Following our recent article about Receivers in confined “pots” (right angle plugs and in-line plugging issue), I phoned the terrific Inwood Models up in Huntingdon to talk it through.
I called Inwood Models as they were only people I found advertising a Futaba “transmitter-only” price. Lo and behold, the very nice people at Inwood explained they had just sold their last transmitter-only item from stock … but new stock from Futaba is due next week…..With 8 channel receivers included with the product.
The key thing, as we suggested in our recent article, that Futaba’s distributor is now only packaging the transmitter with a R3008SB 8 channel receiver ….with it’s plugs in-line, not at right angles. Could be an issue for some of us.
The terrific staff at Inwood had clearly already encountered the problem of in-line versus right angle plugging before …. so it’s not just us radio sailors down south! Anyway, they were extremely kind and offered to swap the receiver over when the box from Futaba arrives. Problem solved – thank you Inwood Models.
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
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.
Datchet Radio Sailing - Making It All Much Easier !! 