Hi
I am a newbie to electronics. I am trying to build a landbased RC bot. I'm looking for radio systems and servos with which to add control. However i have no experience with this stuff and where i come from, it is extremely difficult to find them.

Ive already scoured the internet but ive ended up being confused. Airtronics, Futaba ... which is better? Are there any others?
I need atleast a 4 channel controller and atleast 2 servos. I plan to be using the machines extensively in other projects as well so i need something that is extensible. I'd like to leave cost out of the initial list but obviously it does matter.

Is there someone on this forum who knows about this stuff? Any help will be appreciated.

P.S. if there someone from Pakistan out here... i'd just like to know where u buy your parts from.

 

Commercial radio control gear (like Futaba) should be available anywhere, it's totally pointless trying to build anything similar - and the specific IC's used are not likely to be easily available.

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I'm working at a hobby store right now, and it seems that people really like the Futaba radio transmitters. People order them much more often that the other kinds (even the $1500 Futaba 12Z transmitter).

Remember you have to be careful about the frequency of radio you pick, surface or air. Air has more channels but it's illegal to use an air radio for a surface vehicle (like a car or boat). YOu might want to try the Spektrum radios. They are frequency hopping 2.4GHz radios instead of a single fixed frequency (controlled by the crystal in the transmitter and receiver). YOu can also get frequency synthesizer modules so you don't need so many crystals for the regular surface/air radios.

As long as the channels in the area are not full of corldess phone signals and other such signals, you should be okay.

I personally prefer the HItec servos because they have really powerful digital servos with titanium gears compared to other manufacturers. Futaba is my next choice, and then JR. Meaning, that I always go with HItec.

Some people swear by Hitec, or Futaba, or JR, or whatever. I choose HItec for servos because their top end servos are what I am looking for. If I had to buy a radio, I'd probably go Spektrum if I needed a manually controlled radio(but since I don't fly planes or drive trucks, I end up using other things like Zigbees for wireless automated control.) But for manual control, I like Spektrum.

(I don't know about the radio laws or availiblity of products in your area).

 

if my country doesnt have laws governing this, can i use an air radio with ease for surface vehicles. Would there be any problem in programmability? i would just have to scale down, right?

What would a normal radio system come with ... i mean for instance some manufacturers put in servos and receivers? is that it? can i use the servos that they provide?

 

It depends on the law where you are, in the UK aircraft radios use a different band - and you MUST NOT use them for anything accept aircraft.

It's normal to buy a radio 'set', this comes complete with transmitter, receiver, and servos - everything you need to add to your model. Bear in mind, they are designed for model builders, NOT electronic experts, so are complete and simple to use.

__________________
PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at:
http://www.winpicprog.co.uk

 

If your country has a military, television, or radio stations there are laws governing radio. Find out what they are. Just because you have never heard of any for RC radios, does not mean they don't exist. Most people do not know these laws. The only people who do are the ones that can get fined if they break it- asking someone who knows about this stuff in your area.

 

Will do

Additionally could you tell me what salvageable appliances contain servos?

 

Assuming you mean R/C servo's?, none do!.

__________________
PIC programmer software, and PIC Tutorials at:
http://www.winpicprog.co.uk