Radio question - Futaba v Spektrum

[cbuk]

I currently use a Spektrum DX8 radio and up to now, 8 channels has just about been enough for my needs. I've just about completed a new build (coaxial octo with WKM) and definitely need more channels.



I dont theink the 9 channels offered by the DX9 will be enough so I'm limiting my decision between the Spektrum DX18 and Futaba 14 SG.


Although I'm obviously used to Spektrum radios, having done a little bit of research, I'm leaning towards the Futaba 14 SG with a R7008SB receiver. This set is listed around £425 on the net whereas the Spektrum DX18 is £525 with an AR9020 receiver.


Okay, so this is no where my confusion starts and I have to start making assumptions.
Firstly, the AR9020 is a nine channel receiver, so out of the box I would only have 9 channels? I'm assuming I would need to buy the X-Plus expansion module to use all 18 channels of the transmitter?


How about with the Futaba 14 SG/R7008SB set up? Could I connect the WKM via the S-Bus and then use the other standard outputs to control landing gear, lights, gimbal control etc. Can I mix S-Bus and standard outputs or is it one or another?


Sorry if these are dumb questions but I have no experience of futaba whatsoever.

 

[kloner]

the big benny is you can run one wire from a sbus rx to wk...... as far as which rx, got me. The a2 has a built in fasst rx and my 8fg is streaming 12 into it. i'm not sure on rx specifics with futaba, i just started using there rx's, till now i've only used ezuhf and that has all 12 ch in the ppm stream as well on there standard rx

one thing for sure, i seen in the rx comes with 8fg had a way to change the channels out to ch 9-17 and i assume subs would still be all of the channels. for sure ppm and sbus are coming out of the rx at the same time. those futaba have such a great feel between you and the craft compared to the dsm2/x

 

[bensid54]

I have a Futaba 12FG with a 14 channel receiver I love that radio it's never let me down and I have plenty of channels to choose from without having to deal with an S-bus. I have a Spektrum D6X radio that seems to work fine but not with the same response as my Futaba the Spectrum seems to take a tiny bit longer to sort things out. My Futaba looks quality where as my Spectrum looks more of a dime store quality and the only reason I got the Spektrum was to bind to Blade products.

 

[ZAxis]

We have a Y6 with a DX18 and its been faultless, so is recommended. No experience with Futaba gear so can't comment on that..
You do need the Xplus expansion for all 18 channels otherwise you are limited to 9.
We also use the TMS 1000 telemetry module plus altitude and GPS modules so we have volts, height and position available on the Tx screen and being logged at the Tx. Makes for easy log book keeping for CAA approvals.
andy

 

[gtranquilla]

The Futaba RC systems seem to have a stronger future migration path with DJI products not just because of s.bus. The Futaba T8FG Super is actually a 14 channel Tx but comes with an 8 channel Rx.... However the Rx is pricey when compared to the Frysky TFR8SB which is 100% equivalent to the Futaba provided R6208SB.... and to make the configuration much easier for you... check this out. Jon DesJardin's YouTube instructions for setup....... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck3tu-4UVgg

I currently use a Spektrum DX8 radio and up to now, 8 channels has just about been enough for my needs. I've just about completed a new build (coaxial octo with WKM) and definitely need more channels.



I dont theink the 9 channels offered by the DX9 will be enough so I'm limiting my decision between the Spektrum DX18 and Futaba 14 SG.


Although I'm obviously used to Spektrum radios, having done a little bit of research, I'm leaning towards the Futaba 14 SG with a R7008SB receiver. This set is listed around £425 on the net whereas the Spektrum DX18 is £525 with an AR9020 receiver.


Okay, so this is no where my confusion starts and I have to start making assumptions.
Firstly, the AR9020 is a nine channel receiver, so out of the box I would only have 9 channels? I'm assuming I would need to buy the X-Plus expansion module to use all 18 channels of the transmitter?


How about with the Futaba 14 SG/R7008SB set up? Could I connect the WKM via the S-Bus and then use the other standard outputs to control landing gear, lights, gimbal control etc. Can I mix S-Bus and standard outputs or is it one or another?


Sorry if these are dumb questions but I have no experience of futaba whatsoever.

 

[steph280]

Some of the newer Futaba SBUS receivers (6303 for example) lets you program which channel you want to output on the receiver ports. so you connect the receiver to DJI FC via SBUS, and then plug your accessories to the other ports on receiver.

In addition, you can buy SBUS decoders which basically splits the channels out of a SBUS port. Frsky also makes one that's cheaper. It's like a 1 to 4 wire extension harness, where you can program which channel you want each of the 4 plug to output.

 

[bensid54]

Interesting these S-bus units so from what I hear you can use all the channels your TX is capable of is this the case? I got my receiver in a trade and they are pricey new so cost is a factor here too.

 

[kloner]

yep, there really nice, makes a super clean install too......

 

[cbuk]

Thanks for the replies guys.

We have a Y6 with a DX18 and its been faultless, so is recommended. No experience with Futaba gear so can't comment on that..
You do need the Xplus expansion for all 18 channels otherwise you are limited to 9.

So I have confirmation that to use the DX18 I would need to buy the transmitter and spektrum receiver and the x-plus expansion. Sounds like a simple route which would cost around £570. My only reservation is that when I started out with multirotors, I was plagued at the begining by a faulty Spektrum receiver.

The futaba route could be cheaper and cleaner but I am still a bit confused if I can achieve what I'm after..

Some of the newer Futaba SBUS receivers (6303 for example) lets you program which channel you want to output on the receiver ports. so you connect the receiver to DJI FC via SBUS, and then plug your accessories to the other ports on receiver.

So is the R7008SB one of the newer Futaba SBUS receivers, because what you describe is exactly what I want. I see on the web that the R6303SB is actually cheaper thatn the R7008SB.

Doing a search of the forum last night I came up with some conficting advice, but I suspect that may been down to DJI upgrading its firmware to support SBUS (?).

The two threads I found were this one from January 2013, where a comment is made:

but I thought you could buy the extended 16 channel version so as to still use s.bus for the Naza and also utilize channels 9 and up since the Futaba transmitter has all 14 channels available

and the reply from ChrisViperM was:

Unfortunately this is not possible, only with S-Bus servos. You cannot mix and match S-Bus channels and traditional channels on one receiver.
The method with 2 receivers I showed you has one big advantage....receiver No. 1 is mounted on the base plate of the S800, receiver No.2 is mounted on the Zenmuse. If you have both WooKong + Zen hooked to just one receiver, you have to unplug a lot of cables every time you take the S800 apart for tranbsport....

and this one from March 2013 where a comment is made:

This reply might be a little late but if you have SBus2 (now that DJI finally supports it) you can use R7008SB connecting SBus port to WKM and have the channel port on the receiver listen to channel 9-16. which essentially, turns it into a 16 channel receiver

and the reply from ChrisViperM was:

Correct, Sir

@ChrisViperM, you obviously know your stuff. Can you, or anyone else confirm that if I were to get the R7008SB receiver and Futaba 14SG I could use all 14 channels of the transmitter withouth the need to buy a second receiver.

 

[cbpagent72]

I can confirm that you can use all 14 channels on your 14SG with the R7008sb rx. I am doing it after switching it to mode D and using the sbus input for Wookong.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

[cbuk]

I can confirm that you can use all 14 channels on your 14SG with the R7008sb rx. I am doing it after switching it to mode D and using the sbus input for Wookong.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

Many thanks for that confirmation. I'll get one ordered tonight.

 

[bensid54]

You'll love your Futaba they are my favourite and it seems Naza leans towards Futaba's system when it comes to ease of set up.

 

[mmalik4]

Well I used Spectrum Radio for over 4 years on all my multi & helis. I decided to go over the Futaba route just because the newer DJI A2 has a internal RX which is FAAST compatible. I never had any issues whatsoever with Spectrum Radio. I owned DX6, DX7 & Dx8. my fav radio of all times DX7 (older one)Now, when I got the DX8 it felt a cheap plastic toy honestly. I although, did use it on few occasion but the I can tell it was not having that feel when I hold it. The throttle stick I felt was not the smoothest of all. Anyways, Decided what the heck I will try futaba radio. Having the repo of difficult menu and hard to grasp coming from spectrum I was like let's take a chance and worse come worse I will sell the radio. Now I ordered the Futaba 14SGH since I needed the 14 channels to work since I was limited to 8 channels. I wanted to control zenmuse which is on my s800 evo. Well this weekend I got the radio at first I was like hmmmmmmmmmmm... not that much impressive DX8 was waaay much better. Then I started binding and assigning switches and all. I will tell you one thing, You can literally assign any switch to any channel.... You are not bound to certain switch at all !!! in DX8 switch for aileron,gear,aux2 all marked you can change them.... You can do it on futaba. Then I wanted to use 2x R7008SB's on my s800 evo. One for controlling s800 & other for zenmuse. Bingo, Dual rx binded with charm assigned all channels worked !!!!! I am damn sure I couldn't do it that simple with spectrum.... No finally failsafe so damn easy in fuataba and it works throught the menu... The only thing that I miss and it sux in fuatab is the vibe & beep... I literally cant hear it and it vibes like a girl.. With DX8 when the vibe kiks in I can see the transmitter dances on the floor... I need to get used to it but I will tell u one thing I ain't going back to Spectrum...... EVER !!!Futaba Rockssss :02.47-tranquillity:

 

[gtranquilla]

Even with the Futaba T8FG I was able to get confused enough at the beginning to get the bench top configuration wrong such that when I switched the MR into buddy box trainer mode, the RTH kicked in. While all functions were proven to work correctly on the bench I was not looking for any crossover control issues. I wonder how many flyers have blamed DJI FCs for their own RC configuration errors and flight failures thru lack of proper bench configurations just before a crash or fly-away?:dejection:

 

[Silverburn]

Re: Spektrum vs Futuba...the holy wars...:nevreness:

Ok, I'm a happy spektrum owner, with my DX8 giving good service. Day to day controls, I didn't really notice much difference between the two (although I was using a cheaper Futuba at the time). Sticks felt the same, switches the same etc. If anything the Spektrum was slightly more comfortable. But the futuba/ezUHF integration was better. I don't fly Naza, so the PPM was a non-issue. And the Spekky telemetry feature is really nice, though you are range limited. I would happily recommend Spektrum...

...until last week. Less than 24hrs before a photoshoot, I did a test flight, and noticed I'd lost all range. Ie 20m and failsafe kicked in. Turns out the antenna had snapped internally. This can be a fault with the older Spekky antenna's, that get rotated a lot (which mine did, to fit in it's case) - the solid fixed versions in the DX9/18 seems to be the way to go.

But I will soon face the same dilema as you - I need more than 8 channels now. I need 11, so even the DX9 is out. And then there's pixhawk, and its standard PPM in. Unless Spektrum get into PPM soon, I'll be going Futuba as well.