Used Radio Question

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peter walker - 23 Apr 2004 01:24 GMT

I was out a couple of weekends ago going to local yard sales and found a
Futaba Attack 4 radio for $25. I was wondering if this radio is any good. I
got the radio, 4 servos, a receiver, and some odd and end parts in I'm
guessing what is the original box. What should I check for as far as
function and what not. I'm a complete newcomer to this hobby and not sure if
I got a good deal or not. Any help would be appreciated.

Peter

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Fred McClellan - 23 Apr 2004 05:04 GMT

>I was out a couple of weekends ago going to local yard sales and found a
>Futaba Attack 4 radio for $25. I was wondering if this radio is any good. I
>got the radio, 4 servos, a receiver, and some odd and end parts in I'm
>guessing what is the original box. What should I check for as far as
>function and what not. I'm a complete newcomer to this hobby and not sure if
>I got a good deal or not. Any help would be appreciated.

Read the FAQ at http://www.futabarc.com/faq/service-faq.html#q41

Cheers,
Fred McClellan
The House Of Balsa Dust
http://home.mindspring.com/~the-plumber

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John R. Agnew - 25 Apr 2004 19:42 GMT

> >I was out a couple of weekends ago going to local yard sales and found a
> >Futaba Attack 4 radio for $25. I was wondering if this radio is any good. I
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> The House Of Balsa Dust
> http://home.mindspring.com/~the-plumber

That particular radio has not been manufactured for several years. It
is still legal, but you might have to replace the transmitter and
receiver batteries. Of course, you do not know if it was damaged in a
crash, so it should really be checked out more than just a range check
done by you. There are some bargains, but there are some "pig in a
poke" also. Is the plural of pig in a poke pigs in a poke or pig in a
pokes?

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Doug McLaren - 25 Apr 2004 20:30 GMT

| > >I was out a couple of weekends ago going to local yard sales and found a
| > >Futaba Attack 4 radio for $25. I was wondering if this radio is any good. I
| > >got the radio, 4 servos, a receiver, and some odd and end parts in I'm
| > >guessing what is the original box. What should I check for as far as
| > >function and what not. I'm a complete newcomer to this hobby and not sure if
| > >I got a good deal or not. Any help would be appreciated.

It sounds like an ok deal, assuming it all works ok.

Find a friend more familiar with the hobby to check it out, though.

| > Read the FAQ at http://www.futabarc.com/faq/service-faq.html#q41

This is a great faq!

| That particular radio has not been manufactured for several years. It
| is still legal,

So all the Attack radios are legal? (I forget the model numbers.)
That's good to know.

| but you might have to replace the transmitter and
| receiver batteries.

By might, he means almost certainly if they're the original batteries.
If you can solder battery packs, you can buy 3 packs of 4 900 mAh NiCd
batteries at Wal-Mart for $5.17 each and get yoursef set up that way.
If not, www.radicalrc.com is your friend, but it'll cost you a bit more.

| Of course, you do not know if it was damaged in a crash, so it
| should really be checked out more than just a range check done by
| you.

You could always send it back to the manufacturer or a repair shop and
have them check it out properly, but that's probably not really cost
effective. At the least, you should do a good range check, perhaps
finding some friends with radios on adjacent frequencies and see if
y'all interfere with each other, and check your receiver carefully for
any obvious physical damage. Definately, if you've still got the
original batteries, replace them -- they may work now, but are likely
to only work for a few minutes. With a cycler you could measure their
capacity, but I'm guessing you don't have one. So just replace them
unless you can accurately measure their capacity and find them to be
close to their original specifications.

This ia an AM radio, and I don't think it has a buddy box connection,
so it won't be very useful for a trainer plane if you were intending
to use a buddy box. AM radios don't reject interference quite as well
as FM, but they're ok. Since you don't know it's history, I wouldn't
trust a large/expensive plane to it, at least not at first.

| There are some bargains, but there are some "pig in a poke"
| also. Is the plural of pig in a poke pigs in a poke or pig in a
| pokes?

At $25, it can't really be that bad, unless several things are broken.

For comparison, if you were to buy this all new, you'd probably be
looking at $140 or so. (Of course, you'd probably get an FM radio and
new batteries.)

Signature

Doug McLaren, dougmc@frenzy.com
First one through this door gets a, gets a LEAD SALAD!

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Mac - 26 Apr 2004 10:11 GMT

> This ia an AM radio, and I don't think it has a buddy box connection,
> so it won't be very useful for a trainer plane if you were intending
> to use a buddy box. AM radios don't reject interference quite as well
> as FM, but they're ok. Since you don't know it's history, I wouldn't
> trust a large/expensive plane to it, at least not at first.

Instructions to add a buddy box to a Futaba Attack4:
(Just in case anyone needs to do this...)
http://egnatia.ee.auth.gr/~kosmour/english/trainer1.htm
http://egnatia.ee.auth.gr/~kosmour/trainer.htm

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Model Forum / Radio Controlled / Air Models / April 2004

Used Radio Question