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Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 1:28 am
by THEYTOOKMYTHUMB
"Everyone else has it, so there's really no need to bother." That's what I told a friend of mine who was reluctant to start racing because he didn't have one. No one I can think of(including me)runs an AM/FM radio at my track. Or PCM(although I would if I had one!). Just throwing this out there sort of randomly in case it's holding anyone back. I kinda wish people still ran them just so I could bring my Magnum Jr. and yell "78!...78!" just for old time's sake. :lol:

Re: Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 12:08 pm
by arf
Last week at a parking lot race a kid asked me why I shouted "eighty-four, eighty-four" on the drivers stand. I told him "that's how old I am."

Re: Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 1:54 am
by THEYTOOKMYTHUMB
arf wrote:Last week at a parking lot race a kid asked me why I shouted "eighty-four, eighty-four" on the drivers stand. I told him "that's how old I am."
Now that’s good stuff. :lol: He probably believed you too. Young whippersnapper. The thing I hate most about 2.4ghz is that I can’t blame a glitch on my poor driving… :evil:

Re: Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:44 am
by scr8p
THEYTOOKMYTHUMB wrote: The thing I hate most about 2.4ghz is that I can’t blame a glitch on my poor driving… :evil:
no, you can blame it on all of the guys using fm and 2.4 radios while your still using an am radio.

Re: Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Sun Jun 20, 2010 10:06 pm
by mustang dave
if you go 2.4 do not buy a traxxas , absolute pos to set up, its cheap for a reason , personally i like the old stuff

Re: Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:01 am
by junkman
I don't know about track use, I have been twice in the past two years. I will tell you personally, I am slowly converting everything I have over. I never had a problem with glitching/interference in town were I used to live with any of my stuff. I moved about 2 miles outside of town, have a couple neighbors and about a 100 acre field across the street. Nothing am or fm will get past my yard without going nuts. Tried about 20 different tx/rx combos and just have terrible interference. Have a wireless pet fence, makes no difference if it is on or off, some power is ran underground I don't know if that is it or not. Right now I have a dx3s on 10 cars, and put a corona 2.4 hack in an old 3pm and running 5 off it. Both seem to work just the same for me. I hate for all the old radios to go to waste, but for other than display they really are useless to me anymore. The multi-model tx's and not having to deal with crystals has really spoiled me. I had though about picking up a traxxas 2.4 setup, just to get all the traxxas stuff on one remote, but was concerned about the complication of not have a screen to aid in setup. I guess if you take it to the track, and it suits you needs rock it, but I know if I was going to plan on being competitive I'd just go 2.4 to eliminate radio problems as a possibility.

Re: Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:30 pm
by lpddpd
Well I've never been a racer, but I love running my cars and have been doing so for a long time. That said, I don't tend to go to the hobby shop so much because I just haven't been interested in the new must have stuff lately. Since I haven't been working lately I've had more time to play and break things. So I went in to see if they had or could get some parts and then asked for capacitors and the guy looked at me like I was ordering jelly donuts at a vasectomy! Gave me this lecture about how they are not needed and to just run the motor without. So then I asked for a new crystal for 75mhz and again same look. I told the guy I have vintage stuff and I not spending blah blah money on newer just because everyone else is. I'm glad Radio Shack still sells capacitors (way back behind all the cell phones). I tend to be a person who supports local but with these guys if its not new, they don't want to hear about it. I think the guy was glad that I left so he could help the guy who wanted to know how to bore out the biggest engine for a monster truck so it could go faster! So I found what needed elsewhere and I think I'll stick with what I have till it dies and then maybe look at whats new.

Re: Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:48 pm
by aconsola
best part of 2.4ghz is that I can let my 3 year old drive without the transmitter turning into a long range weapon. can't tell you how many times I've been poked with an antenna from the losi 27mhz tx that they use for the micro-T

Re: Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:40 pm
by junkman
aconsola wrote:best part of 2.4ghz is that I can let my 3 year old drive without the transmitter turning into a long range weapon. can't tell you how many times I've been poked with an antenna from the losi 27mhz tx that they use for the micro-T
funny you mention that, I have a stock pile of broken telescoping antennas myself from the same reason.

Re: Is there any need for 2.4ghz these days?

Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:41 pm
by civilguy
Personally I have had no problems with the Traxxas Link system. I have three transmitters (me & 2 kids) and have bought receivers for every buggy we run. I had no problem setting them up, but I am not looking to set exponential steering or anything like that on my Grasshoppers. :lol: Endpoint adjustment is straightforward and the rest is pretty easy too imho.
I got the tx & rx setup off brook1965 on eBay (he parts out new kits) for about $50 each. He's local so I saved on shipping. ;) The rxs are about $38 each... if you buy in bulk you can find them for about $30-32 shipped on eBay too. I've got at least 10 now and am into it for about $450-- about the same price as a Spektrum radio a couple years ago. :D