3 Considerations When Choosing an RC Transmitter

June 22, 2018|FliteTest

A transmitter is often the first big investment you'll make when entering the world of R/C. Here's how to choose well.

When you start your exciting journey into the big wide world of Radio Control airplanes and drones, you'll find you're going to need a decent set of controls to fly with. An RC transmitter is something that you'll most likely keep with you for years to come, so make sure to get it right!

For complete beginners

If you're a complete newbie when it comes to R/C, check out the episode we did on R/C transmitters to learn about the basics.

Channels

The number of channels you have relate to how many functions your plane or multirotor can operate. Each channel is essentially a seperate frequency which can control each action of the aircraft. You'll have to decide on how many channels you need/want before purchasing a transmitter.

There are four main channels you'll almost certainly need to fly anything. These are:

● Channel 1: Throttle

● Channel 2: Ailerons/roll

● Channel 3: Elevator/pitch

● Channel 4: Rudder/yaw

Although more channels than this are an advantage, if you want to have extra functions such as flaps, gear, bomb drops and all of those fun things, they're not entirely necessary for a beginner. If you have a limited budget, you can pick up a simple transmitter (like this one) for a very reasonable price. However, if you're taking the hobby a little more seriously, and want to fly bigger and more complicated aircraft in the future, you may want to go for a radio with more channels. A six channel radio, like this one, would be a good choice.

Modes

RC transmitters mostly come in two main modes or configurations. These different modes determine what each stick does on your transmitter. Mode 2 is a lot more popular than mode 1. If you go with mode 2, which is more like the controls of a real aircraft, you'll probably be able to fly other people's airplanes a lot easier if you ever get handed their radio.

Mode 2: You control your roll and pitch with your right hand, just like the control yoke or joystick in an airplane. Your left hand controls the throttle and yaw.

Mode 1: Your right hand controls the throttle and roll while your left hand controls the yaw and pitch.

Receivers

One consideration that you will definitely have to think about is how much you're willing to spend on receivers. Receivers are an integral part of a radio system being the things that connect to your transmitter. You're going to need more than one so that you don't have to keep swapping them out between planes. If you have lots of aircraft, you'll probably need lots of receivers too.