RC Tanks Australia Forum

Hello again

(I'm in the process of picking up a Tamiya 1/35 RC 2.4G tank

but am interested in moving on to the 1/16 scale later on)

i see that some 2.4G 4 and 5 channel Tx retail for less than 20usd compared to about 100 for a Turnigy and 150 for a Futaba

for people who just want to use their tank as an RC vehicule and use all the functions but are not too bothered about the rest how do these small cheaper simple 4 and 5 channel Tx's hold up

For reference I have been using a 20 dollar Tx for over 3 years in all my offroad RC cars and it's brilliant - Rx's are cheap and very small and it gets battered about and never stops working

Yes of course you can get really cheap TX's to control tanks or anything you want. Problem is that they will only ever give you the most basic control. As you advance further with R/C tanks you will outgrow your $20 investment.

That's fine cos most users do that anyway - start small and grow big.

For example let's take a look at what is needed to control Taipan:

For a start you need an minimum 8 channel radio
CH1 - Steering
CH2 - Acceleration
CH3 - Gun elevation
CH4 - Turret rotation
All these four channels are used 100% for their functions giving maximum possible control
Now here is where the cheaper TX's won't cut it. Not because of quality or reliability but because it cost $$ to add in extra switches and knobs.

CH5: -100% Airsoft Start Mode1/Headlight On/Off
CH5: -50% Airsoft start mode 2/Auxlight On/Off
CH5: +50% IR start Mode 2/Engine On/Off
CH5 +100% IR start Mode 1/Tank ignition On/Off

CH6: -100% Trigger User Sound A
CH6: -80% Trigger User Sound B
CH6: -75% to +75% Volume control
CH6: +80% Trigger User Sound C
CH6: +100% Trigger User Sound D

CH7: -100% Machine Gun A
CH7: -80% Machine Gun B
CH7: -75% to +75% RESERVED
CH7: +80% Fire Cannon (High Explosive round)
CH7: +100% Fire Cannon (Standard round)

CH8: Recoil or other Servo control channel

In a nutshell - Tanks are different to cars - they are slow and stay within ear shot of the controller- Hence they have far more functions than other vehicles especially sound and lights. It is only the need to control these myriad of available functions that requires a more customisable radio with a number of programmable switch functions.

If you don't wish all these extra bells and whistles then yep a $20 TX is all that you will need.

Cheers
KG

_________________

rctanksaustralia.com

tanks for the v complete reply

yet for the light and sound functions Tamiya 1/35 rc 2.4G tanks have light and sound and only 4 channel (there is no accelaration function but this is built in to the channel forward reverse function and as far as I can tell from reviews is v v sensitive)

like you said i may well start small and just upgrade if i feel i need to....