My older gear is operating on the 50 mHZ amateur radio frequencies that are reserved for RC use . The amateur community is very good about honoring the bandplan .

Like Earl , I am not berating the newer gear , as some may the older gear . The fact that I have at least as much faith in the older gear comes from years of experience , and have observed that the newer gear carrys it's own set of concerns .

The main point is , I wouldn't use it at all if indeed there was the slightest doubt that it was at least equal in relibility .

ive seen more planes lost on old radios than ive seen people on a more secure sytem thanks ...wether your into polishing old chipboards or not, older systems are a lot more suseptable to glitches. 2.4ghz is a lot safer than fm radios and i base my facts on watching people pick up pieces of plane. is till have an fm radio ,well 2 . i keep them because i liek them ,,like people here defend old radios because they like them ..it doesnt change the fact there less secure

oh no im starting to bicker at other flyers whilst im typing im unsubscribing to this particular thread because people will debate whats best ' FOREVER lol everyman to his own i say ;p if it works for you it works for you. '

One issue is that certain electronic components do age over time...both ceramic and electrolytic capacitors degrade some over time and more if subjected to heat. One of my EK Logictrol Championship series TXs died just before retirement in 1991, at the field, from a bad cap.

Modern radios like the Spektrums have a lot of technology to offer that older radios did not have: Flight modes, Model Match (a model will not turn on unless the proper memory is selected), tons of model memories built in, advanced mixing, on board telemetry, voice alerts. I have seen several models crash due to incorrect model memory selection over the years (non spectrum)

One really nice thing about 2.4 is that it gets rid of 99%+ of any issues related with electric motor noise and ESC noise that used to bother 72mHz and other older radios. Given that this is a glow related thread, this is not going to carry a lot of weight with this crowd, but it sure does with a huge number of electric modelers.

The fact that you no longer need to have any significant frequency control at events or even at the local flying field is another major advance. Over the years, I was shot down three times at sanctioned events and fly ins by 72mHz TXs that were left on in the pits and even left on in the radio impound....sigh. And was shot down several more times by newbies at the field that did not understand frequency control or screwed up frequency control by mistake, or by car/boat modelers that were on the old shared 72s operating near by. Nice to get human error out of the equation.

Like I said, I really liked my older radios, but I am not anxious to go back to them and give up the latest features and the noticeably superior service I am getting from my modern 2.4 radios

Originally Posted by dannyrsturbo

ive seen more planes lost on old radios than ive seen people on a more secure sytem thanks ...wether your into polishing old chipboards or not, older systems are a lot more suseptable to glitches. 2.4ghz is a lot safer than fm radios and i base my facts on watching people pick up pieces of plane. is till have an fm radio ,well 2 . i keep them because i liek them ,,like people here defend old radios because they like them ..it doesnt change the fact there less secure

You don't have the FACTS .
The old radios you are talking about are not the radios I use . The radios I use are very well maintained . No , they are NOT any more prone to glitches and / or dropouts than the new radios you prefer ...period . Like you said , I don't know you or your hobbies ...And YOU don't know me nor my radios .
Sorry , regardless what you think , the radios I use are certainly no less secure than the other fellows at the field with their typical later gear .

I too have seen a few planes piled up from radio problems ...with new radios . My old radios have never let me down .

Unlike the buy em and flyem radio owners ... I know my radios inside and out .

PCM or PPM , the radios work very well . If you feel the new radios are better for YOUR uses , they probably are . I am not putting down your choices for your uses . You could learn to respect that others are just as well prepared to to choose for themselves .

I will do at least as well however with what I use . Thanks for the concern , I do just fine .

I don't know why people say glow fuel is increasing in cost.

It was $18.00 a gallon for 5-10% nitro back when I started flying 15 years ago and it's still around $18.00 a gallon for 5-10% nitro now.

And even flying larger models, a gallon lasts a while. I can get a month or two out of a gallon flying 40-60 sized models. So I'm really not seeing much of an issue overall.

I happen to like the sound and the smell. I have to clean my planes of dust before I put them in my vehicle anyway (I fly off a dusty dry lake bed) so I don't mind 30 seconds of clean-up.

If there's one quark it's the tuning, but I like that too. It's a good feeling to get it just right.

IC won't go away. I don't think glow will disappear entirely either. Gas is getting more popular but at larger scales. Gas has it's own issues, like mixing 2-stroke oil and all that. I haven't seen many 25-40-sized gasoline engines, but if they're out there I'd like to know.

About 15 years ago everyone thought glow was going away and in a few years everything would be diesel. Did that happen?

Originally Posted by Rampage

I don't know why people say glow fuel is increasing in cost.

It was $18.00 a gallon for 5-10% nitro back when I started flying 15 years ago and it's still around $18.00 a gallon for 5-10% nitro now.

And even flying larger models, a gallon lasts a while. I can get a month or two out of a gallon flying 40-60 sized models. So I'm really not seeing much of an issue overall.

I happen to like the sound and the smell. I have to clean my planes of dust before I put them in my vehicle anyway (I fly off a dusty dry lake bed) so I don't mind 30 seconds of clean-up.

If there's one quark it's the tuning, but I like that too. It's a good feeling to get it just right.

IC won't go away. I don't think glow will disappear entirely either. Gas is getting more popular but at larger scales. Gas has it's own issues, like mixing 2-stroke oil and all that. I haven't seen many 25-40-sized gasoline engines, but if they're out there I'd like to know.

About 15 years ago everyone thought glow was going away and in a few years everything would be diesel. Did that happen?

I've found a simple cleanup solution. I use baby powder.

Originally Posted by dannyrsturbo

ive seen more planes lost on old radios than ive seen people on a more secure sytem thanks ...wether your into polishing old chipboards or not, older systems are a lot more suseptable to glitches. 2.4ghz is a lot safer than fm radios and i base my facts on watching people pick up pieces of plane. is till have an fm radio ,well 2 . i keep them because i liek them ,,like people here defend old radios because they like them ..it doesnt change the fact there less secure

It's important to mount the receiver in the right position to reduce the influence of vibrations, in Europe Schumacher filters are often used and these are solid state wen combined with servo amplifiers and cannot be influenced by vibrations of the glow engine.

Taurus Flyer

Originally Posted by Rampage

I don't know why people say glow fuel is increasing in cost.

That would be because we don't all live where you do and for some of us glow fuel is increasing in cost....A LOT.

Originally Posted by Rampage

About 15 years ago everyone thought glow was going away and in a few years everything would be diesel. Did that happen?

About 15 years ago there were only 2 or 3 companies left in the world making model diesel engines in limited numbers so I think it was only inside your head that "everyone" thought they would be taking over. Perhaps you're getting confused with diesel vs gas/petrol for cars...which ain't the same thing at all .

Steve

First picture a circuit diagram of a 3 channel solid state Metz radio receiver in the period a valve was still used in the transmitter, picture 2. No problem because the transmitters were supplied by batterys and not glow powered generators. So the valve wasn't influented by vibrations. The glow filament of the transmitter valve was the vibration sensitive element of the tranmitter. Picture 3, one of my modern solid state (relayless) single channel reeivers, I still use a glow (valve) transmitter too for this receiver.
No glow never was outdated. ;-)

Taurus Flyer

LOL "valve "

I have not heard that term used in years and years. These days, on this side of the pond, we call those things "tubes".

Les

"We?"
On the other side of the pond they still call them "valves" Just as did Dr Lee De Forest when he first made them .
The term is still used here as well .

The Heathkit transmitter in my avtar was built in the year 1958 . It still has several of it's original valves and functions perfectly . Regarding the capacitor issue that was brought up , The DX-100 still has all of the original ceramics . The electrolytics were replaced in 1998 . However , they were still working fine when replaced . The RCA 1625 modulator valves were made in 1945 as Heathkit sourced them from WWII military surplus . They still deliver full 100% modulation .

Well there are also a number of people converting single channel radios and even a few reed systems over to 2.4ghz too. So one could still be able to fly a old radio still. I did convert a Futaba 7chl and a Airtronics 6 channel over to 2.4ghz a while back too.

I did see where the cheaper receivers didn't survive more than a few years though. I had some off brand 72mhz receivers that quit working after a long layoff. But the brand name receivers would still work fine. But I expect that the old electronic components will eventually age enough to quit working. Resistors and capacitors do age over time, they absorb moisture and it affects them. But even other parts like the little transformer coils for the RF stages inside the receivers will age too. Solder joints and printed circuit boards will oxidize over time and corrode. So our old venerable radios will eventually quit on us.

It did take me a while to get used to pushbutton trims on the TX's. But I like it now. The modern computer radios are great with all of that flexibility built into them that we didn't have with the old radios.

20 people at RCACF today, 17 electrics, 2 gas and one glow.
Ah, the one flying glow was also the only one flying an old 72 Mhz

Originally Posted by Lopflyers

20 people at RCACF today, 17 electrics, 2 gas and one glow.
Ah, the one flying glow was also the only one flying an old 72 Mhz

Hmmm , Never had a radio on that band . Sounds like he is one of the experienced fliers however .

At our field last Saturday 2 gassers 8 glow , 2 electrics . All on 2.4 gHZ . Both electrics crashed . Pity ...