I asked Spektrum if I could get this unit with BOTH sticks self centering. Here is their response:

Les,

Hello and thank you for your question. Yes we can modify the sticks
on the DX6 radio to have both centering. There is no charge for doing
this, all you have to do is ask when you are ordering to have the radio
sent to service for modification. Hope this helps, and have a great day.

Thank you,
Dennis Davenport
Horizon Hobby Consumer Sales
800-338-4639

So, for those of us tankers and boaters, you can have your cake AND eat it too.

Kewl.

...I don't suppose you happened to ask them about a 'dual' throttle thingy, did you? Hey, I can dream, can't I?
- 'Doc

Wished I would have know before I go my DX7.

It will be interesting to see what ground check distances you get with the R6000 aircraft Rx for your boats. The ground systems have different receivers and are optomized for surface running.

Ed

Well I use the AR6000 in a couple of my ships and I can get over 100 yards with the TX about chest level and about 150 yards with it over my head. At that distance it is really hard to see my boat, but if I want to recover my hydro then I need to go out that far. I have even used binoculars to keep sight of the boat when I sail out that far.

Oh yea the boat I did the range tests on was my Atlantic Tug with the Rx inside the hull near where the factory one is and both the antennas are also inside the hull, with no extentions. The AR6000 is a great boat Rx and I would imagine that the AR7000 is/will be just as good.

Massey

Oh yea I forgot to mention that in order to get the best possable reception you need to keep the antennas at 90degrees from each other.

Massey

??? 90° from each other?

All 2.4ghz systems I've been exposed to (802.11, Bluetooth, etc.) specify that the antennas remain in the antenna's optimal polarity configuration. Some are vertical and some are horizontal. Most 'whip' styles are 360° bias with vertical setup.

Are hobby transmitters set up for vertical polarity and not horizonal setup? I'd love to see the antenna spec sheet for this transmitter...

This is a pretty classic 'rubber duck' style of antenna pickup pattern (albeit a 9db gain one!):

Shaun, go to the Aircraft Radio forum and you can read up on the DX6 and other 2.4 systems till you can't stand it anymore!!

They are not anything like the 'old' radios as far as antenna radiation patterns, etc. The geeks get going over there and I am lost in a couple sentences.

Originally Posted by Massey

Well I use the AR6000 in a couple of my ships and I can get over 100 yards with the TX about chest level and about 150 yards with it over my head. At that distance it is really hard to see my boat.

Oh yea the boat I did the range tests on was my Atlantic Tug with the Rx inside the hull near where the factory one is and both the antennas are also inside the hull, with no extentions. The AR6000 is a great boat Rx and I would imagine that the AR7000 is/will be just as good.

Massey

I routinely run my model of USCGC TAMAROA over to the far side of our club lake, about 300 yards away. TAMAROA is 51" long and I use a Futaba 6 channel FM radio on 50 MHz. The rx antenna in TAMAROA runs around the perimeter of the hatch coaming that secures the main deck house. I routinely run some of my smaller models, 20" - 30" long, out beyond 200 yards with various Futaba radios. I'm usually sitting in my camp chair about 10 feet from the water's edge, with the Tx on my lap.

I bought the DX7 so I could get away from the HAM radio operators in my area, my AM radios will not even try to operate my rx in the boat when they fire up, it's a hit and mis kida thing with my FM units, so I am hopeing that the DX7 will stop the problem for me.

Probably because those hamsters all know how to use illegal power.

Seems like I just stuck a centering arm and spring into a DX6...
Maybe those weren't extra, but came out of mine when it was modified.

OK... Shaun, what I ment by 90° from each other is the actual angle of the wires that come out of the box. If you look at the AR6000 there are 2 antenna wires comming out of the case and they are at 90° of each other. This has to do with the freq. and how long the wavelengths are apart. I cant remember all the details off the top of my head right now but I used to have to play with Diapoles on the F-14D Radar dish and if they were not 90° to the surface the pilots would complain about false tracking and dropping targets. I dont think that the AR6000 is as complex as APG-71 radar but there are some similarities to them ( and many other items that use radar and close to radar frequencies.).


CG Bob, Yes with your Futaba radio you should get considerable more distance. I try to keep all my antennas in side my hulls if I can and I can usually control the boats fine well past my visual range and almost past practical with my binocs. The Spektrum DX6 was intended for park aircraft operated at short range therefore the output of the Tx was limited. As for the Spektrum systems used for "ground" like the DX3, they have more power output at the Tx so the range is greater.

Ropanach, The DX7 should provide you with better reception around the Ham guys. 2.4 GHz have closer wavelengths which make it harder to insert interfearance. The lower the freq. the higher the chance of interfearance. A 2.4 GHz wavelength is about 2.5-3 inches long where a 75MHz is somewhere around 3 feet long. Can you see how some one with an overpowered radio can add some unwanted noise into your signal?

Massey

the next step is cell phone technology on the DX system,