert it, the plugs are going to be quite close to a bilge water threat. I have been wondering of plugging in vertically like under a little umbrella is actually good for repelling water…. I’ve no idea !!

So if you are using a normal SailsEtc pot, you might prefer to consider the six channel R3006SB (with plugs at right angles) and secure that in the pot as high up as you can… quite probably with plugs at the top so they are as far away from a bilge water threat as possible. Here is that receiver installed in Nigel’s F6 – can you see what I mean??

I have been considering acquiring another Futaba Transmitter soon – prices are keen at the moment. However, my model shop in common with many now sells you a “Combi” pack which obliges you to take the transmitter with an 8 channel R3008SB receiver. It comes directly from distributor stock, not theirs. I really want to buy from my local man, but it looks like I might have to get a transmitter-only price from somewhere and buy a six channel R3006SB receiver separately alongside. So far (at the time of writing – March 2025) I have managed to find “Inwood Models” who sell from their own stock (keen price) and do list the receiver components separately. Might be the answer….

You can find the first part of this article by clicking here

Receivers and Confined Spaces…. Part 1 of 2

ELRS … So The Commodore Was Correct ….!!

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Our Commodore, Phil H, has long been very keen on the performance of his Radiomaster-ELRS receiver… “never dropped a signal”, he says.

Can you read that table above ? – it’s a tad blurry, but I think you can. These are ground-to- ground test results of some major transmitter-receiver brands aimed at the Radio Flying community, …who are interested in distances measured in kilometres..

The test might also typically be using receivers with a lot more channels than we use in sailing. The test person gets more into the transmitters, but receiver capability will be a big part of the equation.

You have to keep a sense of proportion – flyers seem to worry about ranges measured in kilometres, whereas, honestly, if our boats are 100m away I panic about whether I’ll hit a mark…. or not be able to tell which one of the pack is “me” !!

No need for us to be extremely picky about range and distance, but it’s all relative….

Sure enough, Phil – the major conclusion of the test is that ELRS is basically in a class of its own. FrSky Tandem was quite close (see our recent website article), but we don’t see many of those. You can see why the tests were controversial, but essentially they left the receivers in one spot then drove the transmitters into the distance (flattish undulating terrain) until they dropped signal. I think at one point they drive over a hill and see if the signal is regained the other side.

When you are dealing with radio sailing distances of 100 metres or so, if you have signal drops you probably need to check out other parts of the system. … Interesting though…. The full link of this 2024 video is given below – it’s long and much of it somewhat heavy going. If you skip forward to around the 1’17”, the summary and results start around there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LargnWPSX04

Futaba Users !!… Missing Receiver Telemetry Data?? … Is Your Receiver Paired But Not Linked Perhaps?!!

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This has been bugging me for a while. At last I’ve cracked it. Ever so pleased…

Are you a Futaba User who has not been able to make their transmitter show the onboard telemetry ?? By which I mean the onboard battery voltage and receiver signal strength!!

I can’t be the only one, can I??!! If you look online, there’s no shortage of RC Flyers asking the same thing.

I have two Futabas – different boats, from different suppliers (one transmitter direct from the Futaba distributor, I recall….) and in fact from different countries. Both the transmitters came with the Receiver ready paired to the boat receiver by Futaba!! Both are missing the telemetry data.

Despite the advertising clearly saying that onboard telemetry is included, mine has never worked. Has yours?!!

To make it worse, I set up a FlySky a couple of weeks ago and the telemetry worked straight away. Same with my Radiomaster, same with my Spektrum. You can tell, I’ve been cross….

What I am talking about is the missing data in that photo above – of the main Futaba menu on the T10. There is no Receiver battery voltage showing, nor Receiver signal strength – it should be three little bars in that empty top right hand corner of the menu. My T6 transmitter is the same.

I can’t be the only one!!

So if you have the same problem, this is how you fix it. There’s one little thing to adjust, plus a BIG thing to fix. Let’s do the little one first. On your main menu of the T6 and T10 it says FUTABA in big letters – see it above? Well, that is where you want the onboard receiver battery voltage to be displayed. Go to the PARAMETER/PRMTR menu and use the manual (easy) to change that field. It can be a few things but choose “telemetry”. You’ll manage that easily, but if you are same as me, you’ll still see no data.

This is the T6 main menu showing (incorrectly) RX 0.0V and no signal strength

This is the same on T10….

If you go to the Telemetry menu on my Futaba T10 it said “No RX Data”. I’ve been racing the boats fine for two years… well, you just ignore these niggles don’t you!!

So why does it say “No RX Data”??

“Pairing” versus “Linking”

In Futaba-speak, it’s important know there is a difference between “pairing” and “linking” a Receiver. Pairing lets you waggle the rudder and mainsheet. Linking lets the receiver send data from the boat receiver to the transmitter. You need to complete both processes. It needs a modern-ish Receiver too. It needs to run the T-FHSS protocol – that’s the newer one that supports data transfer. So check that to see if your receiver supports T-FHSS… it probably does.

1/ Power up the transmitter and the boat. Go to your MDLSEL menu for this boat. If you have multiple models I suspect you need to do it for each one. I use one “Model” for all my IOM Rigs, so that’s easy enough. However, on my Marblehead I use a different “Model” for each Rig…. so I need to repeat this 30 second job, for each “Model” of Marblehead-Rig combination. You may be the same.

2/ There should be a field saying “LINK”

On my Futaba T10, that field was “XXXXXXXX”. It needs to say the serial number of the Receiver you are using. Use the JOG key to toggle down to the LINK field and try to change it – I think by holding the JOG key down. The menu suddenly tells you to unplug the battery and plug it back in. You get 20 seconds of bleeping to complete the operation. Do that and you should be in business.

Update: I just discovered on the T10J that I had to fix the PARAMETER field plus the LINK step for each “Model” (Rig). However, on the T6K fixing the whole thing once, seemed to fix it for all “Models”.

Now that LINK field has XXXXXX replaced with 202051348.

Immediately the receiver starts transmitting data. See the three strength bars in the top right hand corner and the `RX Battery reading 8.2v.

I thought it would be the same on my Futaba T6 but instead of XXXXXXX it said “221850611”

Disheartened for a moment, I realised that in the workshop they probably do batches of boats at a time – easy for something to go wrong.

(The “Small Print” in Linking Instructions…)

Maybe it got “linked” to a boat it wasn’t paired with….So I tried to change the field as before using the JOG key. And as before it simply said to disconnect the battery then plug it back in.

Now you should see your telemetry data !

Signal strength is in the top right hand corner, and onboard rx battery strength clearly shown !!