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Radio's

Radios have come a long way in recent years. We are to the point now, with some radios, where you don't need crystals to change channel number you are on and in some cases you don't even have channel numbers any more. I will briefly go over the most common radios you are going to find.

Most of the radios you find in RC racing are 2 or 3 channel. On a 2 channel radio one channel is for throttle/brake and the 2nd is for steering. On a 3 channel radio you get a third channel for, (ie) engaging a reverse servo. Regardless of weather you have a 2 or 3 channel radio, most radios operate on a certain frequency or channel number. This is done so you can be running multiple vehicles at the same time and not interfere with each other. Below is a chart that list the 27 MHz and 75 MHz frequencies.

There are two parts to the radio controller, one being the transmitter and the other being the receiver. The transmitter is what you hold in your hand and the receiver is the piece that goes into your car that the servos and speed controller plug into. When you turn the wheel or squeeze the throttle on your transmitter you send a signal to the receiver in your car which then controls the speed controller or servo.

27 MHz Frequencys

75 MHz Frequencys

There is another type of radio that operates on the 2.4 GHz frequency. These radios do not operate on any specific channel number. They send a unique identifier signal to the receiver and the receiver will only respond to this signal. These radio's are becoming very popular seeing as you don't have to deal with crystals or frequency conflicts any more. Some of the ready to run RC vehicles are now coming with these radios.

The racing night is divided into two sections, one being practice and the other being racing. During racing the use of radio's (27 and 75 MHz) is controlled. Only those people that are currently racing can have their radio's on. If you turn your radio on while you are not racing you could interfere with someone that is already on the track. During practice the use of radio's is not controlled so we have a frequency board that contains clothespins with each channel number on them. If you want to go out and practice you go to the board and get the pin with your channel number on it and clip it to your antenna. Only then can you turn your radio on. If the pin you need is not there it means someone is already using it so do not turn your radio on. After you run your practice be sure to return the frequency pin as someone else will be looking for it.

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