Thought this warranted a new thread:

Well, I think I have a bigger piece of the puzzle today, I flew the converted nitro mustang on its maiden flight since converting to electric and "bammm" right into the ground shortly after liftoff, brutal sound lol. Anyway the damage wasn't terrible, I crushed front piece of the wing and everything inside got torn out, all servo mounts, wing mounts, etc. I didn't range check it like an idiot so i know this was completely my fault. Anyway I spent the afternoon rebuilding it and now it is ready to go again, however, I did a range check with my wife helping me and low and behold I could not get 30 ft away without it twitching and going crazy. If I raised the antenna, fine, lower it goes nuts. Then i decided to raise the antenna and just keep walking the whole time I could see it, I didn't get 100' away before it started twitching on its own and running the engine up by itself. I guess this 10 year old Futaba is not good, any advice?????

Problem solved I guess, I just pulled the Rx out of my 2.4 ghz parkzone and hooked it up to everything and it works perfectly, so guess I'll just be getting a new AR500 RX for every plane and stay with 2.4, today was almost a total loss thanks to old equipment...

I would check the antenna on the Rx on the older receiver. Even though it may look good, it might be broken inside the insulation. Shorten antenna will act like that.

Get a new one on and solder it, even a piece of same length small braided wire will work.

Maybe nothing wrong with the old radio -- it could have simply been interference between the electric components and the receiver.

I still use 35MHz for glow, but I've been replacing it with 2.4GHz sets every time I've converted a model to electric, because of 2.4GHz's lack of interference.

I'd like to second the idea that the older receiver might be just fine. I once placed the speed controller next to the receiver and observed that same effect as you. I could not get more than 30 feet away from the transmitter (72MHz), with the transmitter antenna down, before servos started twitching.

I now place the speed controller very near the nose and receiver just in front of or behind the rudder / elevator servos (if I can) with the antenna end of the receiver away from the servos. Never had a problem since then while using dual-conversion receivers.

Alan

Well I thought of that so I moved the receiver to the back of the airplane no where near the esc, I'd say at least 4" away...I've already converted to the 2.4, should I just sell the old gear, what is it worth? Should I just throw it out? I don't want to chance any of my old stuff even though it was new 8 years ago.

I had the same problem with a plane just yesterday. Rudder would sometimes just flutter. Bad servo? Replaced it and the ailerons and elev did a bit of flutter. ??? OK, something else. Name brand 2.4 comes out and a HK orange went in. Everything is fine now. Did the 2.4 style range check and all is good. XX = crossed fingers!

Originally Posted by cfiiman

Well I thought of that so I moved the receiver to the back of the airplane no where near the esc, I'd say at least 4" away...I've already converted to the 2.4, should I just sell the old gear, what is it worth? Should I just throw it out? I don't want to chance any of my old stuff even though it was new 8 years ago.

I sold my 35MHz stuff on ebay, bit by bit. Don't remember what I got, but it was better than nothing

Alternatively, if you're a member of a club, could they use if for a glow club trainer?