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[BlazingPenguin]

Having recently acquired one of these radios, I ordered the parts required to get the full benefit of all those multi-channel options.
I have the 'multi-op' unit thats required to make any other options actually work and two expansions, a mutli switch unit and a combined switch/propo unit, both with decoders....now for the hard bit!

Does anyone have the slightest idea how all this gubbins connects together????
The manual makes little sense to me.
Any help would be appreciated.

Ta!

[2772e]

Your best bet is Westboune models, they know and sell these units.

If not i know JOHNO runs one is his lifeboat, look him up and send a pm.

Regards

Simon

[BlazingPenguin]

I've PM'ed JOHNO....hopefully get some help!

[Stavros]

Suerly the shop where you got the bits from would help you

Stavros

[wingertaz]

Hi,
     I have one of these F-14 sets there not too difficult but the instructions aren't brilliant. Not sure were you live but if your anywhere near sunny Blackpool I'll be glad to help.

Regards Gary

[Bartapuss]

I got one of the first sets in the country way back in the very late 80's and they've not changed much, Mr Penguin if your not sure on how to wire the multi op Rx to your functions then I STRONGLY advise that you get first hand advice from some one who has used one before and you can see for yourself how to wire them up, plus the fact that they can only handle about 220ma on their own and use negative switching , can be easily damaged at about £150 a pop its gonna hurt if you get it wrong. Our friend from RC Model Workshop hooked mine up to his analysis gear and was not very impressed with how the analogue carrier wave was meant to support all those separate signals and keep it all clean, you will find with the multi prop (proportional) unit that  it runs 8 servos at one eighth the normal servo speed. When you fill the set to it max, I think three extra units is about it you will get problems with glitching and erratic signals. The truth is the technology has come on a bit with more traditional style sets, IE 2.4gig, pcm etc etc and the F14 still has no servo reverse or easy Xtal change without taking the back off which is a bit of a pain, its about time it was redesigned and brought more uptodate and a bit more user friendly too, some of Robbe's European designs a far better but not available over here. My advice to would be to take the whole shooting match back to the shop and get one of the new 2.4 gig sets and use the switcher units like whats available from Action and others, as they are far more stable and the relays used in them are rated much higher and can handle the extra current load which means you can wire your accessories straight into them which makes thing far simpler and it a tenth of the price a lot easier on the old pocket too.

[pops]

.......Hmmm. This took a little wind out of my sails.  :-\  I too have had my eye on the F14 Navy. And, I have read that it feels a little cheap, and comes without recharge-ables in the TX. I believe I understand that you need the optional switching modules for anything that requires any amperage. And, when you add all of this up you end up with one expensive system. And if it is buggy and archaic on top of it, I may reflect in my thinking. I sure do like that dual stick feature though. Sometime back I followed a thread where someone put the dual stick in another Futaba radio. This may be the next "better" thing.

Does anyone else make a dual stick radio? In the US, I think I remember one called the ??Nautical Commander?? But to look at it, it also look kind of antiquated. Does anyone have any ideas on achieving the dual stick feature?

[Colin Bishop]

There is a workable alternative which I have installed in my still in build Fishery cCuiser using a Futaba 6EXA. To repeat what I posted on another thread about twin motor control last year:

There was a long running thread about this on the old MB site with lots of useful info - now probably lost! I am not too keen on mixers myself as they don't always do what you want. Very often the boat creeps backwards or forwards when you don't want it to or one motor speeds up more than the other etc. I have a Futaba 6EXA and wanted some steering options so I converted the left stick back to spring centring - you can buy the bits for this - and rigged the model end so that a switch controlled by the RX toggles between separate control of the motors on the two TX sticks and slaving them together on the left hand stick. I use the landing gear switch on top of the 6EXA to change modes. Works OK in the bath anyway. This gives conventional control for general sailing but for close quarters manoeuvering you can have independent control at the flick of a switch!

[bogstandard]

I would just like to put my view forwards with regards to the F14 sets. I have been using these sets since their first release, and loaded them to their full limits with never a glitch or whimper.
If they are set up correctly in the first place with the correct expansion modules and required accessories they are almost bombproof. Remember the word almost, I don't think you can get any set that has a perfect record, luckily for me I have never had a set go down. During the 90's I went away from them and had all the latest gear but they just weren't as versatile, so the F14's were again purchased.
I never bought the combo sets so mine always had rechargeable batteries. Changing the crystal takes at most 30 secs, is the lake going to get up and run away if it takes more than ten seconds, I doubt it. Why would you need to reverse the servos in a boat that is all ready to be sailed? Planning your servo setup should be done in the workshop, not at the poolside. Again on initial setup reversing the servo takes the same time as changing the crystal.
As far as I am concerned, are you after the latest gizmo with built in telephone, broadband, and boast factor, or just after as far as I am concerned, a well constructed, hard wearing, fully upgradeable with no difficult programming, and does exactly what it was intended to do, that is, control a lot of functions easily once you can get your head around how to wire them up correctly, and I will tell you now, once it clicks, you will have no further trouble wiring them up.

John

[Stavros]

Got  F16 myself and no hasssle at all, easy to wire up BOMBPROOF

Stavros

[Bartapuss]

Personally I like the F14's the first one I then got was the normal two stick version then decided to sell it on with a boat with loads of functions as the model would have been useless with out it, and with some of the proceeds I got the navy version with the twin throttles on one side and I love it even more, but points I've mentioned earlier are in my opinion are serious weaknesses.

The instructions in general are very poor and need to be clearer and should elaberate a bit more, for the multi switch module Rx they state that you should link the red & black wires together on the three wire cable and wire your load (whatever it may be) between those and the white wire as negative switched is employed in the system (a point not clearly made for those not familar with it), remember your provided with servo type leads to connect up your accessories to the multi Rx module, to those that are not the best with electronics this goes totally against grain of what they already be familar with, personally I discard the black wire altogether and just use the red and white, Robbe do relay units with cables in just that fastion however it more expense and makes things even more complicated to those who are not sure (personally i make my own). I think that its this reason why the system is not as popular as it should have been for model boaters, its amazing how so many are put off from using their radios to just switch simple things like lights on and off as they believe its just far too complicated  and revert to the tried and tested method of just connecting a lead straight to the battery terminal when the want them on despite having a multi channel TX !!.

I believe and I could be wrong here that the notion was when the F14's were first introduced that there was going to me so many frequencies available of the new 40 meg band that the chances of clashing were going to be rare, hence why the Xtal is in the position its in on the F14 compared to standard sets, again experience has proven like wise and anthoer point which puts people off.

The same goes for the method used for servo reverse and like you bogstandard its a bit of a no brainer, I take that into account during the build as I use mine for the majority of my models however to the most its an inconvenience.

I paid £165 last year for a multi switch RX module last year (one my first set way back when, I paid £180 for the basic set TX & RX 4 servos, £150 multi switch Rx module, £150 multi prop RX module, £56 multi switch TX module, £56 multi prop TX module  £26 multi expansion TX unit and then 35 for nicads  plus charger)  the prices have'nt changed much since but now you can get a Futaba 8 channel 2.4gig set with user friendly LCD interface with model set up memory etc etc for £150, do the math.

Still love my F14 tho, just could do with revamp.

[catengineman]

When starting to build my Tito I was looking at the F14 Navy set to control all the bits n bobs I was going to fit into it but I settled on the Futaba FX18 which is as I can work out an up-dated version on the F14, it will handle the decoders etc that the F14 uses and apart from a slight sinking problem I have no problems with the fitting and set-up on the units.

[pops]

I took off last Friday and drove all the way to New Jersey to have a first hand look at the F-14 Navy. I was so weakened after looking at that beautiful, slender, *cough* twin-stick that I bought it. I bought only the basic radio with four servos and Nh's for the Tx and Rx.

I have the SFX4-4 sound and switching module by Model solutions of Canada. I plan on using the 10 sound and 6 extra switching functions up first. If I need more after that, then I would consider the F-14 add-ons. It does have a bit of a cheap look and feel about it compare to my 8U.

But those twin sticks!!!!!! :)

[Sean]

Hello,
I know the tracker from polk hobby is popular in the US. It is offered in 8 channel models and has a crystal less receiver. It has been stable for me and doesn't have the huge cost of the robbe.

Best Regards,
Sean