Is there a low cost Rx / Tx that has decent range?

[jcald2000]

I have found over 20+ years that the key is having the antenna's out of the hull and upright, especially with 2.4 radios regardless of brand.
Put them in an antenna tube where they exit the deck so they don't chafe or ground out on carbon fiber.
I coat my receivers in electronic grade Silicon Conformal Coating and have never had a receiver failure.

About $20.00 a spray can, FAR cheaper than Hulls, ESC's and motors!

[revoltrunner]

Slowsl plz dont waste your money on cheap radios . take it form 1 whos been there , buy a good Futaba T3PL or a nice
4pl radio, I have wecked boats an wasted money on bullsh!t radios, plz buy a good radio, Darryl

well said Darryl. I have been there too. no more cheapo radios for me either.

[siberianhusky]

I lost a nitro boat a bunch of years back due to a cheap AM radio, lost signal and hit the shore full tilt. The cost of one good radio is still far cheaper than replacing an entire boat. That one was a tunnel hull, even the K&B lower unit broke when it hit the rocks, total loss!
Bought a Futaba Magnum Sport, used that radio from the late 80's until about 3 years ago when I went to 2.4. Still have that radio setup in an original Gold tub RC10, it's a complete retro shelf queen now, the radio still works perfectly.
Running Spektrum now, using the marine RXs I get more range than I can use, hard to drive a boat when all you see is the rooster tail in the distance.

[slowsl]

Lol, that was the furtherest thing from my mind actually. But yea, no water my man even when it sits flipped over for a while. No reason to even do hatch tape when using this method. (Note, I stated several times I don't have blowovers. .and I dont...I had a funky prop that kept making it flip lol) i really wanted to show how far the radio goes. I've gone out of site once and panicked. ...I went up on the hill to gain sight again. Make no mistake, it would not go near this far until I put the secondary antenna out the hull. I have had 0 problems since. I was getting ready to toss the system and switch to something else. Op, you made a good choice. Even the cheapie dx2 series works well. I highly recommend coating your receiver with a thin coat of general purpose epoxy or liquid electrical tape.

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions. I've used the spektrum quite a bit now and not a single problem. I did a quick range test and got very far, and never lost a signal, had to turn around before it got too far. The antenna sticks out of the hull in a tube about 5". I even have the cheaper single antenna receiver that came with it and it goes much much further than I would ever need. I'm currently using the balloon method for the receiver to keep the water out if there is ever a problem.

[gsbuickman]

+1 Airtronics MX-V, it even comes with a stock marine receiver. with all the features it has for just under $100 it can't be beat

[dasboata]

Fly Sky cost you under $50 and RX's are about $8 and they work LOL

[tlandauer]

Fly Sky cost you under $50 anf X are about $8 and they work LOL

Yes, they do work very nicely, the only down side is that there is a risk of ending up on Fluid's ignored list, hahahahahaha...... :):):)

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk 2

[dasboata]

Yes, they do work very nicely, the only down side is that there is a risk of ending up on Fluid's ignored list, hahahahahaha...... :):):)

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk 2

I did not know don't want that from fluid

[T.S.Davis]

Define decent....

Tactics work great but no features.

Love my Spektrum but I'm up to 20 different models in memory these days. I mess with endpoint adjustments a lot.

Ever watched a guy at a race doing a range check from half way across the planet and he's saying "it's always worked for me in the past"? In traffic with 4 other boats though..............not so much. If you're doing range checks at a race your gear is junk.

No thanks, give me something with a tic more reliability thank you.

[ray schrauwen]

I use my now 3 year old FlySky Gt3b and I've never had a problem heat racing with it. there are hacks for it too for tons of extra models and features but, I stick with the way it came. Others say they have had problems but, not myself.

I run it in a 60-70mph Wood Q Sort hydro without a hitch and antenna is inside beside the rx pack and UBEC, never a glitch.

[T.S.Davis]

That's good info Ray.

I run my antenna inside my boats too. Unless there's carbon.

[tlandauer]

I use my now 3 year old FlySky Gt3b and I've never had a problem heat racing with it. there are hacks for it too for tons of extra models and features but, I stick with the way it came. Others say they have had problems but, not myself.

I run it in a 60-70mph Wood Q Sort hydro without a hitch and antenna is inside beside the rx pack and UBEC, never a glitch.

Yup, used it on my 70mph Jae 21 FE rigger without any issues.
I am phasing out all my Tactics. They are good for what they are, but range is limited compared to Spektrum and FlySky, and none of my boats are CF , they are either FG or wood.

[Luck as a Constant]

Is there a low cost Rx / Tx that has decent range?

Flysky no question

Sent from my iPhone in hell

[Fluid]

....the only down side is that there is a risk of ending up on Fluid's ignored list......

Gee Tim, I expected more from you especially since we spoke about this last year. Folks don't get on my ignore list because of what equipment they use. I don't care what they buy but I do care that newbies get both sides of the story so they can make up their own minds. I put folks on the ignore list for what they say online....name calling, endless inane arguments, disrespecting others, that type of thing. I find it interesting that of the 36 names on my ignore list, only about seven still post on OSE, the rest were banned or stopped trolling. Guess my prerequisites for entry to the list targeted the right demographics afterall.



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[kfxguy]

Gee Tim, I expected more from you especially since we spoke about this last year. Folks don't get on my ignore list because of what equipment they use. I don't care what they buy but I do care that newbies get both sides of the story so they can make up their own minds. I put folks on the ignore list for what they say online....name calling, endless inane arguments, disrespecting others, that type of thing. I find it interesting that of the 36 names on my ignore list, only about seven still post on OSE, the rest were banned or stopped trolling. Guess my prerequisites for entry to the list targeted the right demographics afterall.



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I think he was making a joke about that...maybe because you don't like flysky?