It's here! It's here!

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present.. the Air Tronics RDS8000 !!! AAAAAAAHHHHH!! :-)

Im very excited today to be installing a brand new, 2.4 Ghz Receiver into the Purple Plane, to accompany my new Transmitter. As you probably read earlier, the 72Mhz Tx/Rx that was in the plane before has been illegal, according to some group called the "FCC"....pfft.... for many years; and so I had to get a new one.

This Radio has a ton of butt kickin' features that I'm psyched about!

Cool Feature 1 : Thottle Kill Switch.

"In the old Days", we used to use the trim on the thottle control for shut off; so to start the motor you'd put the trim all the way up; and then you could adjust the actual throttle however you wanted, and it would stay started. To kill the motor, when it was on the ground, you would drop the trim to the bottom; closing the throttle. We thought we were clever :-)

This new radio has a special button on it called "Thottle Kill", which is configurable to an extra % of the servo throw, tied to the thottle channel. So; I set mine to 30%; and when I press the button (for 3 seconds), it closes the throttle an extra 30%! So, this means I can use the throttle trim for what it's meant for; and I won't have to keep track of the trim setting I want it at when in flight.

Cool Feature 2 : Built in Timer.

My Dad and I used to use kitchen timers, that we would clip to our belts, or to the Transmitter, set 10-12 minutes on them, and when they went off, it was time to land (Fuel Guage, basically)... Since *so* many pilots had to do similar things, they got wise and built a Stop Watch, and/or count down timer into the remote! So, I have preset it to 10:00; and with just 2 button presses I can start it running :-) No more forgetting the timers!

So, I'm thrilled.. I have the new radio; I bought Air-Tronics, which according to everyone I talked to/what I read.. meant that the servos I had in the plane would just plug right in... Never underestimate what 15 years can do :-)

Needless to say, they don't. So I went to my trusty Interweb, in search of what I needed. Turns out, this receiver uses "Standard" Z connecting servos, which all manufacturers of radios have switched to. That's great but what about me? Am I looking at $15x4 to get new servos in the plane?

Nope! Enter the Airtronics 99400Z... Adapter for old-school Servo's to Z Receivers.. for those of us with Equipment almost as old as Airtronics itself :-) AT $3.99 a piece, I did spring for all 4, installed the new receiver and I'm ready to roll... err, Soar!!