Topic: Futaba F14 Navy Radio converted to 2.4Ghz (Read 14530 times)

davem99 · « **on:** March 19, 2012, 10:26:44 pm »

I have just converted a friends system to 2.4GHz. I used the FR Skye transmitter unit and receiver - both from Giant Cod

. Like other modellers I have suffered the indifference of Robbe/Futaba suppliers regarding upgrades.

The transmitter unit requires but three connections to the transmitter: + positive - negative and the pulse signal. Om the F14 Navy I had the three connections are conveniently placed as three wire links almost in the centre of the circuit board. When looking at the board the nearest is the -ve, the next the pulse signal wire and the next the +ve.

The instructions suggest removing the crystal to disable the 40Mhz but I removed the -ve and pulse signal link wire links to save battery power. Very easy to solder the three links to the circuit board.
The aerial needs to to have a hole drilled in the case to fit the brass aerial connector, and there is a small panel with the control push button and indicator LED that can be affixed to the case. As this set allows for easy removal of the back I just placed mine near one of the switch holes near the top of the case so I could see the LED. Binding only need to be done once and unless you need to set a failsafe you will not need to use the push button.
I placed the transmitter unit above the circuit board on the right hand side - plenty of room, but you could place anywhere in the case to suit your needs as the connecting leads are long.

Checked for correct wiring bad soldering or solder bridges, Attached 2.4Ghz aerial and switched on. LED lit so switched off and followed binding instructions:-
Press and hold transmitter push button and switch on.
Press and hold set button on receiver whilst switching on. (easier to use an on off switch than just plugging the battery in).
Recever light goes green.
Switch off receiver then transmitter.
Switch on transmitter then receiver.
Connect servos and check all channels - 1 to 4 unless you have expanded your F14.
The receiver is 8 channel and cost a fraction of the Futaba receivers.

This system uses a frequency hopping system so should be fairly immune from interference.

There is a link on GiantCod to a test site that gives full details.
Tested on my model last weekend and had full control at all times. The only problem was my sight at extreme range!
I will probably convert all my gear to 2.4 as this system is really good and I have several sets that have been relegated purely because of the band they use.

thegrimreaper · « **Reply #1 on:** March 21, 2012, 06:24:49 am »

Any Photos/ pics of this convertion would be greatly received

Regards Mark.

Misty · « **Reply #2 on:** March 21, 2012, 09:07:16 am »

I am thinking of doing a similar conversion. Are you using the additional multi-switches and decoders?

regards
David

Subculture · « **Reply #3 on:** March 21, 2012, 03:20:46 pm »

Quote from: thegrimreaper on March 21, 2012, 06:24:49 am

Any Photos/ pics of this convertion would be greatly received

Regards Mark.

Won't work on an FC16, Mark, different board layout, so be careful.

davem99 · « **Reply #4 on:** March 26, 2012, 11:38:30 pm »

Hi Mark
I'll post some. Need to get the set from my friend first.
Hi Misty
No but have added two slide controls and they work fine. The addition is after all the pulse processing so should not affect the multi-switchers and decoders. I'm assuming that the decoder plugs into the relevant channel on the receiver. If it is a 40MHz receiver with decoder then it will not work.
Hi Subculture
No 2.4GHz sets will work with a submersible!
My conversion was for the F14 which has an easily accessable board with relatively simple to find connections.
I believe most sets can be converted, but yes the connections will differ between sets and unless you have the skill, and equipment to identify the connections, it is best to seek help from someone with the necessary skills.

Regards Dave

Subculture · « **Reply #5 on:** March 26, 2012, 11:59:50 pm »

Quote from: davem99 on March 26, 2012, 11:38:30 pm

No 2.4GHz sets will work with a submersible!

Indeed. That's why my FC16 is switchable between 40mhz and 2.4ghz.

Norseman · « **Reply #6 on:** March 18, 2013, 08:00:29 pm »

Quote from: davem99 on March 26, 2012, 11:38:30 pm

I'll post some. Need to get the set from my friend first.

Hi Dave

F14 to 2.4
Did you ever get the photos? It would be great to see an idiot's guide ..... oops no, I mean a guide for idiots don't I

I have been on Futabas site and found nothing of help. I was also surprised YouTube didn't have a little video or two.

Dave

thegrimreaper · « **Reply #7 on:** March 03, 2014, 02:03:09 pm »

Picking this thread up again now I have acquired an F-14 and a corona 2.4 Ghz diy kit which I run my Thunder Tiger from (well the wife do`s) I purchased a few weeks ago a tug now I know that a few guys have converted Fc-16s over to 2.4 and kept 40Mgs as well (sub users) this is what I want to do keep the 40 side for the Thunder Tiger but run the Tug on 2.4 so I need a bit of help on where to solder the leads from the corona unit into the F-14 so I can use either or at the flick of a switch a lot of instructions on the tinternet are for using the F-14 as a trainer set are the connections the same as that but with a DPDT switch instead of a momentry press to make switch??

Regards Mark

Circlip · « **Reply #8 on:** March 03, 2014, 03:24:18 pm »

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1406876&highlight=robb+f+14#post17687989
Hope this helps.

Regards Ian.

thegrimreaper · « **Reply #9 on:** March 05, 2014, 10:30:24 pm »

conversion now complete I did my FC-16 with the help of Andy Subculture now working great on 40Mgz and 2.4Ghz

Thanks Andy

Mark.

Circlip · « **Reply #10 on:** March 05, 2014, 11:50:37 pm »

So you changed it to an F16? what happened to the F14?

Regards Ian.

thegrimreaper · « **Reply #11 on:** March 08, 2014, 09:40:20 am »

Still got the F-14 running on 40megs is being used for operation of my Engle Gato with the plan to install an expansion module I have

Mark

Navy2000 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 02, 2014, 11:31:13 pm »

I have heard that the F-14 radio on 40 Mhz has a module that allows to convert to 2.4 Ghz is there any truth to that. I live in the US where we can not freely use 40 Mhz and would need to convert to 2.4 Ghz. According to Robbe it is an easy switch over, any help would be great.

Duane

Robert Davies · « **Reply #13 on:** July 03, 2014, 12:45:50 am »

Quote from: Navy2000 on July 02, 2014, 11:31:13 pm

I have heard that the F-14 radio on 40 Mhz has a module that allows to convert to 2.4 Ghz is there any truth to that. I live in the US where we can not freely use 40 Mhz and would need to convert to 2.4 Ghz. According to Robbe it is an easy switch over, any help would be great.

Duane

Hi Duane,

The official kit is: HFM12-FC 2.4GHz RASST F1963 for robbe F-Series - I can only find links to it in German online shops during a quick google.

The receivers for the above appear to be the Futaba FASST system, which are somewhat pricey when you need more than six channels. That's why most people use the FRSKY conversion module and receivers, with the wiring as linked to in the RCGroups post back up this thread a bit.

destroyer42 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 03, 2014, 08:08:20 pm »

Hi Duane,
Yes you can get the proper conversion kit, copy & paste the link below to your browser, the Robbe website.
I suspect you can purchase it from German retailers like hobby direct etc
With the proper one you switch between 40mhz and 2.4 with the flick of a switch.

http://www.robbe.de/media/catalog/product/cache/2/small_image/305x170/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/all/F1963.jpg
Destroyer 42

rocket ron · « **Reply #15 on:** July 08, 2014, 07:52:08 pm »

Hi
Most if not all thats written above has gone over my head, but I have an FC16 40Mhz which I use to run my Moonraker,however I have several other builds as well as a couple of recent purchases that I want to run on 2.4Ghz.

Converting my FC16 to alternate between both sounds a great idea and I know it's a liberty but can I ask for help in what and where I
can purchase the parts and how to go about carrying out the conversion
thanks
RON

thegrimreaper · « **Reply #16 on:** July 24, 2014, 11:05:24 am »

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__9770__Corona_2_4Ghz_DIY_Module_RX_DSSS_.html

go to this link maje purchase then follow instructions on this site

Subculture · « **Reply #17 on:** July 24, 2014, 11:44:29 am »

I would go for the Orange DIY kit these days- better range of receivers, and they're half the price of Corona.

Time Bandit · « **Reply #18 on:** July 24, 2014, 09:57:44 pm »

Beware of the orange modules if you meet other modelers.
They use only 1 channel (DSM2 uses 2 "free" channels) and are not able to hop and cause a lot of errors.
So if 2 transmitters use the same GUID they interfere each other.
The chance is 1/8th with 2 transmitters that you´ll go down.

Range should be the same as corona, both have same output power and the transmitting technology is the same.

@ RON
1 thing is described really horrible in the Corona manual.
You have to solder the electromagnetic shielding and the antenna wire on the pcb. Otherwise it will not work.

Subculture · « **Reply #19 on:** July 24, 2014, 10:37:16 pm »

The Orange TX's are advertised as DSM2

Robert Davies · « **Reply #20 on:** July 25, 2014, 01:24:06 am »

I didn't even know they did the Orange DIY module! So I went and had a look…

I've just come back from the Hobbyking site after having a look. The DIY module is clearly described as DSMX/DSM 2.

Further, the operating modes are - direct quote here:

Quote

4 operating modes: DSM2 1024/22ms, DSM2 2048/11ms, DSMX 22ms, DSMX 11ms

DSMX is a very robust system, that is amongst the best protocols currently available. I'd suggest that even when using DSM2 you'd still be more than OK running amongst two or three dozen people. Personally even above that number I've only observed a slight degradation in the absolute finesse of control (ie not quite as smooth as usual) - my personal observation only of course.

The observations and details quoted above are for the new, currently available Orange modules - there may indeed have been issues in the past with lesser specced modules, but I'd have no qualms about recommending these current models.

Time Bandit · « **Reply #21 on:** July 25, 2014, 02:28:53 pm »

It is adverised as DSMX or DSM2 but it is not working.

Despite the great OrangeRx I also use, the Orange module has some serious errors.
They somehow missed to copy the generation of the "globally unique ID" of Spektrum correctly, so they just copied 8 ID from original Spektrum radios, including the hopping sequence for DSMX. Theoretically there are 4 billion GUID available.

So in fact each module has 5 of 8! different ID´s and is only sending on 1 of these 5 GUID which you can switch.
Orange never told "we made an error", but the fact that they wrote "we are using only 8 GUID and switch them" tells me, something is really wrong here and it is definetly not DSM2 nor DSMX.

So orange module together with original spektrum radios is not a problem, the problem only exists if more than 1 orange module is within the radio´s range.
I would NOT use this and as far as I know multiswitch systems generally do not work with the orange module.
So why would you use this in a F14/FC16?

Subculture · « **Reply #22 on:** July 25, 2014, 04:32:25 pm »

I use Orange Rx's. Also used Corona gear. I haven't used the Orange TX components, as they weren't available until a few months back- I use the Orange Rx's with a Spektrum TX, and so far they have worked without a hitch.

Time Bandit · « **Reply #23 on:** July 25, 2014, 07:07:41 pm »

It´s only the TX module I´m talking about.

The Rx are a perfect copy and work (better) as the originals.

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Author Topic: Futaba F14 Navy Radio converted to 2.4Ghz (Read 14530 times)